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FRIENDS & FAMILY
FRIENDS & FAMILY 1961
Deana (Thomas) Hazelwood `61 recently retired after 34 years of teaching, 19 in the Artesia Public School System. Thirteen of those years were teaching second grade and six were in kindergarten. Deana reported that she is enjoying every minute of her free time. She is thankful to McMurry “College” University for the beginning of many blessings. She is sincerely thankful for her many teaching experiences, blessings, family, friends, and numerous fantastic students she taught throughout her life. After losing her first husband in the early 70’s (who she met at McMurry) she married Bob Hazelwood. In 1999, after sharing 24 1/2 years of marriage, she found herself a widow again. She is putting her house up for sale and will be moving to Frisco, Texas where she hopes to buy a home close to her daughter and family.
1957
1946
Sam Darby ’46 and his wife Carolyn have enjoyed many trips to South Africa. Of the seven trips they have taken, the attached picture shows the only time they have seen a black rhino. Mr. and Mrs. Darby live in Albany, Oregon.
1953
Richard Deats ’53 lives in Nyack, NY where he worked for the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) from 1972 until his retirement on June 30, 2005. A United Methodist minister, Deats taught social ethics at Union Theological Seminary in the Philippines from 1959 to 1972. Dr. Deats has authored and edited many books including co-editing Active Nonviolence: A Way of Life, A Strategy for Change. His book, Martin Luther King, Jr., Spirit-led Prophet (1999), with a foreword by Coretta Scott King, is now in its third printing and his biography of Gandhi, with a foreword by Sister Mary Evelyn Jegen, is entitled Mahatma Gandhi: Nonviolent Liberator (2005). Dr. Deats has been named to the Civil Rights Hall of Fame and received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Boston University.
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McMurry University
Tommy Watkins `57 was recently inducted into the Texas High School Coaches Association Hall of Honor in July. Tommy coached 44 years and won state championships at Class A Rotan in 1962 and Class 2A Iowa Park in 1969 and 1970. He returned to the Permian Basin after the 1970 season to become the athletic director and football coach at Andrews, which gave him the chance to be closer to home. He stayed for six years, leaving in 1978 to return to Iowa Park, before stops at Uvalde, Garland Lakeview Centennial, and finally Garland Rowlett in 1996 when the program was just beginning. When he retired after the 2001 school year, Watkins had compiled a 301-1538 record to go along with the three state championships, numerous district championships and coaching accolades. Watkins is ranked among the top 50 coaches of the past 50 years by Dave Campbell’s Texas Football magazine, but Watkins attributes his success to the help he received from others.
1958
1968
Dick Countiss ’58 recently agreed to leave semiretirement for another stint in the courtroom as District Attorney. Countiss was selected as the Democratic nominee for Criminal District Attorney of San Jacinto County after the incumbent District Attorney died. He is unopposed in the November General Election and will begin a four-year term on January 1, 2011. Countiss served as District Attorney and later District Judge and Court of Appeals justice in the Amarillo area in the 1970s and 1980s before returning to private practice in Houston. Countiss presently serves as First Vice-President of the McMurry Board of Trustees. He and his wife Karen (Hopkins, ex ’60) live on Lake Livingston and recently celebrated their 52nd wedding anniversary.
McMurry University
Dr. Jerry Campbell ‘68, president of Claremont School of Theology, was featured in a story in the August 22 issue of Time magazine. The article describes Dr. Campbell’s leadership in establishing a theological university which opened this fall to train future pastors, imams and rabbis under one roof. The experiment to end isolated clerical training brings together Claremont, the Islamic Center of Southern California (ICSC) and the Academy for Jewish Religion California. The Time story can be accessed at http://www.time.com/time/nation/ article/0,8599,2010951,00.html.
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1985
Stanley Laing ’85, has been named the Executive Director of Athletics for Northside ISD. He takes over a program that oversees thousands of athletes in 11 high schools and 18 middle schools, as well as a coaching force of hundreds of employees. He has been a 20-year educator, served as a coach and teacher for 16 years and as a high school administrator for eight years. Laing is a graduate of McMurry University where he earned his bachelor’s degree in physical education and a minor in English. He also earned his master’s degree from Texas A&M University at Kingsville. Roy Sharp ’85 is the new principal of Fannin Elementary. He was a teacher in the Abilene School District. He is a 1985 graduate with a BS in geology. His wife Rebecca is a 2004 graduate of McMurry also.
1987
The Willis Independent School District recognized Stormy Cullum ’87 as the 2009-2010 WISD Secondary Teacher of the Year. Cullum teaches technology at Brabham Middle School. She previously was named Teacher of the Year in Sherman ISD and Coach of the Year in Sherman ISD and Pleasant Grove ISD. She is a 1987 graduate of McMurry University, earning a Bachelor of Science in education focused on secondary business courses, 8th-12th grade technology applications and physical education in all levels. Ken Morton ’87 has returned to Texas from California to serve as the new director of campus recreation at Stephen F. Austin State University. He
McMurry University
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