Fall-Winter 2005 Millsaps Magazine

Remembering Katrina Our community reflects on the storm of the century

Along Came a Spider On campus, lessons from a living laboratory

Teach Your Children Trio of alumnae spell ‘character’ ABC Integrity Time in schools

FALL–WINTER 2005

From the President Since Hurricane Katrina, I’ve come to realize that the greatest virtue we can embody is compassion. My dad recently sent me a wonderful AARP article by religious scholar and author Karen Armstrong.While I’m not sure whether he was trying to remind me that I am getting older or hint that I need to show more compassion, I thoroughly enjoyed reading Armstrong’s thoughts on this quality that she describes as “the ability to feel with others, not feel sorry for them.”

The essential dynamic of compassion is having a consciousness of what is taking place around us. I believe the feature articles in this issue of Millsaps Magazine exemplify how our Millsaps community strives to manifest this trait.

The common thread is the depiction of this consciousness—this overflow of human energy and display of true emotional maturity.

Amid the devastation of Katrina, Millsaps faculty, staff, and students stepped in to help time and time again. Our dedicated folks took supplies to the Mississippi Gulf Coast, worked in hospitals, assisted the Red Cross, helped at makeshift animal shelters, and extended a hand whenever an opportunity came along.

Children in the Tupelo area are learning about traditional values at an early age, making them mindful of the virtues necessary for a respectful life.

Three Millsaps alumnae created the curriculum ABC Integrity Time, a program that teaches children how to make choices based on what is “true and good and right.” Sara (Williams) Berry, B.S. 1988, Allyson (Shive)Willis, B.A. 1995, and Tracy (Applewhite) Broome, B.A. 1989, had the unanimous conviction that improving the classroom environment was one key to healing the behavioral crisis in education.

A community like Millsaps couldn’t exist without the land and environment that envelops the College. Millsaps, described by our writer Jesse Yancy as a “microcosm of the universe,” became the beautiful campus that it is today only from the nurturing of those keenly aware of the world around them—those who could envision its splendor.

I wish for you and your family a joyous holiday season and the opportunity to observe the true essence of the human spirit in many ways and in many places—just as I have the honor of seeing each day, right here at Millsaps College.

Warmly,

In This Issue f e a t u r e s

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MILLSAPS MAGAZINE f a l l -w i n t e r 2 0 0 5

The Eyes of the Storm

Executive Editor Patti Wade

Hurricane Katrina, in our own words.

Design Kelley Matthews

What Lies Beneath

On campus, a microcosm of the universe.

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You Have to Be Carefully Taught The ABC’s of integrity.

Major Notes Editor Clint Kimberling, B.A. 2005 i n t e r i m a s s o c i at e d i r e c t or o f a l u m n i r e l at i on s

Editorial Assistants Anna Ellis, 2006 Jewel Johnson, 2006 Chris Spear Spear, 2007

d e p a r t m e n t s

Contributing Photographers John Webb Paul White Neil Woodall Jesse Yancy

On Campus 2 In the Spotlight 11 Fine Arts Faculty & Staff 15 In the Spotlight 22 Campus Community

Administrative OfďŹ cers Dr. Frances Lucas president Dr. Richard A. Smith s e n i or v i c e p r e s i d e n t a n d d e a n o f t h e c ol l e g e Louise Burney, M.Acc. 1996 v i c e p r e s i d e n t f or f i n a n c e Dr. R. Brit Katz v i c e p r e s i d e n t f or s t u d e n t l i f e and dean of students Dr. Charles R. Lewis vice president f or i n s t i t u t i ona l a dva n c e m e n t Todd Rose v i c e p r e s i d e n t f or c a m p u s s e rv i c e s

Athletics 39 Jim Harper 40 Tommy Ranager Major Notes 41 Homecoming 42 In the Spotlight 43 Classnotes 50 In Memoriam Parting Word 53 Finding Love Among the Ruins

On the Cover Katrina damage to the Christian Center cupola. p h ot o b y j e s s e ya n c y

Contributing Editors John Webb c om m u n i c at i on s w r i t e r Jesse Yancy a s s o c i at e d i r e c t or o f m e d i a r e l at i on s Lisa Purdie Scott Albert Johnson c om m u n i c at i on s s p e c i a l i s t s

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OnCampus Alumni in Politics: Our Continuing Tradition of Service Millsaps has a tradition of emphasizing public service in both student life and its curricula, so it should come as no surprise “Looking back, I can’t think that the College finds itself well represented in Mississippi politics. From State Treasurer of any place that would Tate Reeves, B.S. 1996, the youngest person ever to hold statewide political office in have prepared me any Mississippi, to Eric Clark, B.A. 1973, who is serving his third term as secretary of state, better for my future.” to Justice James Graves, B.A. 1975, the only African American on the Mississippi —James Graves Supreme Court, Millsaps graduates are making their mark on state politics during a particularly challenging period in Mississippi history.

Reeves, who serves as the chief financial officer for 2.8 million Mississippians, believes he learned about embracing diverse perspectives during his days as a Millsaps honor student. “There are two sides to any story— usually even 10 or 12,” Reeves said. “I did not State Treasurer Tate Reeves fully appreciate that before I came to Millsaps. Millsaps played a vital role in grooming me to handle any situation that may be thrown my way.”

And what a curve ball was thrown at him on August 29. He has borrowed from every facet of his education to deal with the economic devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. He recently testified before the Senate Finance Committee in Washington, D.C., on hurricane recovery via tax incentives and ways Congress could help Mississippians.

“Testifying before the United States Senate is not the easiest thing,” he said.

“I sat between former vice-presidential candidate and Buffalo Bills quarterback

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Jack Kemp and Harry Connick Jr. I must admit that I thought about Millsaps as I sat there facing the committee.

I was flooded with comfort and pride right in the heart of the nation’s capital.”

Secretary of State Eric Clark Although he concedes that Mississippi’s fiscal outlook may appear bleak at the moment, he is confident that the state can rebuild. “We have to look forward and when we do, we see a lot of positives,” he said. “The federal government could cover as much as 90 percent of the repairs necessary for roads and airports.”

Likewise, Clark has addressed issues created by the storm, especially the potential benefits of the Tidelands program, which is funded by leases to businesses located on state-owned public property over the water. In an October letter to The Clarion-Ledger, Clark stated: “The Coast needs the Tidelands Fund now more than ever. Fortunately, the Senate and the House of Representatives were able to agree on a bill that saves the Tidelands Fund and requires all casinos to pay into the Tidelands Fund whether they are on land or over water.”

Clark, who serves as trustee of the public trust tidelands on the Gulf Coast, has long promoted balanced economic development and led in the acquisition of more than 15,000 acres of endangered coastal wetlands, including Deer Island, for permanent preservation. He also oversees more than 1.3 million acres of state-owned land, including 16th Section lands for the support of public education.

These lands, set aside at statehood, generate approximately $50 million annually for schools in Mississippi.

A product of those Mississippi public schools, Justice Graves has come a long way from his hardscrabble upbringing.

As the oldest of six children in Clinton, a community near Jackson, he remembers his early college days as a challenge, but

said. “Millsaps, then as now, emphasized one that was worth it. “I came from a two that particularly come to mind are the importance of contributing to making rural all-black high school to an integrated Ross Moore and Charles Sallis. But I will the world better, and Millsaps also metropolitan college,” Graves said. “I tell you that the best teacher I ever had encouraged people to think critically. By was used to doing really, really well … anywhere for any subject at any level was that I do not mean to fuss and complain, valedictorian, highest ACT score, and Howard Bavender in the political science but I mean to look beyond and beneath the so forth. At Millsaps, I was suddenly department. He was the best teacher I surface of the events and motivations. So, I surrounded by tons of people who were have ever met. A classmate of mine here at think those two lessons have stood me very the same way. It was sometimes frustrating. Millsaps said that if you were a student of well for these 30-plus years.”

It was a much more challenging and Howard Bavender, for very Graves echoes that competitive environment than I was used long, you became a disciple of sentiment.

“Looking back, I to. It was sometimes intimidating but a Howard Bavender, and that’s can’t think of any place that great opportunity for me, as well … an not far off the mark.” would have prepared me any ‘intimidating opportunity.’”

Clark was the third son better for my future,” he said.

Clark also saw opportunity in his in his family to receive a “Back then, I wasn’t all smiles Millsaps education, which he said bachelor’s degree from all the time.

I made some influenced his commitment to public Millsaps College. “My brothers noises that I would transfer, service. “There was a strong emphasis John and Larry both preceded but I never did and I am really in the whole culture of the College to me there,” he said. “My glad I didn’t.” promote public service, but my impression brother Larry graduated from Graves has made the is that then it was in a more general Millsaps in the spring of 1969, Justice James Graves most of his abilities and and I came in the fall of 1969, sense than it is now,” Clark said. “In the opportunities since those so I had spent a lot of time there early 1970s, there was not as much of Millsaps years.

He served as a circuit court and felt very comfortable on campus and an emphasis on one-on-one community judge for 10 years before being appointed knew a lot of people.” service as I believe there is now. I think to the Supreme Court by then-Governor Clark went on to earn a master’s degree that activities like working for Habitat for Ronnie Musgrove. He won election to the Humanity, working for Stewpot, or taking a from the University of Mississippi and same position in 2004. a doctorate in history from Mississippi summer off to work in an underprivileged Graves credits his parents with instilling State University. A former public school country or area of the United States are in him the importance of hard work and and community college teacher, Clark much more common now than they were education, values that led him to Syracuse taught history and then.

University, where he earned a law degree government at “At that point, “At that time we were in the as well as a master’s degree in public Mississippi College the conversation was administration at the Maxwell School of from 1989 to1995. much more likely to latter part of the Vietnam Citizenship and Public Affairs.

Prior to his election be about trying to Graves’s reputation extends well beyond as secretary of state, make the world better War, and we were in the the borders of Mississippi.

He received the Clark served four in a general sense. At 2005 Chairman’s Award for Justice and terms as a member that time we were in latter part of the civil rights Equality at the Fall Leadership Conference of the state House of the latter part of the of the 100 Black Men of America Representatives. He Vietnam War, and era, and there was a constant is a member of the organization. This fall, for the seventh time we were in the latter Mississippi Economic in eight years, he will return to Harvard part of the civil rights discussion about how to Law School to teach a trial advocacy Council, Mississippi era, and there was a workshop for third-year law students. constant discussion Farm Bureau, make the world better. ” Graves also taught a class called Law and about how to make Mississippi Forestry Society to Millsaps undergraduates last the world better, so Association, and —Eric Clark that had a big impact Mississippi Historical spring. “I was very flattered to be asked to teach at my alma mater,” Graves said. “It’s on me.”

Society. very challenging and rewarding to teach Clark remembers impressive faculty It is an impressive record of service students here. You want to share knowledge members who made a difference in his influenced largely by his experiences here. and experience with students in a way life. “I had some excellent teachers in “Millsaps certainly had a big impact on my that’s interesting and as entertaining as the history department,” he said. “The worldview, particularly in two ways,” Clark

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possible. You want people to enjoy the class, Reeves, an avid fan of investment and you want it to be interactive. I always guru Warren Buffett and NewYork Times encourage a high level of participation.” columnist Thomas Friedman, became Graves said he was grateful for his interested in the political process and Millsaps experience and for the trajectory government early on. He took public policy that it helped set for him early in his life. and other courses from Dr. Iren Omo-Bare, That trajectory has included his tenure as even though they were not required for a staff attorney at his major or the Central Mississippi “I applied those lessons that Core Curriculum.

Legal Services and “I had an interest as a special assistant I learned while at Millsaps— in politics, but I attorney general. never gave much Mike Moore, former work hard, learn how to think, thought to running attorney general, for office,” he said. appointed him to Upon graduation, and give something back.” head the human he worked at services division —Tate Reeves Deposit Guaranty of the Attorney as an investment General’s Office, where he also served portfolio manager and moved to Trustmark as chief legal counsel to the Mississippi Bank after the AmSouth merger. “I received Department of Human Services. Prior a phone call one day that State Treasurer to being appointed circuit court judge, Marshall Bennett was not going to run Graves was director of the Division of Child for reelection, Support Enforcement of the Mississippi and I thought, ‘I Department of Human Services. already perform At the 2002 Millsaps Commencement the duties of a ceremony, where Graves was the keynote state treasurer; I speaker and received an honorary doctorate just do it in the of laws, President Frances Lucas called private sector.’ him “a man of tremendous insight and “After talking intelligence,” “an example of public with my family service and civic responsibility,” and “a and friends, the magnificent role model.” idea just took on Graves met his wife at Millsaps, and a life of its own. I his son James is a graduate of the College. realized this was Reeves also met his wife at Millsaps. my opportunity “Other than marrying Elee, going to to serve this state Millsaps was one of the best decisions I I love so much. have ever made,” Reeves said. “I went to Again, I applied Millsaps to play basketball for Coach John those lessons that Stroud and lucked into a great education.

I learned while at I also became great friends with the five Millsaps—work guys who would later become the ‘Tate hard, learn how Reeves for Treasurer’ campaign staff. My to think, and give Millsaps friends made all the difference in something back.” the world—they helped me prove myself.

—Scott Albert Johnson, Lisa Purdie, Because Elee was also a Millsaps grad, Jesse Yancy we put our heads together and ended up calling nearly everybody in the classes of 1996 and 1997. And a bunch of them gave us campaign donations.”

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Millsaps Unplugged: Wireless Access Comes to Campus Millsaps College has joined the ranks of those institutions of higher learning offering wireless network and Internet access on campus to students, faculty, and staff. The Millsaps College computer services department, in partnership with Jackson-based Air2Lan, a division of U.S. Wireless Online, installed wireless network access in the library, the College center, the Bowl and the Plaza, and the top two floors of Murrah Hall in the first phase of a project that will eventually cover the entire campus.

Wireless access adds a new dimension to campus technology by further

enhancing the academic environment with a type of service many are accustomed to having off-campus. Students, faculty, and staff with wireless laptop or desktop computers now have secure, stable access to email, applications software, and the web via their campus usernames and passwords.

The Millsaps technical services group, under the direction of technical services coordinator Blake Copeland and working with personnel from Air2Lan, completed the project during the eight weeks prior to fall classes. “We are pleased and excited about taking the first step to becoming a totally wireless campus,” said Dr. Richard A. Smith, senior vice president and dean of the College. “In so doing, we believe we will increase opportunities for innovative teaching by our faculty and enhance learning by our students. We also keep pace with the developments at other premier colleges and universities around the nation, ensuring that the teaching and learning environment at Millsaps College continues to be the best in the state.”

The equipment utilized in the wireless project is provided by Aruba Wireless Networks, which recently won out over rival Cisco to provide similar services to Microsoft Corporation in its Redmond, Washington, headquarters and other locations. The Aruba equipment provides users with a 54 Mb/s maximum connection rate using the 802.11g standard, which is the best wireless networking performance possible to date.

The arrival of wireless connectivity is part of a broader network infrastructure improvement process that began in May 2003. The goal of this process has been to ensure that the network services offered to the College community are competitive with those of comparable institutions.

These improvements include the replacement of existing network hardware with state-of-the-art switches and cabling, allowing for 100 Mb performance for each desktop unit, an upgrade of core servers, the implementation of an Enterprise backup system utilizing full data backups nightly, and enhanced network monitoring and security. Millsaps has invested more than $500,000 in these improvements and stands ready to compete with peer institutions.

Copeland, who attended an Associated Colleges of the South information technology conference in Texas this October, said that Millsaps was indeed at a comparable level with peer institutions in the consortium. “We’re in good standing with where the other institutions are, and that’s an important benchmark because they’re the same size, they have the same type of programs, and they’re our

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competition as well as our constituents,” Copeland said. “So it really matters if we’re on par with where they are.”

Copeland also said that in at least one technological area Millsaps was a little ahead of the competition. “We’re using a blade server—that is, one that holds several thin, modular circuit boards in a single chassis—which allows us to get more servers in a smaller area and lowers your cost per server,” he said. “In the long term, we’ll save money and provide better performance. We’re combining that with a storage area network, making it a central storehouse for our data, and we can go into the network and allocate additional space for anything we need without making any changes in the hardware.”

Another important technological advancement will come around the first of the year, when the campus will be given access to Internet II, a subscription network that links research institutions with a high-speed connection. Copeland said that this capability would come about as a result of monies from a grant funding the Mississippi Functional Genomics Network in cooperation with the University of Southern Mississippi.

—J.Y.

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The Art of Theology Award-winning sculptor Ben Watts, B.B.A 1980, has completed a model for a statue of John Wesley (1703–91), the 18th century English clergyman and Christian theologian who founded the Methodist movement. The model will be presented by the classes of 1964, ’65, and ’66 as they begin their fund-raising efforts. The completed bronze work will be a gift to the College from those classes and will be among the first statues placed around campus to encourage students, faculty, and staff to reflect on the great thinkers, artists, and leaders who have made outstanding contributions to the good of humankind. —J. Y.

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Medley, Rhoden Join The Board of Trustees Tim Medley and Thomas Rhoden, both of the Jackson area, have accepted membership on the Millsaps College Board of Trustees. The Mississippi Conference of the United Methodist Church ratified both nominees during its spring annual meeting.

Medley, a native of Gulfport, attended Millsaps and the University of Southern Mississippi, where he received a business and accounting degree. After graduation, he entered the investment business and was an early participant in the financial planning field. In 1977, he became the first person in Mississippi to receive the Certified Financial Planner designation.

In 1982, Medley became a national board member of the Institute of Certified Financial Planners, and while serving as chairman of the ethics committee he assisted in rewriting the code of ethics for financial planners.

President of Medley & Brown LLC, a fee-only financial advisory firm that offers investment management services, Medley has views on investing that have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Barron’s, and Fortune.

He and his wife, Jean (Nicholson) Medley, B.A. 1968, have three children.

Thomas Rhoden, born in New Orleans, earned his bachelor of science degree in physics from Millsaps. He then attended the University of Mississippi School of Law, where he received his J.D. In 1970, he became clerk to Judge James Coleman of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.

An active member of the Mississippi Bar Association, Rhoden has also served as chairman for the attorneys’ section of the Mississippi Savings and Loan League; a member of the Lamar Order of the UM School of Law, and a member of the Governor’s Commission on Constitutional Revision. He has written for the Mississippi College Law Review and served as chairman

for the Hinds County Bar Association’s small firms practice committee.

Rhoden was chairman of the State Housing Finance Agency for two years. He headed the annual Stewpot Fund Drive in 1999 and served on the Millsaps Alumni Council from 2000 to 2004.

A partner with the law firm Rhoden, Lacy, & Colbert, Rhoden is married to the former Sharon Scott. They have two sons.

—L.P.

McRaes Establish Scholars Program Selby and Richard McRae have a long history with Millsaps College. In fact, Selby Watkins, B.A. 1946, grew up near the campus and remembers “going to the Shack for a Coke.”

The Shack, Selby explains, was a snack bar type of place where students gathered, and she often popped over to see what was going on with Millsaps students.

Selby later graduated from Millsaps, as did her father and two sisters. Her cousin Marguerite Goodman taught English at the College, and her great uncle, Dr. A. F. Watkins, served as president of Millsaps in the 1920s.

Richard McRae, equally enthusiastic about Millsaps, is a Life Trustee of the College and received an honorary doctorate in 1991. He and Selby have been avid and generous supporters of the College, chairing fund-raising efforts, establishing a chair of business administration in the Else School of Management, and giving faithfully for several decades toward the Annual Fund and various capital campaigns. “I’ve been very fortunate,” Richard says. “I’ve developed a good business, and I’ve always believed in supporting things, especially in Jackson.”

The business is McRae’s Department Stores, founded in 1902 by Richard’s father, W. P. McRae. Richard and sons Richard Jr. and Vaughan developed the business into a major retail chain. The

family sold the business in 1994 and since then has concentrated on giving back to the community.

“He’s happy giving things away,” Selby says of her husband. “And our children are in the habit of giving on their own.”

So, it came as no surprise to anyone that the couple decided to establish the Selby and Richard McRae Scholars Program at Millsaps College. Their strong ties to the Methodist Church, as members of Galloway Memorial United Methodist Church, and their belief in the quality liberal arts education offered by Millsaps led them to provide significant funds for students who might not otherwise be able to come to Millsaps.

The Selby and Richard McRae Scholars Program will enable the College to give a full scholarship (tuition, room, and board) every other year to an entering freshman who exhibits outstanding academic merit and demonstrates financial need. “Millsaps always says, ‘We teach you how to think,’” Selby says, “and that speaks to us.”

Richard agrees. “We want them to get a good education from the scholarship, and we’re willing to do this to make their lives better.”

“As a preeminent scholars program at the College, The McRae Scholars Program will be synonymous with academic excellence,” says Dr. Frances Lucas, president of the College, “and it will allow us to market Millsaps among the type of students that we need to keep in our state or attract to our state.”

Though one might also find the McRae name on the bell tower, and students, faculty, and staff regularly work out in the Selby and Richard McRae Fitness Center, the couple especially love the idea of a scholarship program with the McRae name.

“We’ve done other things for Millsaps over the years,” Selby says, with Richard nodding in agreement. “But it gives us real pleasure that somebody will have a scholarship with the McRae name on it.”

—Nancy Seepe

New Scholarships For Methodists Millsaps College has established a limited number of new Methodist Youth Scholarships, ranging from $1,000 to $3,000 per year for four years, for United Methodist students who demonstrate church leadership, community service, and financial need. These scholarships are in addition to the Bishops Scholarship, ministerial scholarships, and grants given to dependents of United Methodist ministers.

“We have established these new scholarships to emphasize just how much we want our Mississippi Methodist students at Millsaps,” President Frances Lucas said.

“As a United Methodist College, we know that our United Methodist students will receive the best education possible, plus the added value of a campus community committed to Wesleyan principles.”

Three commitments of Wesleyan theology are most evident at Millsaps.

First and foremost is the commitment to intellectual growth and academic freedom; second, the connection of the life of the mind with the habits of the heart; and third, Wesley’s commitment to serve the least, the lost, and the last.

“At Millsaps, we are committed to helping our students not only master specific discipline areas but also to find their own spiritual voice,” Lucas said.

She emphasized the value of a small, church-related college where United Methodist students are encouraged to ask “Who am I?” and “Whose am I?” and where their relationship with the United Methodist Church will enrich their lives as servant leaders in their communities.

Applications for the new scholarships are available in the Office of Admissions and can be found on the web at www.millsaps.edu/scholarships. The application should be accompanied by a résumé outlining honors, activities, organizations, and leadership positions

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held. Review of applications will begin December 1 and will continue until the financial aid priority deadline of March 1.

—Kay Barksdale

The Virginia Riggs Study Center in the Millsaps library.

Library Study Center Honors Virginia Riggs A generous gift from the late Marvin Riggs, B.A. 1933, is being used to enhance the Millsaps-Wilson Library’s interior spaces with a new reading room and additional group project rooms. Named in honor of Riggs’s wife, Virginia Riggs, B.A. 1940, the Virginia Riggs Reading Room will be in the space near the circulation desk currently occupied by the microfilm collection.

This room will be completely remodeled with a new ceiling, bookcases, carpet, paint, and furniture, transforming it into a comfortable space for students and small receptions.

In addition, along the south wall in the west wing, seven new group project rooms and an equipment storage area have been constructed. Named the Virginia Riggs Study Center, the new installment has rooms of two different sizes and is equipped for student use, with such amenities as music listening facilities and

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computers. These areas have doubled the number of group project rooms available to students.

“Mr. Riggs’s gift will enhance the library in two important ways—with a beautiful, comfortable reading room for quiet reading and relaxation and seven new study rooms for group projects, music listening, and watching videos,” said Tom Henderson, College librarian.

Henderson added that in addition to Riggs’s gift, furniture provided by the Frueauff Foundation was delivered this summer to the third floor. Previous gifts from the Parents Council, College Trustee Nat Rogers, and the Frueauff Foundation further enhance the library.

“This gift helps us continue the progress already begun toward making the library a place where students want to be,” Henderson said. “Study rooms are always in demand, and these seven new rooms double the number we have for students working on projects in teams. The new reading room will have comfortable lounge

seating and small study tables and will be isolated by doors from the reference room to help make it a quiet place to read.”

—J.Y.

Archives Receives 18th Century Papers The archives of the Millsaps-Wilson Library received the oldest primary documents in its collection, some dating to the 18th century, at a ceremony in September. The gift of Preston Stokes and his wife, Linda, the documents were assembled by Preston Stokes’s father, Wade Stokes, B.A. 1927.

Wade Stokes retired in the early 1970s and thereafter spent much of his time assembling family letters and documents, many of which had to be transcribed from the originals.

When completed, “The Trunk Documents of Muggie Hopkins: 1783– 1938” will provide a compelling history

of a Mississippi family in two volumes.

Stokes donated the original documents to Millsaps College with the agreement that they would be maintained as a group and accessible to scholars studying family life during the formative years of the nation. “It was my father’s wish that these documents be used by individuals studying life during these years,” Preston Stokes said.

Also included in the donation is a collection of articles and letters by Stokes’s great-grandfather, Thomas Jefferson Stokes, who served as a captain during the Civil War. An additional document, “Story of a Stokes Family,” is also included.

“It’s important that the papers be kept together, and we appreciate Mr. Stokes honoring his father’s wish that they be kept together and placed in a repository where people can study them instead of being distributed for their collectible value,” said Debra McIntosh, Millsaps archivist.

The entire collection of documents has an appraised value of $35,000.

According to McIntosh, the value to

A Green Light for Hauberg Project Fred Hauberg, a native of Denmark, began his study and apprenticeship in horticulture at age 14.

After nine years of study and practical work, he was awarded his license as doctor of horticulture.

Before coming to the United States at the turn of the century, Hauberg and his wife, Wilhelmenia, had a nursery in Copenhagen.

The last eight years of Fred Hauberg’s extraordinary life and career were spent caring for the Millsaps campus. Hauberg made such an impact on the grounds that then-president Benjamin Graves said that members of the Millsaps College community could measure time by pre-Hauberg and post-Hauberg standards. After Hauberg’s death in 1969, a memorial garden was established in his honor adjacent to Sullivan-Harrell Hall. Speaking at the dedication, Graves said, “The devotion and singleness of purpose he brought to his vocation resulted in the transformation of the 100-acre campus to a hill adorned with the beauty of growing things.”

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With the passing of time, however, the garden became overgrown. Hauberg’s grandson, Jackson attorney Robert Hauberg, along with his wife, Claudia, B.A. 1972, visited the garden and decided to make a gift to the College to breathe new life into the shady, sloping spot.

Todd Rose, vice president for campus services, called on Millsaps grounds director Danny Neely to restore the garden. The tangled nest of abelia came out, and beautiful purple Formosa azaleas, frost-proof gardenias, flowering quince and dianthus, with a tiny wedge of verbena for some annual color, were planted in its place. Sidewalks were widened with a gray stone border. A new bench, a model for campus-wide outside seating, provides the perfect place to enjoy the view from the western edge of the Bowl.

—N.S., J.Y.

Our First Run At Fourth Night

Preston Stokes explaining the historic significance of his family documents to Millsaps College librarian Tom Henderson and archivist Debra McIntosh.

the archives is even greater. “Mr. Stokes honored a lifetime of work by placing them in an academic setting where scholars, from beginning students up to the Ph.D. level, can use them,” she said.

McIntosh also believes it was significant that the gift is to Millsaps. “He recognizes the quality of students here that would appreciate and gain the unique opportunity to access such a collection on site rather than going to a research library,” she said.

“It expands our collection so much, and the early letters in this collection will become the oldest primary documents that we have in the archives. These are the first 18th century documents in our collection.”

—J.Y.

This year, the Millsaps College community began welcoming its newest members in an incandescent ceremony that combines pageantry with purpose. Fourth Night was instituted by the Division of Student Life as a way to bring new students into the community with a ritual that, according to Dr. Brit Katz, dean of students, “embraces them officially into Millsaps student life.”

Katz said that Fourth Night was “a unique combination of ideas” taken from research he and others did of other institutions’ traditions.

“Millsaps College, like other outstanding houses of higher education, blends students’ academic life with their campus life,” Katz said. “Fourth Night is a tradition that encourages students to reflect upon their college experience in a writing exercise followed by the ceremony itself.”

The formal inaugural ceremony required freshmen to complete a reflective paper. Rushton Johnson, assistant dean and director of residence life, said that the idea behind the paper was to characterize the participants mentally, spiritually, and emotionally before the ceremony. The

College officials and incoming students at the first Fourth Night ceremony, a ritual to introduce new students to campus life.

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essays will be revisited four years later to illustrate the students’ development during their time at Millsaps.

After the writing exercise, the new students were led in a processional into the Bowl, where the flags of the countries of international students were displayed alongside the Millsaps flag and the U.S. flag. Three banners were waved and three flames were lit, representing the three core values of the College: honor, integrity, and compassion. Fourth Night also introduced the Major Call, led by Student Body Association President Theon Johnson III. The Major Call is a pledge students take to abide by the Millsaps College code of conduct. The ceremony ended with a candle-lighting, symbolizing the passing of knowledge from the community to its new scholars.

Katz said he was hopeful that students would graduate and, 20 years hence, look back upon Fourth Night as an occasion “that stirred their hearts with emotion, pride, and love for their alma mater.”

—J.Y.

For Pre-Nursing, Improved Vital Signs Millsaps College has inaugurated another first in its academic programming by establishing articulation agreements with two schools of nursing, Vanderbilt and the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

In February 2004, President Frances Lucas called together Dr. Sarah Armstrong, chair of the biology department; Dr. Tim Ward, chair of the chemistry department; Dr. George Bey, associate dean of the division of sciences; and Dr. Richard A. Smith, senior vice president and dean of the College, to discover how Millsaps could send students to the University Medical Center School of Nursing.

“The problem basically was that the nursing school was not accepting our courses,” Armstrong said. “So after talking

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The 82nd Season of

The Millsaps Players continues with

Thursday–Saturday February 16–18 at 7:30 p.m.

Sunday February 19 at 2 p.m.

Millsaps College Christian Center Auditorium

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with the faculty at UMC, with the dean of the school of nursing and the dean of academic programs, we gave them copies of our curriculum and our syllabi, and they took them back to their faculty.”

In turn, the UMC faculty said that the courses met and surpassed their minimum requirements. “The basic requirement is a year of human anatomy and physiology, which is a freshman-level course. Our equivalent is comparative morphology and comparative physiology, which are junior/ senior level courses,” Armstrong said. “So once they actually looked at our syllabi and talked to us in depth there was not a problem.”

Armstrong said she was excited that the Vanderbilt School of Nursing, which had worked out agreements with other schools in the Associated Colleges of the South, has also established a program with Millsaps.

Under the agreement, students must complete all the requirements for a Millsaps degree, as well as the prerequisites for the Vanderbilt nursing program. Early in their senior year at Millsaps, students can apply to Vanderbilt under the guidelines to enter a master of science in nursing program in one of the specialties offered by Vanderbilt.

Armstrong worked out curriculum patterns that would allow Millsaps students to do the standard two years of pre-nursing at the College and go directly into the bachelor of nursing program at UMC. Alternatively, students could complete all or nearly all of the courses required for a degree at Millsaps and the prerequisite courses for the UMC nursing program in three years, then transfer to the UMC School of Nursing to complete two years of study toward a B.S.N. —J.Y.

Else Forum Examines Impact of Hurricanes The outlook for the Southeastern economy in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita was the topic of the 2005 Else School of Management’s Business Forum in November. An engaging slate of speakers represented the banking, technology, and real estate industries, providing insight on the economic future of Mississippi and the Southeast.

Speakers included Dr. Thomas Cunningham, vice president and associate director of research, Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank; John Palmer, founder and former CEO of SkyTel and former U.S. ambassador to Portugal, and Leland Speed, executive director of the Mississippi Development Authority.

According to Dr. Ken Harmon, dean of the Else School of Management: “The Else School has an obligation to be on the forefront of contemporary business issues facing the Southeastern United States. Naturally, the business community is concerned about the effect of the recent hurricanes on the Southeastern economy.”

The event was sponsored by Brunini, Grantham, Grower & Hewes, Cellular South, The Clarion-Ledger , and Trustmark National Bank.

—J.Y.

Tickets: $8 seniors/students; $10 general admission For further information, call the box office at 601-974-1321.

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From left, Leland Speed, John Palmer, and Thomas Cunningham at the November forum on the economic impact of hurricanes.

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The troupe Frula will bring their Balkan folk dances to campus on March 7.

Folk Traditions From the South And the Balkans The Millsaps Arts & Lecture Series kicked off its 38th season with three spectacular programs designed to entertain, intrigue, and electrify.

In September, the series hosted Southern writers Mark Childress and Inman Majors. Childress, an Alabama native and Clinton (Mississippi) High School graduate, began his career at The Birmingham News and Southern Living and has published five novels, including Tender and Crazy in Alabama, and four children’s books. He read from his September article in The NewYork Times, “To Miss New Orleans,” in which he observes, “Piety Street is one block over from Desire. Not a long walk at all.”

Majors’s latest novel is Wonderdog, the story of an Alabama governor’s son, Devaney Degraw, former child star, and

inveterate practical joker caught in the middle of a premature midlife crisis. “Like everyone else in the world, I am a lawyer,” Degraw said. “And like everybody else in the world, I’d rather do just about anything else than practice law.”

Forensic science was the focus of a mid-November program, which featured Dr. Louis Cataldie, the Louisiana state medical examiner, whose upcoming book, Coroner’s

Journal: Stalking Death in Louisiana,

is a frank and unvarnished memoir. Among the cases that he helped bring to justice were the Malvo/Muhammad Beltway sniper shootings and Derrick Todd Lee’s serial murders.

The series brought the South’s finest singer/songwriters to campus in late November, when Kate Campbell, Carey Hudson, B.S. 1985, and Will Kimbrough rocked the stage at the Ford Recital Hall.

Campbell’s unique vision led Entertainment Weekly to call her the “musical Eudora Welty.” Hudson led two influential rootsrock bands (Blue Mountain and the Hilltops) before striking out on his own brilliant career. And Kimbrough, a “first call” guitarist in Nashville for many years, almost single-handedly crafted the hugely popular Southeastern independent pop movement and has appeared on national television.

On January 17, Phillip Watson, who received a B.S. in horticulture from Mississippi State University, will present a program on a topic dear to Southern hearts: gardening. Watson’s specialty is

pattern gardens (parterres, knots, mazes), but he utilizes a wide range of styles. His exhibits include the Royal Chelsea Flower Show (London), the New York Flower Show, and the New England Flower Show, and he has been published in The NewYork Times, The Times of London, Southern Accents, Horticulture, and House & Garden.

The Learning Channel’s Trading Spaces is one of the most popular programs on television. This one-of-a-kind decorating show has made a superstar of Laurie Smith, whose “elegant but eclectic” style is shown in rooms that convey warmth, whimsy, and practicality. She’ll be sharing her expertise with the audience on Thursday, February 9. A Georgia native, Smith is a graduate of Southern Methodist University and the New York School of Interior Design.

Her Laurie Smith collection of fabrics has received national attention, and her book Discovering Home documents her personal journey through the design process of her home here in Jackson.

On the bill for February 22 is Reza Aslan, who has earned international acclaim for the passion and clarity he brought to questions about Islam in his book No God but God. Aslan challenges the “clash of civilizations” mentality and the “hijacking” of his faith by power-hungry demagogues, self-serving clergy, and the radical fundamentalists behind the 9/11 and London attacks.

Finally, on March 7, Frula will bring to Jackson a rich and colorful program of folk dances from throughout the Balkans— its core repertoire is composed of the customs and folktales gathered from these cultures, and the troupe uses motion as the element binding together these colorful traditions of music and dance. Breathtaking techniques, authentic costumes, athletic prowess, and cultural pride and joy transform these folk dances and songs into a dazzling, theatrical show.

For more information on Arts & Lecture Series events, contact Luran Buchanan, 601-974-1043 or buchall@millsaps.edu.

—J.Y.

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The action of Metamorphoses took place in and around a pool of water. Associate Professor of Theatre Brent Lefavor built the pool’s frame with two-by-fours and filled the pond liner with 4,800 gallons of water, pumped in with a garden hose.

Sparks’s Metamorphoses Transforms the Stage Under the direction of Sam Sparks, B.A. 2003, the Millsaps Players brought a powerful mix of myth and love onstage in October with Metamorphoses, the first production of the 2005–06 season. Based on Ovid’s transformation myths, the play subtly mixed the ancient stories of pathos and tragedy with contemporary language, humor, and thought, all enacted in and around a large pool of water in the center of the stage. Written by Mary Zimmerman, a professor of performance studies at Northwestern University and a resident director at the Goodman Theater in Chicago, the play opened in 2002 at Circle in the Square in New York.

“Metamorphoses is a poetic journey using Ovid’s myths to teach us about love,” Sparks said. “It is not simply a play about Greek and Roman myths. It is a play about how love transforms us. The play offered the audience something they probably had not seen onstage before: water. The action of the play took place in and around a pool of water.”

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professor of theatre, and Dr. Richard A. Smith, senior vice president and dean of the College, to produce Metamorphoses, not only because it was a great opportunity for him, but also for the students and community. “It has been a very different and exciting journey for me as a director, working with countless talents, both onstage and off,” Sparks said. “We are so thankful that Dr. Steven Smith composed original music for the show. He did some very interesting and beautiful things for the show through his music.”

According to Lefavor, Smith composed the music for both Endgame (2001) and Electra (1998). He was approached early about writing the music for Metamorphoses.

Smith said that he had seen the piece in New York and thought it to be one of the most beautiful plays ever. “It was a real challenge to produce music to go with it,” he said. “It had to be romantic, have longing, but also resonate with some weirdness because these people are undergoing these transformations.

The tone is a challenge, too, since Zimmerman blends the modern and the classical very effectively.

It was a real opportunity for me to blend in a modern feel with the classical.”

Metamorphoses was created without the typical Greek or Roman setting. “Instead, our intent was to make it more stunning, meaningful, and thought-provoking,” Sparks said.

After Hurricane Katrina, he said, it was difficult to rehearse a play that centered on water and its transformative properties. “But through the play and the storm the company was able to delve into hard questions that all begin with ‘why,’” he said.

“The ‘why’ in life is what this play is asking us to think about; not the ‘what’ or the ‘who,’ but the ‘why.’”

Sparks said he was excited when there was a consensus among Dr. Tim Coker, chair of the performing arts department; Brent Larry Denman and Neha Solanki in Metamorphoses.

Lefavor, associate

—J.Y., L.P.

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From Bagels to Grits: Southern Jewish Life “Bagels & Grits: Jewish Life in the Deep South,” a photo exhibit by Bill Aron, was mounted in the Lewis Art Gallery during November. Dr. Stuart Rockoff, historian for the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life, also presented a program on Jewish Life in the South, including a guided exhibit in the Lewis Gallery. Aron has gained international recognition for his photographs of Jewish communities around the world. Since 1989, he has collaborated with the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience on a project depicting Jewish life in the Deep South.

A volume of this work entitled Shalom Y’all, with an introduction by the playwright Alfred Uhry, has been published by Algonquin Books. The Jewish Publication Society published Aron’s first book, From the Corners of the Earth, which chronicles the Jewish communities of the former Soviet Union, Cuba, Jerusalem, New York, and Los Angeles, with an introduction by Chaim Potok.

—J. Y.

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Heard Performs With Degas Quartet Dr. Rachel Heard, Millsaps faculty artist, joined the acclaimed Degas Quartet in the opening concert of the Bell Concert Series in September. The performance included the Fauré C Minor Piano Quartet, Op. 15.

Also on the program was one of the fiery middle-period (“Rasumovsky”) quartets by Beethoven.

Founded in 1999 at the Bowdoin International Music Festival in Brunswick, Maine, the quartet is renowned for energetic performances of the classical and contemporary quartet repertoire.

Highlights of their concert career include appearances at Carnegie Hall and the Aspen Music Festival.

In preparation for the Bell Concert, the Degas Quartet and pianist Heard used part of their rehearsal time to present a demonstration for the young musicians at a local fine arts secondary school. In

“Our purpose was to help the students understand how professional musicians work,” Heard said. “We as a group had met only the day before and were preparing a 40-minute piece of music for performance on Thursday evening. The students were able to get a glimpse of what a professional musician’s world is like as we rehearsed and discussed various aspects of our interpretation of Fauré’s Piano Quartet in C Minor.”

According to Dr. Lynn Raley, associate professor of music at Millsaps: “Many of the students aspire to be professional musicians, so Rachel and the group first gave some in-depth background about the music they were about to play. Then they tried out various passages, discussing different ways they could be interpreted, and showed the students how they arrived at agreed-upon solutions without compromising the integrity of the music.

They worked on the coordination of their parts and talked about the importance of decisions about tempo and volume. This was a wonderful opportunity for these

Dr. Rachel Heard on piano accompanying members of the Degas Quartet during a demonstration for public school students.

the morning, the quartet performed for approximately 50 elementary students, demonstrating the diversity of the string instrument family and offering a brief history of music. For the afternoon class, Heard joined the group in an “open rehearsal” for 75 high school students.

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kids, and they seemed respectful and genuinely interested.”

Upcoming Bell Series events include pianist Willis Deloney and Bill Grimes, double bassist, on Thursday, January 26, at 7:30 p.m. and the winner of the Wideman Piano Competition on Sunday, February

26, at 3. All performances are in the Ford Academic Complex Recital Hall. For more information, call (601) 974-1422. —J.Y.

Singers Celebrate Worldwide Music

The Millsaps Singers presented their concert “One World, Many Musics” in the Ford Academic Complex in October.

“I think that the theme for this is important for today because we live in a community, not just a country,” said Dr. Timothy Coker, the group’s conductor and chair of performing arts. “Experiencing world music is important for students in understanding what’s going on around us.

When I look at cultures around the world, rhythmic response is important; I have chosen music that gets the singers and the audience to respond to the rhythm, or lack of rhythm, as in ‘In Flanders Field.’”

English major Antoinette Alexander, a sophomore, described the pieces as enlightening.

And, said religious studies major John Forrest Douglas, a junior: “It’s great to see music from around the world; it’s a cultural experience.”

—Jewel Johnson

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In Celebration Of Mildred Wolfe “Every painting is an attempt to remember and make a permanent record of a moment of intense visual perception.”

Mildred NungesterWolfe, a celebration of one of Mississippi’s finest artists edited by her daughter Elizabeth Wolfe, with an introduction by the writer Ellen Douglas, has been released by the University Press of Mississippi.

A former Millsaps art history instructor, Wolfe (b. 1912) is among Mississippi’s most prominent artists. Her portrait of Eudora Welty hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., and her paintings and sculptures are included in the collections of the Mississippi Museum of Art, Millsaps College, the Montgomery Museum of Art, and the Library of Congress. From the wrought-iron gates of the Methodist Children’s Home to the terra cotta statue of St. Anthony at St. Dominic’s Hospital, both in Jackson, to the mosaic fountain plaque in the First Methodist Church in Richton, Wolfe’s art has long

been enjoyed by Mississippians.

Over seven decades, Wolfe has worked in oils, watercolors, ceramics, prints, and stained glass. Her style blends Impressionism with Post-Impressionism, and her technique is influenced by her interest in the effects of light. As she put it: “I get excited about everyday accidents of atmosphere and light. Every painting is an attempt to remember and make a permanent record of a moment of intense visual perception: the delicate arabesque of weeds silhouetted against the deep russet of sedge, a sharp blue sky, the unbelievable grace of birds, etched on my memory.”

Mildred NungesterWolfe is a retrospective featuring more than 40 color reproductions of her art and a chronology of Wolfe’s life. In the book, Wolfe candidly reflects on her childhood, her training at the Art Institute of Chicago, her early career, her collaborations with her husband, Karl Wolfe, also an artist, her career as a teacher and mentor, and her techniques.

Wolfe taught art history here from 1957 until 1969. A letter from the art department acknowledging the Wolfes’ contribution to the College stated, “The Wolfe family . . . has helped strengthen the program and bring much needed diversity to the curriculum.”

Elizabeth Wolfe is an artist based in Jackson. She runs Wolfe Studio. —J.Y.

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Marrs Makes Literary History With Biography Of Eudora Welty With the publication this summer of EudoraWelty: A Biography (Harcourt), Dr. Suzanne Marrs, professor of English, has been showered with acclaim for shedding new light on the life of one of America’s most beloved and respected writers. The biography has received glowing reviews from some of the nation’s leading publications, including PublishersWeekly, The Chicago Tribune, TheWall Street Journal, and The New York Times.

Writing in TheWall Street Journal, Jay Tolson said, “Marrs embraces Welty’s own largely joyous take on her life, even while probing its difficulties and disappointments.”

In an article entitled “Eudora Welty Revealed—Off and On the Record,” also in TheWall Street Journal, Tom Nolan said that Marrs’s biography had the advantage of drawing upon Welty’s voluminous correspondence, offering readers “a much different picture of Miss Welty than they would expect from the author of The Ponder Heart, The Optimist’s Daughter, and One Writer’s Beginnings.”

In The NewYork Times, Francine Prose said Welty was “reluctant to have her biography written, and her unease could hardly have been assuaged when Ann Waldron’s 1998 study, Eudora, presented her, in Marrs’s estimation, as an ‘ugly duckling.’ But having known Welty since 1983, Marrs ... received not only her friend’s permission but access to a large collection of her letters and manuscripts.

Only the family correspondence, sealed until 20 years after Welty’s death [in 2001], remained off-limits.

“The result is a book suffused with

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the respect you can imagine feeling for a charming, elderly Southern lady who has invited you in for iced tea and egg salad sandwiches—and who happens to be a genius. Given how often biographies make us wonder why their authors chose to spend years exposing the despicable secrets of such apparently vile subjects, Marrs’s admiration and tact are at once appropriate and welcome.”

Marrs is also the recipient of the Phoenix Award for Distinguished Welty Scholarship. She is the author of TheWelty

Collection: A Guide to the EudoraWelty Manuscripts and Documents at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History and coeditor of EudoraWelty and Politics: Did the Writer Crusade?

Of the biography, Marrs said: “I really have been working on it since I have been studying Eudora Welty. When I started examining Welty, I was interested in the biographical prompts to her stories: what had happened in her life and her experience that prompted the story

and how the story transformed actuality. And I finally published a book on that in 2002, OneWriter’s Imagination.

“After that, I started writing the biography, but I had been doing research on material directed at a biography prior to 1998,” Marrs said. “A lot of my research for the previous book was useful, as well. I spent three years actually writing the biography, but a lot of the work was done before then. So actually I’ve been working on it for 20 years, but I’ve been writing it for three.”

Of the book, Marrs said: “I think there are things in there that are surprising—the extent of Eudora’s interest in politics, the tremendous amount of time she spent traveling, the fact that she was not simply cloistered here in Jackson but was out and about traveling, for instance, in 1937 by car on primitive roads to Mexico with three of her friends, making trips to Europe on her own in 1949 and again in 1951 and 1954.

She went to New York often, spending several months at a time, spending several months in San Francisco at different times.

I think those things will surprise people, because I think the popular image of her is often someone who is just living over on Pinehurst Street.”

Marrs also writes about the two men Welty was deeply in love with and those relationships. “I think most people don’t know about those relationships,” Marrs said. “One was with John Robinson, who was from Jackson, also a graduate of Jackson High School. That romance lasted for a good long time, from 1937 up until 1952.

“The other was a very deep attachment to Kenneth Miller, who wrote under the name of Ross McDonald. Tom Nolan, who wrote a really fine biography of Miller, had mentioned something Reynolds Price had told him, which is that when Miller was here in 1973 for Eudora Welty Day,

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he told Reynolds, ‘You love Eudora as a friend; I love her as a woman.’

“But Nolan didn’t have access to the correspondence between him and Eudora, and I’m the first one to have seen that. Those letters show how deep the attachment was on both sides. They talk about writing, they talk about dealing with the tragedies in their lives, they talk about political events, and they talk about how important they are to each other. Not love letters, but I would say that they’re loving letters. It was good to know about that attachment and to bring that information to light.

Kenneth Miller was married to another writer, the novelist Margaret Miller, and I do not believe that there was ever an affair between Eudora and Miller, but I do believe that they loved each other, or were in love with each other.” —J.Y.

Davis’s Mission To the Middle East The tiny kingdom of Jordan could be compared to a tightrope walker, persistently trying to maintain balance knowing all the while that a step too far to the left or the right could bring dire results. The country, flanked by Iraq to the East and Israel to the West, has one of the most pro-American and pro-Western governments in the Middle East. But with more than half of Jordan’s population of Palestinian origin, relations between Israel and Jordan are often tense. Despite a peace agreement in 1994, the two remain uneasy neighbors.

Add to this situation the November bombings and the radical Islamic jihad against the Western world coming from Jordan’s east side, and it is no small wonder that Americans are fearful of visiting Jordan and distrustful of its population.

Yet Dr. David Davis, associate dean of Arts and Letters, took a trip to that region in January 2005 and had the opportunity to see the Islamic culture in a way that is often ignored by the Western media. He was

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invited into many homes and treated warmly.

The Council of Independent Colleges sponsored a seminar at the American Center of Oriental Research in Amman, the capital of Jordan. Davis was among 14 American professors invited to stay at the center and learn more about the Middle East and modern Islam.

Davis met with Jordan’s Dr. David Davis with Prince Hassan, who served as crown prince of Jordan for 34 years.

Prince Hassan bin Talal, who served as crown prince of Jordan for 34 years. Although they think we are.” the throne reverted back to King Hussein’s Among the trip’s many points of son, Abdullah, after the king’s death in interest was a tour along the desert 1999 Prince Hassan has remained active highway to Petra, an excursion to the Dead in peace issues and interfaith dialogue. His Sea, and visits to desert castles. The itinerary presence at the seminar underscored his also included stops at the Azraq Oasis and dedication to bringing people together on Umm el-Jimal, an area about 50 miles from an international front.

Amman that is known for its large amounts “His concern is that Americans will of dark, volcanic stones. become so fearful and suspicious of Because of American involvement in Muslims that we will not develop the kind the war in Iraq, and the perception of of communication and understanding that American support of Israel against the he sees as necessary to really bridge cultural Palestinians, there are valid concerns gaps,” said Davis. “Of particular concern for the safety of Americans in parts of are the new immigration issues. It is very Amman. However, Davis said he felt very difficult for Jordanian scholars to get into safe throughout the trip and would love to the United States. return.

“Prince Hassan was very pleased that “The main thought that I want to we were there, and he encouraged us to share is that face-to-face communication do as many different things as we could— really makes a big difference and moves us especially to visit the families.” forward,” Davis said. “The circle of hatred Davis and the other seminar is based on this vicious cycle that starts participants were welcomed into many with fear and leads to segregation. When homes during their stay in Jordan, you are segregated from people, you are including a Muslim home, a Christian ignorant of them, and the more ignorant home, and the home of a wealthy you are of someone, the more fearful you Palestinian family. Davis said the people felt are of them. The cycle just continues. very comfortable talking with them, and all “You can’t understand the complexities had the same question: Why are Americans of a culture until you have a chance to in this conflict? talk to a wide range of individuals. As you “They hear what the media says, become more aware of these cultures, you but they wanted to know our personal will see the different ways that people are perspective on the war,” Davis said. “I trying to survive. We all are just trying to explained that many Americans are much survive.”

—L.P. more sympathetic to the Palestinians than

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A Former Dean Sows New Seeds Of Contemplation Robert and Elizabeth King didn’t see much of each other during the spring and summer years of their lives. But in 1996, a year before Robert retired from his post as vice president and dean of the College, they discovered— during a brief family reunion—that they had embarked on parallel inner journeys that would immeasurably enrich their AutumnYears, the title of the book they co-wrote and published in 2004.

AutumnYears:Taking the Contemplative Path (Continuum) takes the form of a conversation between Robert (or Bob, as he was known to the Millsaps community), signified by an oak leaf at the start of each passage, and Elizabeth, indicated by a maple leaf. The couple’s alternating insights drift down, gently, like leaves in the reader’s path. And one shares, intimately, in their moments of clarity, their epiphanies, and their amazement at the synchronicity of inner and outer events.

Robert and Elizabeth’s mutual dedication to spiritual exploration, along with their love for each other, led the pair to marry in 1999 and set out on pilgrimages that would take them to some of the world’s most sacred locales—and deep within themselves. “Elizabeth and I began our late-life journeys of selfdiscovery independently,” Robert writes.

“Only after we were well on the way did our paths converge. You may call it synchronicity or providence or just good fortune, but we seem to have found each other at just the right time.”

“Our separate paths had merged into one,” Elizabeth writes. “It would not be the conventional path marked out by religious tradition, but one of our own making, incorporating contemplative practices from

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various traditions and that was all right. We were ready to walk together as interfaith pilgrims in a spiritual adventure filled with discovery and grace.”

The authors’ journey is genuinely inspiring, their voices always honest, always prodding r e v i e w readers to find their own way. One need not be facing retirement to benefit from the Kings’ experiences, for the wisdom they share is universal. But anyone experiencing a major transition—a divorce, separation, or illness, for example—is likely to be especially inspired.

At an age when many are slowing down, perhaps narrowing their scope of experience, the Kings seem to have broadened theirs, picking up the pace to find their peaks of mental and physical awareness. Retirement was a “new beginning” for Robert, a professor of philosophy and religion. “I was aware that many of my colleagues did not look forward to retirement,” he writes. “For them it held nothing but loss—loss of status, loss of purpose, loss of connection to a meaningful enterprise. Some looked

forward to retirement as a time for travel and the pursuit of other interests; few, if any, saw it as a time of new beginning. Yet that is precisely how I was coming to regard it.”

Fueling this new beginning was a deepening commitment to meditation and a desire to discover where it could lead within the framework of Christianity. Recalling his years in academia, Robert writes about his introduction to the practice: “As a college professor of religion, my initial exposure to meditation came from teaching undergraduates about Eastern religions. It was a purely intellectual interest at that time: I wanted to understand how this practice functioned in the context of religious traditions that were foreign to me. Yet as I went more deeply into the subject I became aware that there were parallels within Christianity. My research took me eventually to the Christian mystics who practiced a form of meditation not unlike what one finds in both Hinduism and Buddhism. Called contemplative prayer, it is a nonverbal form of prayer in which the person enters into a deep inward silence, standing as it were in the presence of God, without the benefit of words or images.”

The Kings are candid about the conflicts they have sometimes felt in reconciling Eastern and Western traditions in their own hearts. But they call themselves “interfaith pilgrims,” and voices from many religious traditions have informed their evolving vision of faith as limitless, unconfined by dogma.

For those who have yet to study comparative religion, the book is an effective introduction to many intellectual strains in spirituality—from Thomas Merton, who brought concepts of contemplation to Christianity, to Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese Buddhist monk, to Carl Jung. “Elizabeth and I consider ourselves ‘dual citizens’ in respect to our religious identity,” Robert writes. “We have not given up one identity in order to take on another, but rather participate freely

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in both traditions. It is our contemplative But their journeys have also separated practice that is the common denominator.” them, for both seem unyielding and AutumnYears works on several levels— uncompromising in their quests for selfyou could find it on awareness. “How the self-help shelf much more we “My research took me or in the spirituality enjoy our time section, or among together when a few eventually to the Christian the memoirs. For not threads of private only is it a survival mystics who practiced a form time are woven into guide for living out the fabric of our the so-called golden of meditation not unlike what lives!” Elizabeth years with purpose writes. “In this way, and direction, one finds in both Hinduism we encourage one but it is also an another to develop adventure story that our relationship and Buddhism.” seamlessly weaves with the indwelling together physical and divine.” metaphysical events.

How can devotion to meditation, a One highlight of that adventure is practice that leads inward, be reconciled the Kings’ trip to Thich Nhat Hanh’s with the pursuit of deep connection with meditation center, the Plum Village Sangha another? “If one takes up the practice as in France. On the way, the couple lost a way of escaping the world and life’s their luggage—each at different times. But problems and never grows beyond that, even in so mundane an inconvenience, she may get lost in egoistic concerns and Robert found a message. As he observes: become something of a recluse,” Elizabeth “The particular constellation of events, writes. “However, when rightly practiced, first losing Elizabeth’s bag and then mine meditation brings true self-awareness, a under totally different circumstances, state of being that leads beyond ego. As was certainly unusual, yet not in itself Zen Master Dogen has written, ‘To study synchronistic. What made it synchronistic Zen is to study the self. To study the self is was the meaning it had for us. At the to forget the self. To forget the self is to be same time all of this was happening, we enlightened by all things.’” were on our way to a spiritual retreat, one Jung is also quoted: “In my picture of purpose of which was to learn to let go of the world there is a vast outer realm and attachments. . . . The inner meaning of the an equally vast inner realm; between these trip corresponded to what was happening two stands man, facing now one, then externally, a sequence of events we could the other.” And for the reader concerned not possibly have anticipated and certainly with the inner realm, this book provides did not cause to happen, while the two many resources, signposts, and concrete together—the inner and the outer— suggestions: among the techniques contributed in an important way to our described are “sitting meditation,” spiritual development.” “centering prayer,” “walking meditation,” On yet another level, AutumnYears is a “lovingkindness meditation,” “sacred love story. Elizabeth’s descriptions of the reading,” “koan study,” and “music kind of intimacy that can exist at this stage meditation.” in life are candid and moving. “Whereas With its many references to a spectrum earlier in life, sexuality may be thought of of religious, philosophical, and literary as something to do for a thrill, at this time voices, AutumnYears could be seen as a of life it’s more likely to be an expression survey course in spirituality, one that of sustained love between two people,” she nudges the student to find a practice that writes. truly resonates. And it will encourage those

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planning for retirement—and perhaps anxious over the time when certain professional and societal cloaks would be hung up—to embark fearlessly on their own journey through the spectacularly colored autumn woods.

For more information on the book and how to order a copy, go to the website autumnyears.org. AutumnYears is available at Amazon.com.

—John Webb

Opportunities to Learn From the Kings’ Journey Robert and Elizabeth offer a two-day workshop, “Recovering the Contemplative Dimension of Faith,” on present-day contemplative practices.

Drawing on Christian and Buddhist traditions, the workshop offers practical instruction in several forms of contemplation. It is presented in an ecumenical spirit with opportunities for discussion and feedback.

The Kings also offer a weekend workshop, “Purpose in the Autumn Years,” for persons seeking meaning in the latter half of life. Participants are invited to consider what they might let go of at this time in life, as well as ways in which they might call forth and develop the inner gifts that will enable them to harvest the wisdom gained through years of experience.

For more information about either workshop, email the Kings at mail@autumnyears.org or write to them at P.O. Box 571, Green Mountain Falls, CO 80819.

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Zale Honored With Humanities Teacher Award Dr. Sanford (Sandy) Zale, associate professor of history, received the 2005 Humanities Teacher Award in October, which is celebrated by the Mississippi Humanities Council as Arts and Humanities month. The Humanities Teacher Awards are given to one humanities faculty member at each institution of higher learning in the state. The title carries a cash prize of $500. The nominating institution must match that amount, typically by providing promotional costs and Dr. Sanford Zale, winner of the 2005 Humanities Teacher Award. a reception following the public presentation.

“Dr. Zale is widely regarded as one awarded in April 2003 to fund his research of the most colorful professors at Millsaps,” in France during the summer of 2003. said Dr. Richard A. Smith, senior vice Zale is a scholar of medieval history president and dean of the College. “He is a who has written numerous articles and superb teacher, famous among his students conference papers on France, and especially for his high standards and his energetic the French monarchy in the late Middle and engaging lectures and classes. Dr. Zale Ages. His latest work is a review of Joël is a respected leader among the faculty Blanchard’s translation of Philippe de who always speaks with great passion and Commynes’s Mémoires, a record of the eloquence about the issues that concern triumphant policy of the crafty French him. His dedication to his students, his sovereign Louis XI (“The Spider”). Zale has colleagues and the College makes him also published in Sewanee Medieval Studies a very deserving choice for this year’s and Comitatus: A Journal of Medieval and Humanities Teacher Award.”

Renaissance Studies.

“It’s a great honor,” Zale said. As the “Sandy Zale is an extraordinary Humanities Teacher Award recipient, Zale teacher,” said Dr. Robert McElvaine, chair presented a public lecture entitled “History, of the history department. “He is known Freedom, and Friendship” in November. among students as the liveliest, most “The subject represents an old-style energetic, and enthusiastic professor humanities lecture with classical, humane at Millsaps. As one student wrote in an ideas that fit in well with the spirit of the anonymous evaluation, ‘His charisma award,” Zale said. and eccentricity only add to his teaching Zale received a B.S.F.S. summa cum skills, making it near impossible not to laude at the Georgetown University School pay attention; he made the course matter of Foreign Service, a License in History enthralling.’ from the Université de Nice, an M.A. in “‘He is a history genius,’ another history from Ohio State University, and a student wrote, ‘but above all, he loves what Ph.D. in history from Ohio State. Zale is a he does for a living. There’s no doubt about past recipient of the Faculty Development that, and no one does it better.’”

—J.Y. Grant and the Hearin Fellowship, both

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Storey’s Article On 19th Century Africa Wins Prize Dr. William Storey, associate professor of history, is the 2005 recipient of the Society for the History of Technology’s annual prize for the best article. The article, “Guns, Race, and Skill in Nineteenth-Century Southern Africa,” was published last year in Technology and Culture. It is based on Storey’s 1998 research in South Africa.

He said that “in the article, white people who wanted to discriminate against Africans depicted them as highly skilled with guns,” while “white people who wanted to support Africans,” for example, missionaries and philanthropists, “had a high opinion of them but portrayed them as unskilled.”

The award was presented at the annual SHOT meeting in Minneapolis in November. “Historians have not written much about skill. I think they gave me the award because I opened up this issue for discussion,” said Storey. “This is what I see as my main contribution to historians.”

Storey earned a B.A. from Harvard University, graduating magna cum laude, and an M.A. and a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in history. He is the 2004–05 recipient of the Outstanding Young Faculty Award.

Storey is the author of an edited volume, two books, articles, essays, reviews, and conference presentations. His research has been supported by the Hearin Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the American Historical Association, and the Fulbright Scholarship program.

He is writing a book entitled Black Guns

andWhite Power: Disarmament and British Rule in South Africa.

—J.J.

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Cox Named Dean Of Enrollment Management Mathew Cox, former director of recruitment operations at The University of Southern Mississippi, has been appointed dean of enrollment management at the College, which began a national search in June 2005 to replace Ann Hendrick, who left the College after 17 years of service in financial aid and admissions.

“We interviewed strong candidates from Alaska to New York,” said Frances Lucas, president of the College. “As fate would have it, the candidate who emerged with overwhelming support from the majority of those who conducted the interviews, and the most glowing references, comes to us all the way from Hattiesburg, Mississippi.”

Cox said he was looking forward to many Millsaps enrollment successes. “It is a pleasure to be at Millsaps College and to work with such supportive faculty and staff,” Cox said. “Additionally, there are many higher education professionals around the country who would jump at the chance to work under the guidance of Dr. Lucas and her administrative team, so I feel extremely fortunate to have this opportunity.”

Any institution faces challenges of one kind or another in its recruitment endeavors, Cox added. “The key, though, is to have an outstanding educational experience to offer prospective students as the foundation for enrollment building— Millsaps obviously has this,” he said.

While at USM, Cox advanced from student guide, while he was an undergraduate, to become the director of

a large department of 20 employees and a $1.2 million budget. “In large part due to Mathew’s talented leadership, USM has grown in enrollment by approximately 17 percent over the last 10 years,” Lucas said. “Additionally, his team has greatly strengthened the academic profile of the Honors College.”

Moreover, Cox has designed a winning alumni recruiting program.

“Mathew and his team have accomplished these goals in the face of some difficult public relations challenges,” Lucas said.

Cox has won many awards, including the Distinguished Sales and Marketing Award presented in 2000 by Sales and Marketing Executives International– Hattiesburg. He is currently pursuing his doctorate in administration of higher education from USM. He has an M.A. in public administration and a B.S. in political science from USM. —J.W.

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FacultyStaff &

Arts and Letters Lynn Raley (performing arts) and Rachel Heard (performing arts) performed

Igor Stravinsky’s Concerto for Two Solo Pianos at the 2005 Associated Colleges of the South New Music Festival at Birmingham-Southern College. Raley was also invited to perform at the Virginia Highlands Festival in Abingdon, where he gave a solo recital. Heard also appeared in the Bell Concert Series at Millsaps with the Degas String Quartet,

Mississippi Writers Center Association’s fi fth annual conference, where former Governor William Winter was the keynote speaker. The conference provides an opportunity for educators from public and private high schools, and two- and four-year colleges and universities to discuss the needs of Mississippi students. This year’s theme was “Tell It Like It Is: Using Our Stories to Shape Our Future.” Educators from across the state were invited to share stories about successes and concerns in the teaching of writing in classrooms and writing centers. Four Millsaps peer writing tutors were among the presenters.

In Search of Hannah Crafts: Critical Essays on the Bondwoman’s Narrative, edited by Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Hollis Robbins (English), was reviewed by Elaine Showalter and English Showalter in the Aug. 18, 2005, London Review of Books (“Every Single One Matters,” Vol. 27, No. 16).

Science and repeated the performance with them in their opening concert of the UBS Chamber Classics Series in Hickory, N.C., where they are Chamber Music America Artists-in-Residence.

Steven Smith, Darby Ray, Loye Ashton, and James Bowley (religious studies)

George Bey (sociology-anthropology)

presented a paper entitled “El Rostro de Chichen Itza (The Face of Chichen Itza)” at the 2005 Dumbarton Oaks Pre-Columbian Symposium. The symposium’s theme was “The Art of Urbanism: How Mesoamerican Cities Represented Themselves in Architecture and Imagery.” The symposium was co-sponsored by Mexico’s Estudios Precolumbinos and was held in Mexico City in October. The symposium papers will be published by Dumbarton Oaks as a contribution to their series in PreColumbian studies.

hosted a three-day symposium in October open to students, faculty, and staff. John Dominic Crossan, a highly sought-after New Testament scholar, presented a program entitled “Jesus & Paul and Rome & America—Disaster Comes from Nature; Injustice Comes from Empire.” The event was a Faith and Reason Seminar made possible by the D. A paper by Mark Lynch (mathematics), L. Dykes Jr. Foundation in cooperation “A Paradoxical Paint Pail,” has been with the Department of Religious Studies. accepted for publication in The College Mathematics Journal. The paper gives an Kathi Griffin (writing center) was example of a mathematical paradox: a both the host and a presenter at the

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pail that can hold a gallon of paint, but since the pail has infi nite surface area the pail itself cannot be painted. The standard example given in calculus texts is an infi nitely long horn. His example is the fi rst known bounded object with this paradoxical property.

Michael Galaty (sociology-anthropology)

spent the fall semester of 2005 on sabbatical in Paris. While abroad, he presented papers at the Sorbonne, the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium, and the University of Sheffield in England. In 2007, Galaty will lead (with William Parkinson, Florida State University) an advanced seminar on trade and interaction in the eastern Mediterranean during the Bronze Age. The seminar, which will take place at the prestigious School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe, will include top scholars from the United States and Europe, and the proceedings will be published by the school’s press.

Jimmie M. Purser (chemistry) made a presentation at the 57th Southeast/ Southwest Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Memphis in November. The presentation, entitled “Senior Chemistry Seminar—A Revision,” is a follow-up to a presentation Purser made at the 225th National ACS Meeting in 2003 in New Orleans entitled “Technological Literacy and Information Fluency in the Senior Chemistry Seminar.” The current presentation addressed “ethics in chemistry” and how “role-playing scenarios” are used to explore this concern.

Debora Mann (biology) was invited to present the program “Environmental Contaminants and Breastfeeding” at the annual Breastfeeding: The Gold Standard conference for health professionals cosponsored by the Mississippi Department of Health and La Leche League.

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Sarah Armstrong (biology) co-authored a paper, “Modular Laboratory Courses: An Alternative to a Traditional Laboratory Program,” published in the September issue of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education Journal.

Else School Of Management Ajay Aggarwal (management) published

an article entitled “Kano Method: A Transferable, Quality Assurance Technique for Management Education” [co-authored with Ray Phelps (marketing) and Bill Brister (fi nance)] in International Management Review. In addition, he has been appointed to the member services committee of the national Decision Sciences Institute for a two-year term. He has previously served on the organization’s instructional innovation committee and the strategic planning for international affairs committee.

Kevin Pauli (management) presented a paper, “Determinants of Ethical Work Climate: The Effect of an Honor Code, Religiosity, Ethics Education, and Institution Type on Ethical Work Climate,” accepted for the 12th Annual International Conference Promoting Business Ethics and co-authored with Tammy Arthur (Mississippi College), at the Manhattan campus of St. John’s University in October. He also presented another paper co-authored with Arthur entitled “Contracting Jobs: Should IT Stay or Should IT Go?” at the 2005 Southern Management Association Meeting in Charleston, S.C., in November.

Staff An article co-authored by Brit Katz (student life) entitled “The Union of Academic Affairs and Student Affairs in

an Italian Study Abroad Program” has been accepted for publication in The Journal of College Student Affairs.

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national associate member fi rm who has contributed significantly at the regional and the national levels of NACA.

Cindy Strine (student life) received

Regina Italiano (business) attended the National Association for Campus a 1099 conference hosted by Balance Activities South Region C. Shaw Smith Consulting in Memphis. The conference, Founder’s Award at the Regional “Form 1099 Year End Reporting,” dealt Conference Awards Banquet in October. with IRS issues that directly affect the The C. Shaw Smith Founder’s Award is accounts payable office, including the the highest honor presented by the NACA form 1099s fi led for the College each South Region. It is given to a student, January. staff member, or associate member at an NACA South member school or

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What Millsaps faculty and staff are reading, including their own reviews and comments: Kevin Pauli, professor of management information systems, has been reading Secrets & Lies, by Bruce Schneier, which “examines many of the security challenges created by the Internet and networking,” and Why I Hate Flying, by Henry Mintzberg, “a quick laugh at airlines, customer service, and the joy of travel.”

Daphne Knight, records analyst, recently finished reading The Million Dollar Divorce,

by R. M. Johnson. “The book shows how a wealthy entrepreneur attempts to dump his childless wife—without losing half his fortune. Throughout the book, I continuously tried to understand why a man would go as far as to actually set up another man to date his wife—a woman that he loved very much. How could he be so cruel to a woman that has been through so much with him? … I love suspenseful novels and this book hit it right on the head for me.”

Kathi Griffin, writing center coordinator, has been reading “Marilyn Robinson’s Gilead—both meditative and exhilarating; and Suzanne Marrs’s EudoraWelty: A

Biography, a one-to-one tutorial by an amazing writer about her favorite, and a nation’s favorite, writer. I love the passionate voices of both women.”

Jesse Yancy, associate director of media relations, is reading Gore Vidal’s Julian.

“First published in 1964, the book is a fictionalization of the life of the Emperor Julian (332–363 A.D.), often styled ‘the Apostate’ because he renounced his Christian upbringing to devote himself to the restoration of the old Roman religions.

This was Vidal’s first attempt at historical fiction (which he became quite good at), and while it smacks of a Robert Graves ripoff (Claudius the God), the book gives a good account of the early beginnings of the Eastern Empire, which were Byzantine indeed. Unlike Graves, Vidal has two other characters who comment on Julian’s account of his own life, often spar over what actually took place, and take potshots at each other during the course of the narrative. Vidal doesn’t seem to have any overt agenda, either, which is refreshing and surprising considering the subject matter: Julian comes off just as badly as his adversaries.”

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The Eyes of

Hurricane Katrina,

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in Our Own Words

By Scott Albert Johnson

“

that you have to put everything of value

in your car, then drive wherever, and be at

“

the Storm

Even if you didn’t lose your life, the fact

the mercy of wherever you land and the

people you end up staying with—it’s a very,

very humbling and sobering reality.

T

hey stand out like supernovae in the cosmos of our shared past, these moments.Where were you when John F. Kennedy was shot in Dallas? When Neil Armstrong took mankind’s giant leap? When the twin towers collapsed, taking with them America’s sense of security? Those of us who remember any of these epochal events can add another name to the list: Katrina.

One of the most destructive natural disasters in American history, Hurricane Katrina made an unprecedented impact on the Millsaps College community. From the physical damage to the school to the many lives that were forever transformed by the storm, Millsaps went through one of the most trying ordeals in its existence and lived to tell the tale.

We talked to Millsaps faculty, administrators, and students about the days immediately before, during, and after Katrina. What follows is an oral history of those days as they were experienced on campus.

Dr. Frances Lucas, president, Millsaps College: We started hearing

the warnings the Thursday before, when the National Hurricane Center in Florida said very clearly, “It’s coming and it’s the real thing; it’s a Category 5.” We pulled together a meeting of our emergency committee, and there were about 20 people there.

We started thinking about preparing the campus with flashlights and how to use what few generators we had. We started planning where to put the students in the worst hours of the storm. We talked about food and water, checking our supplies and gasoline.

We met pretty regularly throughout the storm.

The Reverend Lisa Garvin, campus chaplain: I had to go to

Brookhaven on Sunday morning to preach. I went to bed Saturday night, and they were saying it was a Category 3 storm, and that it would be a Category 4 within 24 hours. Well, I got up Sunday morning and it was a Category 5. I then realized—having been raised in south Mississippi—that this was very serious. On my way back from Brookhaven, I called Dr. Lucas and said, “Do we have a plan, and do I need to be a part of it?” She said that the emergency committee was meeting on Sunday afternoon.

Dr. Brit Katz, dean of students: The College shifted into an

emergency preparedness mode. By the weekend, we realized that it would definitely hit us, and we began to ask individual departments to brace for the hurricane’s assault, with an emphasis obviously placed upon human safety and health and availability of water and food services. We presumed that the power would fall-winter 2005

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“

It is our first charge to protect the student body, and so we didn’t

Patti Wade, director of communications: Our work in

leave. I slept on my floor. I had no

“

go off; we hoped not, but we anticipated a worst-case scenario.

lights, no water, no gasoline to get

to and from the house, so why go

with the news media by cell phone.

Later, as cell phone service became patchy or nonexistent, and as media outlets that did have working land lines were inundated with calls, we used fax and even hand delivery of messages to the media.

communications was completely home, anyway? So I just went back focused on the effects of Hurricane Katrina before, during, and for two to the office and just camped out. weeks after the storm. At 9:30 a.m.

As the hours turned into days, it became the morning the storm hit, I joined clear that Jackson had not emerged from a group from technical services Katrina unscathed.The loss of power and clean water throughout the city, to discuss whether and when to shut down network services to combined with the spotty availability of gasoline, made for frayed nerves maintain the safety of the network and the data it hosts. Millsaps and a complete disruption of any kind of normal routine. On campus, relies heavily on electronic communication, and we knew our tools toilets in the dormitories were unflushable, creating a sanitation emerwould be severely limited after a shutdown. The technical services gency; an ad hoc “bucket brigade” was convened to solve the problem. group then presented the necessity of a clean shutdown to the president and the emergency management team at 10 a.m.

Frances Lucas: We had about a million dollars worth of damage…

Hurricane Katrina came ashore on Monday morning, causing apocalyptic levels of devastation across the Mississippi Gulf Coast and the near-total flooding of New Orleans. By the time the storm moved as far north as Jackson its intensity had abated somewhat, but the city was still lashed by hurricane-force winds for more than eight hours. Before the winds subsided, the campus had lost power, water, and most avenues of communication.

Frances Lucas: It hit Monday afternoon. We met Tuesday morning

at 9 to assess the damage.

We had a lot of wires down, and the buildings crew came in and took care of that.

Our resident students had no power and, pretty soon thereafter, no water. Our dedicated food services staff cooked by candlelight and gas light and fed the students.

mostly things like trees down, roof parts blown off. Just about all our freezer foods had to be thrown out. There was water damage that got into the basement and ruined some of our publications.

Things like that. So it was about a million-dollar storm for Millsaps. At one point, we determined that we had to let the students go home because we were running out of food. So we made the decision that we would stay closed until September 12. But many students couldn’t leave, and obviously we made arrangements to take care of them. We had saved enough food to feed them.

Brit Katz: We were pleased

that all students and community workers were safe, but the city of Jackson was without power, without water, and without easy highway access to any point south of the city. The one issue we did not anticipate was the disappearance of a Lisa Garvin: The computer consistent gasoline supply. folks had told us Monday We had repor ts from morning that they wanted to Entergy [the local electricity The College grounds staff with one of the fallen oaks in the Circle on the east side of campus. turn off the server at noon. We utility], the city of Jackson, knew that morning that we would probably lose power, so that’s and other sources that were involved in gasoline supplies. They were when the computer folks decided to turn off the server. Everyone giving us conflicting reports. There were contradictions. The student was told to go home at noon except for essential personnel and body was confused about the different signals that we were sending. staff members who lived on campus. I decided to stay on campus, At the time each decision was being made, the signals were based because I live in Belhaven in a little house surrounded by trees. And upon the best information we had at the moment, but the informaI felt safer being in these sturdy buildings. tion kept changing.

Patti Wade: Our challenge was to get out information about the

Lisa Garvin: Every decision seemed right at the time, but it

College when nearly all communications systems were down. After we lost electrical power, we initially were able to communicate

seemed like as soon as we could get that decision communicated, there was more information that made you want to rethink what

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“Everyone showed patience, shared limited resources, listened to one another in anxious moments, and even cleaned up after the storm,” said Todd Rose, vice president for campus services.

you had decided. Our biggest struggle was that none of our normal communication methods were up. The telephones were out by then, our computers were down, so we had no means of communication without calling everyone into one place.

So we decided that we had to pull together that night after we sent everyone away, saying, “Please don’t go south, but if you live north or west of here please go there and take as many friends as you can.”

Todd Rose, vice president for campus services: Everyone showed

patience, shared limited resources, listened to one another in anxious moments, and even cleaned up the campus after the storm. As always, our community stepped up to the plate at a necessary time.

Brit Katz: It is our first charge to protect the student body, and so

we didn’t leave. I slept on my floor. I had no lights, no water, no gasoline to get to and from the house, so why go home, anyway?

So I just went back to the office and just camped out.

The water was still off, however. We sent R.A.’s to Greenwood [in the Mississippi Delta] to get 500 gallons of drinking water.

Lisa Garvin: The lack of potable or otherwise usable water was

becoming a public health issue. Everything was beginning to smell bad. We decided to organize a “bucket brigade” to get fresh water from the swimming pool into the toilets so that they could be flushed. Water came before the night was over, but maintenance folks took care of that. They did what we had intended to do.

Brit Katz: The decision to dismiss classes until September 12, in

retrospect, was visionary leadership on the part of President Lucas.

We needed an extra week to get ready for classes and to deal with the gasoline situation. It also gave parents and students associated with other schools on the Gulf Coast time to collect their thoughts on the most significant natural disaster in U.S. history—and a

chance for them to consider transferring to Millsaps.

Once power and communications were restored, and the water situation came under control, thoughts turned beyond issues of immediate survival toward more medium- and long-term issues. Many students needed to get information about loved ones in the hardest-hit areas south of Jackson. Others worried about their ability to pay their educational expenses because of lost family income. Administrators, faculty, and students tried to help the best that they could in the midst of an uncertain situation, while also reaching out to the larger community beyond Millsaps.

Brit Katz: Students will start to wonder how they will be able to

pay tuition and fees for next semester because their financial aid packages were arranged for the entire year this past spring and summer, before Katrina hit.

Lisa Garvin: I especially thought it was important for me to be

here for the kids from the Gulf Coast who couldn’t make it back home. There were a couple of kids who had still not heard from their families, and I watched them really closely. They were in pretty good spirits for the first 24 hours, but you could see the weight that they were carrying. Even though you would say, “How are you doing?” and they would perk up and say, “Oh, I’m fine.”

I even made an agreement with one: “I’m not going to ask you anymore if you’ve heard from your family again, because I know you’re tired of that question, but please let me know when you do hear from them.”

When the electricity was restored, those two students had started seeing images from the Gulf Coast, and I was really worried about that. That’s what consumed my thoughts all night. So I came up here that morning to help those students find their parents. I had no sooner walked in than those two students ran up to me asking if they could have some of the bottled water that we had bought.

They had heard from another student who had made her way to the fall–winter 2005

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communicating … getting Gulf Coast, and they knew things together to help the that they could get down people who needed it. I there, and they were going. really enjoyed it. It got me I didn’t try to stop them. off campus to help others Later someone said, “I can’t who needed help. believe we let them leave,” and I said, “Would anyone Brian Emory, former sports have stopped you?” information director: They’re fine now. They The football team traveled got there and found their to Biloxi with enough families safe, but with difhamburgers, hot dogs, ferent degrees of damage. chips, and water to feed The best thing that we over 500 citizens. Head could do was to give them coach David Saunders drove what they needed to get there. I had really informal Members of the Millsaps Majors football team distributing food to victims of Hurricane Katrina in Biloxi. a cargo truck that hauled two grills and boxes of conversations with students frozen food to the Joppa from New Orleans, some of Shrine Temple, a point of distribution for the area. Shriners set whose parents were with them. Mostly what I felt was important up the tables, the coaching staff set up the grills, and the lines of was for me to be present, whether people needed me or not. people started to form after word spread.

Frances Lucas: There were many students who had no place to

go from campus, for many reasons. We assured them that they could stay and that we would take good care of them. I got many requests from around the community and region for volunteers.

I started sending out emails about these requests that were immediately responded to by faculty and staff. We did a lot of things for the city. We housed FEMA workers and washed laundry for Entergy workers. We served as a communications center for the Red Cross. Various student groups were dispersed all over town to help with volunteer efforts.

Tim Wise, men’s basketball coach: On the day before students

started back to class, we got word that a UPS 747 was coming from California to Jackson with supplies for those displaced by the storm. We had 30 or so Millsaps students, most of whom were men’s basketball and baseball players, go out to the airport to help unload the supplies from the plane. We unloaded about 30 of these 10-foot-high igloo-shaped “bubble containers.”

I had gotten the request for help from Christ United Methodist Church, which was doing a lot of the collecting and organizing of donated supplies. They asked me because they knew we had the manpower to get it done. We thought it was a good way for us to do something as part of the chain of relief. Now that we are back at school and in class, the opportunities for the kids to help out with the relief effort are limited. This was something our guys were able to do with their strength and energy.

Lorenzo Bailey, a sophomore from Jackson: There were so many

of these tubes of supplies that we were unloading from the plane and then loading up onto crates. There were all these people out there working for hours. Everyone was using teamwork out there,

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A group of Millsaps students also made a journey to a shelter at Crossgates United Methodist Church in Brandon to help some of those displaced by Katrina. Led by Dr. Loye Ashton, religious studies professor, and Garvin, the volunteers stayed overnight to help with laundry, housekeeping, working the registration desk, security, and answering the phones 24 hours a day. Ashton, whose wife is the associate pastor at Crossgates, described an intense learning experience for the volunteers.

Dr. Loye Ashton: It was a real new experience for these students

to see folks in this kind of a situation. I think the impression they came away with was very sobering. It helped them to recognize that this type of storm just totally devastates people. And even if you didn’t lose your life, the fact that you have to put everything of value in your car, then drive wherever, and be at the mercy of wherever you land and the people you end up staying with—it’s a very, very humbling and sobering reality.

David Steinwinder, a junior from Laurel: As I was assigned to this

job or that, I realized that making coffee, answering phones, sitting at check-in tables, and washing linens were just ways in which my real purpose for being at the shelter was revealed. What these people largely needed was the presence of others. Even though my small duties were important in their own way, I truly felt like I was helping even when all I was doing was pacing up and down the small pathways, waiting for someone to call on me.

I believe there is contentment in knowing that the ones who surround you are willing to do what they are capable of to assist you, even if all they have to give is a miniature cup of coffee and a smile.

“

“

I think we were all, to a person, changed by what happened.

Millsaps also opened its doors to students from other parts of the region while still trying to ensure that current students had a place where they could confront the many emotional issues wrought by Katrina.

Frances Lucas: The minute we realized that students from schools

in New Orleans and other areas would need a place to go, we posted on our website a notice inviting them here, along with a quick and easy one-page application. We assessed our residence hall space and determined that we could house the incoming students, or, as we are calling them, our September transfers.

Then the phones started ringing, and we admitted about 80 students, and 50 arrived. And 49 are still here. I expect all of the 49 to finish the semester. Beyond that, I don’t know. If they want to stay, they are welcome here.

Brit Katz: We continue to be vigilant about monitoring the financial, spiritual, and emotional stress on our students. Katrina has affected the financial wherewithal of all of our families from south Mississippi, and especially the Gulf Coast and New Orleans.

Their faith in the future has been shaken, so we are worried that their sense of hope may be diminished.

We want to help them to recover from what has occurred. We want to make sure that emotional outlets are available to them. We hope that they can talk to us and let us counsel them.

Frances Lucas: I feel like it wasn’t until October that any

semblance of day-to-day normalcy returned to Millsaps. A lot of people had damage to their homes. Lots of people like me had relatives living with them, evacuees living with them. I think that our September transfers have had a lot of trouble focusing on their Brit Katz: We are schoolwork because attempting to help of fears and emotions the September about the house they transfers any way no longer have or the we can. We mourn parents who may no with them the loss of longer have jobs. their communities.

I think we were We love it that they all, to a person, are here, but we hate c hanged by what the reason that they h ap p e n e d . I t h i n k were sent to us. And that, in particular, the we are doing the students and faculty best that we can to who volunteered at make sure they feel the Red Cross and welcome at Millsaps. down at the Coliseum We would love it if [where many evacuees Chris Spear, a junior from Slidell, and Dr. Timothy Coker, chair of performing arts, cleaning up after the storm. they stayed with us, were housed] are all but it is unlikely for changed. Most of us those juniors or seniors who already had established a sense of felt overwhelming gratitude. I personally felt so thankful, in a way social networking and membership in a group of scholars at their that I have never before, for air conditioning, or water to drink. I former schools. think it was a great wakeup call for those of us who are the “haves” However, we do hope that, for some of the freshmen who regarding how much we have. started at another school for a few days and then were forced to There’s an even larger lesson here. Katrina has made us more evacuate, they might find that Millsaps is a happy and exciting com- aware than ever of the forces of nature, and that we are not in munity of scholars and leaders with a strong history and future. For charge. I think that, spiritually, that can be a riveting realization. We those students, we think there is a higher probability that they will just aren’t as in charge of things as we think we are. stay with us in the future. We have seen at least seven freshmen that have indicated a desire to stay at Millsaps now that they have started This story contains additional reporting by Jesse Yancy and Lisa Purdie. here, and they are adjusting their plans accordingly.

As life goes on, at Millsaps and around the region, the impact of Katrina continues.While day-to-day life is no longer consumed by constant reports of gas lines and other harrowing tales from points south, the lessons from this terrible storm still resonate. Some of these lessons are cautionary, while others are positive—the proverbial silver lining that can hide within the darkest, most tumultuous storm clouds. fall–winter 2005

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What Lies Beneath On campus, a microcosm of the universe

By Jesse Yancy

T

he writer Eudora Welty describes a sense of place as “one of the lesser angels,” and although the spirit she wrote of in her essay “Place in Fiction” is literary, any encounter with any place challenges our eyes, our minds, and our hearts. And school campuses evoke a special sense of place because they engage our senses at a time when the greater world as a whole is becoming more known to us.

Reuben Millsaps wisely decided upon the highest hill in Jackson as the site of his College; after all, it was far above the floodplain, and the vista echoed his vision of an institution dedicated to the higher instincts in the human animal. But he was faced with the visage of a hundred acres ravaged not by wind or water but by war.

Recovery came slowly, and even 25 years later the woods on the hills off newly extended North State Street and the ground beneath them were still largely eroded and denuded.

It took decades for the campus to become more than simply a place for buildings and playing fields. One of the first members of the Millsaps community to recognize the need for an external environment that mirrored the richness of the College was Fred Hauberg. According to Benjamin Graves, who was College president from 1965 to 1970, the Millsaps community could measure time by pre-Hauberg and post-Hauberg standards. He was loved and respected—almost held in awe—by his friends on campus. The devotion and singleness of purpose that he brought to his vocation resulted in the transformation of the 100-acre campus to a hill adorned with the beauty of growing things—and he has the gratitude of students, faculty, and staff.

The Hauberg spirit still imbues those who see Millsaps as an organic whole, a true environment, a microcosm of the universe, if you will, and a door to a world that sometimes has a way of asserting itself in the ivory towers of academe. For instance, during a recent Heritage lecture on Plato and Aristotle, Dr. Steven Smith found himself faced with a jumping spider eyeing him from the desktop.

“Jumping spiders will make eye contact with you,” he said. “They’re

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“We are here on the planet only once and might as well get a feel for the place.”

—Annie Dillard very visual. They just don’t wait in their webs. They prowl around.

You know you’re being looked at.”

Smith seized on the opportunity to impart another lesson, one that Aristotle, a student of nature himself, would have appreciated.

He spoke to his students of the importance of seeing, of being aware of the world around you in ways that many perhaps may have never considered before. “I think almost anyone who went to Millsaps would speak with regret about not having gotten to know some other person they were at Millsaps with,” Smith said. “It’s a presumption that we would have known one another, that we would have done something together, because that’s what makes us a rich community; we get to join forces with lots of different people in lots of different ways.

“But the community, in fact, is a lot larger than human. We have plants and animals, too, and it’s a matter for regret to have four years on campus and not realize that we have certain kinds of birds not only living but nesting here, that we have insects in our gardens.

Because that’s part of us, too; we were all living here together; we were all sharing this plot of land.”

And there is much to see. Although some might deride such an urban environment as the Millsaps campus as ecologically compromised, it too is evolving, developing, becoming more diversified.

For those who open their eyes, the campus is indeed a place of discovery.

Ostensibly, the campus is pristinely maintained parkland, but it’s also a haven for many species of plants and animals that aren’t necessarily part of the master plan. Native plants thrive despite the efforts of the grounds crew to keep them at bay, and exotic plants hold their own in an often unfriendly environment. At any given time of the year, you’ll find birds in abundance. In the spring, clouds of warblers and other northbound birds sift through the foliage for insects, and permanent feathered residents—jays and wrens, cardinals and towhees, mockingbirds and woodpeckers—give voice to the trees and shrubs.

Robert Nevins, professor of biology, with a characteristically wry grin, said, “I use the campus to introduce my labs to fire ant hills.” But outside of that, Nevins said the campus is useful for such lab-related purposes as principles of landscape design, plant taxonomy and plant materials, and the confluence of evolution and landscape adaptations. Nevins said he had employed the campus in conjunction with a variety of courses.

“One of my favorite books is Reading the Landscape of America,”

by May Theilgaard Watts, Nevins said, which discusses “how you could analyze the climate, topography, human influences, history, etc., by understanding the vegetation. It takes a while, but on a local level, that’s what I do with my classes.” Nevins also remembered, “In the good old days, when we had a two-semester botany course, I’d do two or three field trips around the campus and wind up by the frat houses, where they’d send out a pledge with a beer.

“One other thought to which I’ve actually given a lot of consideration is what I call ‘The Arboretum Thing,’” Nevins added. “I think an incredibly good idea would be to establish an organized, perma-

nent tree and shrub planting, specifically to sistant professor of geology, explained that the provide examples of various flavors of trees, area east of the baseball field had developed up to six or eight species of pine, and eight to into a true wetland over the past 30 years due 10 species of oak and other species.” to the construction of the field itself.

Dr. Deborah Mann, associate professor of “What we think happened is that we have biology, also uses the campus as a “living lab.” a terrace deposit of loosely consolidated sands Early in the fall semester, her botany class went and sandy clay that was deposited after the on a scavenger hunt looking for specimens of Robert Nevins and a student on a campus nature hike.

Yazoo clay,” Galicki said. “The Yazoo clay does many of the organisms they had studied. “I not let water flow through. Then these other also gather specimens on campus to show in class,” Mann said. “For sandy deposits came in, capable of letting water flow through them. example, Ginkgo biloba is a wonderful example of a ‘living fossil,’ So where these sands have filled in low spots on top of the Yazoo the only extant member of phylum Ginkgophyta, which had many clay, naturally you have water flowing. more species back in the days of the dinosaurs. Our ginkgo trees on “Where this wetland is, there was a small drainage through the area where they built the baseball field. When they built the field, campus look very much like those of 150 million years ago.

“In ecology, which is taught in the spring, we conduct a lab on they recontoured the slope. Over the past 30 years or so, this area pollination in which we investigate the relationship between flower has become a manmade wetland.”

The wetland is tiny, slightly less than an acre, but comparatively characteristics and the kinds of pollinators they attract,” Mann said. rich in flora. The first indication of its existence was a small stand of Students also conduct group projects during which they design and willows and soft ground. The wetland is now sectioned off from the carry out their own experiments. These can be done either indoors surrounding campus and supports a lush growth of grasses, wildin the lab or outdoors on campus, and many groups choose outdoor fl owers, shrubs, and seedling trees. projects.

“I have had two students complete honors projects over the past For example, one group wanted to know how squirrels choose seven years on the hydrology and development of the wetland,” where to make their leaf nests (called dreys). They looked at such Galicki said.

“The students get real world experience doing aquifer variables as the height, diameter, and species of the tree, as well as tests.

I have also installed four shallow water wells on campus that the distance the squirrel would have to jump to get to the nearest we use in my hydrogeology class.” neighboring tree. In the process they mapped more than a hundred In addition to using the campus as a living lab, it is also the squirrel nests. After all, these rodents are the second most common setting for classes meeting outside to take advantage of the serene mammals on campus. Opossums and raccoons occasionally find natural setting. But the campus is not simply an external setting for their way to Millsaps, as well. education.

Properly maintained and utilized, it is an essential part of Mann added that other professors have used the wetland area on the educational process itself. the north side of campus for their experiments. Dr. Stan Galicki, as-

“We shall never achieve harmony with land, any more than we shall achieve absolute justice or liberty for people. In these higher aspirations, the important thing is not to achieve but to strive.”

—Aldo Leopold fall–winter 2005

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You Have to Be Carefully Taught

By John Webb n a little classroom in Tupelo, scattered with little desks and little chairs, little people are grappling with a big idea. The children, ages 6 to 7, are considering what it means to live an authentic and respectful life—to make choices based on “what is true and good and right.” In other words, to have integrity.

Pretty advanced stuff for first graders. After all, those are the same ideas that students in the Millsaps Faith & Work initiative are encouraged to tackle at the college level. So perhaps it comes as no surprise that it was three Millsaps alumnae who created and developed the groundbreaking curriculum ABC Integrity Time, which has been quietly making its way into classrooms across Mississippi, the nation, and the world.

For the founder of the program, Sara (Williams) Berry, B.S. 1988, it was concern for her daughter, Katie, that led her into Church Street Elementary School’s first-grade classroom, where she began to teach the meaning of integrity from lessons she had written at home. “I did not start out trying to write a book,” said Berry, an education major with five children. “I started out volunteering in my child’s classroom. My first child was starting first grade, and each week I would write a lesson on integrity. The children really responded well to it.”

It satisfied in their hearts a universal hunger for a sense of right and wrong, she said. “I believe strongly that integrity should be caught but it also should be taught,” Berry said. “We should lead our lives in such a way that it is caught through example, but I also believe that children need to be taught these principles in a way that they can understand, so that they can learn to choose what is true and good and right.”

Soon after Berry began the classroom project, pupils were talking about their integrity lessons at home, and the program became contagious. Other parents wanted to get involved. “Then the PTA became involved, and other teachers wanted to use it, and by the next year the whole school was covered with different volunteers doing it,” Berry said.

Meanwhile, teacher Allyson (Shive) Willis, B.A. 1995, was discovering, at the behavioral level, overwhelming obstacles to learning in the classroom. “I was an education major at Millsaps,” said Willis, business manager of Integrity Time. “When I graduated, I started teaching fifth grade. There were so many behavior and communication problems that often I couldn’t teach because the classroom was so volatile. I would have to stop the class, go out to the playground, and do activities to help the children learn how to communicate, treat each other with respect, and work together as a team—so that the environment would calm down enough that we could come back into the classroom and learn.”

modification during the week.”

Armed with the Berry said the program was conviction that improving the written to require a minimal classroom environment was time investment.

“The whole a key to healing a behavioral program can even be led by crisis in education, Willis volunteers if the parent-teacher pursued a master’s degree in organization gets involved,” counseling. “That way, I could she said. “Teachers have a lot come back and work with going on. We wanted to keep it kids on the basis of teaching simple so that they didn’t have them techniques where to spend a lot of preparation they could learn to control Luanne Funderburk, a parent volunteer, teaching Integrity Time at Church Street Elementary. time on it and could hand it over to a volunteer if they so chose.” their anger and behavior so that they could move past that to Class supplies are included in the book in reproducible form. learn more,” she said. “I love the students. I love the educational The teacher can make the puppets and use them in class or allow environment, and it made me sad to see so many kids having the children to make the puppets and take them home. The so many difficulties with their behavior, which kept them from puppets are especially helpful because the message comes from learning. And it was sad to see some teachers not being given the the character as opposed to an authority fi gure, such as a parent or skills that they needed to help manage these behaviors.” teacher, said Luanne Funderburk, a parent volunteer who teaches When Willis saw firsthand how Berry was teaching integrity in the curriculum. the classroom, she took what the children were learning and used There are other auxiliary components that drive home the that in her therapy sessions. “I saw also how it was being carried message of each lesson. “They can take home the music CD, there into the home,” Willis said. “It not only helped behavior and is a frame you can print out that says ‘I Am a Kid of Integrity’ that attitude in the classroom but also in the home. And so that’s how you can put the child’s photograph in, there are nametags and we started to form a company and put it into print.” color stickers,” Willis said.

As Willis and Berry began codifying what had been informal ABC Integrity Time has an originality that appeals to children, class discussions into a standardized curriculum, they knew they says Diana Ezell, principal of Church Street Elementary, thanks would need eye-catching visuals that would hold the interest of in part to the parent volunteers.

Ezell said children may respond young children. Enter Tracy (Applewhite) Broome, B.A. 1989, who better to a volunteer than a teacher.

“To have someone fresh come had studied business and art at Millsaps. in gives the material a whole new meaning,” she said.

“Tracy was my sorority little sister at Millsaps, and she has her Educators say it works.

“Just after this lesson that we did about own design company in Gulfport,” Berry said. “When we formed respect, one of the children came back and said that another child a company, Integrity Time LLC, and began to think of graphics, we was not being respectful in the bathroom and slammed the door,” knew Tracy to be very talented and full of integrity, so we got her said Kim Fandel, a fi rst-grade teacher at Church Street.

“Once we involved.” had done a lesson about kind words and unkind words, sweet Together, they produced a curriculum featuring catchy rhymes words and sour words, and a child came to me and told me about and chants to help children remember the lessons learned, a CD a classmate who wasn’t being respectful. She, too, had slammed of familiar tunes (e.g., “If you’re happy and you know it, clap the door on somebody. That child was internalizing what she had your hands . . . ” becomes “If your attitude is good, clap your learned by watching another child’s behavior.” hands . . .”); a complete set of reproducible puppets with both Fandel said that misbehavior at Church Street School had positive and negative character traits—children engage in role play declined because of ABC Integrity Time and another characterwith such characters as Helpful Henry, Kind Katie, and Negative building program called Random Acts of Kindness. “The number Narl, and take-home sheets to encourage home discussions of kids sent to the principal’s office is down,” she said. “They’re about each lesson. The songs and rhymes were written primarily learning to control themselves better and thinking about what

by Berry, and the folk-flavored CD was produced by Rivers they’re doing more often than acting out right off the bat. We’ve Rutherford, the Emmy-winning Nashville songwriter. talked about the implications of their actions.”

The emphasis is on simplicity, with both the pupils and parent The children also respond to the positive reinforcement of volunteers in mind, Willis said. “The format is simple, easy, and metaphors, games, and treats.

“As long as there’s something direct, so kids can get the most out of the time possible,” she tangible that they can hold on to, they remember the message,” said. “Even though it is just a 20- or 30-minute lesson per week, Fandel said.

“Like once we made a trail mix to represent individual the kids can think of those puppets and say, ‘How would Selfish contributions to a team effort.

When we talked about sweet and Sellie handle this? How would Positive Polly handle this?’ And sour words, we had sweet candy and the real sour, lemony type the teacher can take all the concepts they’ve learned and use candy.

Those kinds of things really catch their attention. One time those to help reinforce the lesson or bring about helpful behavior

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“ABC Integrity Time has the potential of positively changing our classrooms, our we made bookmarks out of tongue depressors homes, our as a reminder for them to watch their words.” and even the Ezell, who has been principal at Church Street for 15 years, said that Integrity Time had helped ease tensions created by rezoning in Tupelo. “The demographics have fluctuated downtown more than any other area of Tupelo,” she said. “Integrity Time has really helped bring kids into line with the culture of the school. Integrity Time and other programs that support character development here have helped create and reinforce a stable environment for that demographic change.”

She added that Integrity Time had helped create a sense of an enlarged family among parents and all the children of the school.

“We have the wealthiest families and also the poorest families that come here,” she said. “I’m fortunate that parents here are as interested in all the children as they are in their own.”

To see results of ABC Integrity Time, you just have to watch how the pupils treat each other. “I’ve seen days that a particular problem between the students has been exactly what the lesson was about,” Funderburk said. For instance, one girl was being verbally abusive to a classmate, Funderburk said. “It was ugly, what she was saying about another student, and that is exactly what we were talking about in our Integrity Time lesson—calling names,” she said. “You could tell the girls felt bad and started opening up when they realized I didn’t hold anything against them. I would love to see it get into as many schools as possible because I think it’s a creative way to teach life lessons to the children.”

According to Willis, ABC Integrity Time is now being used in seven elementary schools in Tupelo as well as in other areas of Mississippi. It has also spread to Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky, and Texas and been used in an elementary school in South Africa.

Integrity Time was even donated by a Memphis philanthropist to a school in China. “The message is universal,” Berry said. “It’s not culture-specific. We have had people in other countries say they’d be willing to go through the curriculum and mark words that might need a teacher’s guide explanation. We’ve had requests to

communities,

have it translated into Spanish in Ecuador and Peru, but we haven’t gotten that far with it world.” yet.”

“ABC Integrity Time has the potential of positively changing our classrooms, our homes, our communities, and even the world,” said Kate Butler, the principal of West Corinth Elementary in Corinth, where Integrity Time has been taught for three years. “Character education in schools is so important in today’s diverse society. Without such values as respect, kindness, cooperation, and integrity, the academic achievement would be futile.”

Often, the Integrity message is spread through personal connections and word-of-mouth. To cover costs, Willis said, schools can apply for grants or participate in a corporate sponsorship program. The Pierce Foundation is an underwriter in Corinth, Coca-Cola helps shoulder the cost in Tupelo, and in Columbus, a restaurant franchise, Sweet Peppers Deli, has stepped in with funding.

Integrity is also being taught in churches and other religious settings such as parochial schools. “Sara has written a biblical version,” said Broome, who has won an Addie Award for the program’s graphic design. “The book we use in schools doesn’t bring in biblical aspects, and there are no references to scripture,” she says. “But the biblical version allows you to tie these ideas into the Bible.” She added that the religious version had not yet been published, but that is one of Integrity Time’s next projects.

The program has yet to be used in the public schools of Jackson, although it has been adopted in several preschools. “We are very interested in finding sponsors willing to put it in school systems where there are a lot of severe problems, where we could go in and train teachers and volunteers and make a difference where kids are dealing with a lot of social and behavioral problems,” Willis said.

She added that Millsaps had taught her to be creative and “to use your giftedness” as a tool for contributing to the greater good. “Millsaps also taught me how to think,” she said, adding

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R-E-S-P-E-C-T (And What It Means to Me) As the first graders gather at the feet of parent volunteer Luanne Funderburk, their faces light up as they join in the opening ritual of ABC Integrity Time . . .

What time is it?

“Integrity Time!

“Tick tock says the clock “The time has come today, “To think about the way we act, “And learn a better way!”

Today, Funderburk says, the session will focus on the letter “R,” for respect. She discusses different kinds of respect: —respect for the laws of nature (she holds an object over a little boy’s head and asks what would happen if she dropped it); —respect for the law of the land (she produces a picture of a judge), and teachers, parents, the police, and other authority figures, —and, finally, respect for the law of the heart.

“That means we show respect for those around us and respect for ourselves,” Funderburk says. “It means we respect our conscience and we act kind and honorably to everybody around us. You know that good feeling we talk about? We want to keep that good feeling. When you do things you know are right, you’re going to have it. When you start having that question, ‘I just don’t know; I’d better stop and think.’ That’s your conscience trying to tell you something.

“Make the choice that gives you that good feeling. Y’all are going to love that good feeling. It always wins out in the end. It does.”

Together, the class spells out the word R-E-S-P-E-C-T, assigning a meaning to each letter: “Remember—that there are always others in authority over us.

Remember to respect each other,” Funderburk says.

“Enjoy—the differences in people. Not everybody’s the same.

“Say—Bad words?” (“No!” shout the kids.)

“Put—on a respectful face.

“Encourage somebody. Don’t let them down. What you say to somebody may make all the difference in the day they’re having.

“Consider the consequences. Being disrespectful always has consequences.

“Treat others how?” (“Like you would want to be treated!” the children exclaim.)

“What do you think of when you hear the word ‘treat’ ”?

“Candy!” the children shout.

“Well, I have a treat to remind y’all how to treat others,” Funderburk says.

And that means treats for all as the class is soon spelling out the word “RESPECT” with graham crackers, icing, and chocolate drops.

The lesson on respect? The children just ate it up.

From left, ABC Integrity Time creators Allyson (Shive) Willis, Sara (Williams) Berry, and Tracy (Applewhite) Broome with students at Church Street Elementary in Tupelo.

that Drs. Marlys Vaughn and Connie Schimmel had helped her to understand children and develop a passion for creating an educational environment. “A lot of times it’s more about the environment the adult creates than it is about the child, and it’s our responsibility as educators to create an environment that can foster learning and where they can bloom,” she said.

Willis’s father, Bob Shive, a professor of math and computer science at Millsaps, praised his daughter’s involvement. “The curriculum that these young women produced is getting children started early in their thinking about what it means to have integrity,” he said. “This seems to me to present a great opportunity to show an example of how Millsaps graduates are making a difference in our world.”

Are they? Just ask the kids.

One said she had learned to stop and think before screaming at her little brother for breaking one of her toys. Another said the lesson on attitude helped her to welcome the arrival of a sibling without rivalry for her parents’ attention. “I learned not to have a bad attitude when he was born,” she said.

A third pupil said that if a classmate was mean to her she tried to never be mean in return. “I always look for a different way to handle it,” she said.

“I’ve learned to treat people the way you want to be treated and help people the way you want to be helped,” said Shannon O’Brien, 6.

Erica Fay, 6, said she had used the principles of Integrity on the playground. “Morgan and I are best friends and we play together and we take turns,” she said. “Today is her day to pick a game to play. Tomorrow is going to be my day.”

Would the world be a nicer place if more people had studied Integrity?

“Yeah,” she said. “It would.”

Those interested in bringing this program to their children’s school may contact AllysonWillis at 662-231-9929. Or call ABC Integrity Time at 662-844-0813 or visit the website www.integritytime.com.

Athletics At 48, Harper Tackles A Lifelong Dream What do Dr. Frances Lucas and Jim Harper have in common? In 1978, they were both college students. What do Lucas and Harper not have in common? Lucas is now

The Sporting News, The Birmingham News, and The Clarion-Ledger have published features on Harper, and a film production company has been shooting footage for a documentary about his comeback.

the president of Millsaps College, where Harper, age 48, is once again enrolled as an undergraduate student. And get this: He’s playing football.

Lest you think that you’ve wandered into a Twilight Zone episode, it should be made clear that, yes, this is the same Jim Harper who started several games for the Majors more than 25 years ago. Harper was one of the team leaders in tackles during that 1978 season.

But life can scuttle the best laid plans, and a family emergency led him to drop out of school. He got married, started a successful restaurant equipment business in the Birmingham area, and had two children. But the gridiron bug never completely went away, and the death of a close friend made Harper think hard about life’s priorities. Against the advice of his wife and just about everyone else, he decided to put his business on hold, enrolled in Millsaps as an art history major, and started getting ready for training camp.

Harper has no illusions about the

prospects of a 5-foot-11, 205-pound tight end easily old enough to have fathered any of his teammates. He’s doing it for the love of something deeper. “I had wanted to come back to Millsaps for years,” Harper said. “It was always in the back of my mind. I finally got my business in the position where it was a possibility. Not long after that, John O’Brien, one of my best friends and my daughter’s godfather, died last year. He was an amazing artist, and I had talked to him for many years about going back and finishing what I started. He always encouraged me to go for it. With his passing, I decided that it was time. I used his life and friendship as an inspiration.”

Harper’s comeback has attracted a lot of attention. Several publications—including The Sporting News, The Birmingham News, and The Clarion-Ledger—have published feature stories about him. A production company has been shooting footage for a documentary on Harper’s dream season.

Harper knew that he’d have to get in top condition if he intended to be serious about football at his age. So the former triathlete began a three-day-a-week weightlifting regimen and ran sprints at the track. Harper was a week late reporting to camp because a doctor thought he might have a coronary blockage, which turned out to be a false alarm.

When Harper did report, not everyone on the team was impressed. “When they said this 40-year-old guy would be playing for us, I think we pictured Julio Franco, some super athlete with a six-pack,” said offensive tackle Chuck Stall in an interview with The Sporting News. “Jim just looks like an average 40-year-old.”

That’s not too bad for someone who’s actually 48. Not that it’s been easy.

“Recovery time takes a lot longer at this age,” Harper said. But it hasn’t been only the rigors of wind sprints and blocking drills that have tested Harper. His other “real life” responsibilities remain, and one very unexpected, unwelcome, and epic event made life especially challenging.

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“When I decided to do this, part of the deal was that a lot of the responsibilities of my business would be handled by a friend in New Orleans,” Harper said. “But when Hurricane Katrina hit, that became an impossibility for him. It’s made it much more difficult on me, and I have had to miss more practices than I would have wanted.

“I am so happy that I have done this, but it’s been a lot bigger strain than I realized. Even in practices, especially lately, basically I find myself thinking about my business—having to get a crew here, equipment to a customer there. If I could just play football, it would be so easy. Football at 48 is hard, but my other responsibilities in life are tougher.”

Harper credits his coaches and teammates for making the football part of the equation as smooth as possible. “I really have a lot of respect for the coaching staff,” he said. Head Coach David Saunders, a New Orleans native, hired Coach David Johnson from St. Augustine High School in New Orleans after the school was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. “Coach Saunders gave Coach Johnson a chance to get into collegiate coaching, which is kind of a blessing in the middle of a terrible situation,” he said.

“My position coach, Jack Wright, has always been very positive and encouraging, as have the other coaches. As for the players, these kids are inspiring, as well. This season hasn’t gone very well in a lot of ways, but there have been a lot of mitigating factors.

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They are just a great group of athletes.

I’m sure a lot of them thought of me as a novelty, and maybe some still do, but I think they have seen that I am still here, and I can take a knocking.”

“He’s a big role model for us when we see him bust his butt,” Millsaps quarterback Raymece Savage told The Clarion-Ledger.

For his part, Jim Harper sees this dream season as its own reward. “I want to complete the season and finish what I started a long time ago,” he said.

“I definitely plan to finish my Millsaps education, although it will have to be part time.”

What about football? “I have one more season of eligibility left, but my wife would kill me,” he said with a laugh.

—S.A.J.

Ranager Fieldhouse Honors Former Coach The football facilities at Millsaps College have been named for two of the greatest coaches in the College’s storied history.

Alumni Field was renamed Harper Davis Field in 2004, and now the football fieldhouse has been named for Tommy Ranager, Davis’s longtime assistant.

Ranager began his service to Millsaps College in 1964 along with Davis and stayed on to coach the football Majors through the 1995 season after Davis retired in 1988. Ranager coached the Majors football team for 32 years, baseball for 19, and he taught health and physical education for 28 years.

Ranager won a Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship in 1991, earning SCAC Head Coach of the Year honors. His defense set the NCAA DIII record for fewest points allowed per game

in 1980, with an average of 3.4, and the team went undefeated. The Majors reached the second round of the NCAA DIII playoffs in 1975, the best showing in school history.

A Captain’s Dinner was held in November to honor Ranager, and former players joined him on the field the following day during the halftime ceremony at Homecoming.

The College’s goal is to raise $115,000 for the completion of the fieldhouse and the concessions/rest room facility for the west side of the stadium. A $25,000 endowed scholarship has also been established in Ranager’s name.

The Harper Davis Field Campaign was a smashing success, earning more than $315, 000 to increase the seating capacity and begin the renovations of the fieldhouse.

—Brian Emory

Edge Golf Classic Scheduled in May The ninth Annual Mary Ann Edge Memorial Golf Classic, sponsored by the Millsaps College M-Club, will be held on May 12 at Lake Caroline Golf Club.

Edge gave 35 years of service to Millsaps College in a variety of roles before cancer took her life, but golf was always her first love. Edge won several city championships during her playing days, and the Majors won two conference championships under her watch.

The event has broken records every year, and now a committee led by alumnus Russ Hawkins, one of her best players, has been assembled to increase the excitement around the athletics department fund raiser.

Hawkins, Mary Woodward, Dr. Dick Highfill, Mike Highfill, Dr. Pat Taylor, Dr. James McKeown, and Scott Essex make up the committee. If you would like to play next year, please contact Russ Hawkins by phone at 601-259-4328 or by email at hawk1960@bellsouth.net.

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MajorNotes Winning Weekend Homecoming 2005 took place on a beautiful autumn day, and the campus was filled with alumni and friends coming together to bask in the warmth of memory.

Reunions were held for the classes of 1955, 1965, 1975, 1980, 1985, and 1995, and the Young Alumni party was held Saturday night at Schimmel’s Restaurant.

Some 3,500 fans flocked to see the Majors square off against archrival Rhodes College at Harper Davis Field. At halftime

ceremonies, Tommy Ranager was honored with the official renaming of the Tommy Ranager Fieldhouse. Newly inducted Millsaps Sports Hall of Fame members Shane Langston, B.B.A. 1980, M.B.A. 1982, Susan Kasperbauer-Mascari,B.A.1995, William (Billy) Mann, B.S. 1949, William (Red) Powell, B.S.1956, and basketball Coach John Stroud (1990–2003) were joined by many past Hall of Fame members, and the 1975 football team (8-1 record), which earned national recognition through regional play, was also honored.

Gina Marie Colon, 2006, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Carlos Colon of Shreveport, was crowned as the College’s 2005 Homecoming Queen.

The Majors went all out and pulled off a 30-29 victory over Rhodes that will be

remembered by the fans for years to come.

Freshman D. J. Mello of Decorah, Iowa, clinched the victory with a 31-yard field goal with 1 minute, 41 seconds remaining, snapping a sixgame losing streak for the Majors.

At the faculty Patrick Hopkins at the faculty showcase. showcase in the Kava House, Dr. Stan Galicki (geology) discussed his project in Turkey and compared his work to the popular television show CSI, Dr. Patrick Hopkins (philosophy) discussed the medical ethics of creating better-thanhuman humans, and Dr. Suzanne Marrs (English) provided access to the secret world of Eudora Welty, whose biography she published in August.

—J.Y., J.W.

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MajorNotes Who Is . . .

Matthew Luter?

Matthew Luter, B.A. 2004, a graduate student at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, appeared on the television game show Jeopardy in September. After passing the contestant test in February, producers invited Luter to Los Angeles to play in July.

A longtime Jeopardy viewer, Luter knew that he was up against some tough competition, so his “plan from the start was to play aggressively,” he said. “I decided that if I hit a Daily Double in a literature or music category, the topics I felt most comfortable with, I’d go all or nothing. I did just that, and it didn’t work out.

“A big element of the game is luck with regard to what material comes up the day you’re on. I had pretty bad luck with the categories that came up. While I could have won with different categories, I got topics that I just didn’t know too well. That and the buzzer—that thing is frustrating!”

With disappointment, he acknowledged that his winnings weren’t huge; second place is worth a flat rate of $2,000—and a tote bag. “But since I’m in grad school right now, the extra money will come in handy just to make ends meet and such,” he said. “Probably the best part has been the comments I’ve received from lots of people about how well I came across on TV, and if

nothing else I’ve got a great story for the rest of my life and a fun little distinction that relatively few people can claim.”—J. J.

Harvey’s Biography Of ‘Mr. New Orleans’ Chance Harvey, B.A. 1970, has written the first full biography of the legendary writer known as “Mr. Louisiana” and “Mr. New Orleans.” Harvey’s The Life and Selected Letters of Lyle Saxon portrays a colorful, busy life that was full of contrasts.

Saxon presented himself as the perfect Southern gentleman, but he grew up fatherless in modest circumstances. As the host of a French Quarter salon, Saxon dispensed drinks, anecdotes, loans, and advice to many friends, including William Faulkner, Oliver La Farge, and Sherwood Anderson, yet he was often lonely and retreated to his solitary cabin at Melrose Plantation.

While Saxon was ambivalent toward his work with the WPA Writers’ Project, resenting the time it took from his own writing, the Louisiana division was, under his direction, the most productive in the United States. Although Saxon’s history books brought him fame and a place in New York literary circles, he was deeply insecure about his talent and mourned his inability to write novels.

A Southern literature scholar and a longtime fan of Saxon, Harvey has

researched the facts behind the Saxon myths and presents the reality behind his legend. This volume also contains excerpts from Saxon’s correspondence with family and friends, including letters from Grace King, William Spratling, and Sherwood Anderson. Harvey received her M.A. from Duke and her Ph.D. from Tulane. She currently resides in Tylertown, Mississippi.

How Millsaps Got to Carnegie Hall From left, Cindy Brunson, B.A. 1970, of Madison, Gebby Smith,1968, of Crystal Springs, and Marion Francis, B.A. 1968, of Annapolis, Maryland, outside Carnegie Hall in New York, where the former Troubadours joined some 240 other singers from Mississippi in June to perform Verdi’s Requiem. The concert was an encore performance of a 2002 performance at Jackson’s Galloway Memorial United Methodist Church, produced as a memorial to the victims of 9/11. Also onstage were the Galloway choir, the Mississippi Chorus, and singers from other local choirs. Of soloist Anna McDonald, B.A. 1966, Francis said: “Leland Byler would have been so proud of Anna. Her solo was spectacular, and it really spoke well for Millsaps —J.W. College. We all enjoyed singing together again just like we did in our college days.”

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—J.Y.

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MajorNotes Send It In: Millsaps Magazine would like you to know that its Major Notes policy has changed. The magazine is now printing only information sent in specifically for Major Notes. In the past, material was gleaned from newspaper clippings and other sources. The change was made to protect the privacy of alumni and to simplify the editing process. We would like to encourage all alumni to send in their news, whether big or small, personal or professional, to Tanya Newkirk, Major Notes Editor, Office of Alumni Relations, Millsaps College, 1701 North State Street, Jackson, MS 39210-0001. Or fax : 601-974-1088.

Phone: 601-974-1038 or 1-86-MILLSAPS (1-866 - 455-7277), the alumni relations toll-free number. Email: alumni @ millsaps.edu. Please include your name, address, phone numbers, email address, graduation year and degree, and any news you want to share. Appropriate items include births, weddings, advanced degrees, awards, job promotions, etc. Photographs are also welcome. If you are aware of alumni who are not receiving the magazine, please send us their names and addresses.

1952 Mary Sue (Smith) Best, B.A. 1952, of Indianapolis published an article in the September issue of Grit Magazine entitled “Favorite Gardens: A Writer in Bloom,” a piece on Eudora Welty’s newly restored garden. As an associate professor of English at Purdue and Indiana universities, she taught creative writing, article writing, and public speaking. Best currently teaches writing classes at OASIS, a national organization for people over 55.

1953 Dr. W. L. (Lamar) Weems, B.S. 1953, of

Jackson was the guest of honor at a dinner in April at the River Hills Club in Jackson to kick off a $2 million campaign to fund the W. Lamar Weems Chair of Urology at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

Weems served as director of the Division of Urology in the Department of Surgery at UMC from 1969 to 1990 and as acting director from 2002 to 2003. During his tenure as urology chief, he trained more than 45 urologists, many of whom practice in the state today. Now age 70, with some of his former trainees long since retired, Weems agreed to return to UMC to serve as acting chief while continuing to maintain his private practice. He joined the faculty in 1965, after receiving his M.D. at Baylor University, completing a urology residency at UMC, and completing a urology fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Active in the professional community, Weems is past president of several organizations, including the American Association of Clinical Urologists and the Mississippi

State Medical Association. He was also a founding member of the American Trauma Society. Currently professor emeritus of surgery, Weems will retire from the practice of urology in July.

dean of the college’s Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.

Championship Communication in Gainesville.

Dr. D. Clifton Ware, B.A. 1959, of New Brighton, Minn., is the author of The Singer’s Life: Goals and Roles, published by Birch Grove Publications in October 2005.

The book is based on a series of essays written by Ware for the National Opera Association’s Opera Journal as an ongoing column entitled “High Notes.” The Singer’s Life focuses on the many complex challenges inherent in the voice profession and explores the wide variety of roles singers play, professionally and personally.

Ware is a professor of voice pedagogy and pedagogy chair of the Schuessler Vocal Arts Center at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.

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1963

1956 Dr. William (Bill) E. Lampton, B.A. 1956, of Gainesville, Ga., has been selected as a special interest speaker on cruise lines affiliated with Sixth Star Entertainment, a company that provides entertainment for more than 70 cruise ships. A nationally recognized speaker and consultant, Lampton is the author of The Complete

Communicator: ChangeYour Communication, ChangeYour Life! and president of

Dr. William (Bill) R. Hendee, B.S. 1959,

of Fox Point, Wis., received the American Roentgen Ray Society’s 2005 Gold Medal for distinguished service to radiology. He was one of only three recipients of the award, which was presented at the society’s annual meeting in New Orleans in May. Hendee, an internationally renowned radiation physicist, has held positions in radiology and nuclear medicine usually held by physicians. These include serving as chairman of radiology at the University of Colorado and as the first nonphysician president of the American Board of Radiology. He is also a representative from the field of radiology to the American Board of Medical Specialties. Hendee is president of the Medical College of Wisconsin Research Foundation and

Dr. Elizabeth B. (Box) Price, B.A. 1963, of Park Hill, Okla., received a $10,000 Course Programs Award from the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences in Berkeley, Calif., for her work “Christian Nurture and the New Cosmology.” As faculty in theological education, Price has also received grants from the Association of Theological Schools and the Templeton Foundation to support her engagement in the conversation between science and religion, as well as to explore natural science and ecological education for clergy and persons of faith. Price served as professor of religious education at Phillips Theological Seminary from 1989 to 2004.

Upon her retirement, she was awarded the rank of professor emerita.

1965 Patsy (Rodden) Ricks, B.A. 1965, of Jackson is the 2005 recipient of the Kraft

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Award for Excellence in Secondary School Teaching. This award, which recognizes outstanding teachers of Latin in public and private schools in the United States and Canada, is given by the Classical Association of the Middle West and South.

It is an organization of university, college, secondary, and elementary teachers of Latin, Greek, and other studies focusing on classical antiquity. Ricks teaches upperlevel Latin courses in grades 10–12 at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Ridgeland.

1981

1987

Chris S. Brunt, B.M. 1981, of Dallas

Holly W. (Walters) Craft, B.B.A. 1987, and Paul Craft, of Memphis are the parents of Kathryn (Katie) Anne, born on March 25, 2005. She has a brother, Collin, and a sister, Mary Sheilds.

1967

Memphis defended her dissertation on “Moral Judgment in Medical Students” for a Ph.D. in educational psychology and research from the University of Memphis.

performed an organ recital at First United Methodist Church in Dallas in March 2005.

He is an organist at Highland Park United Methodist Church and is a member of the Dallas Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.

1983 Vicki S. (Sallis) Murrell, B.A. 1983, of

Andrew Kilgore, courtesy of University Press of Mississippi.

Ellen Gilchrist, B.A. 1967, of Fayetteville, Ark., is the author of TheWriting Life, published by the Deborah (McGregor) Good, B.A. 1985, University Press of of Jackson was selected to participate in Mississippi in March “Catullus and Horace: Poets in a Landscape,” 2005. The book is a Latin institute at the College of Notre a collection of 58 essays and vignettes Dame of Maryland that took place in July. centered on the beauty of literature and The institute is a three-week program for the teaching and writing of it. In her 25 high school and middle school Latin essays, Gilchrist discusses the delicate teachers and is funded by the National balance between an artistic life and family commitments, the process of writing itself, Endowment for the Humanities. Good teaches Latin I, II, and IV in grades 9-12 at and an appreciation of other writers. She St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Ridgeland. also received the Millsaps Alumna of the Year Award in 2001. Gilchrist is the author of several novels and collections of essays, short stories, and novellas, including The Olen M. (Mac) Bailey Jr., B.A. 1986, and Cabal and Other Stories, Flights of Angels, Teresa W. (White) Bailey, B.A. 1994, of The Age of Miracles, The Courts of Love, In the Memphis are the parents of Jackson Decker, Land of Dreamy Dreams, Victory over Japan, born on March 30, 2005. Mac maintains Drunk with Love, Collected Stories, and I, his position as principal at The Bailey Law Rhoda Manning, Go Hunting with My Daddy.

Firm in Memphis, specializing in estate planning and probate in Mississippi and Tennessee. Teresa has resigned from her position as a litigation paralegal to become William (Bill) H. Leech, B.A. 1978, of a full-time mother.

Flowood has been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers of America 2006. Leech is an equity member of McGlinchey Stafford, Dr. Emery L. Edwards, B.S. 1986, and PLLC, in Jackson.

Jennifer W. (Wofford) Edwards, B.A. 1987, of Gulfport are the parents of Ada Catherine, born on Oct. 14, 2004. She has two brothers, Matthew and Allen.

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1988 William J. (Jack) May Jr.,

B.B.A. 1988, and Loree May, of Fair Hope, Ala., are the parents of William Jackson III, born on Nov. 2, 2004. He has a sister, Madeline. A commander in the Naval Reserve, William May is the operations officer for the Forward Headquarters of the Naval Expeditionary Logistics Support Force at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait.

1990 Christine (Bakeis) Esser,

B.S. 1990, of Cedarburg, Wis., was certified as a civil trial advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in June 2005. The certification is a credential reserved for lawyers who possess an enhanced level of skill in trial advocacy and demonstrate integrity and dedication to the interests of their clients. She is one of two women in the state of Wisconsin certified as a civil trial advocate. She is a partner with Habush Habush & Rottier S.C. in Milwaukee.

1991 Dr. Joel R. Epperson Jr., B.A. 1991, of Jackson is chief resident in the Department of Surgery at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson.

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Stacey F. Oliver, B.A. 1991, of Austin, Texas, is the campaign operations coordinator for the Children’s Medical Center Foundation in Austin.

1993 Jo Ann M. (Mulligan) Humphries, B.S. 1993, and Scott Humphries of Clinton are the parents of Anna Katherine, born on May 10, 2005. She has one brother, Cameron.

Leigh (Nugent) Scarborough, B.A. 1991, and Charles Scarborough of Marietta, Ga., are the parents of James Holbrook (Brooks), born on April 19, 2005. He has two Angela W. (Williams) Antici, B.B.A. 1994, brothers, Will and Lawson. and Richard B. (Brad) Antici of Madison are the parents of Thomas Parker, born on May 11, 2005. He has one brother, Drew.

Angela is controller of technical operations for Cellular South, Inc., in Jackson, and J. Hans Barcus, B.A. 1992, of Houston, Brad is an acquisitions analyst for Parkway Texas, received an L.L.M. (master of Properties, also in Jackson. laws) from the University of California, Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law in May. His studies concentrated on environmental Teresa W. (White) Bailey, B.A. 1994, and and international law. He passed the Olen M. (Mac) Bailey Jr., B.A. 1986, of California Bar Exam in February. Barcus Memphis are the parents of Jackson Decker, received his J.D. from the Baylor University born on March 30, 2005. Teresa has School of Law in 1995 and was admitted resigned from her position as a litigation to the Texas Bar that same year. In 2002, paralegal to become a full-time mother. he became board certified in personal Mac maintains his position as principal injury trial law by the Texas Board of Legal at The Bailey Law Firm in Memphis, Specialization. He returned to private specializing in estate planning and probate practice in Houston with the law office of J. in Mississippi and Tennessee.

Hans Barcus in summer 2005.

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1992

Dr. Laura C. (Christopher) Bunch, B.S. 1992, of Austin, Texas, completed her fellowship in hematology and medical oncology at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson in June 2005. In August, she joined the Southwest Regional Cancer Center in Austin as a staff physician.

Jessica D. (Deffes) Huckaby, B.S. 1992, and Lee Huckaby, B.S. 1992, of Natchez are the parents of Andrew Thomas, born on July 22, 2005.

Joseph R. Lee, B.S. 1992, of Tucson, Ariz.,

is director of sales and marketing for Manufacturing & Research, Inc. (MRI) Medical in Tucson.

Amy J. (Johnson) Hinton, B.B.A. 1994, and

Don Hinton of Hattiesburg are the parents of Donald Everett III (Beau), born on Feb. 20, 2005. He has one sister, Madeline.

Amy is an attorney and the director of Paralegal Studies at Jones County Junior College. Don is a partner in the law firm of Pittman, Howdeshell, & Hinton, PLLC, in Hattiesburg.

1995 Alison C. (Croswell) Horner, B.B.A. 1995,

and Steve Horner of Jackson are the parents of Benjamin (Ben) Castle, born on April 13, 2005. He has one sister, Jill. Alison is in her second year of an at-home business called Creating Foundations, which teaches etiquette and leadership/time-management skills to children ages 7 to 14.

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Lynn M. Pohl, B.S. 1995, and Kevin Smith of Ashville, N.C., announce the birth of their son, Ezra Adriansen, born on March 13, 2005.

1996 Christina Finzel, B.A. 1996, and Eduardo

Gomez of Commerce City, Colo., were married on Sept. 20, 2003, in Huntsville, Ala. Finzel is an attorney with Holland & Hart in Denver.

Amy (Threet) Lofton, B.A. 1996, and

Robby Lofton of Brookhaven are the parents of Shelby Marie, born on April 21, 2004. She has one brother, Trent.

Dr. Stephen A. Morgan Jr., B.S. 1996, and Amanda Bell Morgan of Houma, La., are the parents of Adeline Bell, born on May 26, 2005. She has two brothers, Preston and Avery.

1997 The Reverend Shannon R. (Rogers) Manning, B.A. 1997, of Jackson began as

chaplin for all divisions at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in September. She also serves on staff at St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Jackson.

1998 Molly Craig Austin, B.A. 1998, and David Andrew Paolicelli of Alexandria, Va., were married on Aug. 20, 2005, in Washington, D.C. Austin is the chair of the Department of English for Speakers of Other Languages at Lee High School in Springfield, Va., and Paolicelli owns an Internet consulting firm, Vivakos, in Alexandria.

Turkessa N. Irvin, B.S. 1998, and Dr. Dion D.

D. Hepburn of Birmingham were married on Nov. 21, 2004, in Birmingham. Irvin is an applications chemist for CMS Field Products in Pelham, Ala., and Hepburn is a research postdoctoral fellow in the

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Department of Pathology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

1999 Jennifer (Jenny) E. Allred, B.A. 1999, and Kevin J. Redman, B.A. 1999, of New

Orleans were married on Jan. 22, 2005, in New Orleans. Allred earned a master’s degree in photography from the University of Alabama-Tuscaloosa in May 2004.

Matthew P. McLaughlin, B.A. 1999, of Gulfport completed the seven-month Leadership Mississippi training program sponsored by the Mississippi Economic Council’s M. B. Swayze Educational Foundation in May 2005. Leadership Mississippi is the second oldest leadership training program in the nation. McLaughlin is an associate attorney for Balch & Bingham, LLP, in Gulfport.

2000 Thomas H. (Hayes) Bryant, B.B.A. 2000,

of New York City earned the Chartered Financial Analyst designation in September 2005. The CFA designation is the only globally recognized credential for investment analysis and management.

Bryant is an associate director at UBS Investment Bank’s Global Industrials Group.

2001 William (Will) H. Black, B.S. 2001, of Pearl was awarded the Curtis Delgadillo Roberts, M.D., Scholarship from the University of Mississippi School of Medicine in Jackson at the 44th Annual Honors Day in May 2005. The scholarship honors the memory of a longtime Brandon family physician who died in 1989. It is awarded on the basis of exceptional merit and/or need as well as potential for the completion of the four-year curriculum. Black has just completed his first year of medical school at UMC.

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2002 Michael T. (Taylor) Sanders, M.B.A. 2002, of Saltillo completed the seven-month Leadership Mississippi training program sponsored by the Mississippi Economic Council’s M. B. Swayze Educational Foundation in May 2005. Leadership Mississippi is the second oldest leadership training program in the nation. Sanders is a branch manager for BancorpSouth.

2003 Marlana E. (Evans) Barousse, B.B.A. 2003, and Matthew Barousse of Carriere announce the birth of their daughter, Brianna Michele, born on May 25, 2005.

Erin M. Redding, B.A. 2003, of Napa, Calif., is employed with Ledson Winery in Sonoma Valley. Her duties include serving as compliance specialist, director of shipping, accounting, human resources, and inventory, as well as helping to oversee the sales and marketing department.

2004 John B. (Brent) Guitreau, B.B.A. 2004, M.Acc. 2005, and Molly S. Allen, B.B.A. 2005, of Brandon were married on June 11, 2005, at Galloway United Methodist Church in Jackson. The bridesmaids included Robin M. Burck, B.A. 2005, Katherine (Katie) K. Fett, B.A. 2005, McKenzie K. Followwill, B.B.A. 2005, Kelly B. Miller, B.B.A. 2005, Emily E. Presswood, B.A. 2005, and Lane Williamson, B.B.A. 2005. The late Ned Welles, B.B.A. 2004, who had been chosen to be best man, was honored at the ceremony. Randi Cline, B.S. 2005, was the vocalist. Guitreau is an associate in the audit department of KPMG, LLP, in Jackson, and Allen is an associate financial representative

at the Northwestern Mutual Financial Network in Flowood.

Shalanda R. Hudson, B.A. 2004, of Oxford is pursuing a law degree at the University of Mississippi Law School.

2005 Trevor C.Theilen,

B.A. 2005, of Dallas was chosen as a 2005 recipient of the William F. Winter Law Scholarship.

Former Governor Winter presented scholarship recipients with a $1,000 check and a certificate at a special luncheon held in May at the Capitol Club in Jackson.

The eight award winners were college and university seniors from Mississippi who would be entering law school in 2005. As part of the award, each recipient was assigned a mentor from the law firm of Watkins Ludlam Winter & Stennis, P.A. Mentors keep in touch with the students throughout law school, answering questions, offering advice, and keeping track of their progress. Lisa (Anderson) Reppeto, B.B.A. 1987, an attorney at the firm, is Theilen’s mentor. He entered law school at Baylor University in the fall of 2005.

Rekindle old memories.

Visit your alma mater today!

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MajorNotes Carl D. Barron, B.A. 1962, of Madison died

Georgie Ann Davis, B.A. 1962, of Dallas died

William (Bill) L. Hardin, 1950, of Florence

on July 18, 2005.

died on Feb. 23, 2005. While at Millsaps, he was a member of Kappa Sigma fraternity.

on July 25, 2005.

on Sept. 7, 2004. While at Millsaps, she was a member of Alpha Psi Omega, the Bobashela staff, Wesley Fellowship, and participated in intramural sports. She served as women’s sports editor of the Purple &White, secretarytreasurer of the YWCA, and stage manager for the Millsaps Players.

May (Chichester) Bickart, B.S. 1939, of

Dr. Paul E. Edwards, B.S. 1953, of Brandon

Lakeland, Fla., died on July 19, 2005. While at Millsaps, she was a member of Chi Omega sorority.

died on April 4, 2005. While at Millsaps, he was a member of Kappa Sigma fraternity and played varsity football.

Isabel O. (Orrego) Blackwell, B.A. 1970, of

Jeremy (Jerry) J. Eskridge, 1955, of Tupelo

Houston, Texas, died on Aug. 22, 2005. While at Millsaps, she was a member of Sigma Delta Pi, Kappa Delta Epsilon, and Pi Delta Phi.

died on May 11, 2005. While at Millsaps, he was a member of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity and the Millsaps Players.

Dr. Oscar D. Bonner, B.S. 1939, of West

Allen W. (A.W.) Evans, B.A. 1950, of Gulfport

Columbia, S.C., died on April 11, 2005. While at Millsaps, he participated in athletics.

died on March 6, 2005. While at Millsaps, he was a member of Kappa Alpha fraternity.

James W. Kitching, 1972, of Merigold died

Helen Grace Welch Cavalier, B.S. 1930, of

Maxyne M. (Madden) Grimes, B.A. 1945,

Rodney A. Little, B.A. 1954, of Hattiesburg

Ocean Springs died on March 4, 2005. While at Millsaps, she was a member of Kappa Delta sorority, Alpha Epsilon Delta, and the Science Club.

of Jackson died on June 15, 2005. While at Millsaps, she was a member of Beta Beta Beta, Sigma Lambda, Kappa Delta Epsilon, the International Relations Club, and the Purple &White staff. She served as vice president of Phi Mu sorority, junior class editor on the Bobashela staff, and later, associate librarian for Carnegie-Millsaps library.

died on June 18, 2005. While at Millsaps, he was a member of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity.

Josephine W. (Wingfield) Beck, B.A. 1929, of

Ocean Springs died on July 11, 2005.

Allan P. Bennett, B.A. 1971, of Jackson died

The Reverend Charles D. Christian Jr., M.D.,

B.A. 1974, of Madison died on June 11, 2005. While at Millsaps, he was a member of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, Omicron Delta Kappa, Chi Chi Chi, Alpha Epsilon Delta, and the Millsaps Singers. He also participated in the Heritage program.

Betty C. (Canon) Hill, B.S. 1947, of Gulfport

died on June 19, 2005.

Daree W. (Winstead) Jenkins, B.A. 1934,

of Newton died on July 13, 2005. While at Millsaps, she was a member of Delta Zeta sorority.

The Reverend Barry Kimbrough, B.A.

1952, of Centennial, Colo., died on Aug. 2, 2005. While at Millsaps, he was a member of Kappa Sigma fraternity, and he played varsity football, baseball, and basketball. He also served as student manager, trainer, and president of the M-Club.

on April 24, 2005.

Ida Cole (Moffitt) McCool, B.S. 1935, of

Jackson died on June 8, 2005. While at Millsaps, she was a member of Delta Zeta sorority.

Dr. James N. McQueen, B.S. 1959, of

Annie M. Gunn, B.A. 1940, of Jackson died

on August 30, 2005.

Madison died on June 16, 2005. While at Millsaps, he was a member of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity and Alpha Epsilon Delta.

Marion C. (Cartledge) Hall, 1949, of George C. Curtis, 1946, of Smyrna, Ga., died

on Aug. 10, 2005. While at Millsaps, he was a member of the Science Club and played tennis. He attended Millsaps as part of the Navy V-12 officer training program.

Starkville died on June 15, 2005.

Lillian C. (Carole) Metts, B.A. 1950, of

Ralph S. Hamil, B.B.A. 1996, of Jackson died

Cookeville, Tenn., died on March 28, 2005.

While at Millsaps, she was a member of Beta Sigma Omicron sorority.

on Sept. 13, 2005. While at Millsaps, he was a member of the Adult Student Association.

Eva L. (Lessley) Oliver, Grenada College The Reverend Clifford E. Davis Jr., B.A. 1945,

Gertrude G. (Gibson) Hamilton, 1943,

of Tupelo died on July 11, 2005. While at Millsaps, he was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon.

of Jackson died on June 11, 2005. While at Millsaps, she was a member of Chi Omega sorority, the Majorette Club, and the International Relations Club. She later served on the Alumni Association Board of Directors.

Emily H. (Humphrey) Davis, 1948, of Como

died on August 20, 2005. While at Millsaps, she was a member of Chi Omega sorority.

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1932, of Grenada died on Sept. 12, 2005.

Dick T. Patterson, B.S. 1950, of Clinton died

on July 6, 2005.

DeWitt Clinton Peteet Jr., 1959, of

Greenwood died on April 19, 2005.

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Helen L. Rees, B.A. 1942, of Ridgeland died

John W. (Bill) Tarver III, 1966, of Ridgeland

Dr. Ess A.White Jr., B.S. 1941, of Stockbridge,

on April 25, 2005.While at Millsaps, she was a member of the YWCA.

died on June 3, 2005. While at Millsaps, he was a member of Kappa Sigma fraternity.

Nancy Stallings Roach, 1958, of Jackson died

Dr. Robert C.Tibbs III, B.S. 1986, of

on May 16, 2005.While at Millsaps, she was a member of Kappa Delta sorority.

Cleveland died on July 25, 2005. While at Millsaps, he was a member of Alpha Epsilon Delta, Phi Alpha Theta, and Phi Eta Sigma.

Mass., died on Feb. 23, 2005. While at Millsaps, he was a member of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, Omicron Delta Kappa, Alpha Epsilon Delta, Eta Sigma, Alpha Psi Omega, the Student Executive Board, and the Purple &White staff. He also served as editor of the Bobashela, president of the Millsaps Singers, and business manager for the Millsaps Players.

Benjamin A. Root, B.S. 1950, of Jackson died

on June 24, 2005.While at Millsaps, he was a member of Alpha Epsilon Delta.

The Reverend Resa Elijah Wasson, 1931, of

Edith C. (Cortright) Schimmel, 1944,

Wilbourn W.Wasson, B.A. 1938, of

of Jackson died Aug. 20, 2005. While at Millsaps, she was a member of Chi Omega sorority, the Beethoven Club, the Millsaps Players, and the Purple &White staff. She had been a diabetic for more than 70 years. In her honor, the Mississippi chapter of the American Diabetes Association established the Edith Cortright Schimmel Victory Award to annually recognize the lifetime achievements of adults with diabetes.

Hammond, La., died on May 30, 2005. While at Millsaps, he was a member of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, Eta Sigma Phi, the Millsaps Singers, the Spanish Club, Kit Kat, and the YMCA. He also served on the Bobashela business staff and as the exchange editor and bulletin board manager for the Purple & White. He later served on the Millsaps Board of Trustees and was a member of the Heritage Society. He and his wife established the L. P. and Ella Wasson Endowed Scholarship Fund at Millsaps.

Judge William L. Stewart, B.S. 1953, of

Gulfport died on June 24, 2005. While at Millsaps, he was a member of Kappa Sigma fraternity, the Millsaps Players, the Psychology Club, and he played varsity football. He also served as senior class president.

Inverness died on April 30, 2005.

Vera Burkhead Williams, B.A. 1940, of

Ridgeland died on May 26, 2005. While at Millsaps, she was a member of Chi Omega sorority, the YWCA, and the Millsaps Singers.

As a junior, she served as secretary-treasurer of her class.

Dr. Joseph Ottis (J. O.) Wood, 1951, of

Summit died on Feb. 21, 2005.

Friends Rex Roy Latham of Pearl died on May 17,

2005. He served as maintenance supervisor at Millsaps for 40 years, from 1956 to 1996.

B. F. (Billy) Weathers, 1948, of Carthage died

on Sept. 6, 2005. He attended Millsaps as part of the Navy V-12 ofďŹ cer training program, and he also played varsity football.

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Edward L. Jameson Bookstore manager and beloved supporter of the College

“Those of us who worked with Eddie and Betty were blessed with Eddie’s good humor, his deep love for Millsaps and the Millsaps community, and his commitment to providing the best possible service to students.”

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Edward L. (Eddie) Jameson, retired manager of the Millsaps Bookstore, died May 25, 2005, following a lengthy bout with heart problems. Friends and family gathered in the Fitzhugh Chapel of the Millsaps Christian Center for a memorial service, paying tribute to one who had worked alongside them, shared the special events in their lives, and was known to be a good listener and compassionate friend to staff and students alike.

A native of South Portland, Maine, Jameson served in the U.S. Army from 1949 to 1956, moving south in 1958 to work in the college textbook industry. He was an active member of the Presbyterian Church USA, worked with the Boy Scouts, and held several leadership positions, including president, in the Mississippi Association of College Stores.

Eddie, as he was known by the Millsaps community for the 16 years that he managed the bookstore (1980–96), was called “Mr. J” by the students who worked for him, as well as those who frequented the store just to talk or visit, or sit by the fireplace in winter.

During his tenure, the bookstore was on the main floor of the College Center and was always bustling with activity.

While Eddie was interested in all of the activities of the College, it was the Millsaps Players to whom he gave his greatest support. He never missed a play and was always ready to help with props or ideas for promoting the productions. He not only requested that his memorial service be held in the Millsaps chapel, but he also asked that memorials be sent to the Millsaps theatre department.

For Eddie, work, just like his marriage, was a partnership. He and his wife, Betty, brought up two children, Kelly and Katrina, and worked together in the book business for a total of 40 years. They also helped rear countless young Millsaps faculty children by training them as workers in the bookstore.

You seldom saw one without the other. They were in many ways partners with the late Mittie Welty, who managed the post office. And whenever there was a big project involving heavy boxes to be weighed and posted, it was Eddie, along with his student workers, who handled the task.

The Reverend Don Fortenberry, retired chaplain, referred to his humor as “mildly sardonic” at times. And it is true that one was never quite sure what to expect when visiting Eddie at the bookstore. “Those of us who worked with Eddie and Betty were blessed with Eddie’s good humor, his deep love for Millsaps and the Millsaps community, and his commitment to providing the best possible service to students,” Fortenberry said.

“Eddie and Betty exemplified the kind of individuals who have made Millsaps a caring place to work.”

“What I miss is his great sense of friendship,” said Dr. Catherine Freis, chair of the classical studies department. “His love for others always flowed over, and he was always there for his friends.”

—K.B.

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Donald D. Kilmer Professor emeritus of music and consummate keyboardist Donald D. Kilmer, professor emeritus of music, died on October 16, 2005, at his home in Indianapolis. He was 72.

A native of Indiana, Kilmer studied organ with Oswald Ragatz at Indiana University, where he was the first recipient of the Indiana University Organ Performance Award. He did graduate work at Union Theological Seminary in New York City and studied with David Lumsden at New College, Oxford.

He taught organ, harpsichord, church music, and music history for 32 years at Millsaps College, where he also served as College organist. He was organist-choirmaster at St. James Episcopal Church in Jackson for 30 years. He founded and directed the Musica Sacra Singers of Jackson, a semiprofessional choral music ensemble specializing in English cathedral music. After retiring from Millsaps in 1992, he moved to Indianapolis, where he served as organist-choirmaster at All Saints Episcopal Church for seven years.

“Donald Kilmer had a long and productive tenure at Millsaps College,” said Dr. Timothy Coker, chair of the Department of Performing Arts. “His performance at the organ rivaled that of top professionals at the time, and many Jacksonians remember with great appreciation his performances with Musica Sacra, the choral group he organized and conducted. A significant number of his organ students hold some of the most important and influential choral/organist positions around the United States.”

He is survived by his partner of 45 years, McCarrell Ayers, emeritus professor of voice at Millsaps. Memorials may be made to the American Guild of Organists, Indianapolis Chapter, or the music fund of All Saints Church in Indianapolis.

—J.Y.

“A significant number of his organ students hold some of the most important and influential choral/organist positions around the United States.”

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Martha Poole Unparalleled professional and esteemed colleague

“To work with Martha was to be treated with kindness, sympathetic attention, and appreciation by a fellow Methodist who valued the College and its history.”

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Martha Poole, who worked in the development office at Millsaps as the gift recorder from the late 1970s through the late 1980s, died on June 26, 2005. In her day, the development office was located on the first floor of Whitworth Hall, and it was a source of vital information.

There were few staff members on campus more respected than she. When Poole was at Millsaps, laptops and personal computers were not a part of the College inventory. She did have an electric typewriter—and a memory that worked overtime. No donation was too small for her immediate attention, and each honor gift or memorial was acknowledged on the day it was received.

It was her responsibility to keep records of all donations made to the College and to deposit those donations into the proper funds. It is not known just how she accomplished it, but she consistently finished all of her work before the end of the day, and she knew the name of all the donors and the specific funds to which they contributed. As Vice President for Finance Lou Burney recalled, “She never made a mistake, and her phone number was 383—I called her regularly.” Burney also said Poole was like a mother to many of the younger staff, like herself. “Lauri Stamm and I called her ‘Grandma Poole.’”

Poole’s daughters, Janet Youngblood and Jodie McGehee, said they remembered that she loved the College and loved working here. “She cared so much for her work,” Youngblood said. “She didn’t work 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; she worked until the job got done.

She took great pride in her attention to detail and felt like she knew everybody who ever sent in a donation.”

Many of those who worked with Poole are no longer at the College, but none of us will forget her calm demeanor and her courteous responses to numerous and sometimes unreasonable requests. We recall her sense of humor as she described the donors she knew only by telephone voice and donor record, never having seen most of them in person. “I was sure he would be taller,” she would say upon meeting one donor. “On the telephone, he sounded like a redhead,” she’d say when meeting another.

Poole was from the small Mississippi town of Gloster. A graduate of the University of Mississippi, she was married for 56 years to Barney Poole, an Ole Miss athlete who came to Jackson in the early 1980s to manage Mississippi Memorial Stadium after coaching at Mississippi Southern. Her conversation was filled with stories about Barney—and about Gloster. When she retired from the College in the late 1980s, the couple went home to Gloster.

Martha Poole will be remembered at Millsaps as one who set the standard for professionalism and collegiality, as one who was highly respected for the way in which she carried out her duties, and as one whose sense of humor helped to keep the minor irritations of the day in their proper perspective.

“To work with Martha,” said the Reverend Don Fortenberry, retired College chaplain, “was to be treated with kindness, sympathetic attention, and appreciation by a fellow Methodist who valued the College and its history.”

We were privileged to know her.

—K. B.

Finding Love Among the Ruins With the winds of Katrina, our world changed.

Katrina, the hurricane, is gone. Her life ended somewhere northeast of here as she deteriorated into a tropical depression and dissipated into rain. But Katrina left her mark on our homes, our city and state, and our lives. We have talked a lot about Katrina.

We’ve used lots of words, but they failed to satisfy the cries from the depths of our souls as we continued to hear reports of death and see images of destruction.

Burdened by the responsibility of giving words of comfort and hope to this community in the midst of utter devastation, my mind moved rapidly and repeated such phrases as “There are no words for this” and “Out of the depths of my soul, I cry out.”

Where was God in this mess?

But I do see God in this mess. Uprooted trees, ruptured concrete, and tangled power lines strike fear and reverence in my heart. But all the while I am assured of God’s power and strength. I saw God in the heroic acts of those who risked their lives to help their fellow human beings and sometimes animals. I heard God in the voice of a friend in Michigan who called to make sure that I was okay. He closed the conversation with these words: “My church has financial resources and human resources. Just let me know what you all need and we’ll do what we can.”

Knowing that all of us who had family in the path of the storm had those people foremost in our minds, I saw God in the laughter stimulated by friends and colleagues. They lightened our load with humor and helped carry the burden of our greatest fears. I saw God in the gentle touch of a student life professional as she put her arm around the shoulder of a student who still had not heard from her family. I saw God in the energy and patience of the staff who worked around the clock to make sure we had food and as much power and water as possible at any given time. I saw God in the almost miraculous cleanup of the campus and the work of faculty, staff, and students who pitched in and helped with that cleanup. I saw God in the eager faces of students who returned from their homes to help with relief efforts—students who gave up events important to them and their future to economize on fuel and give to those in need.

And when the electricity finally came back on, the Light shone in our midst and I saw the face of God in the faces of Millsaps College.

God’s presence has been far more evident than God’s absence.

—The Reverend Lisa Garvin, Millsaps chaplain fall–winter 2005

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Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage P A I D Jackson, MS Permit No. 164

OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS 1701 NORTH STATE STREET JACKSON • MS • 39210-0001

Make It Count!

Our students count on you. That is why every year 17 of our undergraduates contact by telephone more than 4,200 alumni and parents to garner nearly 3,000 gifts for the Millsaps Annual Fund.

Your gifts count toward our alumni giving percentage, thus increasing the College’s chances of receiving major grants from foundations. And you can make your gifts count twice if your employer can match charitable donations.

Most importantly, your gifts support the library, academics, faculty, and scholarships so that Millsaps can continue teaching young people to open their minds, think critically about their world, and find their true voices.

And remember, no matter the size, every gift counts.

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