has purchased a home in Greenville, S.C., and looks forward to participating in future Wofford events. They still have a summer home at Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia, but say “our heart is in S.C.” Andy Crane is executive vice president and national sales director for Independent Trust Co. of America. Crane and his wife, Babs, live in Pawleys Island, S.C.
1971 Class Chair, Kenneth E. Smith
Jimmy Cooper and his wife, Jean, live in Blythewood, S.C. Cooper is an attorney at Cooper & Moore P.A.
1972 Class Chair, Allen S. Guignard
Ernest Sumner and his wife, Mary, live in Gastonia, N.C. Sumner is executive director of the Community Foundation of Gaston County Inc.
(Above) Cutting the ribbon at the grand opening of the first Radio Shack in Colombia. Photos courtesy of the Embassy Public Affairs office.
1973 Attorney Bill Dennis, a partner in the law firm of Smith Moore Leatherwood, has been selected for inclusion in the 2013 edition of “Best Lawyers in America.” Dennis and his wife, Vereen, live in Greenville, S.C.
1974 Class Chair, Jerry L. Calvert
Al Jeter and his wife, Anne, are happy to announce that they have entered grandparent world! Isabelle Chapman was born in January 2012, and a second grandchild was expected in November. Jeter still participates in musical activities around Spartanburg, and is in his 39th year with District 7 Schools. Dr. Baxter Wynn is minister of pastoral care and community relations at First Baptist Church, Greenville, S.C. Wynn and his wife, Paula, have two adult children.
1975 Class Chair, John O. Moore
The late Shell Regan recently was honored when the St. Johns County Health and Human Services Resource Center in Hastings, Fla., was renamed and dedicated to Regan. The new name of the center is the Shell Regan Community Resource Center. Regan owned an insurance firm for nearly 20 years and freely gave his time and money to many charitable organizations.
1976 Class Chair, John W. Gandy
Dr. Philip Render is dean of academic affairs at Horry Georgetown Technical College. Render and his wife, Catherine, live in Myrtle Beach, S.C. The couple’s son, William Render, graduated from Wofford in 2010.
1977 Dr. Barry H. Bodie is a physician at McDowell Hospital in Marion, N.C. He also serves on the board of trustees of the North Carolina Urological Society and is active in All Saints Anglican Church. Bodie lives with his wife, Claire, in Brevard, N.C. Chris Dew is a senior sales consultant for Blue Ridge Log Cabins. The firm built the home for the Steps n Stages Jubilee House that was featured on the TV show “Extreme Makeover Home Edition” in July 2011. He lives in Simpsonville, S.C.
(Left) Holloway on the first Harley Davidson Motorcyclye to enter Colombia under the recently signed free trade agreement between Colombia and the U.S.
Deputy Chief of Mission Perry Holloway ’83
Home is where the Foreign Service sends him
I
n June 2013, Perry Holloway ’83 will move again. Not across town or even across the country. He has been reassigned from his current position as deputy chief of mission (DCM) in Bogota, Colombia, to become the U.S.’s political military counselor in Afghanistan. That means he switches gears from serving as the CEO of the U.S. Embassy in Bogota to providing diplomatic support as the U.S. military transitions power and duties and moves up to 68,000 troops out of Afghanistan. “I’ll be there at an interesting time,” says Holloway. “One of the things you quickly learn in the Foreign Service is that few things are black and white. There’s a lot of gray, so flexibility and the ability to see the other side are important. If you don’t understand their point of view and where they’re coming from, you’re not going to be able to communicate.” As the chief of staff of the U.S. embassy in Bogota, responsible for advising the ambassador and the day-to-day management of the embassy and its personnel, the ability to communicate is paramount. “We have almost 3,500 employees, but there’s only one U.S. policy. I make sure that we show a unified position,” says Holloway. “One of the worst things we can do as an embassy is give mixed messages.” As the recipient of six State Department Superior Honor Awards, two Meritorious Honor Awards and one Group Superior Honor Award, Holloway does his
job well. Still, some days are more satisfying than others. “In the end I’m a government bureaucrat, whether I like to admit it or not, so I go to lots of meetings, and because Colombia gets a fair amount of assistance, we get lots of visitors,” says Holloway. “I spend much of my time briefing members of Congress or meeting Colombians to see what their position is and how we can help them so that they can help us.” Holloway considers mentoring “young diplomats” (in terms of diplomatic experience, not necessarily age) one of the best parts of his job. “When I see these younger Foreign Service officers begin to understand how things work and find ways to help countries work together in synergistic ways, it’s rewarding,” he says. Holloway says that it may sound hokey, but he also loves helping Americans. “I’ve been involved when we’ve helped Americans who were kidnapped, lost or wrongfully imprisoned,” says Holloway. “On a larger scale, we’re the first line of defense. Before there are boots on the ground, we’re already there, and hope through diplomacy to resolve issues before boots are needed.” The safety of U.S. officials in foreign countries has been of particular concern in recent months.
According to Holloway, of the more than 275 embassies and other diplomatic offices, about 70 percent are located in danger and/ or hardship areas. “The U.S. Embassy in Bogota is much safer that it was two or even 10 years ago, but we still get threats almost every day,” says Holloway. “Not every threat is a valid threat. We have a diplomatic security detail that considers each and decides which resources to apply. Security is something that we take seriously.” In Bogota, Holloway has a bodyguard and a driver. He travels in an armored vehicle, but says that Bogota is a city of eight million people, much like New York, so mainly he takes the same precautions that someone living in any big city would. Holloway began his career in Foreign Service in 1989. He spent a few years working for Radio Shack and Apple (in Mexico) before earning his master’s degree in international business science from the University of South Carolina and his master’s in national resource strategy from the Industrial College of Armed Forces. “While at Apple, I was sort of bitten by working overseas, but U.S. companies, even those with international interests, usually expect new employees to work stateside and be a part of the home
team for the first few years,” says Holloway, who was impatient and decided to apply to the Foreign Service. His first assignment landed him in Bogota, Colombia, as a consular officer and staff assistant to the ambassador. Since then he’s lived and worked in Mexico, Paraguay, El Salvador, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Washington, D.C. Holloway’s most recent assignment, before serving as DCM in Bogota, was that of DCM in the U.S. Embassy in Asuncion, Paraguay. Before that he served as the director of the Narcotics Affairs Section (NAS) in the U.S. Embassy in Bogota. “In the Foreign Service, you’ll move every two or three years,” says Holloway. “When you move across town, you keep the same barber, the same doctors. When you move to another country, you have to start over with everything.” Holloway, his wife, Rosaura (also a government employee) and two college-aged children have found that although challenging, life in the Foreign Service also is enriching. He encourages Wofford students interested in public service and foreign travel to consider the field and to contact him with questions. “The Foreign Service is a way to explore different issues, meet fantastic people and live all over the world,” says Holloway, “and because of the nature of liberal Holloway’s first experience living abroad was as an exchange student arts colleges like Wofford, students in Seville, Spain. “Dr. Susan Griswold, my advisor and Spanish are well-prepared for the Foreign professor at Wofford, encouraged me. I really did enjoy my time Service.” abroad, but the teachers were on strike in Spain for most of the semester, so I worked odd jobs and learned a lot about life on the streets…. This is where I was bitten by the ‘international bug.’”
Jo Ann Mitchell Brasington ’89
Winter 2012 • Wofford Today • 15