Auburn Magazine Spring 2017

Auburn MAGAZINE / SPRING 2017

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Never Forgotten The Auburn Memorial, recently opened in the Garden of Memory across from the President’s Home, provides tranquil space for visitors to remember those who have passed away. The wall features elements of the Auburn Creed. (Photo by Jeff Etheridge.)

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FROM THE PRESIDENT

HIGH RECOGNITION FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIPS

AUBURN UNIVERSITY’S economic development

efforts and collaborations drew national attention recently when the Wall Street Journal wrote about the resilience of college towns that offset fading industries with new high-tech opportunities. The article (www.auburn.edu/ wsj) gave accolades to the many partnerships created by the university, the community and industry officials. Working together will lead to success in the emerging knowledge-based economy that incorporates high technology into almost every facet of life.

Our faculty is preparing students for a world of advanced technologies where new ideas thrive. The fields include cyber security, additive manufacturing, health sciences, military defense, robotics, radio frequency identification and many others. New technology also is helping traditional Alabama industries such as agriculture and forestry to increase yields and profits. For example, Auburn professors are using heat-sensing drones to survey the health of cropland and timber stands.

One recent partnership is Auburn teaming up with the STRI Group, the world’s leading sports turf consultancy, to initiate research and development programs throughout the U.S. sports playing field market. The agreement will focus on soccer surfaces as well as those used in sports like golf, football, baseball and equestrian. Auburn’s turfgrass and sports turf research facility will be greatly enhanced as a center of excellence for innovations and emerging technologies in sports turf.

Entrepreneurship is another focus on campus. Our Raymond J. Harbert College of Business will host its third annual Entrepreneur Summit March 30-31 featuring the Entrepreneur Hall of Fame ceremony to recognize achievements of alumni who have made significant impacts in the business world. Walter Woltosz, a 1969 engineering graduate and co-founder of Simulations Plus, will be inducted into the 2017 Hall of Fame. The summit also has the Tiger Cage competition, similar to ABC’s popular “Shark Tank” show, for student entrepreneurs.

For our faculty, the Office of Innovation Advancement and Commercialization works with researchers to encourage the creation of technology-based intellectual property and to match their research with prospective companies that might want to license it for the marketplace. Another tool is the LAUNCH fund, created and currently funded by the Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Development, which can help bridge the gap between innovative research and the marketplace. The goal is to fund an endowment of $10 million that will generate approximately $400,000 annually for innovative research projects.

For the community, the Auburn Business Incubator, located in the Auburn Research Park and operated by the Auburn Research and Technology Foundation, assists start-up and early-stage companies by linking them to a network of services from the university and other sources.

These are just a few of the great economic development efforts underway at Auburn.

War Eagle,

Jay Gogue ’69 President, Auburn University

jgogue@auburn.edu

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run deep FROM THE VICE PRESIDENT FOR ALUMNI AFFAIRS

ENTREPRENEURIAL ROOTS

AUBURN UNIVERSITY’S commitment to its land, sea and air grant mission has created an environment that prepares, nurtures and inspires students to dream big and transform those dreams into reality.

The academic knowledge as well as the professional and personal networks they acquired as students have launched many of our alumni into the exciting entrepreneurial world. They often reference excerpts from the Auburn Creed such as “I believe in work, hard work” and “a spirit that is not afraid” as part of their playbook that guides them on their journey.

Fostering entrepreneurial activity does not happen by accident. As any strategic planning expert will tell you, in order for a goal to be successful, it has to be fully supported by its stakeholders. This is exactly what the Raymond J. Harbert College of Business has done through the development of its entrepreneurship and family degree program. In addition to its commitment to provide academic leadership in this area, the college also launched the Entrepreneurship Summit in 2015, which features programming aimed at honoring alumni and students from each of Auburn University’s 12 degree-granting colleges and schools. This year’s summit is scheduled for March 30-31 at the Hotel at Auburn University and Dixon Conference Center and will feature a Tiger Cage, Top Tigers and Entrepreneur Hall of Fame. To learn more, please visit: http://harbert.auburn.edu.

The entrepreneurial spirit also permeates our vast Auburn Alumni Clubs network. These volunteers are the best in the country and their commitment to advance Auburn University in their communities is priceless. Recently, I had the privilege to visit with many of them during the 2017 Club Leadership Conference and while they all deserve personal medals for their

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selfless service, I want to congratulate the following Auburn Clubs for their achievements over the past year: Atlanta, Chicago, Golden Isles, Greater Houston, Huntsville-Madison County, Los Angeles, New York, St. Louis and Triangle Area.

Please visit alumni.auburn.edu/clubs to learn more about the Auburn Clubs program.

Of course, not all of our outstanding Auburn men and women are entrepreneurs. Some do their “work, hard work” within a broad variety of organizations and industries. Four of those will be the recipients of the Auburn Alumni Association’s greatest honor in March, as the Lifetime Achievement Award is bestowed on Coach Pat Dye, Nelda Lee, Mike Rogers and Dwight Wiggins.

It also will recognize K-Rob Thomas as the 2017 Young Alumni Award recipient. Please join me in congratulating these notable recipients for their selection; read more about them on Page 51 of this issue.

As 2017 continues to unfold, please note this year marks the 125th Anniversary of Auburn Women. From the inaugural class of three women in 1892 to over half of the alumni and student population today, Auburn women continue to positively impact our university. Please visit alumni.auburn.edu/women to learn about the history of Auburn women and how you can participate in the celebration.

Thank you for your continued support and War Eagle!

Gretchen VanValkenburg ’86 Vice President for Alumni Affairs & Executive Director, Auburn Alumni Association gretchenvan@auburn.edu

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FROM THE EDITOR

Dreams and Pathways Outside the Box Entrepreneurs are dreamers. Their ambitions might be small or grand in scale, their motivations driven by money or community or justice or the undeniable urge to create.

They dream in gears and motors, paint and guitar strings, threads and words, trees and tilapia, filling needs or providing services we didn’t realize we needed.

It’s no wonder that the ABC-TV show “Shark Tank,”

where entrepreneurs pitch ideas to billionaire “sharks” hoping to attract investments, has been a hit, or why the entrepreneurship program in Auburn’s Raymond J. Harbert Tom and Tim Spicer (Photograph by Jeff Etheridge)

College of Business (which has its own “Tiger Cage” version of the TV show for student entrepreneurs each year) is one of its shining stars.

Auburn entrepreneurs number in the thousands,

and we’ve touched on only a very few in this issue.

Are you an Auburn entrepreneur? We want to know

who you are. Auburn Magazine will be starting a directory of alumni entrepreneurs on its website at auburnmagazine. auburn.edu. Tell us about your entrepreneurial endeavors and be a part of what I hope will be an ever-growing list.

This issue holds a special place in my heart, as I

FEATURES

leave Auburn University next month to follow my own entrepreneurial path after more than 30 years in higher education. I’ve edited university magazines from Chicago

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to Houston, San Diego to New Orleans, but it’s only fitting

The Entrepreneurs

that this chapter of my career closes after a decade at the finest university in my home state. I’ve come to love All

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Things Auburn University, the special place that it is and

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the spot it holds in the hearts of those who believe in Auburn and love it.

ENTERTAINMENT/MARKETING—DOUG FRASER

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I’ll be around, so if you see me out and about on

COFFEE—WADE PRESTON AND PAULINA SCHIPPERS

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the Plains, be sure and shout out a big “War Eagle”!

Editor, Auburn Magazine suzannejohnson@auburn.edu

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CURIOSITIES—BUTCH ANTHONY

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BURGERS & BREW—ASHLEY AND BRANDON WRIGHT

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MUSIC—TOM, TIM AND COREY SPICER (pictured above)

38 Suzanne Johnson

HOUSING—WANONA SATCHER

SOCIAL—MEGHAN MCCARTHY

THE NEXT GENERATION—THE RAYMOND J. HARBERT COLLEGE OF BUSINESS

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BACKSTORIES

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EDITOR

Suzanne Johnson ART DIRECTOR

Heather Peevy ASSISTANT EDITOR

Derek Herscovici ’14 UNIVERSITY PHOTOGRAPHER

Jeff Etheridge

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EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

Reagan Berg ’20 Eric Pereira ’17 DESIGN ASSISTANTS

Kaleigh Peltack ’17 IT SPECIALIST

Aaron Blackmon ’10 PRESIDENT, AUBURN UNIVERSITY

Jay Gogue ’69 VICE PRESIDENT FOR ALUMNI AFFAIRS & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, AUBURN ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

Gretchen VanValkenburg ’86

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PRESIDENT, AUBURN ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

Beau Byrd ’89

DEPARTMENTS 7 From the Editor

16 Trained

Entrepreneurial dreams.

Legendary Auburn athletics trainer Kenny Howard takes a look back.

CONCOURSE 10 Stick a Needle in It A university researcher uncovers clues as to how the ancient healing art of acupuncture works.

11 Water Ways Auburn University and Ocean University of China collaborate on a new aquatics center.

14 Heat Treatment The Warrior Research Center at Auburn teams up with the Auburn Fire Department to study the impact of heat exposure.

20 Philanthropy The Auburn University Foundation welcomes new board members.

AUBURN MAGAZINE ADVISORY COUNCIL CHAIR

Neal Reynolds ’77 AUBURN MAGAZINE ADVISORY COUNCIL

Maria Baugh ’87, John Carvalho ’78, Jon Cole ’88, Christian Flathman ’97, Kay Fuston ’84, Bob Jones ’74, Julie Keith ’90, Mary Lou Foy ’66, Eric Ludgood ’78, Cindy McDaniel ’80, Napo Monasterio ’02, Carol Pappas ’77, Joyce Reynolds Ringer ’59, Allen Vaughan ’75

THE CLASSES 51 LAA 2017 Meet the 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award and Young Alumni Achievement Award winners.

61 Class Notes 62 In Memoriam 64 Backchat

AUBURN MAGAZINE (ISSN 1077– 8640) is published quarterly; 4X per year; spring, summer, fall, winter, for members of the Auburn Alumni Association. Periodicals-class postage paid in Auburn and additional mailing offices. Editorial offices are located in the Auburn Alumni Center, 317 South College St., Auburn University, AL 36849-5149. Email: aubmag@auburn.edu. Contents ©2017 by the Auburn Alumni Association, all rights reserved.

ADVERTISING INFORMATION Contact Jessica King at (334) 844-2586 or see our media guide at alumni.auburn.edu/magazine.

POSTMASTER Send address changes to AU Records, 317 South College St., Auburn, AL 36849–5149.

ON THE COVER Auburn Magazine Art Director Heather Peevy gives our alumni entrepreneurs the Andy Warhol treatment (clockwise from top left): Wade Preston, Wanona Satcher, Doug Fraser, Butch Anthony, Brandon Wright, Ashley Wright, Susan Stachler, Tim Spicer.

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AUBURN NEWS & VIEWS

Concourse IN THIS SECTION

How Acupuncture Works 10 Collaboration 11

FEEL THE HEAT

In Training 16

How hot is hot? AU researchers are working with members

Timeline: Snow!

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of the Auburn Fire Department to study the impact of heat exposure. See story on Page 14.

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AN C I E N T M YS TER IES Scientific breakthroughs usually follow years—even centuries—of skepticism because untested ideas go against conventional thought. Yet discoveries continue to unleash the knowledge that will eventually become commonplace.

Take acupuncture, for example. This form of treatment—pain management by the use of thin, strategically placed needles— has been around since 100 B.C. China, yet is still met with skepticism in Western society.

That opinion might soon change due to the work of an Auburn researcher who calls his discovery of a primo-vascular system the most exciting research of a career filled with accomplishments. Vitaly Vodyanoy, professor of anatomy and physiology in the College of Veterinary Medicine, has used his personally invented, patented microscopy system to confirm the existence of this primo-vascular system that could provide a scientific foundation for acupuncture and other treatments such as osteopathic medicine.

“Even with our microscope, you cannot see the vessels until they are touched because they are transparent, but they turn a yellowish color when touched. The width of the node is only 1 mm, and the fine structure of the node can only be seen using high-resolution light microscopy,” said Vodyanoy.

He is collaborating with the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, or LECOM, in Pennsylvania to test his hypothesis that the nodes, when activated by acupuncture, osteopathic manipulation, pressure or laser, release stem cells that flow to organs where they replace injured cells and become organ cells. He aims to characterize the primo-vascular system in humans and examine the potential relationships between this system and osteopathic manipulative therapy.

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CONCOURSE > SPORTS

ON MESSAGE

Joint Venture

Auburn University is expanding to international waters thanks to a new partnership with the Ocean University of China to create the OUC-AU Joint Center for Aquaculture and Environmental Sciences.

Auburn Provost Timothy Boosinger and OUC President Zhigang Yu met in November with administrators from both schools to implement the agreement that promotes collaboration in aquaculture and environmental science research and education. The joint center is the result of a decades-long relationship between the two universities and will build on the schools’ shared strengths in fisheries, aquatic and environmental sciences.

A key element of the center’s work will be the OUC–AU grants program. Through the program, seed funding will be provided to Ocean University and Auburn scientists who propose cooperative research in the fields of aquaculture and environmental sciences.

“Auburn University has a long history of engagement with OUC in the areas of faculty and student exchanges and research collaborations,” said Henry Fadamiro, assistant dean, Global Programs director and Alumni Professor in Auburn’s College of Agriculture. “We look forward to realizing the research potential this latest collaboration represents.”

Fadamiro serves as Auburn’s director of the joint center.

Auburn alumna and executive managing editor of Cosmopolitan and Seventeen magazines Maria Baugh ’87 was the guest speaker at Auburn University’s fall graduation ceremonies on Saturday, Dec. 10, in Auburn Arena. Baugh is a two-time graduate of Auburn, earning a bachelor’s degree in pre-law in 1985 and a second bachelor’s degree in journalism in 1987 (both in the College of Liberal Arts). She has held her current position at Hearst Corp. since February 2016.

Previously, Baugh was managing editor of Food Network Magazine, also at Hearst, executive managing editor of Glamour magazine and managing editor of House & Garden.

Before that, she spent three years as executive editor of InStyle.

Baugh credits her degrees from Auburn with providing her the opportunities she’s had in her career—and she reminded Auburn’s newest group of alumni that their degrees will open doors for them, too.

Auburn awarded 116 doctoral degrees, 342 master’s degree, nine educational specialist degrees, one pharmacy degree and 1,131 bachelor’s degrees.

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CONCOURSE > CAMPUS NEWS

HEAT TREATMENT WHEN YOU’RE BATTLING uncontrollable fires in 50 pounds of equipment there’s a lot that can go wrong. Scientists have long tried to better understand how extreme temperatures affect firefighters’ recovery time, both physically and functionally, but haven’t been able to break through the last wall. Until now.

JoEllen Sefton, an associate professor in the Auburn University School of Kinesiology and director of Auburn’s Warrior Research Center, along with Kenneth Games, an assistant professor and director of the Tactical Athlete Research and Education Center at Indiana State University, hope to answer these questions with their research on 18 firefighters from the City of Auburn.

“We’re looking at whether exposure to heat, combined with exercise, is a problem functionally,” said Sefton. “It may affect balance, leading to increased risk of lower extremity musculoskeletal injuries such as ankle sprains and ACL tears, which account for about 60 percent of injuries on the scene.”

In the study, the firefighters are in full gear, consisting of 20 pounds of clothing and boots plus a 30-pound air tank, and they exercise in an environmental chamber for 40 minutes. Each condition is completed on different visits to the Thermal and Infrared Imaging Lab in the School of Kinesiology, run by David Pascoe. One condition involves walking at 3 mph at a 2.5 percent incline at 122 degrees Fahrenheit. The other condition involves standing in 122 degrees Fahrenheit. On a subsequent

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day, they walk 3 mph at a 2.5 percent incline at 64 degrees Fahrenheit as a control measure.

Auburn Fire Division Chief John C. Lankford said they are interested to see how heat stress can change firefighter function.

“Being exposed to heat can lead to overexertion injuries and possible cardiac events,” he said. “By measuring core temperature, blood pressure and other vital signs, we hope the data will help develop the best methods of rehabilitation after exposure.

We’re always interested in making firefighters’ jobs safer and promoting health.”

Games is co-principal investigator on the project and is also a former doctoral student who studied under Sefton.

“We think heat plus work equals functional balance changes,” said Games. “We hope to develop interventions to improve the cooling protocols. With our research we can better determine if the physiological measures in the national guidelines are adequate for the safety of our firefighters.”

The study was jointly funded by Sefton’s Warrior Research Center and Indiana State. Games’ doctoral student, Zach Winkelmann, is assisting with the project, as are graduate students from Auburn including Jeremy McAdam, Kaitlin McGinnis and Jess Nendez. Jordan Devine, a senior undergraduate biomedical sciences major, is also part of the research team.

-Kristen Roberts

MIXED MEDIA Now Playing IN THE GALLERY International Perspectives Through April 30, the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art will feature “Jiha Moon: Double Welcome, Most Everyone’s Mad Here.”

Atlanta-based artist Moon, who was born in Korea, harvests cultural elements native to Korea, Japan and China and unites them with Western elements to investigate the multi-faceted nature of our current global identity as influenced by popular culture, technology, racial perceptions and folklore. The exhibit features more than 50 works. Watch a video of the artist discussing her work at jcsm.auburn.edu/exhibitions/jihamoon/.

ON THE BOOKSHELF Frick*: Baseball’s Third Commissioner, by John P. Carvalho ’78 (McFarland, 2016) Ford Frick is best known as the baseball commissioner who put the “asterisk” next to Roger Maris’ record. But his tenure as commissioner carried the game through pivotal changes— television, continued integration, West Coast expansion and labor unrest. During those 14 years, and 17 more as National League president, he witnessed baseball history from the perspective of a man who began as a sportswriter. This biography of Frick, whose tenure sparked lively debate about the commissioner’s role, provides a detailed narrative of his career and the events and characters of mid-20th-century baseball.

Carvalho is an associate professor of journalism at Auburn.

This is the 20th novel in Dorsey’s popular Serge A. Storms series.

Clownfish Blues, by Tim Dorsey ’83 (William Morrow, 2017) If you’re loud and proud Floridian Serge A. Storms, how do you follow up your very own remake of Easy Rider? You shoot your own “episodes” of your favorite classic television show, “Route 66”! With Coleman riding shotgun, Serge is rolling down the highway of his dreams in a vintage silver convertible Corvette just like the snazzy car Martin Milner drove.

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BOOMWHACKER CONCOURSE > CAMPUS NEWS

SCIENCE

IF YOU HAD STROLLED THROUGH

the Haley Center courtyard on a Thursday in December, you might have heard the strains of “War Eagle.” Nothing unusual there—until you looked up and saw that Auburn’s fight song was being performed by two dozen undergrads on boomwhackers.

Boomwhackers?

“I thought it was a steel drum concert,” said one student who stopped to watch. “When I came up the stairs and saw it was students with a bunch of brightly colored tubes beating on the rails, I really didn’t know what to think.”

In a collaboration between College of Education professors L. Octavia Tripp and Nancy Barry, elementary education students have been engaged in an innovative interdisciplinary project that integrates science and music through creative, hands-on lessons.

Tripp, who specializes in science education, joined Barry, whose emphasis is in music education, to provide professional development in science and music integration to a cohort of preservice teachers. After a series of demonstration lessons, the pilot project culminated with the Auburn students developing their own lessons combining science and music, and teaching those lessons to children in a partner public school lab.

“We used a variety of methods to not only make music, but also to teach the students about pitch, the musical scale,

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wavelength, frequency and amplification,” said Barry. “All of the instruments, some of which we made in class, would be appropriate for elementary education lessons.”

Along with panpipes, glasses tuned with different levels of water to produce different pitches, and whirling musical tubes, one of the instruments the students used were boomwhackers, which are lightweight, hollow, color-coded plastic tubes that are tuned to musical pitches based on their length.

“With boomwhackers, shorter tubes create higher notes because the wavelength created in the shorter tube corresponds to a higher frequency and higher pitch,” Tripp explained. “As the tubes grow longer they produce proportionately lower tones. We matched the notes for different songs to color-coded sheet music so we’ve had a lot of fun playing music in class. With boomwhackers you can go from anything as simple as ‘Jingle Bells’ to classical music by Beethoven.”

In addition to the focus on music and science, the students also discussed teaching methods, engagement ideas, classroom management and pedagogy during their university class meetings.

—George Littleton

TIMELINE Snow Days

THE WHITE STUFF There hasn’t been much call for cold-weather clothing at Auburn this winter, so we’re chilling with scenes from snowscapes past, clockwise from top left: a fierce 1899 storm, a snowball fight in 1973, the President’s Home layered in white in 2001, and a snow angel from 1996.

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KENNY Howard A Journey through Sports Medicine at Auburn

HERBERT WALDROP was in his second year of playing football at Auburn when an accident at a summer construction job caused him to lose an eye. Waldrop returned to Auburn in the fall of 1957, but could no longer play football.

Coach Ralph “Shug” Jordan told Waldrop his weakened depth perception and peripheral vision made football too dangerous, but he would still honor Waldrop’s football scholarship.

“I was devastated when I first heard the news,” said Waldrop, not realizing he was about to become friends with one of the most influential people in what we know as sports medicine and athletic training today.

Waldrop was assigned by Jordan to work as a student trainer and then as assistant trainer with Milford Kenneth “Kenny” Howard ’48. Auburn’s head athletic trainer for 28 years, Howard made a monumental impact on sports medicine and has become an inspiration for all aspiring athletic trainers.

“Kenny became a father figure, my mentor, my boss, and most important, my very close friend,” said Waldrop. “He and his wife took me and my wife under their wings.”

Waldrop and Howard are now in the Alabama Athletic Trainers’ Association Hall of Fame (AATA).

These days, Howard is an early-morning fixture for breakfast at Chappy’s Deli, along with other AU legends like his friend David Housel ’69, former athletics director. But ask anyone about the early precursors to today’s high-tech sports training regimens, and Howard’s name always comes up.

“Kenny Howard and Jack Hughston developed a relationship that basically set the building blocks today for where we are in sports medicine,” said John “Doc” Anderson ’65, who ran cross-country for Auburn at the time while Howard was head athletic trainer. Anderson is a head coach and head athletic trainer in the Troy University Hall of Fame.

“Dr. Hughston had tremendous respect for the athletic trainer. And out of that, surgical procedures and rehabilitation improved. I would say Auburn is one of the schools that’s a cradle of sports medicine today.”

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CONCOURSE > SPORTS

Howard also was one of the founding fathers of the National Athletic Trainers Association, something he couldn’t have foreseen when he began as a student athletic trainer in 1945.

“There was no organization for trainers at all before the NATA,” said Howard. “There was not much healthcare for athletes. It was formed primarily for educational purposes.”

“I didn’t know what a ‘trainer’ was when I was hired,” he said. “I was looking for a job to help my parents out with tuition payment. At the time the Kappa Sig fraternity rushed me and the guy in that fraternity who was the current student trainer at that time was about to graduate. I told him I couldn’t afford a fraternity, so he introduced me to Coach [Wilbur] Hutsell.

And I worked my entire time at school as the student trainer.”

A few months before graduating in 1948, Howard was offered the position of head athletic trainer. He said he even dropped some classes and was only taking five credit hours.

“I was scared to death,” Howard said. “Of course I couldn’t let anybody know. However, I was also extremely proud of the job.”

Howard was also the first Auburn athletic trainer to attend the Olympics, working with the U.S. track team in Helsinki in 1952 and the U.S. swimming team in Montreal in 1976.

Sports medicine and athletic training have come a long way thanks to Howard. But he always makes sure to thank his colleague and good friend, the late Dr. Jack Hughston ’38, Auburn’s first orthopedic surgeon for athletics.

“He was the greatest thing that ever happened to me,” Howard said. “He asked Coach Jordan if he could be the team orthopedist and that’s how we met.”

Hughston allowed Howard to watch his surgeries, which led to one of the first partnerships of an athletic trainer and an orthopedic surgeon in the country. They performed clinics at the

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THIS GUY IS EVERYTHING AUBURN STANDS FOR. annual meetings of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA). And when they weren’t teaching, they were learning.

It also gave Howard the opportunity to present one of his innovations to sports medicine called the Kenny Howard Sling.

“It was used to treat a separated shoulder,” he said. “Before this, the only thing we could do was loop adhesive tape around the shoulder, but after time the skin would rot from the tape.”

Howard added that the sling is no longer used to repair

separated shoulders, but does hold a broken collarbone in place.

Howard also tagged along with Hughston at annual meetings of the American Orthopedic Society of Sports Medicine (AOSSM).

“They would have meetings called ‘medical aspects of the knee,’ ” he said. “Someone would present a paper in the room of doctors and afterwards there would be a critique. They would get into the damnedest arguments you have ever seen. But they learned and so did I.”

The education Howard gained throughout the years was so helpful that Waldrop and Chad Abrams ’92, director of outreach at Rehabworks, an outpatient rehabilitation service as part of East Alabama Medical Center, both said community members would go see Howard before going to the doctor.

Howard, Anderson and Waldrop all agreed that one of the greatest advancements from the evolution of sports medicine and athletic training is the education.

“The technology has improved a lot but the education promotes the technology,” Howard said. “Because of the rule changes as well with targeting and hitting lower in football, for example. The protection of the athlete has improved greatly.”

Now, at age 90, Howard spends most of his time enjoying retirement, but also still provides wisdom through the Kenny Howard Assistantship, a graduate program that allows students to travel to various East Alabama high schools to get on-the-field experience at practices and games.

“You could say Southern gentleman, but that sounds kind of trite,” said Anderson. “This guy is everything Auburn stands for.”

—Eric Pereira

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CONCOURSE > PHILANTHROPY

Making a Difference In this issue of Auburn Magazine, President Gogue remarks on a recent Wall Street Journal article recognizing Auburn University as one of several land-grant institutions that has helped small towns in America rebound from the manufacturing downturn of the 1990s. In fact, counties associated with these universities have lower unemployment rates than the national average and were quicker to recover from the most recent recession.

What is it about major universities that helps these communities thrive? These numbers reveal what we already know: that institutions of higher education create knowledge, technological innovation and an educated workforce. Auburn University embraces its mission, which is focused on education, research and outreach. Achieving this mission, however, is highly dependent on those who believe in our potential and are willing to give generously to ensure our success.

Philanthropy is tied closely to every aspect of our mission, and your gifts are critical to Auburn’s ability to serve as a catalyst for the economic growth and development of our communities, our state and our region. Gifts for student scholarships and

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programs help us recruit and retain those who will serve as tomorrow’s workforce and provide them with a real-world education. Funding in support of our faculty members and the research they conduct helps us advance new technologies and expertise that drive every discipline and myriad industries.

This research takes places in state-of-the-art classrooms and laboratories that your gifts make possible.

As we continue to see from the success of Because This is Auburn – A Campaign for Auburn University, the Auburn Family stands together for something greater. Your generosity empowers the university to fulfill its mission and, in doing so, influence the lives of people throughout our state and the nation. I encourage you to consider how your gift will continue to elevate Auburn University as an institution that truly makes a difference.

Jane DiFolco Parker Vice President for Development President, Auburn University Foundation because.auburn.edu

AUBURN UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION New Leadership for Board of Directors

THE AUBURN UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION recently appointed four new directors to its board: Leslee Belluchie ’83 of Great Falls, Va.; Kerry Bradley ’79 of Auburn; Bruce Donnellan ’76 of Birmingham; and Javier Goizueta ’81 of Atlanta. The board also named Mike McLain ’72 of Atlanta as its new chair and Benny LaRussa ’82 of Birmingham as vice chair.

“Through their work to foster philanthropic relationships with our alumni and friends, our directors help ensure that Auburn maintains a high level of performance, effectiveness and accountability in its fundraising efforts,” said Jane DiFolco Parker, vice president for development and president of the Auburn University Foundation. “Our foundation directors are important partners with the professional fundraising staff in Auburn’s Office of Development.”

McLain is CEO and managing partner of ICON Investment Partners in Atlanta and is a senior advisor to Irving Place Capital in New York. He succeeds Thomas Gossom Jr. ’75 of Fort Walton Beach, Fla., as chair. LaRussa is founder and chief executive officer for Sterling Capital Management.

Belluchie earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Auburn in 1983. She has more than 20 years of experience in operations and management of government contracting companies. She currently is a managing partner with FedCap Partners, LLC.

A 1979 marketing graduate, Bradley is retired president of Luxottica Retail. During his tenure with Luxottica, he served as vision development chairman and was responsible for the mentorship and guidance of such brands as LensCrafters, Pearle Vision and Sunglass Hut.

Donnellan received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Auburn in 1976 and his MBA in finance from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1978. He is a principal and founding member of Vulcan Value Partners, a money management firm.

Goizueta, a 1981 public relations graduate, retired in 2015 from his positions as vice president of the Coca-Cola Co. and president of the global McDonald’s division. He was responsible for building the strategic alliance with McDonald’s in more than 33,000 restaurants and more than 109 countries.

The Auburn University Foundation, which receives all charitable contributions made in support of and to benefit Auburn University and Auburn University Montgomery, was formed in 1960 and is led by a volunteer board of 24 voting directors. The board of directors is responsible for the management of the affairs, property and business of the Auburn University Foundation.

Directors are elected for a four-year term and may serve two terms.

In addition, the president of Auburn University, the chancellor of Auburn University Montgomery and the president of the Auburn Alumni Association serve as non-voting ex-officio members of the board.

Foundation board members (left to right): Kerry Bradley ’79, Leslee Belluchie ’83, Javier Goizueta ’81, Mike McLain ’72 (newly elected chair), Bruce Donnellan ’76.

Foundation directors work in tandem with Auburn University’s fundraising professionals in its Office of Development to seek philanthropic support that advances academic and student programs, increases scholarships and fellowships, and enhances quality faculty and instruction.

Directors whose board service concluded in 2016 include Gossom and Melanie Barstad ’75 of Westlake, Texas.

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Building a Foundation for Future Generations

Alumni

WAR EAGLE

travelers

BLACK

WEEKEND

alumni.auburn.edu/travel

With a wide array of options, you can explore the world with your fellow alumni, the War Eagle Travelers, while receiving an educational tour given by expert tour guides. A complete listing of all tour itineraries and associated links are available on our website. If you have not traveled with us in the past and would like to receive trip information, please contact us to be added to our distribution list.

April 6 – 9, 2017

The Auburn Alumni Association and the Office of Inclusion and Diversity welcomes you back to campus for Black Alumni Weekend from Thursday April 6, through Sunday, April 9. The weekend, which coincides with A-Day, will include an A-Day tailgate, Saturday night awards dinner and dance, and much more.

Register online now! Visit www.alumni.auburn.edu or call (334) 844-1146 for more information.

Thank You Thank you to our dedicated Auburn Club leaders who make it possible for the Auburn Alumni Association to engage thousands of alumni, friends and students.

More than 17,000 alumni and friends participated in events hosted by our more than 100 chartered Auburn Clubs and Auburn Alumni Affiliates around the world 800+ club and affiliate events each year Nearly 600 high school students engaged through freshman send-off events across the country Over $1.1 million was contributed to club scholarships in 2016

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Passage Through the Panama Canal & Costa Rica

A L U M N I A S S O C I AT I O N

www.alumni.auburn.edu/clubs

TH IS I S T HE Y E A R O F

125 Y E A R S, TO BE E X AC T

The first three women to attend Auburn in 1892

Willie Little

Katherine Broun

Margaret Teague

HOW WILL YOU HONOR THIS ANNIVERSARY? Share your personal stories and photos using #auburnwomen or by sending them to aualumni@auburn.edu.

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ENTREPRENEURS

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ENTREPRENEURS

For alumni entrepreneurs, dreams become visions, visions become plans, and—with a lot of “work, hard work”—plans become reality. Meet just a few of our favorite visionaries.

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ENTREPRENEURS

ENTERTAINMENT

I

n 1994, Doug Fraser experienced the creative equivalent of a lightning bolt while doing contract marketing for Sprint, one of the title sponsors of that year’s World Cup Soccer USA 1994. The 1983 Harbert College of Business grad was on the field at the Rose Bowl with his crew at the same time rehearsals were being done for the closing ceremonies.

Whitney Houston was performing. Fraser watched her jog to the stage carrying a soccer ball, hand-in-hand with soccer legend Pele, and launch into “I Want To Dance With Somebody.”

It was a vision.

“The World Cup featured artists like Whitney Houston and The Three Tenors, all at a sporting event, and I just thought ‘this is the coolest thing ever,’” Fraser says. “The synthesis of sports and music is powerful.”

Six years later, in 2000, Fraser started The Art of the Game, which now frequently beats out billion-dollar entertainment conglomerates for business. The event-marketing, sales-support and brand-development company that a separate division for live concert productions. Based in Franklin, Tenn., the company produces and directs fully integrated

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marketing programs and live concerts, performing and visual art formats, and celebrity chef cuisine demonstrations at major sporting and cultural events for clients that include The Coca-Cola Co., NBC, The Home Depot, NASCAR, the NFL and the Southeastern Conference.

Monday through Friday, Fraser is on the road or in the air.

He’s servicing current clients. Finding new ones. He’s on the phone constantly, but he’s still big on face to face meetings with clients, something he learned from his dad, a former president of an industrial engineering company that serviced steel mills and foundries in the southeastern United States.

“He actually took me along on some of his client visits, so I learned quite a bit from him,” Fraser says. “His hard work helped put me and my two sisters through Auburn.”

Fraser, 55, enrolled at AU in the fall of 1979 with dreams of playing baseball, but coach Paul Nix encouraged him to focus on a business degree instead—a move that led him on a circuitous route back to the world of sports.

In 2007, Fraser added live concert production to The Art of the Game’s eclectic repertoire. It only seemed natural. He had

PHOTOGRAPH BY JEFF ETHERIDGE

ENTREPRENEURS

been coordinating so much for the Country Music Association Awards it prompted his move from Atlanta to Nashville.

For things like the NFL’s Pro Bowl and Super Bowl, Fraser says people would probably think of him as an entertainment coordinator. But he’s a chief marketing officer by trade, so The Art of the Game is also on monthly retainer for marketing and branding services to various corporate groups, sports organizations, even Grammy Award winners.

As a small company, Fraser prides himself on The Art of the Game’s ability to cope with the unexpected.

“We constantly have to be better to be unique in the market,” Fraser says. “People have many options these days, so they’re always looking for better options.”

When LeAnn Rimes couldn’t get to the stage for the national anthem during NBC’s broadcast of the 135th Kentucky Derby, Fraser’s team discreetly removed the misplaced heavy Kentucky Derby Trophy Anvil cases blocking her door to the stage. There were no tweets, social media mentions or NBC commentary about prop malfunctions. The show went on. The whole thing looked almost as seamless as the Rascal Flatts anthem handled in the exact same spot (sans Derby Trophy cases) at the 136th Derby one year later.

The Kansas City Chiefs’ November 2016 nationally televised game against the Raiders posed a different challenge: from Mother Nature, with wind chills in the single digits. A week earlier, after checking the hour-by-hour forecast for game night, Fraser picked up the phone. “I had to make the call,” he says. “I’d done cold weather performances in the past at 17 degrees and the vocal performances were quite difficult. Below 32 degrees, singers have real problems. We really wanted a strong national anthem for the NBC Thursday Night Football audience.”

Four days before the game, the emerging country group Farewell Angelina gathered in a Nashville studio to pre-record music and vocals for the group’s Arrowhead Stadium pregame show.

When Farewell Angelina walked off the field, their voices were intact, their careers on the rise. No one was the wiser. The Chiefs won. They made the playoffs. The first game was at home.

They needed another anthem. They needed another halftime show. They needed them quickly. They called Doug Fraser again.

Fraser’s hard work hasn’t gone unnoticed. “Doug was a great asset to the game presentation efforts of the ACC Football Championship Game as he secured and coordinated the national anthem performers at the festivities in Charlotte,” says

Michael Kelly, former ACC associate commissioner of championships and current COO of the College Football Playoff & Championship. “His experience with major events and his prodigious network of entertainment contacts were extremely helpful.”

“Doug always has a wide variety of entertainment options, allowing us to find the perfect fit for each event,” says Jacquie Collins, director of NFL/Party Planners West Inc. “He is a fantastic liaison and understands the challenges involved when performing at a complicated, high security event like Super Bowl. There are many requirements to be met and Doug handles them all with precision and finesse. The value of this skill cannot be overstated. His expertise, along with his unflappable, easy style, are priceless at an event where the stakes are high and fluidity is a given.”

Farewell Angelina performs before the Kansas City vs Oakland game aired by NBC Thursday Night Football in December. (Photo courtesy Doug Fraser)

Fraser is proud of The Art of the Game’s success, but satisfied? Never. Despite 17 years of servicing major companies and events, his 2017 New Year’s resolutions read like those of someone who hasn’t made it. He also remains hell-bent on harnessing his company’s underdog, boutique mentality into a greater industry presence.

Maybe he’ll even achieve one of his aspirational goals: the “Orange and Blue Ceiling” of Auburn Football.

Halftime, anyone?

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HOME

hen asked “How can you make local government more efficient?” Wanona Satcher ’02 knew the answer had to come from the community itself.

Earning her bachelor’s degree in 2002 and master’s in 2005, both in architecture from the Auburn College of Architecture, Design and Construction, Satcher followed the well-trodden path to a private firm, but found little personal satisfaction. In 2011, while developing affordable housing for the public sector in Durham, N.C., she knew she was headed in the right direction, but still searched for a way to use design for real social change.

Seeing urban farmers in Durham convert a shipping container into a mobile farmer’s market, she recognized the containers’ potential for housing.

Calling them tiny houses or “pod” houses, out of that idea ReJuve was born: using shipping containers or pods to rejuvenate communities. The nonprofit organization is currently in the process of creating a prototype pod house and engaged in crowd-sourcing.

“I call them ‘Plug-In Pods,’” Satcher says of her program.

“I’m not moving into a community and taking over. I’m just trying to ‘plug in’ a pod to fit the needs the community has.”

Although the pods were initially intended as affordable housing, once word had spread, everyone Satcher met seemed to have an idea of how to use them.

“One wants a pod for a coffee shop,” she says. “Another lady is a nail artist who wants to build a nail shop. Some musicians in Durham wanted a pod they could take on the road as a portable stage, and doctors working with dementia patients have been

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interested in pods as accessible dwelling units. UNC Chapel Hill even had an idea of creating mobile health clinics to help in isolated rural communities.”

With so many possibilities, Satcher redirected ReJuve’s focus from primarily housing-oriented pods to putting ready-tocustomize pods in the hands of the people who want them.

Container homes have been around for decades, but in most instances are lavish to the point of unaffordability for a majority of people. Satcher said her few competitors can charge in excess of $100,000 for a “tiny house”; she intends the Plug-In Pods to cost $20,000 and retail at around $40,000 or less by using recyclable materials and locally sourced jobs.

“I don’t need a corporation to help me,” she says. “I need local welders. I need carpenters. I need the community to help me build these things.”

In addition to designing the prototype pod, Satcher is also working on a land-trust model to partner with investors and philanthropists to buy property and keep housing.

“My vision is to build pod communities around the globe where we infill vacant lots with shipping containers. People can live, work and play in that space without having to gentrify or displace.”

The first Plug-In Pod affordable home is scheduled to be completed by the summer of 2017. In time, Satcher intends to open a for-profit wing of ReJuve that would allow her to build Plug-In Pods full-time as well as offset the cost of its non-profit sector.

—Derek Herscovici

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEFF ETHERIDGE

COFFEE

ENTREPRENEURS

M

ost Auburn students and alumni have their fair share of encounters outside of the Plains. Whether it is in an airport, mall or gas station, we are always ready to greet each other.

This is how the story of 2006 alumnus and founder of Prevail Union coffee shop Wade Preston’s relationship with the Schippers family begins.

Since 2015, Preston has been buying thousands of pounds of Guatemalan coffee from the Schippers plantation in San Luis El Volcancito to serve as one of his staple coffees in downtown Auburn and Montgomery.

Preston met 2014 Auburn alumna Paulina Schippers and her father, owner of the coffee farm San Luis El Volcancito, at a Specialty Coffee Association of America meeting in Seattle, Wash., in 2015.

“We met after a lecture that an Auburn professor presented,” says Schippers.

“Wade was asking some questions and mentioned that he owned a coffee shop in Auburn and it caught my attention.”

After the lecture, Preston gave the father and daughter his business card and they eventually met up back on the Plains to talk business.

“The coffee that we work with is probably in the top 2 percent in the world,” says Preston. “We tried it and loved it. They scrambled to give us a little of what was left of the last harvest, and we bought a few bags from 2015. Now it’s our staple coffee and base for a lot of the blends. We have the ‘Father’s Daughter’ blend named after them.”

Like every other farmed food, location and elevation make a difference in the quality of the harvest. At San Luis El Volcancito, the plantation surrounds a volcano; volcancito means ‘little volcano’ in Spanish.

“All of the volcanic soil makes very fertile land,” says Schippers. Compared to other farms in the country we don’t have the highest altitude. You can say that soil helps even out the quality.”

That fertile soil has resulted in Preston bringing in about 750 pounds a month to his roaster in downtown Opelika.

Preston has also used the coffee at the U.S. Barista Championship qualifier last year.

Schippers graduated in chemical engineering in 2014 and is currently an automation engineer for SiO2 Medical Products Inc. at the Auburn Technology Park. She primarily helps her father through Dos Niñas, the family farm’s importing company that acquires new potential clients and maintains contact with their current roasters.

The success of the Schippers plantation in Central America has allowed them to give back to the community as well by renovating the local Santa Rosa school about three years ago.

Prevail Union has partnered with the Auburn University-based Hunger Solutions Institute, a non-profit collaborative initiative within the Auburn University College of Human Sciences and the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station dedicated to ending hunger and malnutrition through efforts to implement innovative and practical solutions.

-Eric Pereira

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CURIOSITIES ENTREPRENEURS

T

he first step to appreciating artist Butch Anthony is finding him. This is easier said than done.

Deep in the forests of southeast Alabama, somewhere near Seale but not quite, lies the farm/home/workshop of one of the most original names in contemporary folk art. Denoted only by an aluminum mailbox marked “B. Anthony,” many have accidentally sped past his dirt-gravel driveway.

Only at the intersection of highways 169 and 431 do they see his most well-known work, the Museum of Wonder, a drive-through art exhibit lovingly hand-crafted and first put “on the map” by the History Channel TV show “American Pickers,” which featured Anthony’s collections on a 2010 episode. Built from shipping containers with sides replaced by Plexiglas, the museum features a carnival procession of recycled oil paintings, found objects and ponderous sculptures with no prevailing theme or even medium—just a commitment to abstraction.

The museum sits, with meager explanation, like a monument in the middle of nowhere, and this is how Anthony prefers it—all display and intrigue, without having to explain himself.

“Never was gonna do art; I was gonna be a paleontologist,” Anthony says. “I kinda just fell into it. I make stuff with bones

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on ’em. Most of my things have skeletons drawn over them.

I never went to school for art. I just taught myself how to make stuff.”

In 1979, at 14, Anthony discovered a dinosaur bone in the woods near his house, introducing him to Auburn comparative anatomy professor Jim Dobie. In high school, Anthony would travel with Dobie’s paleontology classes on dig expeditions, assisting in an excavation of a T. Rex skeleton in Montgomery County in 1982.

“We would catch turtles and bats and whatever and bring them back in jars [and] dissect them,” Anthony said of his time with Dobie. “I got into anatomy so I incorporated it into my artwork.

“I went hog wild,” Anthony says of his studies at Auburn, where he focused his classwork on biology. After leaving Auburn, he worked a few zoology jobs but was uninterested in “9-to-5 crap.” Finding a human-shaped turnip one day, Anthony dared his friend John Henry Toney to sell it in a neighborhood antique shop.

“As a joke, we took it down to this old junk store and put it there with $50 on it. Somebody came and bought it, so I put $50

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEFF ETHERIDGE

on mine, stuck it in the window and someone came along and bought it next day. It took off and we ain’t stopped since.”

Anthony and Toney, now 51 and 83, respectively, have been busy.

Skeletons painted over portraits; collages of found photographs, arrowheads and bent wire; a cowbone chandelier. The only consistent theme here is the symbiosis of nature, found artifacts and wit. A shredded oil painting with a deer head protruding through a massive hole hangs in Anthony’s house, which itself was built from reclaimed timber.

Thanks to his occasional posts on social media, recognizing his style has become de jure for the self-respecting modern folk-art aficionado, even as the art world’s imposed definitions increasingly fall short of doing him justice. Anthony prefers his own definition: “Intertwangleism.”

“It’s just a made-up word that I came up with,” Anthony says from the back porch of his workshop-showroom, a converted barn built in the early 20th century. “ ‘Inter’ means mixed, ‘twang’ is a way of speaking, and ‘ism’ is like a theory, so it’s my theory on mixing things up. I made the word up but everybody likes it so much it just caught on.”

Anthony has cultivated a brand of privacy across decades, even as his artwork has garnered critical praise and collectors around the world. It wasn’t always like this.

Years ago, when the Museum of Wonder was still seeping into regional consciousness, Anthony hosted a weekend art and music celebration called the Doo Nanny on his property. As word spread, crowds became larger. Louder. Less polite. Some people overstayed their welcome, while others tried running off with artwork. After three years of crowds reaching into the thousands, the Doo Nanny was formally ended. He has no regrets. “I’ve always liked being by myself. Being around a ton of people drives me nuts. But I have to be around them when I go to an art show.”

Anthony does lot of art shows now, finishing his fourth London gallery show and planning another in Moscow. A museum in Charleston, S.C., is planning a retrospective, giving him two years to prepare.

“All the hipsters in London love it. They’re into graffiti and street art. I’m kind of in that category… painting over other people’s stuff.”

The only public function Anthony regularly attends by choice is the Possum Trot, a loosely formalized auction and cookout down the road from his home. A cinderblock wareroom

with an open-air hall next door hosts people from all over who come to sell their pickings and bid on others.’ The History Channel’s “American Pickers” has attended this as well.

Here is where Anthony finds most of his material and inspiration.

“New stuff is expensive,” he notes. “A tube of paint in an art store is like $40. Dang art students go broke trying to buy canvases. They want a hundred dollars for a big canvas, or you could go to the Possum Trot and get one for $5.”

Raised in a family of “junk collectors” who brought back twice as much from the Russell County dump as they left with, Anthony is the center of attention at the Possum Trot. People ask about his crops or offer their latest find while he ambles from one table to another. There are always plenty of ideas to be found.

Because, as Anthony notes, “I sell everything.”

—Derek Herscovici

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BURGERS & BREW A

few years after he graduated from Auburn in 1991 and moved back to his hometown of Chicago, Patrick Riley needed to find a place to watch Auburn football games occasionally.

He didn’t have to go far.

In the Andersonville neighborhood of the Windy City, next door to a thrift shop that benefits healthcare for the LGBTQ community, he found Hamburger Mary’s, a restaurant that has become a de facto home on some Saturdays for Auburn fans and Andersonville Brewing.

“The burgers are excellent,” Riley says. “Ashley and Brandon

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are excellent hosts and love having members of the Auburn family around for games.”

“Ashley and Brandon” are Ashley and Brandon Wright, twin brothers (and both 1996 Auburn grads) from Austell, Ga., who, with a third partner, run the Hamburger Mary’s chain across the country.

They also have Auburn in their blood.

“Our mom went to Auburn, our granddad went to Auburn, and our grandparents met at Auburn,” Brandon says. “We grew up watching Auburn football games and the Iron Bowl and Bo Jackson. We were fans first. We had so much Auburn stuff in our wardrobe that there was really only one place we’d go.

PHOTOGRAPH BY JEFF ETHERIDGE

“We weren’t forced to go to Auburn, but let’s just say it was the only place we applied,” he says.

His brother recalls his grandfather as being a “very fair” man.

“He said we could go anywhere we wanted for college, but his checks were only written to Auburn University,” Ashley says with a laugh.

Living at the corner of Magnolia Avenue and Gay Street in a building owned by their grandfather, the twins, following in the footsteps of an older brother, made the best of their time at Auburn University.

Brandon ran for vice president of the SGA as a freshman.

Ashley was editor of the Glomerata his sophomore year. Both were co-founders of a group called Students for Progress. The brothers were also involved in a failed effort to get the Auburn Gay and Lesbian Association chartered.

“Even though we weren’t out, we knew we were gay, so we were affected by that and the hate that was there from people we were involved with,” Brandon says.

That didn’t slow them down. Brandon was a student senator and a founding member of the Cupola Engineering Society; Ashley worked for the Glom, The Circle literary magazine and WEGL, where he had his own radio show.

“I hosted a weekend call-in talk show,” Ashley says.

“I was, of course, the liberal voice.”

Despite the occasional setback, both look back at Auburn with fondness.

“Obviously, being a closeted gay man, it wasn’t always the easiest, but that’s something that gay people have to go through no matter where they are,” Ashley says. “I fell in with a lot of good people at Auburn. I think the South gets a bad rap when it comes to tolerance and that sort of thing.”

When the brothers graduated in 1996—Ashley with a degree in marketing and Brandon with a degree in chemical engineering—they went their separate ways.

Brandon moved to Chicago and Ashley, after a spending a year in Munich as a Rotary Scholar, worked as a flight attendant and later settled in Washington, D.C., where he managed a popular nightclub.

They had always talked about opening a restaurant or bar, however, and the opportunity finally presented itself. Hamburger Mary’s in the early 2000s was an established but struggling chain. Long an icon of the LGBTQ community, its mix of good

food and campy shows was a hit in cities with large gay populations such as San Francisco and Washington.

Ashley, living in D.C., was familiar with Hamburger Mary’s, and Brandon was sold when he visited.

“I loved the whole atmosphere,” Brandon says. “One of the mottos is ‘an open-air bar and grill for open-minded people.’ It’s all-inclusive. It’s gay-owned, and gay people like it. But I would say that more than 50 percent of the clientele is straight.”

In 2006, the Wrights, along with a group of friends, opened a franchise of Hamburger Mary’s in Chicago.

A year after opening in Chicago, the brothers partnered with the owner of the Hamburger Mary’s West Hollywood location and bought the whole shebang. Little by little, they began to rebuild the brand.

“The first franchise we sold was in Orlando, and they were hugely successful,” Brandon says. “We now have six in Florida.”

A Houston location, scheduled to open in February, will be the 16th, and future growth is planned.

An appearance last year on CBS’ “Undercover Boss,” in which the twins wore disguises and visited Hamburger Mary’s locations to talk to employees, gave them even more exposure.

At the end of each show, the bosses reveal themselves and give rewards to some of their employees.

“It was good exposure for our brand,” Brandon says. “It showed us for the most part in a very positive light.”

The Chicago Hamburger Mary’s flies the Auburn flag out front and plays the fight song during the games, which can draw upwards of 50 or 60 fans. “We’re definitely known as an Auburn bar,” Brandon says. “That flag is flying out front along with the Cubs and the Bears.”

Both are still a little surprised about what they’re doing, but Brandon believes Auburn was a factor in their success. “If not developed at Auburn, the seeds for entrepreneurship were certainly planted there,” he says. “I didn’t know this was the path I was going to take, but I’m glad I did.

“If you’re faced with the choice of doing something bold or playing it safe, or if you feel confident in the success of the product and you believe in the brand, then go for it,” Brandon adds. “You only have one life.”

—Alec Harvey

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MUSIC ENTREPRENEURS

W

hen Tim Spicer ’12 started teaching guitar lessons out of his garage in the seventh grade, he had no idea he would eventually own his own music store, or break the world record for having the world’s largest rock band.

On the corner of the Moore’s Place shopping mall just off of University Drive in Auburn sits a quaint shop with a burnt-orange and white sign. Outside, the shop has a welcoming wooden bench. Inside, music floods your ears, light reflects off the colored electric guitars and makes the shop seem technicolor, and the air is sweet with the scents of wood and oil.

This is Spicer’s Music, a small, family-owned music shop with a big heart for the Auburn community.

The Spicer music story began about eight years ago with a summer music camp in the family garage for community kids.

Tim Spicer, who had his degree in special education from Auburn, realized he could combine his loves for music, teaching and family.

Eleven days later, he joined his father, Tom Spicer ’81, and younger brother, Corey Spicer ’15, and Spicer’s Music was born.

Since opening, the store has continued to grow. Multiple lesson rooms have been added, branching off of the main floor, each fitted with soundproof glass. The lessons offered take a song-based approach to encourage a fun atmosphere and allow students to pick out whatever song they want to study, learning the concepts and theories that went into making that song.

Lessons are offered Monday through Saturday to people of all ages, all needs and all instruments.

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The Spicers also wanted to provide opportunities for local musicians to showcase their talents in singing, playing and songwriting.

The result? Open Mic Night.

“After our first Open Mic Night, I remember how astonished we were at the level of talent that lived in Auburn, Opelika and the surrounding areas,” Tim Spicer says.

“There are some absolutely incredible musicians that live around town.”

Now, Open Mic Night occurs once a month and usually sees a crowd of about 75 people. Bands from Columbus, Montgomery, Prattville and beyond come to Spicer’s Music to perform.

Tom Spicer has been a musician since childhood. His father played the drums in a pre-WWII military band. In the fourth grade, Tom was offered to play trumpet in the elementary band.

“They wanted me to play trumpet only because my family had a trumpet, but I wanted to play drums,” Tom says. “But they didn’t need a drummer, they needed a trumpet player and we had one. Back in the day, when you didn’t have a lot, you used what was passed down in the family.”

More recently, Tom was a part of a folk band called Caterpillars in the Community, but since opening the store he has focused on the business side of things.

“Owning a business with my family is a lot of fun. We all have the same vision for the store and we have the chance to see each other often,” Tom says. “I would have never guessed that I would ever own a family business, but it’s awesome.”

—Liz Maddux

PHOTOGRAPH BY JEFF ETHERIDGE

ENTREPRENEURS

D N O C E S X I S VIDEO

a l o C Coca

tic tac

SOCIAL-ite H

ad 25-year-old Meghan McCarthy been a star at Auburn, she wouldn’t be the star she is today.

McCarthy enrolled at AU in 2010 and studied theater, but barely had a chance to act—she looks young and sounds even younger. Her voice is so high-pitched her high school math teacher couldn’t hear her answers in class.

That voice didn’t help her in the AU theater but it helped her join the group of young Auburn alumni who have crafted online careers through social media.

In April 2013, her junior year, a friend introduced McCarthy to Vine, the looping video app Twitter had launched that January. Like Twitter, Vine’s appeal lay in its brevity, only instead of 140 characters of text to convey your thoughts, you had six seconds of video.

“The summer before my senior year I tried to start making vines that other people besides my friends would watch,” she says. She posted at least one each day. Six-second songs.

Six-second Pokemon impressions. People ate it up. Her wit was a major reason why she’s funny—and so was that voice.

“On Sept. 1, I checked the app and I had 1,000 followers,” she says, still amazed. By the end of the year, she had 1 million.

By AU graduation day, she had a career.

That September, ABC’s “Nightline” featured a segment on brands targeting young customers via Vine rather than million-

dollar TV commercials. And there was micro-movie star Meghan McCarthy, two months before graduating with her theater degree, dancing in a six-second skit that Tic Tac Mints paid her to post.

Not long after that, she did the same thing for Coca-Cola.

As of this writing, McCarthy has 3.5 million followers on Vine.

Her vines have been looped more than 1.5 billion times. That’s billion with a B.

Like social media itself, however, Vine is proving to be shifting sand.

In October, Twitter announced it would shut down the app, or at least the ability to upload videos, in early 2017.

McCarthy is among dozens of popular Viners to have successfully transitioned their talents to Instagram, Snapchat, and the lush, lucrative promised land of YouTube.

She’s spent the two-and-half years since graduation in Los Angeles becoming “a YouTube superstar.” That’s how Lenovo’s Chief Technology Officer Yong Rui addressed her at Lenovo Tech World after the China-based tech company hired her as a spokesperson for the June 2016 event. McCarthy stood up in the auditorium, pretended she had no place to put her new Lenovo cell phone, and proceeded to blow the audience’s mind by wrapping it around her wrist and wearing it like a bracelet.

It’s all about style.

—Jeremy Henderson

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SWEETS NAME ’02

D

GINGERSNAPS

uring those final days before graduation, most college seniors are giddily planning their futures. Susan Stachler had more foreboding things on her mind.

She was undergoing a battery of intensive medical tests.

Two weeks before she graduated from Auburn in 2004, she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a cancer of the lymph glands that affects only 1 percent of the population. It was the same disease that had killed her aunt Sue, her namesake, at age 28.

Ironically, Stachler, who lives in Sandy Springs in metro Atlanta, was already a veteran of certain hospital routines because her father was battling Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

(The two conditions are similar, but they are slightly different

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in their cellular makeup; Non-Hodgkin’s is more common.)

When she was told her diagnosis, Stachler, a fit and friendly extrovert with a big smile, handled it with characteristic aplomb.

“Susan’s first reaction when she got the news was that maybe she could become a motivational public speaker for the American Cancer Society,” recalls her mother, Laura Stachler.

“She didn’t break down—Susan is tough as nails.”

So father and daughter ended up taking chemotherapy treatments together. Susan Stachler’s regimen lasted six months and was followed by radiation. Her pale blond hair fell out. “For me, the hair was the tipping point,” she says. “I felt like I had lost all control. I didn’t want to be different. I didn’t want to be singled

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEFF ETHERIDGE

ENTREPRENEURS

out. Even on my sickest days, I wanted to still feel pretty and like myself. So I would wear a scarf, earrings and always lip gloss.”

Also, food lost its savor during those months.

“Chemo makes everything taste funny, as if there is metal in your mouth.”

Her mother operated a dessert and bakery company, so she began experimenting with snacks that both patients and non-patients could enjoy. Ginger is a natural digestive aid, a stomach soother. She enlisted Susan’s help and the two whipped up some gingersnaps, which had a piquancy that overcame the metal-mouth syndrome. They were so good, in fact, that Susan started taking them with her to the hospital to share with other patients who were hooked up to those intravenous needles.

“People’s faces would light up when she shared her cookies with them,” Laura says.

“We also began sharing them with the customers who bought my other desserts. Within a couple of months, our gingersnaps were the No. 1 seller in my business, outselling the cakes. We realized we had hit upon a good idea, that there was a real market for these cookies. We decided to call them ‘Susansnaps.’ Because I named my daughter after my late sister, this was a way to honor both of them, and it was a way to give Susan something to do, to distract her from despair.”

They set up a makeshift booth in the gourmet food section of AmericasMart Atlanta, a sprawling exposition of vendors. “We built our own booth with PVC pipe, and we built a website with order forms,” Susan recalls. They left there with orders for 30,000 cookies. Susan says, “I thought, ‘Oh, gosh, what have we done?’”

They worked long hours to fulfill those mounting orders, but they were heartened by the snacking public’s enthusiasm.

They considered hiring a public relations company, but that seemed too expensive. Besides, Susan had majored in communication and marketing at Auburn. “My education has really come in handy,” she says.

At first, she tried sending formal, boilerplate media releases, but those got little response. “So I thought: why don’t I send something straight from the heart?” Susan began mailing a flurry of handwritten letters that told the story behind the snaps.

That approach won Susansnaps national recognition.

Television host Rachael Ray named them her “snack of the day.” Then, in 2007, when Susan was visiting friends in California, Laura received a phone call that she thought must be a practical joke. “I called Susan and told her, ‘Someone claiming to be from Martha Stewart’s office just called.’ Susan said, ‘Oh, yeah, I wrote to her.’ ”

Stewart’s high-end empire hosts a “Dreamers Into Doers” event each year that honors 10 achievers from across the country. Susansnaps was among the winners its inaugural year. The Stachlers next appeared on CBS-TV’s “The American Spirit.” “From that we got an order for 800 cookies to be baked in 24 hours,” Susan says, shaking her head.

Then ABC tapped the duo for an interview with anchor David Muir, and the cookies earned Oprah Winfrey’s imprimatur in O magazine.

Susansnaps today makes regular donations of cookies to cancer wards across Atlanta.

“When someone is undergoing chemo, they’re typically in the hospital for six to eight hours at a time,” says Mary Brookhart, supervisor of business operations at Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University. “They really are thrilled to get delicious cookies to snack on, especially around the holidays.”

Seven years ago, the entrepreneurs moved out of the garage and into a small storefront operation in Sandy Springs, a combination gift shop and bakery redolent of ginger. They ship all over the country—California ranks high in orders—and get walk-in customers who become friends.

Happily, doctors have pronounced both Susan and her father cancer-free.

“The odd reality is that none of this would’ve happened if I hadn’t had cancer,” Susan says. “During the toughest time in our lives we managed to create something that puts a smile on people’s faces, which is great. But I never forget that there are still people hooked up to those IVs, anxiously awaiting that next report. That is part of our story.”

—Candice Dyer

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ENTREPRENEURS

TALENT W

hen Haitham Eletrabi ’13 began playing tennis about seven years ago, there was only one problem.

“I loved tennis, but I hated picking up the balls,” says Eletrabi, who is pursuing a doctorate in engineering at Auburn. “I went online to buy something, and there’s nothing to buy like it. I thought there must be a solution.

“I really didn’t want to invent it,” he says with a laugh. “I wanted to buy it.”

But Eletrabi did invent it. He pulled a team together and created the Tennibot, a Roombalike contraption that scours a tennis court with sensors and cameras, sucking up tennis balls and depositing them into a container.

Recognizing a problem or challenge and coming up with a solution is one of the main tenets of entrepreneurship, so Eletrabi and his Tennibot fell squarely into the mission of Auburn University’s Lowder Center for Entrepreneurship and Family Business.

The center, part of the Raymond J. Harbert College of Business, offers a curriculum in entrepreneurship and family business and is the home of Tiger Cage, a business idea competition modeled after the hit ABC show “Shark Tank,” in which mega-millionaires hear pitches from entrepreneurs seeking investment partners.

That’s all come together in the past two or three years, says Lakami Baker, managing director of the Lowder Center. The Entrepreneurship Center and program had existed for a while, as had the Tiger Cage program, but the former had been mostly devoted to research and the latter was run out of the Auburn Technology Park.

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“We wanted to become more outwardly engaged and really get our students more involved in entrepreneurship,” says Baker, who came to Auburn in 2008 as an assistant professor in management. “Tiger Cage had started, but there wasn’t a strong tie with the College of Business. We were training the students, but we weren’t involved in the competition itself.”

That changed when Baker was named to the newly created position of managing director.

The goal of Tiger Cage, she says, is to “inspire Auburn University students across all disciplines to explore their business ideas and try to create that entrepreneurial mindset within them.”

“In order for it to be successful, we had to provide mentoring and training to those students through the College of Business,” Baker says. “More so, if the idea they were currently working on wasn’t successful, we wanted them to have skills they could transfer over to some other idea or with a corporate organization.”

The center’s signature program, Tiger Cage, is a multi-month competition akin to “Shark Tank.”

In Auburn’s version, teams of students submit a 250-word summary of their idea, a one-page business model and three PowerPoint slides. A team of judges picks 20 teams to move forward.

In the “first-pitch” round, those 20 teams have five minutes to pitch their business and five minutes to answer judges’ questions. At the end of that day, the judges cut the 20 teams down to eight.

ENTREPRENEURS

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Those eight compete in the semifinal round, and a different panel of judges cuts the teams down to four.

Those four teams present at the center’s Entrepreneurship Summit, and at the summit’s luncheon, the winners of the competition are announced, along with the Top Tigers (the fastest-growing companies founded, led or owned by Auburn alumni), the entrepreneur of the year and the young entrepreneur of the year.

At the summit, which this year will take place March 30-31 at Auburn’s Dixon Conference Center, members of the Entrepreneur Hall of Fame are also named.

Last year, the Tiger Cage winners received $10,000 to apply toward business expenses; second place received $6,000, third place received $4,000 and fourth place received $2,000.

2016’s winner was Envelope Aerospace, which developed a technology that, among other things, could extend the life of National Weather Service weather balloons. The year before, Parking Grid Technologies took top prize for an app that lets people know where to find an open parking space.

Many business students enter the Tiger Cage competition, but Baker emphasizes the program is open to all Auburn students.

“We try to encourage multidiscipline teams,” she says. “There can be teams of one, but the judges tend to favor the teams of more than one because they have greater confidence that maybe they can push their idea forward.”

Tiger Cage isn’t a unique program, Baker says. All of the Southeastern Conference schools send winners of similar competitions to compete against each other, and there are national business idea competitions that offer huge cash prizes.

Baker says student interest in entrepreneurship seems to be growing, and that while now students can only major and minor in the discipline through the College of Business, “we’re working on opening up our entrepreneurship classes so students outside the College of Business can minor in it.”

TIGER CAGE IDEAS

TEAMS compete at entreprenEUr summit

TEAM WINS

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REWIND Here are a few of the entrepreneurs featured in Auburn Magazine over the past few years. Are you an AU entrepreneur? Send us information on your business for the new online directory we’re developing: aubmag@auburn.edu.

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JAMES FARMER ’04

JASON WILSON ’01

BRENTON JOHNSON ’97

James Farmer Inc. | Interior Design, Food, Lifestyle

Back Forty Brewing | Rising Star in the Beer Biz

Founder, JGB Organics | Community Gardens

RAY SCOTT ’59

Millard Fuller ’57

STEVE GOODSON ’72

B.A.S.S. | Creator, Sports Fishing Industry

Founder, Habitat for Humanity

Saxgourmet | High-end Saxophones

WESLEY MOORE ’00

CARTER McGUYER ’98

EDDIE STAUB ’78

Owner, Alligator Alley | Alligator Farm and Rescue

Carter McGuyer Design Group Inc. Kitchen and Housewares Design

Founder, Eagle Ranch Living Space for Disadvantaged Youths

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TOUCHDOWN AUBURN!

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TOUCHDOWN AUBURN!

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PHOTOGRAPH BY WADE RACKLEY

The Ridge is where lake and life truly meet. Whether you’re looking for a new getaway in the most pristine homes and homesites available in South Ridge Harbor, a rustic-modern design in Russell Cabins, or a classic farmhouse-style home in Ridge Run, The Ridge offers all this and more. The Ridge residents have access to an array of amenities, including The Ridge Marina, Beach Park, and The Ridge Club, a 10-acre recreation complex with tennis, fitness center, swimming, and children’s play park.

Homes and Homesites Available RussellLandsOnLakeMartin.com | 256.215.7011 | Lake Martin, Alabama

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J

UST LIKE THE COLLEGE EXPERIENCE IN AUBURN,

vacationing on our uniquely pristine white beaches of Alabama is like none other in the beach vacation and travel world. Like the hamlet of Auburn, Gulf Shores is still as unspoiled and charming with a better selection of accommodations and more family fun than ever. Call us and reserve a condominium for your family on the pristine white beaches of our great state.

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ALUMNI CLASS NOTES > IN MEMORIAM

the Classes IN THIS SECTION

Marching On The Auburn University Marching Band enjoys a march in front of the U.S. Capitol on Friday, Jan. 20, 1989, at the inauguration of George H.W. Bush as the 41st American president.

Lifetime Achievement Awards 51 Class Notes 57 Brooks Moore 59 In Memoriam 62

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This Is Work—Hard Work.

Pharmacy students hard at work in 1939

In 1943 George Petrie famously penned the Auburn Creed, which opens with the following lines: I believe that this is a practical world and that I can count only on what I earn. Therefore, I believe in work, hard work.

These lines illustrate the spirit of Auburn; this spirit incorporates a belief in determination, perseverance and— honestly—just plain hard work. Auburn men and women set goals and work hard to accomplish them. Behind hard work is passion, persistence and a “never say die” attitude. There are countless examples of Auburn graduates who have pushed themselves beyond their supposed limits to create, build and engineer amazing products, companies and missions.

We teach our students the importance of this drive, this intense effort. The Raymond J. Harbert College of Business offers an entrepreneurship program that encourages this creativity, this “thinking outside of the box.” This “nose to the grindstone” belief system is planting seeds in our business students that will grow new ideas and new businesses for the future. Auburn embraces this forward-thinking, hard-working mindset, and we highlight this entrepreneurship program and some of our notable entrepreneurs in this issue. Read and consider the impact we are having on our communities, our state, our nation and beyond.

Many of us share memories of working hard when we were in school to earn the degrees that would equip us to go out into the world and make a difference. Next month, we will honor four individuals who exemplify the words of the Auburn Creed and whose hard work has paid off as they have accomplished great things. Coach Pat Dye, Nelda Lee, Mike Rogers and

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Dwight Wiggins are examples of outstanding individuals who love Auburn and have achieved great success in their various careers. They are all role models for Auburn men and women of today and tomorrow as they show the value of hard work and determination. Also being recognized next month is K-Rob Thomas, who, in addition to being an outstanding man, proves that the younger generation of Auburn graduates is also primed to accomplish great things through hard work.

We are celebrating the idea of hard work and all that can come from it. Auburn men and women are not afraid of hard work. They are motivated by it and excited to see the results that can come from it. Perhaps a quote from Coach Pat Dye best sums up our appreciation and celebration of hard work: “Nothing has changed about what makes a winner. A winner works his butt off and is dependable. He’s not always the most talented, but he gives everything on every play.”

That says it all. Auburn men and women are winners in the classroom, in the workplace and in the game of life. We have achieved—and will continue to achieve—great things because we “believe in work, hard work.”

This is Auburn.

War Eagle!

Beau Byrd ’89 President, Auburn Alumni Association bbyrd@bradley.com

S H A R E YO U R N E W S W I T H U S AT AU B M AG @AU B U R N . E D U

2017

The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes recipients for outstanding achievements in their professional lives, personal integrity and stature, and service to the university. It was established in 2001 to honor extraordinary accomplishments by members of the Auburn family. Recipients of Lifetime Achievement Awards are selected by a committee of Auburn administrators, trustees, faculty and alumni.

We proudly present the winners of this year’s awards, plus the winner of the 2017 Young Alumni Achievement Award.

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PHOTOGRAPH BY JON COOK

THE CLASSES > CLASS NOTES

her

IN HIS OWN WORDS WORDS

“I came [to McDonnell Douglas] to work.

Those guys did the same, so I figured let’s do this together, and I was accepted and that was great. I didn’t pay attention to the statistics. I grew up in a family where if you wanted to be a truck driver, you could be a truck driver and do whatever you wanted.

Therefore, I wanted to be an engineer, so I went to Auburn to be an engineer…

You know, you can sit in an office all day long, but coming out here to the shop—this is the airplane, this is the program. This is

Nelda K. Lee ’69

what we go to work for.”

A PIONEER OF WOMEN IN AVIATION AND AEROSPACE ENGINEERING

Auburn University Bachelor of Science, Aerospace Engineering (1969); Webster University Master of Art (1999)

Nelda Lee is a pioneer in women’s aviation,

She previously served as international president

responsible for flight and ground test engineering

of Whirly-Girls Inc. and was recipient of the 10th

for the four military aircraft manufactured by

annual Doris Mullen Whirly-Girls Scholarship.

Boeing, including the F-15 Eagle, AV-8 Harrier,

Lee is charter member No. 15 of Women in Aviation

T-45 Goshawk and F/A-18 Hornet.

International and currently serves on the organization’s board of directors. She was inducted

A highlight of her 44-year career with

into the International Women in Aviation Pioneer

McDonnell Douglas was being the first woman

Hall of Fame in 2004, received the Whirly-Girls

to log 1.5 hours of flight time in the F-15 Eagle.

Livingston Award in 2001 and was awarded the

In addition to her career with Boeing, Lee also

2010 Katherine and Marjorie Stinson Trophy by

enjoys aviation in her free time and is a licensed

the National Aeronautic Association.

commercial pilot with instrument, multi-engine and helicopter ratings.

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Lee currently lives in Ballwin, Mo.

S H A R E YO U R N E W S W I T H U S AT AU B M AG @AU B U R N . E D U

PHOTOGRAPH BY JON COOK

THE CLASSES > CLASS NOTES

his

IN HIS OWN WORDS WORDS

“I still take honor in the fact I am an Auburn graduate. I get chills every time I see the eagle soar in Jordan-Hare Stadium, every time I read the Auburn Creed and every time I hear the best fight song in the country, ‘War Eagle.’

Auburn is a part of who I am….

“During my career, I have counseled many others that opportunity knocks not just once, but many times throughout life if hard work, honesty and the highest

Dwight Wiggins ’62

ethical principles are your calling card….”

FORMER PRESIDENT, TOSCO REFINING CO., AND EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, TOSCO CORP.

Auburn University Bachelor of Science, Mechanical Engineering (1962); Auburn University Master of Science (1967)

Dwight Wiggins served in the U.S. Army Corps

expanded to include refining and distribution

of Engineers from 1967-1993, during which time

facilities in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Louisiana,

he held numerous professional and managerial

Illinois, California and Washington.

assignments with ExxonMobil.

Since his retirement, Wiggins has been involved In 1993, he joined Tosco Corp. as president of

with several financial ventures, including residen-

Bayway Refining, affecting an intense overhaul

tial construction in Scottsdale, Ariz.

that boosted productivity and allowed the company to present employees with year-end

The Dwight L. Wiggins Mechanical Engineering

bonuses for the first time.

Hall was dedicated at Auburn University in April 2012 in memory of Wiggins’ father. Wiggins

In 1996 Wiggins became president of Tosco Refin-

graduated from Auburn in 1962 before returning

ing Co. and executive vice president of Tosco Corp.

to earn a master’s degree in mechanical

By his retirement in 2001, his responsibilities had

engineering in 1967.

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PHOTOGRAPH BY JON COOK

THE CLASSES > CLASS NOTES

his

IN HIS OWN WORDS WORDS

“Tonight’s what our program’s all about. I want you to think about it and let it sink in deep….This is the reason we push you beyond what you think you can do—to experience moments like this…It wasn’t easy out there tonight, but you were prepared for the test. I ain’t smart enough to tell you how I feel about you. It’s family—every one of you, and you know it….

Sure, we’d like to be 11-0, but I wouldn’t swap this year for any year that I’ve been at Auburn, because I’ve watched you

Patrick “Pat” Fain Dye

with those angels. I’ve watched you grow

FORMER AUBURN HEAD FOOTBALL COACH

—Addressing the Auburn Tigers team after the 1989 Iron Bowl at Jordan-Hare Stadium

Pat Dye was the head football coach at Auburn

During his Auburn coaching career, Dye amassed

from 1981-1992, building the football program

a record of 99-39-4, following only coaches Mike

into a power in the Southeastern Conference.

Donahue and Ralph Jordan for the most wins in

struggle. I’ve watched you wrestle up and become men.”

school history. He received SEC Coach of the Year He was instrumental in moving the Iron Bowl

honors in 1983, 1987 and 1988. He was inducted

to Auburn every other year, and in 1989 led the

into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2005.

first victory against rival Alabama hosted on Auburn’s campus.

Dye currently works at Auburn as a special advisor to the president, lives on his farm in

A two-time All-American football player at the

Notasulga and hosts a weekly radio show,

University of Georgia, Dye also spent nine years as

“The Coach Pat Dye Show.”

assistant coach at the University of Alabama under Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant and six years as head coach at East Carolina University.

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S H A R E YO U R N E W S W I T H U S AT AU B M AG @AU B U R N . E D U

CONCOURSE > SPORTS

his

IN HIS OWN WORDS WORDS

“One of my first takeaways from Auburn was that it’s always about the power of people. It was an amazing place that was focused on people. I loved the Auburn family idea. The power of the Creed really resonated with me…

“I like the whole idea of the Auburn family.

It doesn’t matter where you are in the world. Somebody says Auburn, and I’m in a crowd and I’m giving a speech or I’m just talking to people, and I will just yell

Navy Admiral Mike S. Rogers ’81

out ‘War Eagle’ or ‘War Damn Eagle’! And you’ll get a group that comes back: ‘War Eagle, War Damn Eagle’!”

COMMANDER OF U.S. CYBER COMMAND & DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY

Auburn University Bachelor of Science, Personal Management and Industrial Relations

After a career in the military spanning more than

top leaders of the armed forces and the civilians

35 years, U.S. Navy Adm. Mike S. Rogers currently

who run the U.S. Department of Defense.

serves as director of the National Security Agency, commander of the U.S. Cyber Command and chief

Rogers assumed his present duties in March 2014.

of the Central Security Service.

He was the cover story for the Fall 2016 issue of He has worked in cryptology and signals intel-

Auburn Magazine, interviewed by Lt. Gen. (Ret.)

ligence, recently helping write the Navy’s strategy

Ronald Burgess ’74.

for cyber warfare and “information dominance” in the Internet age.

He and his wife, Dana, live in Fort George G. Meade, Md.

As the director of intelligence for the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 2009-2011, he regularly briefed the

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PHOTOGRAPH BY JON COOK

THE CLASSES > CLASS NOTES

his

IN HIS OWN WORDS WORDS

“My Auburn experience affirmed many fundamental principles that help me drive results: humility, hard work, selflessness, perseverance, flexibility, innovation and FUN!...

“My proudest moment was graduation, the culmination of a lot of hard work.

It meant a lot to me to share the occasion with family and friends.

“Strong relationships are a key to success.

K-Rob Thomas ’01

A strong Auburn connection can only add value to anyone’s life…

“Every contribution matters, be it

TRANSMISSION CONSTRUCTION GENERAL MANAGER AT ALABAMA POWER

time, talent or treasure. If you believe

Bachelor of Science, Civil Engineering (2001)

in Auburn and LOVE IT, then there is work to be done. As much as you give of yourself, you will receive, in kind—lasting

K-Rob Thomas ’01, transmission construction

serves as transmission construction general

general manager at Alabama Power Co., is

manager for Alabama Power in the company’s

the recipient of the Young Alumni Achievement

Birmingham headquarters.

relationships that will enrich your life.”

Award, which recognizes extraordinary accomplishments by a member of the Auburn Family

A mentor to students and members of the College

age 40 or under.

of Engineering’s advisory council, Thomas established the Dennis Weatherby Annual Scholarship

Following graduation from Auburn in 2001,

Award, named for the founding director of Auburn’s

Thomas joined Southern Co. as a

Minority Engineering Program, through the

transmission line maintenance engineer. In a

Alabama Power Academic Excellence Program.

short amount of time he has progressed through many roles within Southern Co. and currently

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Thomas and his wife, Marcia, live in Hoover.

S H A R E YO U R N E W S W I T H U S AT AU B M AG @AU B U R N . E D U

THE CLASSES > CLASS NOTES

Send your classnotes and other updates

Fia’s Ristorante & Pizzaria in

retired from Blue Cross & Blue

June 2016 appointed president of

to Auburn Magazine, 317 South College St.,

Opelika.

Shield of Alabama in August 2015.

John Carroll Catholic High School

Auburn University, AL 36849

He served as a district account

in Birmingham. He continues to

or aubmag@auburn.edu.

manager in the Dothan office for

serve as pastor of Saint Francis

more than 20 years. He now

Xavier Catholic Church.

1950s JOHN “JAY” BYRD ’55 retired

1970s

works as an employee benefits SAMUEL LAMAR BRADFORD ’72

consultant with J. Smith Lanier &

has been elected Chambers County

Co. He and his wife, Donna, still

has been promoted to the rank

commissioner. He lives in Lanett.

live in Dothan.

of brigadier general in the U.S. Air

after a 60-year career, the last 40

Force. Melton, formerly chief of

of which were in the practice of

JO CELESTE PETWAY ’73 has

law in Dothan.

retired after 34 years as the Wilcox

staff of the Georgia Air National

1980s

Guard, was promoted in a ceremony

County district and juvenile court

1960s

STEPHEN CLARK MELTON ’88

held on Dec. 16 at the 22nd Air

judge. She will return to the

JESSE ROBERT JORDAN ’81

Force Headquarters on Dobbins

practice of law.

and ANNA LEE LIGHTSEY ’81

Air Reserve Base in Marietta, Ga.

were married Sept. 15, 2016. Jesse

Melton is a command pilot with

Thistle Downe: A Tale of Trolls and

BARBARA OSER ’75 has retired

is a captain with Delta Airlines, and

more than 4,000 flying hours,

Fairies, written by MOLLY SARVER

from the Santa Rosa County (Fla.)

Anna Lee, who is retired from the

including 273 combat sorties in

WHITNEY ’61 and her husband,

School Board after 30 years of

YMCA, is a community volunteer.

Southwest Asia and 83 combat

Gary Whitney, has received two

teaching. She lives in Milton, Fla.,

They live in the Uinta Mountains

support sorties. He is responsible

national awards. The book received

with her husband, KEN OSER ’81,

east of Park City, Utah.

a bronze medal for best first book

who is an independent forest

for direct supervision of the Georgia State Air Guard staff and

in the Moonbeam Children’s Books

manager and owner of Oser

DAN HARRIS ’82 is now the plant

oversight of more than 2,800

competition, and received a Literary

Forestry Services in Milton.

manager at North Atlantic Refining

Georgia Air National Guard

in Newfoundland, Canada.

members serving two flying wings,

Classic Seal of Approval, awarded after a rigorous vetting by the

seven geographically separated

ZANDE “ZAN” SELLERS ’76

Literary Classics review committee.

recently retired from the US Army

RHODA ODEN ’82 has retired from

units and the Air Dominance Center.

Her book received the bronze medal

after more than 29 years of military

Gadsden State Community College

His awards include the Legion of

for best first book, 2016. Whitney

service in the Air Force and Army.

after 34 years as a mathematics

Merit, the Meritorious Service

and her husband, Gary, also

He retired as a chaplain (colonel)

instructor.

Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster and

illustrated Thistle Downe. They

from Fort Hood, Texas, where he

live in Houston. To learn more,

started his Army career. Other duty

TOM ROGERS ’83 is semi-retired

Clusters. Melton currently lives

stations were Camp Greaves, South

and living in Maryland. He has been

in Acworth, Ga., with his wife,

Korea; Grand Prairie, Texas;

freelancing as an automotive

Brooke, and their two children, Lillian and Fenner.

visit www.thistledownebook.com.

the Air Medal with Four Oak Leaf

ROBERT J. DOW ’66 is a semi-

Schinnen, The Netherlands; Fort

photographer, visiting several major

retired appraiser in Hoover after a

Polk, La.; Walter Reed Army

car shows around the country.

44-year career. He writes that his is

Medical Center, Washington, D.C.;

Several of his photographs have

DANIEL J. WEEKS ’89 was elected

a four-generation Auburn family,

Fort Belvoir, Va.; and Sembach,

been published, including the cover

president of the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC)

including JOHN C. DOW 1907, WAR-

Germany. Currently, Sellers works

shot of two issues of Self Starter

REN C. DOW ’39, ROBERT J. DOW

as a bereavement coordinator for

magazine, West Marine calendar,

in Canada. After receiving his

’66, MICHAEL S. DOW ’99 and twins

Kindred Hospice in San Marcos,

and multiple issues of Packards

doctorate from Auburn and a

CHRISTINE DOW RUBINO ’00 and

Texas, and will live in Cibolo, Texas,

Club International magazine.

postdoctoral appointment at

DIANE DOW YOCKACHONIS ’00.

along with his wife, DIAN DYE

Michael Dow works as an advocate

SELLERS ’79. They have two adult

JIM STURDIVANT ’84 has been

Purdue, Weeks briefly served as an assistant professor at Lakehead

with the Army Wounded Warrior

children who live in the Dallas-Fort

appointed Municipal Court judge

University. He then moved to Simon

(AW2) Program, Christine Rubino

Worth area.

for the city of Vestavia Hills.

Fraser University in Vancouver,

GARY M. STOREY ’77 of Dothan

ROBERT J. SULLIVAN ’86 was in

lives in Tallahassee, Fla., and Diane Yockachonis is the owner of Ma

where he became a professor and had a successful 17-year career as a

S P R I N G 2 017

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57

THE CLASSES > CLASS NOTES

behavioral scientist and administra-

JOHN THORINGTON ’90 has been

tor. Prior to moving to UNBC he

appointed chief technology officer

located in Huntsville.

weapons and space safety programs

was the vice president for research

for Synapse, an Internet of Things

JEFF THORNE ’90 has been hired

units encompassing more than

at the University of Lethbridge for

(IoT) market leader specializing in

as chief technology officer at

105,000 members and 1,100 aircraft.

five years when it was named

providing software, hardware and

Northern Light in Boston. He also

She is the principal advisor to the

Canadian Research University of the

networking solutions. Thorington

serves on the MBA Advisory Board

Air National Guard director and the

Year. This past year, UNBC was

will continue serving as vice

at Auburn.

ANG Readiness Center Commander

recognized as the top primarily

president and general manager for

undergraduate university in Canada.

Synapse’s Core Technology Group,

1990s

for all 90 flying and mission-support

for all safety issues.

CHRISTOPHER SMITH ’91 has

and has been with the Huntsville-

written a novel, Salamanders of the

ANDREW M. STEVENS ’93 has been

based organization since April 2014.

Silk Road, published in September

named a senior associate in the

Prior to joining Synapse, Thoring-

2016 by indie startup Lanternfish

Denver, Colo., office of Dewberry,

ton served as product development

Press. Salamanders is a surreal

a privately held professional

AMANDA PIPER ’91 is chief

vice president for the global

novel about an 1,800-year-old man,

services firm. With more than 13

executive officer of the YWCA in

telecommunications company

Prester John, taking a vacation to

years of experience, he specializes

Boulder, Colo. She oversees a staff

ADTRAN, where he managed

Florida with his terminally

in water distribution and transmis-

of 25 and a board of 20. They offer

product development of networking

translucent wife while they try to

sion conveyance, wastewater

programs in women’s empower-

and communications equipment

decide what to make of what’s left

collection, utility master planning

ment, child protection and racism

and infrastructure. Thorington also

of their lives. One chapter is set in

and construction engineering

serves on the board of directors for

a fantastic version of Auburn, where

services. He has designed more

the Auburn University Research

historic Burton Street exists forever

than 50 miles of large-diameter

elimination.

JEFFREY C. SHERMAN ’91 has

Center, the Industrial Advisory

in a well-maintained spatial pocket.

pipeline and is experienced in

been promoted to senior vice

Board for the Auburn University

Smith, formerly with The Auburn

trenchless technologies and pipeline

president at BNC Bank, a leading

Department of Electrical and

Plainsman and former editor of The

rehabilitation methods.

community bank with headquarters

Computer Engineering, and the

Auburn Circle, worked as an editor

in High Point, N.C. In his daily role,

board of advisors for engineering

at The Tennessean in Nashville and

DEREK F. MEEK ’96 has been

he serves as the bank’s credit risk

design technologies, Thorington-

currently teaches creative writing

named chair of the Chapter

review manager.

Hines Architects (EDT-THA) Inc.,

at Vanderbilt. For more, go to

Presidents’ Council of the Global

SalamandersMilk.com.

Turnaround Management Associa-

HEATHER CHOAT ARMSTRONG ’93

and Forman, LLP, in Birmingham.

tion for 2017. He works with Burr has been selected as a 2017 inductee for the Women Diver’s Hall of Fame

LISA PERRY ZYRIEK ’96 has joined

in recognition of her contributions

Agape Child & Family Services as

as a SCUBA educator, explorer and

chief financial officer. The faith-

dive operations manager. Armstrong

based non-profit organization is

has recently relocated to the island

aimed at providing children and

of Oahu and is the Hawaii Regional

families in the Memphis, Tenn.,

Sales Manager for the National

area with healthy homes. Prior to

Association of Underwater

her new role, Zyriek served as

Instructors (NAUI).

executive director of finance and administration for ALSAC, the

COL. ALLISON CAMPBELL MILLER

COMMISSIONED U.S. Army Maj. Gen. William Shane Lee ‘83, commanding general of 3rd Medical Command Deployment Support, delivered the keynote speech to the newest lieutenants in the Army at Auburn’s Dec. 10, 2016, Army ROTC Commissioning Ceremony. Seen alongside him here is (right) Maj. Roshun Steele, Auburn Army ROTC professor of military science, and (left) two of the newly commissioned officers.

58

AUBURNMAGAZINE.AUBURN.EDU

fundraising organization for St.

’93 was promoted from lieutenant

Jude Children’s Research Hospital,

colonel in the Air National Guard

and, before that, held management

in September 2016. She is currently

roles with Deloitte and Arthur

assigned as director of safety for the

Andersen. She and her husband,

Air National Guard, responsible for

GARY ZYRIEK ’93, have two

managing ANG ground, flight,

daughters, ages 10 and 13.

S H A R E YO U R N E W S W I T H U S AT AU B M AG @AU B U R N . E D U

ROCKET SCIENCE IF IT WASN’T FOR WORLD WAR II, Brooks Moore would have experienced Auburn for longer than two years. “At 5 years old, I had already been saying I wanted to go to Auburn,” said Moore. “My older brother and some of my cousins also attended the university, but the war interrupted my turn.”

Instead, he attended Southwestern Louisiana Institute of Liberal and Technical Learning (SLI) and Tulane University before transferring to Auburn in 1946 to study electrical engineering.

Moore enrolled in the V-12 Program, the first step in a successful career that included stints at the Naval Research Center and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Moore never expected to be working with rockets after college, especially when, as a kid, he read about them in Buck Rogers and the 25th Century comic books. But after graduating from Auburn and earning a master’s degree from Georgia Tech, he began developing underwater mine and torpedo defense systems at the Naval Research Center in Panama City, Fla.

Three years later, he heard of some interesting work going on at the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville—building missiles and rockets.

Moore got a job directing design and control systems in rocket development for the Army with space pioneer Wernher von Braun. “He was a genius, not only technically, but he was also very personable,” said Moore. “You never knew when he was going to stop by and talk to the engineers. He made everybody feel like they were a vital part of the operation.”

The Von Braun team created the first ballistic missile, Redstone.

Moore was later transferred to the Marshall Space Flight Center and served as the director at the guidance and control division and was later promoted to director of the Astrionics Lab at NASA. During his time there he was involved with the Saturn V manned lunar launch, Skylab (first space station), the Hubble Telescope and countless other programs.

Skylab launch on Saturn V, May 14, 1973

Retiring from NASA in 1981, he continued to serve the space program for another 25 years as a contractor for the Control Dynamics Co.

An active member of the Auburn Engineering Alumni Council since 1970, Moore was also a 1981 charter member of the Auburn Research Advisory Board, with which he is still active. He was involved with the Madison County Auburn Committee, which helped lobby funds for the university in the 1960s and ’70s.

Although Moore was only able to attend Auburn for his last two years, he has made his involvement with university affairs a top priority. He even has two scholarships named after his wife and himself, the Huntsville-Madison County Auburn Club Brooks and Marian Moore Endowed Scholarship and the Brooks and Marian Moore Endowed Scholarship.

Moore now gives tours at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, where he continues to thrive off the Auburn spirit.

“The Auburn experience was extremely important in my career,” said Moore. “Not just the book learning, but also the association with top-notch people and professors.”

—Eric Pereira

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59

U N I T E D S T A T E S

BOARD NOMINATIONS

JAMES ANDERSON “ANDY”

LEE MILLS ’98 was upgraded

CHILDS ’97 served as 2015

to captain, piloting the Boeing

president of the board of directors

757/767 for Federal Express.

for the Ronald McDonald House

He and his family live in the

Charities of Mobile.

Memphis, Tenn., area.

THE NOMINATING COMMITTEE of the Auburn Alumni

KENDALL HAMILTON ’97 was one

JENNI GARRISON ’99, director

Association Board of Directors is requesting nominations

of 49 automobile dealers nation-

of marketing and corporate

from alumni and friends of Auburn University for four

wide nominated for the TIME

communication for Gunster, one

Dealer of the Year award for 2017.

of Florida’s oldest and largest

Dealer principal at Devan Lowe

full-service business law firms,

new directors.

Qualified nominees must meet the following criteria:

Inc., a Buick, Cadillac and GMC

has been elected to serve on

dealer in Rainbow City, Hamilton

Leadership Palm Beach County’s

was honored at the 100th annual

2016-17 executive committee for

National Automobile Dealers

the board of government.

•

Be life members in good standing of the association;

•

Serve on a volunteer basis;

•

Attend three board meetings per year in Auburn;

Association Convention &

Garrison has served on the board

Join the association’s sustaining life membership

Exposition in New Orleans on Jan.

of governors since 2014.

•

program through contributions to the “Circle of Excellence” scholarship society; • •

27. The event was sponsored by Ally Financial. Hamilton was named executive manager of the

Have a history of leadership and support of the

dealership in 2000 and dealer

Auburn Alumni Association and Auburn University;

principal in 2013.

2000s RUSSELL CLAYTON ’00 pub-

lished In Search of Work-Life

Possess demonstrated accomplishments in either a chosen professional career and/or

JANET SIMPSON ’97 has

Balance in November 2016. In

through community service.

been named president of

Search of Work-Life Balance takes a

the Atlanta-based architecture

faith-based look at the intersection

The nominating committee also will take into consideration

and design firm tvsdesign [sic].

of work and family and provides

an individual’s potential for representing the association’s

Only the third president in the

practical and biblically based

firm’s 48-year history, Simpson

advice for those who struggle with

various constituencies, their college major(s) and

will lead tvsdesign associates

overwork. He also coauthored a

geographic location.

across four offices in Atlanta,

chapter in Harvard’s HBR Guide to

Chicago, Dubai and Shanghai.

Making Every Meeting Matter (De-

Simpson is a principal in

cember 2016). Clayton and his

The completed form must be submitted electronically, along with a brief biography and at least two letters of

tvsdesign’s workplace design studio

family live in Tampa Bay, Fla.,

recommendation (but no more than four) from current

and has been with the

where he is an assistant professor

association members in good standing.

firm for nine years.

of management at Saint Leo

Be sure to have all nomination documents available when

TRACEY N. MOORE CHILDS ’98

starting the nomination form process. You will not have

earned her doctorate in higher

KRIS TIETIG ’01 is chief financial

the option of going back at another time to complete or

education leadership from the

officer for Miracle Fruit Farm,

add to your nomination packet. Incomplete submissions

University of South Alabama in

which he began with his brother.

December 2016. Her dissertation

The farm, located southwest of

was entitled, “Increasing Faculty

Miami, Fla., produces “miracle

or submissions received after the deadline of Wednesday,

University.

March 29, 2017, at 5:00 p.m. CDT will not be accepted.

Participation in an Early Alert

fruit” or Synsepalum dulcificum,

For additional information contact Susan Barnes at

System at a Small Liberal Arts,

a red berry native to Ghana that

(334) 844-3820.

60

AUBURNMAGAZINE.AUBURN.EDU

Religious-Based College.” She

has been eaten for centuries to

currently serves as the director of

change the way food tastes. The

academic support at Spring Hill

farm is working with a number

College in Mobile.

of cancer centers in South

S H A R E YO U R N E W S W I T H U S AT AU B M AG @AU B U R N . E D U

Florida to help chemotherapy patients regain their appetites after treatment, using the fruit’s ability to change sour or bitter tastes to sweet.

JOY MARIE WEIMAN ’01 married

Brian D. Goldman on June 5, 2016, in Roseville, Calif. They live in El Dorado Hills, Calif.

CHARLES “CHARLIE” SALIBA III ’02 and BRITTANY JOHNSON SALIBA ’04 announce the birth

of a daughter, Caitlin Stella Saliba, on March 25. The Salibas live in Auburn.

DOUG EZEKIEL ’03 and Lacey

Sewell were married on Oct. 9.

They live in Florence, where he is a special education teacher at West Limestone and she is a special education teacher at Forest Hills.

LEWIS AGNEW ’04 has been

named president of Chas. Hawkins Co. Inc., one of Nashville’s leading independent commercial real estate services companies. Agnew joined the company in 2013. Most recently, Agnew coordinated the awardwinning redevelopment of The Boot Factory, a 127,000-square-foot office project in the WedgewoodHouston neighborhood. Agnew received the 2016 NAIOP Developing Leader Award for the Middle Tennessee Chapter and was selected as a Rising Star in the Power Leaders of CRE, sponsored by the Nashville Business Journal. He serves on the board of directors for the Middle Tennessee Chapter of NAIOP and is an active member of the Phoenix Club of Nashville and St. George’s Episcopal Church.

S P R I N G 2 017

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61

THE CLASSES > IN MEMORIAM

IN MEMORIAM:

Thomasville, Ga., died on Aug. 1, 2016.

died on Sept. 15, 2016.

JAMES EDWARD ASKEW ’53 of

For more obituaries, visit

MICHAEL N. PARKER ’48 of Florala

CLYDE A. PRUITT ’50 of Marietta,

Opelika died on Oct. 18, 2016.

died on Aug. 2, 2016.

Ga., died on Oct. 25, 2016.

BETTI J. CONOVER ’53 of New

RUEL RUSSELL JR. ’48 of

RALPH RICHARD PYBURN JR. ’50

Orleans died on Oct. 1, 2016.

CARL F. WITTICHEN JR. ’35 of

Birmingham died on Oct. 19, 2016.

of Columbus, Ga., died on

PEARINO GAITHER ’53 of Talladega

Irondale died on Oct. 29, 2016.

PAUL FRANKLIN TAFF ’48

Sept. 5, 2016.

died on Aug. 28, 2016.

auburnmagazine.auburn.edu.

ALBERT BLOMQUIST JR. ’36

of Arlington, Texas, died on

HENRY B. RICHARDS JR. ’50 of

OWEN HODGES JR. ’53 of Valley

of Columbia, S.C., died on

Aug. 21, 2016.

Fairview, Texas, died on Sept. 2, 2016.

died on Oct. 11, 2016.

Aug. 19, 2016.

JERRY VANDEGRIFT ’48 of

HOBSON WATSON JR. ’50 of

JAMES RICHARD MARSH SR. ’53

BEN HILL SMITH JR. ’37 of

Birmingham died on Oct. 21, 2016.

Enterprise died on Aug. 25, 2016.

of Florence died on Aug. 15, 2016.

Birmingham died on Aug. 3, 2016.

REBECCA HOWARD WILLIAMS ’48

WILLIAM J. COLLEY ’51 of Mobile

ALBERT G. NORMAN JR. ’53 of

LEE A. CRENSHAW ’43 of

of Marietta, Ga., died on Aug. 6, 2016.

died on Aug. 26, 2016.

Atlanta died on July 13, 2016.

Houston died on Aug. 31, 2016.

ROBERT D. BERRY ’49 of Jackson,

JAMES SPEER GOREE ’51 of Buda,

VIRGINIA G. PARKER ’53 of Foley

MINNIE TIPPINS FRIES ’43 of

Miss., died on Oct. 6, 2016.

Texas, died on Sept. 24, 2016.

died on Sept. 30, 2016.

Auburn died on Aug. 20, 2016.

WILLIAM T. BROWN ’49 of Fort

DONALD LAWRENCE JOERGER ’51

BRUCE G. PRATT ’53 of Beaufort,

ROBERT HINTS ’43 of Roswell, Ga.,

Worth, Texas, died on Sept. 22, 2016.

of Bonita Springs, Fla., died on

S.C., died on Aug. 31, 2016.

died on June 17, 2016.

JOHN FLOYD CALHOUN SR. ’49

Sept. 14, 2016.

T. BONNER STEWART ’53 of Baton

JOHN ALDRON PARHAM ’43 of

of Grove Hill died on Aug. 31, 2016.

WILLIS Y. JORDAN JR. ’51 of

Rouge, La., died on July 23, 2016.

Midland City died on Sept. 19, 2016.

JOHN B. CHARLTON ’49 of

Bessemer died on Sept. 27, 2016.

EDWARD L. WAMPOLD ’53 of

MARY T. STEPHENSON ’43 of

Decatur died on Sept. 7, 2016.

CARTER H. KYSER ’51 of Auburn

Peachtree Corners, Ga., died on Oct.

Hartselle died on Oct. 11, 2016.

PHYLLIS FRYE COPELAND ’49 of

died on July 30, 2016.

15, 2016.

MARGARET T. KENNELL ’44 of

Newton, N.C., died on Sept. 28, 2016.

SIGMUND M. REDELSHEIMER ’51

WILLIAM JOE YOUNG ’53 of

Opelika died on Aug. 31, 2016.

Santa Rosa Beach, Fla., died on

ALBERT GARRETT ’49 of

of Chesterfield, Mo., died on

Aug. 11, 2016.

Jackson died on Sept. 9, 2016.

Sept. 15, 2016.

BOBBIE WATSON DUNAWAY ’54

HENRY STEINDORFF JR. ’45 of

AARON H. GROTH JR. ’49 of

CHARLES W. WALL JR. ’51 of

of Deatsville died on Aug. 23, 2016.

Montgomery died on Aug. 18, 2016.

Auburn died on Oct. 30, 2016.

Columbus, Ga., died on Aug. 17, 2016.

CLIFFORD L. FLIPPO ’54 of

Madison died on Sept. 18, 2016.

CLAUDE T. MORRIS ’45 of

WILLIAM B. HAGOOD ’49 of

W. BRAD WHITAKER JR. ’51 of

Lexington, S.C., died on Sept. 18, 2016.

Florence died on May 27, 2016.

Smiths Station died on Oct. 11, 2016.

ROY W. HARRELL JR. ’54 of

SYBIL MURPHY DURANT ’47 of

LENORE ULLRICH HOFFMAN ’49

JAMES WHITSON BONNER ’52

Auburn died on Oct. 10, 2016.

Atlanta died on Oct. 22, 2016.

of New Orleans died on Oct. 17, 2016.

of Red Oak, Texas, died on

GEORGE W. KIDD ’54 of Birming-

NICHOLAS HANSON HOLMES JR.

Aug. 20, 2016.

ham died on Sept. 23, 2016.

SUSANNE LOW HEFNER ’47 of

Birmingham died on Aug. 27, 2016.

’49 of Mobile died on Sept. 26, 2016.

RAPHAEL A. DANDL ’52 of San

MAYFORD D. WILLIAMS ’54 of

ANNA HUTTO HENDERSON ’47 of

R. STANLEY PARADISE ’49 of

Marcos, Calif., died on June 20, 2016.

Germantown, Tenn., died on Sept.

Birmingham died on Sept. 11, 2016.

Vestavia died on Aug. 31, 2016.

BILLIE COOPER HANKS ’52 of

18, 2016.

IMOGENE NOBLITT KINNEY ’47 of

MARY EDGEMON POTTS ’49 of

Edmond, Okla., died on Sept. 19, 2016.

Scottsboro died on Sept. 15, 2016.

Monroe, La., died on Aug. 27, 2016.

ELDON D. JOHNSON ’52

’54 of Tuscaloosa died on Aug. 11,

DONJETTE STEWART YARBROUGH

WILLIAM J. MILLSAP ’47 of

REX B. POWELL ’49 of Huntsville

of Dawsonville, Ga., died on

2016.

Huntsville died on Aug. 7, 2016.

died on Sept. 12, 2016.

July 21, 2016.

MORRIS O. ALLRED ’55 of

Freemont, Calif., died on Aug. 8, 2016.

ROBERT F. SCOFIELD ’47 of Joppa

JOHN M. REAGAN JR. ’49

ROBERT EUGENE MCBRIDE ’52

died on Aug. 28, 2016.

of Mechanicsville, Va., died on

of Munford died on Aug. 30, 2016.

RALPH CAMPBELL ’55 of

MARY MORRIS TEAGUE ’47 of

Aug. 25, 2016.

JOHN W. MITCHELL JR. ’52

Daphne died on July 29, 2016.

Montgomery died on Sept. 10, 2016.

ALFRED CARROLL ’50 of

of Atlanta died on July 26, 2016.

MARION LAMAR COX ’55 of

JACK H. ABRAHAM JR. ’48 of

Montgomery died on Sept. 28, 2016.

JOSEPH EDWARD SEALE ’52 of

Huntsville died on Jan. 3, 2016.

Montgomery died on Aug. 19, 2016.

KYLE H. GOODLETT ’50 of

Rainbow City died on Sept. 15, 2016.

GORDON E. CHRISTIANSEN ’55

HAROLD K. GLISSON ’48 of

Lexington, Ky., died on Aug. 31, 2016.

JOHNNY RAY SWANNER ’52 of

of Decatur died on Aug. 22, 2016.

Chattanooga, Tenn., died on

EARLY GRIFFIN ’50 of Waycross,

Montgomery died on July 29, 2016.

ANNE C. CRANE ’55 of Decatur died

Sept. 16, 2016.

Ga., died on Aug. 15, 2016.

JOE EARL YATES ’52 of Pell City

on Aug. 5, 2016.

CLYDE CLIFFORD HALL ’48 of

ROLAND MCGEE ’50 of Huntsville

died on Aug. 28, 2016.

BEN DOLSON ’55 of Newport Beach,

62

AUBURNMAGAZINE.AUBURN.EDU

THE CLASSES > IN MEMORIAM

Calif., died on Sept. 7, 2016.

ALLEN M. EASTERLING ’58 of

Auburn died on Oct. 9, 2016.

MICHAEL WATSON HOUSTON ’65

JAMES B. EISENLOHR ’55 of Little

Woodstock, Ga., died on July 30, 2016.

BILLY JOE LEE ’61 of Bonaire, Ga.,

of Augusta, Ga., died on Nov. 9, 2008.

River, S.C., died on Aug. 6, 2016.

LLOYD C. FOWLER ’58 of Hamilton

died on Sept. 20, 2016.

JON HARDWICK JACKSON ’65 of

LEONARD PERRY GRIFFIN ’55

died on Aug. 18, 2016.

CHARLES RITTENBERRY JR. ’61

New Hope died on Nov. 13, 2015.

of Sacramento, Calif., died on

EDWIN M. JOYNER JR. ’58 of

of Lilburn, Ga., died on Sept. 12, 2016.

JESSE MELVIN SMITH SR. ’65 of

July 11, 2016.

Lewisville, Texas, died on Aug.

CECIL H. TIMBERLAKE JR. ’61 of

Douglas, Ga., died on May 26, 2001.

CLIFFORD HARRELL JR. ’55 of

27, 2016.

Decatur died on Aug. 29, 2016.

W. SHELTON SMITH ’65 of

Preston, Ga., died on Aug 5, 2016.

JULIAN H. MAYNARD JR. ’58 of

THOMAS W. BETTS ’62 of Arrington,

Wetumpka died on Sept. 19, 2016.

BRYAN B. MARSH JR. ’55 of Santa

Montgomery died on Aug. 9, 2016.

Tenn., died on July 31, 2016.

JOHN M. HARTSFIELD ’66 of

Fe, N.M., died on Aug. 13, 2016.

WILLIAM RAY ROBERSON ’58 of

ROBERT P. ESKALD JR. ’62 of

Lilburn, Ga., died on Sept. 11, 2016.

CHARLES E. KENNEDY ’55 of

Florence died on July 27, 2016.

Shalimar, Fla., died on Jan. 6, 2016.

NANCY JAMES HEREFORD ’66 of

Houston died on July 12, 2016.

WILLIAM K. WHITMIRE ’58 of

ROBERT S. FORD ’62 of Tucumbia

Selma died on Aug. 10, 2016.

ANDREW M. MOORE ’55 of

Ocoee, Fla., died on Aug. 11, 2016.

died on Oct. 7, 2016.

SUSAN C. MONTEITH ’66 of

Marietta, Ga., died on July 28, 2016.

FRANCES ROSE AWBREY ’59

JOHN H. HODGES ’62 of Deer Park,

Waynesboro, Ga., died on Sept. 16, 2016.

CHARLES F. THOMAS ’55

of Lawrenceville, Ga., died on

Texas, died on Aug. 29, 2016.

of Huntsville died Aug. 12, 2016.

Oct. 6, 2016.

GLADYS PARKER NELSON ’62 of

NORMA COOKSEY GREEN ’67 of

JAMES ALLEN GARRETT ’56

MARION KEITH CASTEEL ’59 of

Freeport, Fla., died on Oct. 5, 1994.

Douglasville, Ga., died on Oct. 7, 2016.

of Fleming Island, Fla., died on

Savannah, Tenn., died on Oct. 6, 2016.

FRANKIE O. PHILLIPS SR. ’62 of

THOMAS F. HIGGINBOTHAM ’67 of

Hammond, La., died on March 2, 2014.

Aug. 19, 2016.

PAMELA TYLER JOHNSTON ’59

Castleberry died on July 31, 2016.

ALYCE JO J. MESSER ’56 of

of Albany, Ga., died on Oct. 13, 2016.

THADINE HUGHES ROBERTS ’62

LYNDA HARMON PINNIX ’67 of

Orange Beach died on Sept. 2, 2016.

PHILLIP A. LAVALLET III ’59 of

of Athens died on Dec. 8, 2009.

Lafayette died on Oct. 2, 2015.

ROBERT L. MIDDLETON ’56 of

Birmingham died on Aug. 24, 2016.

DADE S. SNELLGROVE ’62

CLAUDE L. STEPHENSON ’67 of

Huntsville died on Sept. 30, 2016.

JUDITH GLORIA STUART ’59 of

of Williamsburg, Va., died on

Folsom, La., died on Nov. 19, 2007.

ERNEST MYZELL NORSWORTHY

Tampa, Fla., died on Oct. 8, 2016.

Aug. 14, 2016.

RICHARD D. TUCKER ’67 of Ada,

JR. ’56 of Manchester, Iowa, died

WILLIAM D. WEATHERFORD ’59 of

DAVID H. GILCHRIST ’63 of

Okla., died on Sept. 14, 2016.

on July 29, 2016.

Montgomery died on Aug. 22, 2016.

Birmingham died on Aug. 3, 2016.

LAWRENCE ALAN WRIGHT ’67 of

JAMES W. PARRISH ’56 of Hartford

RICHARD E. WHITT ’59 of Knoxville,

FRANK BROWN ’64 of Birmingham

Mechanicsville, Va., died on June 6,

died on Sept. 5, 2016.

Tenn., died on Sept. 14, 2016.

died on Aug. 15, 2016.

2016.

BETTY WEBSTER SALMON ’56 of

OSCAR H. JONES JR. ’60 of Auburn

ROBERT HENSON ’64 of Chatom

WILLIAM FREDRICK EVANS ’68 of

Orlando, Fla., died on Oct. 25, 2016.

died on July 20, 2016.

died on Sept. 10, 2016.

Decatur died on Aug. 24, 2016.

NANCY LANEY SIMLESS ’56 of

LAVONIA WALKER HAWKINS ’60

CLAUDETTE H. HORNSBY ’64 of

SUE MCGRAW RUDD ’68 of Gadsden

Augusta, Ga., died on May 23, 2016.

of New Orleans died on Aug. 2, 2016.

Reno, Nev., died on July 18, 2006.

died on Aug. 10, 2016.

HUGH ALLISON THOMPSON ’56 of

FOY TERRY WALDEN ’60 of

ELAINE BARRETT MITCHELL-

DANNY MITCHELL SEARCY ’68 of

Menlo, Ga., died on May 1, 2016.

Headland died on Sept 24, 2016.

SHIELDS ’64 of Bainbridge, Ga., died

Canton, Ga., died on Sept. 22, 2016.

BETTY LEONARD BOHAN ’57

CLYDE HARRY WOOD ’60 of Hoover

on Sept. 15, 2016.

HELEN BANKS BROWN ’69 of

of Safety Harbor, Fla., died on

died on Sept. 20, 2016.

JOYCE JOHNSON MORGAN ’64 of

Abbeville died on Aug. 21, 2016.

July 25, 2016.

JOHN T. BELCHER ’61 of Madison

Spartanburg, S.C., died on Aug. 13,

NORMAN K. COOK ’69 of Phenix

SUE CRAWFORD HENLEY ’57

died on Sept. 15, 2016.

2016.

City died Sept. 8, 2016.

of Signal Mountain, Tenn., died on

JUNE F. HARGROVE FRANKLIN ’61

THOMAS FRANKLIN RANKIN ’64 of

DENNIS W. EIGENBROD ’69 of

July 31, 2016.

of Panama City, Fla., died on Sept. 23,

Auburn died on Aug. 6, 2016.

Metairie, La., died on July 1, 2009.

THOMAS W. HARWELL, SR. ’58 of

2016.

ROBERT J. ROBINSON ’64 of

FREDRIC JAMES HARRIS ’69 of

Greenville, S.C., died on Sept. 25, 2016.

WALTER S. HARGETT JR. ’61

Valrico, Fla., died on Sept. 11, 2016.

Prattville died on Sept. 2, 2016.

JAMES A. MACBETH ’58 of St.

of Decatur died on Oct. 21, 2016.

DOUGLAS D. SHAVER ’64 of

ROBERT E. MAXWELL JR. ’69 of

Augustine, Fla., died on July 21, 2016.

CAROL MCFATTER HUDSON ’61

Tuscaloosa died on Sept. 27, 2016.

Chelsea died on Aug. 29, 2016.

JAMES A. MCLEOD ’58 of Cotton-

of Chipley, Fla., died on Jan. 13, 2016.

BETTY NELSON WEBB ’64 of

ROBERT BURL MAYO ’69 of Lake

wood died on Oct. 9, 2016.

DIANA DILWORTH JONES ’61

Marietta, Ga., died on June 30, 2007.

Forest, Calif., died on July 5, 2016.

JAMES S. WHITE ’58 of Rome, Ga.,

of Roanoke died on Aug. 13, 2016.

EARL S. YOUNG ’64 of Montgomery

RICHARD J. RUDOLPH ’69 of Fort

died on July 17, 2016.

SUE HARGROVE KING ’61 of

died on Aug. 8, 2016.

Walton Beach, Fla., died on May 5, 2016.

S P R I N G 2 017

Auburn Magazine

63

BACKCHAT Around Campus

AND MEANWHILE ON CAMPUS (Clockwise from top left) The TV show “Destination Whitetail” focused on Auburn Deer Lab research (see wp.auburn.edu/sfws/7240-2/); high school students learn about robotics education at Auburn; a team of AU students visited the Toomer’s Oak descendant on the U.S. Capitol grounds in Washington, D.C., while on a conference trip; improvements are planned for the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art this summer; teens and tweens attend “Vet Set Go” camp at Auburn.

64

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THE CLASSES > IN MEMORIAM

Auburn Alumni Center 317 South College Street Auburn, AL 36849-5149 www.alumni.auburn.edu