Berry Magazine - Summer 2019

BERRY Summer 2019

SWAT

TEAM Baseball alum Clay Culpepper (07C) focuses on faith, family and the ultimate in teamwork

Doing it all

Micah Studdard (14C) breeds excellence at Lyons Bridge Farm

VOL. 105, NO. 2 | SUMMER 2019

BERRY Features

Micah Studdard (14C) breeds excellence at Lyons Bridge Farm

15 SWAT Team Baseball alum Clay Culpepper (07C) focuses on faith, family and the ultimate in teamwork

Brant Sanderlin

12 Doing it all

12

22 Mountain Day

Harmony Petty ‘crafts’ business success

Departments 2

Inside the Gate

• Student entrepreneurs make their pitch • Construction begins on The Spires at Berry • Remembering the Blizzard of ’93 • Namings honor Berry legends Peter Lawler, Sam Spector • Pixar co-founder delivers Shatto Lecture • Viking athletes make their mark

8

Well Done!

10 President’s Essay

Learn it Well; Keep it Always

24 News from You

Class notes – the original social media

33 Thank You

15

Brant Sanderlin

37 In the end, it’s about the students

Brant Sanderlin

Homecoming in photos

22 Student Photographer lindsey campbell

37

18 The Campaign for Opportunity

• Ford namings honor Betty Anne Rouse Bell (52H, 56C) and the late Margaret Weaver Faison (36C) • Faith, friendship, football 18

Roosevelt Cabin at sunset by student photographer Bryan Chamberlain.

Cover photo by Brant Sanderlin

INSIDE THE GATE

BERRY magazine

Published for alumni and friends of Berry College and its historic schools Editor Rick Woodall (93C) Contributing Writer and Editor Karilon L. Rogers

Below from left, alumni judges Robert Swarthout, Tricia Steele, Jeff Jahn and Roy Miller.

Staff Writers Debbie Rasure Jennifer Wright Design and Production Ellie Borromeo (14c)

News From You and Gifts Listings Justin Karch (01C, 10G), Jeff Palmer (09C, 11G) and student Kendall Aronson Contact Information News From You: submit online at berry.edu/classnotes or email classnotes@berry.edu Change of address: 706-236-2256; 800-782-0130; alumni@berry.edu; or Berry Alumni Office, P.O. Box 495018, Mount Berry, GA 30149.

Editorial: rwoodall@berry.edu; 706-378-2870; or Berry magazine, P.O. Box 490069, Mount Berry, GA 30149.

BERRY ALUMNI ASSOCIATION President: Jonathan Purser (85C) Immediate Past President: Frances Richey (83A, 87C) Vice Presidents: Alumni Engagement, Chris Hayes (04C); Berry Culture and Heritage, Dr. Jennifer Dickey (77A, 80C); Financial Support, Aaron Chastain (15C); Alumni Awards, Patricia Tutterow Jackson (82C) Chaplain: Emmett Long (98C) Parliamentarian: Tim Howard (82C) Secretary: Chad Nash (13C) Director of Alumni Engagement and Philanthropic Marketing Jennifer Schaknowski Vice President of Marketing and Communications Nancy Rewis Vice President of Advancement Cyndi Court President Stephen R. Briggs

2

BERRY MAGAZINE • SUMMER 2019

Brant Sanderlin

Making their pitch

Student entrepreneurs compete for $27,000 in prizes

by JENNIFER WRIGHT IMAGINE THE KRANNERT CENTER BALLROOM TRANSFORMED INTO THE SET OF SHARK TANK

– only the judges are alumni and the budding entrepreneurs students. That was the high-stakes feel of Berry’s first student-pitch competition, complete with in-person and virtual audiences, live voting, and $27,000 in prizes.

Thirteen students representing seven different majors took part in the new, donor-funded initiative of Berry’s entrepreneurship program, with five competing before the judges in the February finale.

“Pitch competitions are great experiences,” said Dr. Paula Englis, professor of management and director of entrepreneurship. “They force student entrepreneurs to move from the business-planning stage to the real world.”

Judges Jeff Jahn (07C), Roy Miller (58C), Robert Swarthout (04C) and Tricia Steele (09C) knew the subject well, each having started a business as a student, won Berry’s Entrepreneurial Spirit Award or both. They sought passion and practicality in the competitors: “Someone who’s identified a real problem or a new way to solve a problem where there would be real customers,” according to Steele.

The students delivered. With ideas ranging from a cupcake bakery operation always testing new flavors to a handmade soap social enterprise aimed at providing employment and guidance for young women in difficult circumstances, they competed for a variety of named funds including the Chairman’s Prize for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the Bettyann O’Neill Innovation Fund, and the Entrepreneurial Seed Fund.

Ben Umberger won the $10,000 top prize from the Henry and Clara Ford Fund for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and an additional $1,000 audience-choice award for Umberger Farms Cattle Company, which he founded at the age of 11.

Today, the enterprising senior rents a nearby farm for his operation of crossing Hereford and Angus cattle to produce better beef calves.

Umberger credits lessons learned in classes such as accounting and management with improving the efficiency of his business, which has earned $18,000 in annual revenue over the last five years.

He also pointed out that he isn’t in it for the money.

“I just love raising the cows,” he explained, exhibiting the kind of passion the judges hoped to see.

Brant Sanderlin

Chief Photographer Brant Sanderlin

SNAPSHOT

The Spires AN OCTOBER GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONY marked the

Brant Sanderlin

beginning of a new phase of development for The Spires at Berry College, the continuing care retirement community being established on 50 acres of leased Berry property a short distance from main campus.

Tax-exempt bond financing of $120 million is funding construction of the community, a financially independent and self-sustaining nonprofit separate from Berry College.

Interest in The Spires is strong among alumni and others, with presales for the 170 apartment and cottage-style homes at approximately 80 percent. A third-party feasibility study has affirmed the long-term viability of the project, which is expected to provide significant work and learning opportunities for Berry students when it opens in 2020.

Future residents are already building ties with each other and the campus through attendance at the groundbreaking and other college events, such as February’s Gloria Shatto Lecture. This growing sense of community was hailed by Berry student Caroline Knoche, who has met many of these individuals through her work as an intern with the project.

“The environment at Berry is already so conducive to building a strong community,” she stated.

“Even though construction of The Spires is just beginning, I’ve seen such a natural yet deliberate effort on behalf of our depositors to become involved and take the initiative to engage with the college while also building a community of their own.”

More about The Spires can be found at retireatberry.com.

Dr. Briggs speaks at the groundbreaking

The Spires at Berry College

David Wallace (93C)

Building community: Construction begins on

in time

Up to our knees in ’93!

SOMETIMES, IT ONLY TAKES ONE WORD TO CONJURE UP A MEMORY. Say “blizzard” within earshot of anyone who attended or worked for Berry in the early 1990s, and you are sure to unleash an avalanche of stories related to the infamous Blizzard of ’93.

Twenty-six years ago, Berry found itself right in the middle of the “Storm of the Century,” a beast of a weather system that wreaked havoc up and down the Eastern Seaboard, producing deadly tornadoes and storm surge in Florida, yielding record snowfalls, and leaving hundreds dead from Cuba to Maine (thankfully, none at Berry).

The day before the blizzard struck, temperatures in Rome soared above 70 degrees.

The next evening, March 12, snow began to fall, spawning snowball fights and talk of s’mores. Temperatures ll Rick Wooda plummeted throughout the night, and by the early hours of Students in Townhouse March 13, a brutal combination of G-4 celebrate the high winds, heavy snow and falling return of power (and trees had plunged the campus into heat!). See anyone darkness. Students – many with you know? younger brothers and sisters on campus for “Sibs and Kids Weekend” – huddled together in the residence halls and townhouses, trying to keep warm as lightning lit the sky outside.

“I’d never heard thunder in a snowstorm,” David Wallace (93C) later recalled. “That was when I knew it was going to be bad.”

With the power out, trees down and well over a foot of snow temporarily isolating Berry from the outside world, students stepped up in food service and other vital areas. As reported in the 1992-93 President’s Report, Sean Brennan (94C) and two other students rigged up a generator and kept the Normandy dairy’s all-electric milking parlor running for two days until help arrived.

The blizzard left behind hundreds of downed trees and other damage to property. Conditions were worst on the mountain campus, where power remained off for many days. When it was all over, then-faculty member and mountain campus resident Dr. Dan Panici summed up the experience for the Campus Carrier.

“The first seven days were fun-filled, adventuresome and [full of] the pioneer spirit,” he stated. “There’s a thin line between the pioneer spirit and a pain in the [rear]. And the seventh day we crossed over the line.”

by RICK WOODALL (blizzard survivor) BERRY MAGAZINE • SUMMER 2019

3

INSIDE THE GATE

Legendary spaces BOTH DR. PETER LAWLER AND DR. SAM I. SPECTOR HAVE LEFT

WinShape adventure course named for Kim Pace THE WINSHAPE WILDERNESS CHALLENGE COURSE on Berry’s

Paul O’Mara

Dr. Peter Lawler, right, holds court with students in his famously messy office.

mountain campus has been renamed the Pace Adventure Course in memory of Kim Pace (00C), an alumna of the WinShape College Program who worked as a challenge course facilitator during her student days before going on to establish the BlueSky Global Ministries organization in Nairobi, Kenya. She died last year in a paragliding accident in western Kenya.

“Kim’s passion for the Lord and for engaging people in outdoor adventure were fueled by what she learned and experienced on mountain campus,” said Tammy Preston (90C), executive director for BlueSky Global Ministries and former WinShape Teams director.

“Even as a student, her impact on both team members and guests was deeply felt.”

When WinShape leaders were approached in 2001 about starting a leadership and teambuilding program in Kenya, Preston tapped Pace and fellow team member Pete Morton (02c) to establish a yearlong pilot program that eventually became BlueSky Global Ministries. Pace spent the rest of her life growing the ministry dedicated to building relationships through adventure with the ultimate goal of

engaging the multinational community in Kenya with the Gospel. Last year, BlueSky served more than 8,000 people worldwide with its summer camp for children, year-round student ministry and team-building programs, outdoor adventure trips, and the only major indoor climbing gym in East Africa.

“Kim knew who God created her to be ... a follower of Jesus who loved people and adventure,” Preston said. “She discovered how to make a difference in a place and in ways where people from all nationalities could experience true life change – growing in their own relationship with the Lord.

Thousands of lives have been influenced through Kim and BlueSky, and we believe thousands more are yet to come.”

The Pace Adventure Course, with its memorial stone and garden, stands near the entrance to WinShape Centre.

Student Photographer Bailey Albertson

Alan Storey

age of 93 in 2018 – but neither will ever be forgotten. In addition to living on in the memories of countless alumni, their names will be forever associated with spaces important to them at Berry following special dedications last fall.

Spector, a World War II hero and Rome real estate developer, served as a member of Berry’s business Dr. Sam Spector, center, faculty for nine years, rising received Berry’s honorary to the rank of full professor. doctorate in 2008.

He also chaired the department, launched Berry’s MBA program, and received the college’s Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters in recognition of his achievements on campus and beyond. The MBA classroom in Green Hall now proudly bears his name and his quote: “I was never really smart. I just worked really hard.”

Lawler, Dana professor of government and a nationally renowned scholar and prolific author, taught Berry students for 38 years. He also served the nation as an appointee to the President’s Council on Bioethics under George W. Bush. His famously messy office in Evans Hall is no longer messy but, by carrying his name, will continue to inspire students, faculty and staff to the type of high expectations he had of students and himself.

Funds from the alumni-driven campaigns to name these spaces benefited existing Berry scholarships. A similar campaign honoring a current faculty member, longtime student publications advisor Kevin Kleine, resulted in a new fund supporting study abroad experiences for communication majors.

BlueSky Global Ministries

THIS EARTH – Lawler unexpectedly in 2017 and Spector at the

Ed Catmull shares the magic of Pixar as the 2019 Shatto Lecturer.

Student Photographer Bailey Albertson

Brant Sanderlin

Speakers take learning

“ To infinity and beyond!” president, the first female to serve as a college president in Georgia. The lectureship brings speakers of international prominence to campus to provide exceptional beyondthe-classroom learning experiences.

STORYCORPS FOUNDER The fall semester also featured speakers of distinction, among them Conson Wilson Lecturer David Isay, the man behind StoryCorps, a nonprofit organization with a mission “to record, preserve and share stories of Americans from all backgrounds and beliefs.” More than 75,000 oral histories have already been recorded and preserved at the Library of Congress through StoryCorps’ efforts. New students read and discussed Isay’s book, Callings: The Purpose and Passion of Work, as part of their first-year seminar activities.

Engagement with StoryCorps continued this spring as Berry became the third college – along with Trinity College and Johns Hopkins – to participate in the “One Small Step” initiative, which seeks to bridge the political divide by inviting people with differing views to share their life experiences with one another through recorded conversations to be preserved in the Library of Congress.

HERO’S GRANDSON

Berry family member Clay Bonnyman Evans during the search for the remains of his grandfather, Marine 1st Lt. Alexander “Sandy” Bonnyman Jr. (inset).

Last October, Clay Bonnyman Evans, grandson of Martha Berry’s Medal of Honor-winning nephew, Marine 1st Lt. Alexander “Sandy” Bonnyman Jr., spoke and signed copies of his book, Bones of My Grandfather: Reclaiming a Lost

Hero of World War II. Bonnyman fought valiantly in World War II’s Battle of Tarawa, losing his life alongside more than 1,000 other Marines. For nearly 75 years his body was also lost, until efforts by Evans and the History Flight organization solved the mystery of his whereabouts – and that of other brave soldiers. Bonnyman came home in 2015 for burial with full military honors in Knoxville, Tenn. The Berry community takes pride in having had such a hero in our extended family.

ONE OF OUR OWN

Just five years after her Berry graduation, Alyssa Hollingsworth (13C) Alyssa Hollingsworth was the featured author in October’s David James Poissant Creative Prose Reading Series. In 2018, her debut novel, The Eleventh Trade, quickly rose to No. 1 on Amazon’s list of new children’s literature, and her second book, The Invisible Boy, is due for release this fall.

She signed a two-book, two-continent publishing contract with Roaring Book Press (MacMillan) and Piccadilly Press shortly after completing a master’s degree at England’s Bath Spa University.

David Isay addresses the Berry community.

Student Photographer Jacob Bushey

renowned for his “To infinity and beyond!” declaration, was not a speaker at Berry during the 2018-19 academic year. But his creator was. Pixar Co-Founder Ed Catmull offered thoughtful remarks on creativity as the February headliner for the Gloria Shatto Lecture Series, addressing a near capacity crowd in the Cage Center.

Over the course of his career, Catmull revolutionized the world of animation and built one of the most innovative and emulated companies on earth. For more than 25 years, Pixar has dominated the world of animation, producing 14 consecutive No. 1 box-office hits and winning 30 Academy Awards. Catmull is also a former president of Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios and author of Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration.

The donor-funded Gloria Shatto Lecture Series honors the memory of Berry’s sixth

Student Photographer Jacob Bushey

TOY STORY CHARACTER BUZZ LIGHTYEAR,

INSIDE THE GATE

success breeds success TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS and qualifying for nationals in 10 different

Student Photographer Leigh Hadaway

sports, Berry student-athletes were back at it in 2018-19, claiming three SAA team titles last fall and several individual championships during the winter months.

Historic individual firsts were plentiful – including a first-team AllAmerican in volleyball and a Google Cloud Academic All-American on the gridiron – and academics were at the forefront, with 101 Vikings earning placement on the SAA Fall Honor Roll by posting a GPA of 3.25 or better.

Here are just a few highlights:

making waves Haley Brown (above) closed out her Berry career in style by qualifying for the NCAA Division III Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships for the second consecutive year. The 2018 honorablemention All-American earned her return trip by clocking a time of 51.35 seconds in the 100-yard freestyle at the SAA championships.

She complemented that second-place conference finish with an SAA title in the 50 free.

Berry swimmers topped the podium in five additional events at the SAA meet, including individual crowns for Michael Beamis (50 and 100 free), Brooke Boyd (1,650 free) and Dylan White (100 backstroke), as well as an 800 free relay title for the foursome of White, Cyrus Nabavi, Bo Dyar and Jackson Parker.

Elijah Hirsh made history as Berry’s first SAA Player of the Year in men’s basketball after leading the Vikings to a 19-7 overall record and an 11-3 conference finish, both bests in the NCAA

6

BERRY MAGAZINE • SUMMER 2019

Blake Childers (15C)

King of the court

era. Hirsh also earned All-Region honors and a spot in the National Association of Basketball Coaches Division III College All-Star Game – two more program firsts – after averaging 17.5 points and 9.2 rebounds for coach Mitch Cole’s team, which fell just one win shy of the program’s first SAA regular-season championship.

The women’s basketball team also enjoyed a strong season in SAA play, winning nine games in a row at one point en route to a 9-5 conference finish, matching the program’s NCAA best.

football threepeat The Berry football team added another championship to its growing collection by winning the SAA for the third consecutive year.

The Vikings finished 10-2 overall and 6-0 on Williams Field at Valhalla, including a 31-0 rout of rival Maryville in the first round of the NCAA Division III national playoffs. Other highlights included a 44-3 Mountain Day victory over Sewanee played before a record crowd of 4,611.

Motivation during the championship run flowed from the courage, faith and resolve exhibited by sophomore Justus Edwards, who suffered a significant injury in late September. The Vikings, other SAA schools, the entire Berry community and much of Rome rallied around the injured player, with the hashtag “#14strong” becoming symbolic of his “cando, I’ll-be-back” spirit.

Numerous Vikings earned individual honors for their efforts on the field and in the classroom, including recognition for defensive lineman Bryson Lamboy as a D3football.com AllAmerican and offensive lineman Nick McGee as the program’s first Google Cloud Academic AllAmerican. The team also produced 21 All-SAA selections led by Tony Kunczewski (Coach of the Year), C.J. Stone (Special Teams Player of the Year) and Lamboy (Defensive Player of the Year).

Racing to nationals Abby Carroll returned to the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships for the second consecutive year, this time joined by teammate Meredith Herman. Both runners qualified by excelling in last fall’s South/Southeast Regional Championship held on the Berry campus. They followed with a pair of top-70 placements at nationals, the best for Berry in the NCAA era.

The Berry women have sent runners to nationals each of the past three years and this season narrowly missed a conference championship after placing three runners in the top four at the SAA meet.

Student Photographer Leigh Hadaway

A YEAR AFTER WINNING EIGHT SOUTHERN ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION

Berry volleyball continued to be tops in the SAA, winning both regular-season and tournament championships for the second consecutive year. The Vikings finished with a 26-4 overall record and hosted an NCAA regional for the first time since 2015.

Leading the way was the All-American trio of Emily Hancock, Laura Beier and Carson VanCampen, the first player in program history to earn first-team honors. Other individual distinctions included regional recognition for Caitlyn Moriarty (14G) and Beier as Coach and Freshman of the Year, respectively, and SAA awards for Moriarty (Coach of the Year), Beier (Defensive Player of the Year) and Hancock (Player of the Year).

Brant Sanderlin

spiking the competition

TV star helps theatre students shine JUILLIARD-TRAINED BROADWAY ACTOR AND TV STAR DAVID ALFORD won’t be taking home a

Student Photographer Leigh Hadaway

golden statue for his latest role as a teacher and mentor in Berry’s theatre program, but it’s one he has prized.

Best known for playing Bucky Dawes, manager of country music star Rayna James on the ABC/CMT series Nashville, Alford joined the faculty last fall as a visiting artist-in-residence, bringing with him 32 years of experience in film, television and theatre.

Alford first came to Berry the previous academic year at the invitation of longtime friend Dr. Anna Filippo, assistant professor and director of theatre. His work with students during that brief visit set the stage for her to call again a few months later

BERRY PEOPLE Faculty promotions and tenure Promotions and tenure approved by the Berry College Board of Trustees at its February meeting included the following:

Tenure and promotion to associate professor: Dr. Casey Dexter (psychology), Dr. William Donnelly (English, rhetoric and writing), Dr. Pam Dunagan (nursing), Dr. David Elmer (kinesiology), Dr. Sunday Peters (animal science) and Dr. Mark Turlington (chemistry) Tenure: Dr. Paul Neal (music) Promotion to full librarian: Jeremy Worsham

Student Photographer Lindsey Campbell

Promotion to professor: Dr. Michael Morgan (biology), Dr. Alice Suroviec (chemistry), Dr. Julee Tate (Spanish) and Dr. Virginia Troy (art)

seeking an encore. He didn’t hesitate.

“The TV show had wrapped filming, and it made sense for me personally,” Alford recounted.

“When I came to Berry initially, I fell for the campus, I liked the people, and I liked the students.

When Anna called, I thought, ‘Why not?’ There’s an air of relaxed positivity at Berry, a can-do spirit that I really like.”

Emphasizing techniques learned at Juilliard and developed over the course of his career, Alford focused on helping students hone their speaking skills and movement. It didn’t take him long to develop a strong appreciation for their work ethic, a trait he witnessed firsthand last fall as director of Lauren Gunderson’s Silent Sky. “Talent is one thing, but what separates people in the entertainment industry in terms of longevity is reliability and doing what they say they’ll do,” he expressed. “I’ve never been around students who have the work ethic that Berry students have. The amount of hours they spend engaging in productive tasks is remarkable.”

Berry students in Silent Sky. BERRY MAGAZINE • SUMMER 2019

7

brant sanderlin

WELL DONE!

Terrific teaching!

THE TOP 15 PERCENT. That’s how

Student Photographer Bailey Albertson

Battle of the beautiful: Berry v. multiple Goliaths STANFORD AND HARVARD HAVE FALLEN TO BERRY’S SPLENDOR, as have Duke, Vassar and

many colleges and universities in the U.S. (plus two from abroad) made it into The Best 384 Colleges, The Princeton Review’s 2019 book highlighting the nation’s best institutions for undergraduate education. And Berry is one of them. The schools were picked primarily for their outstanding academics, according to the lead author, although Berry also was cited for its strong sense of community, campus beauty, engaged faculty and community service.

Notre Dame, among so many others, including our president’s lovely undergraduate alma mater, Wake Forest University. All that are left for Berry’s beauty to best, according to Architectural Digest and its list of “The 50 Most Beautiful Colleges in America,” are Princeton University, which came in ahead of

AT BERRY AND THREE OTHER

Berry at No. 2, and Yale at No. 1. Even the tropical bliss of the University of

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS,

Hawaii could not test the mettle of the beautiful picture Martha Berry painted

Debbie Heida has provided decades of essential support to college students, as well as regional and national leadership in her field. Now her career-long commitment to student support has been recognized by the National Association of Student Affairs Administrators with the “Pillar of the Profession” award.

Heida joined Berry in 2004 and served with distinction as dean of students and vice president of student affairs before accepting her current role as chief of staff.

through “the interplay of the natural with the cultivated and the constructed,” as President Steve Briggs once described.

Conde Nast Traveler also got into the beauty-contest act, including Berry on its alphabetical list of the country’s 50 most handsome campuses.

Tooting his own horn TRUMPETER JERMAINE WHITE wasn’t singing – or playing – the blues last summer

Brant Sanderlin

Strength for students

when he joined some of the best jazz students from across the country at the Brevard Jazz Institute in North Carolina and the Skidmore Jazz Institute in New York. Success at national auditions earned the music major the opportunity to hone his musical chops at the two institutes and learn from top musicians in the industry. His next gig? Pursuing a master’s degree in jazz performance at Florida State University.

Student Photographer Lindsey Campbell

Tops in Tweets!

Student Hayley Westphal in Not Enough.

Screen capture courtesy of Viking Fusion

How many can they win?

WE CAN’T MAKE THIS STUFF UP! The run of national wins for Berry communication students is amazing. And awesome. And (insert other adjective of your choice here). This time, they scored big in four national contests, and one student was a finalist in an impressive fifth.

In the College Media Association Film Festival, Sara Arms and Savannah Wofford Staples (17C) won the Creative Film top award for Not Enough.

Two more Berry projects topped the podium in the College Broadcasters Inc. National Student Production Awards, with Eric Jackson (18C), Sydney Adams (18C), Wyatt Duemler and Anna Marie Falkenberry claiming Best Vodcast for Sanctuary; and Berry College v.

Emory University in volleyball bringing home first in Best Live Production.

Ashley Foreman was a finalist in the Best College/University News or Event Feature category of Editor and Publisher’s EPPY Awards competition for a story she developed during a study abroad experience in Florence, Italy, detailing the conversion of a centuries-old convent/prison complex into a popular public gathering space. Many of her fellow finalists were graduate students, with the winner hailing from the University of British

Columbia’s international reporting program.

Berry also took home two seconds, a third and a fourth in the CBI competition; a second and third at the CMA Film Festival; a second and third at the CMA Pinnacle Awards; and a third in the Broadcast Education Association Festival of Media Arts. Kudos go out to Arms, who won four national awards across the various competitions, and Jackson, who won three. Well done!

ROCKET SCIENCE, IT IS NOT. But Forbes knows there is more to the college experience than traditional rankings can measure. So each year the editorial staff asks alumni, students, parents and faculty across the country to use visuals and words on social media to express why their school is a #MyTopCollege.

Although more than half the votes in the 2018 national competition – and half the top 10 schools – came from the Pacific region, Vikings like Leigh Ann Harrell Dukes (08C) pushed Berry into the top 10 for the first time.

Along with posting an engagement picture taken in (yes, in!) the Ford reflecting pool, Dukes tweeted: “@berrycollege will always be my #homeawayfromhome!! #FBF to our engagement pictures 10 years ago!!! #foreveraviking #MyTopCollege #berrybubble.”

National-quality mentor LET’S BE CLEAR, because that’s always been his goal for communication students: Kevin Kleine, Berry studentpublications advisor since 1989, has received national recognition as a “Distinguished 4-Year Multimedia Adviser” from the College Media Association, the USA’s largest organization dedicated to collegiate student media programs.

“Week after week, he saved us from our own inexperience with his seasoned advice and somehow turned any mishaps into learning opportunities for us,” declared Bonny Harper Dixon (13C), one of many who can attest to Kleine’s extensive mentoring of student-communicators and the important role he plays in preparing them for personal and professional success.

The quality of that mentoring was affirmed this spring when the Campus Carrier newspaper won 12 awards – including first place in its division – in the annual Georgia College Press Association contest.

Student Photographer Matthew Mcconnell

BERRY MAGAZINE • SUMMER 2019

9

PRESIDENT’S ESSAY

Learn it Well; Keep it Always Dr. Stephen Briggs

TELLING BERRY’S STORY AUTHENTICALLY AND CREATIVELY HAS BEEN A PRIORITY

since the earliest efforts of our founder to spread the word about her schools.

In order to keep this message fresh and relevant, college leaders recently sought input from alumni, current and prospective students, and others as we reflected carefully on what is most true about the Berry experience and how we can share these truths effectively.

Key elements of the Berry experience include: • Our culture of mentorship • I ntellectual challenges combined with practical learning • H ands-on work and leadership experiences • A four-year plan for personal and professional maturity • A community that cares for one another and encourages faith • A place of inspiring opportunity and beauty

Berry’s distinctiveness is readily absorbed with time on campus but difficult to capture in words or images.

In an effort to convey the richness of the Berry experience more artfully, we have developed an “anthem,” which serves as the basis for a stirring video you can soon watch at berry.edu/anthem. Think of its words as overarching “spirit” language encapsulating Berry’s values and viewpoint. Although it is not a song, we hope you find yourself tempted to “sing along” as you read the words on the facing page.

10

BERRY MAGAZINE • SUMMER 2019

The anthem title, Carry on the Work, is drawn from one of Martha Berry’s final letters.

CARRY ON THE WORK It’s a way of looking at the world.

The opportunities it has to offer.

And what we can offer in return.

It’s who we’ve always been.

And what we’re constantly becoming.

It invites us to look back, and to gaze within.

There, we find resilience. Confidence. Purpose.

The call to chart a course and make a difference.

It is simple. Straightforward.

Honest. Unapologetic.

It is a mandate, a challenge to which we rise each day: o pursue solutions to the most complex T problems. o grasp ideas and shape them with our T hands.

To form beliefs and test them every day. o seek clarity and truth with relentless T purpose. o anchor ourselves with humility while lifting T our eyes to the horizon.

To receive wisdom, share gifts, improve lives. o cherish the natural world, having lived and T learned in a place of inspiring beauty.

To leave this place better than we found it.

These ideals are our engine and compass.

They are never out of style.

photos by Brant Sanderlin

It is this work that makes our days remarkable.

To do our best in everything we do. In every walk of life.

Whether creating, innovating, leading or serving, we add value to our professions, to our communities, to our families, to ourselves.

Because how we learn, the ways we contribute, the difference we make. Lasts.

It’s why we carry on the work. Just as we have since the day our founder and her first group of eager students willed Berry into being.

The best ideas have a way of sticking around.

Just like this education.

WE LEARN IT WELL. WE KEEP IT ALWAYS. BERRY MAGAZINE • SUMMER 2019

11

Doing

it all

Those who know Micah Studdard particularly well say he is a bit like an old man in a young man’s body. Steady and dependable, certainly, but it’s more than that. It’s the sum of all he knows at the ripe old age of 27 and his ability to use that knowledge to create a vision for his employers’ farm and then make it so.

by KARILON L. ROGERS photography by BRANT SANDERLIN

12

BERRY MAGAZINE • SUMMER 2019

W

here others might see problems, Micah Studdard (14C) sees possibilities. And he works. Hard. That’s what Wes Walraven and Brian Moore discovered when they hired the animal science major fresh out of Berry to manage Lyons Bridge Farm in Cave Spring, Ga. The duo had purchased the farm with the intention of using it as a recreational retreat for friends, as well as a hay operation, but Studdard soon opened their eyes to the property’s exciting potential.

“Before Micah, we tried to do the farm without professional help, and it went badly,” confessed Walraven, a Cave Spring native and brother of Starr Walraven Helton (75C).

“And at the time, we had no real interest in growing it as much as it has. But once we met Micah and realized his abilities and the possibilities, we jumped in.”

For Studdard, signing on at Lyons Bridge Farm has been a dream come true – a chance to make something out of next to nothing by coupling his natural mechanical abilities with a passion for cattle breeding acquired through his student work at Berry and then being the man responsible for it all.

FROM HAY TO HEIFERS

“The job originally was hay production,” Studdard said of the role he accepted even before he had his bachelor’s degree in hand.

“But not long into it, I told Wes and Brian that I wanted to establish a breeding herd and asked them to consider it. They gave me a budget and told me to go do it. I bought our first five Angus cows from Berry.”

That year, Studdard purchased a total of 40 young female cows, known as heifers, to start the breeding herd, including additional Angus cows with Berry genetics from local farms and some Polled Herefords. He then bought more heifers annually to build up the herd – a total of about 75 Angus from Berry – until 2018 when no purchase was necessary: In spring 2019, the now 400-cow herd bore 325 calves of fine, registered breeding stock.

Using skills learned at Berry, Studdard handles all the artificial insemination personally, with a bull brought in to court the cows whose artificial breeding doesn’t take.

He also hones in on opportunity.

“We are building breeding stock, the type of animals that produce fine-quality offspring that we sell to other farms,” Studdard explained. “But sometimes calves are born that don’t meet our standards. They could be sold for minimal profit, but I suggested we try selling Lyons Bridge beef.”

What started with the sale of Angus halves and wholes in 2016 quickly morphed into steaks that sold rapidly. And ground beef – hundreds of pounds of ground beef.

“We approached Harvest Moon Café, and in a blind taste test they chose our beef,” Studdard said proudly. “Now we have a good outlet for the ground meat so we can bring in more steaks and other cuts.”

The lucrative retail business took off, and in 2018 co-owner Moore, who literally grew up in a butcher shop and was trained in the culinary arts at Le Cordon Bleu in London, headed up an operation to purchase Riverside Gourmet in downtown Rome. The shop now carries Lyons Bridge beef, as well as Lyons Bridge lamb and pork.

“We’ve added pigs and lambs to the farm,” Studdard said. “We’re buying our lambs from Berry and finishing them out. But the college doesn’t have pigs!”

FROM SCRATCH

Now at more than 1,000 acres with an additional 200 in leased pasture, Lyons Bridge Farm originally was a 700-acre tract with only 150 acres in open pasture and no facilities for cattle.

“Micah built the farm from scratch, overseeing all the contractors for everything, and he runs it entirely,” declared Walraven

before launching into a litany of Studdard’s abilities.

“He had more than 500 acres that had been planted in plantation pine cleared, turning it back into pasture,” Walraven stated. “He graded and maintains 31 miles of farm road, put in miles and miles of fencing, and put in our processing, equipment and hay barns. He selects the cows, handles all the artificial insemination and breeding, and keeps all the breeding records. He does all the vaccinations personally and handles the calving. We rarely need to call in a vet. And now he handles finishing the cows going to the abattoir and raises the sheep and pork we got into for the retail business. And he takes care of all the accounts payable and works with me on budgeting and our monthby-month five-year business plan.

“Micah is an exceptionally hard worker who knows an amazing amount about a lot of things. And everybody knows him, which is also amazing for someone so young. They all say the same thing: ‘Micah is a great guy.’”

WORTHWHILE WORK DONE WELL

The initial yearlong process to clear the land, fence the pastures and build support facilities was easier than one might think for Studdard, who grew up on a farm in Armuchee, Ga., just north of Berry, and does, indeed, know just about everyone in that neck of the woods.

Mentors:

For today and tomorrow Micah Studdard’s Berry mentors remain a big part of his life, including work supervisor Tom Harris, veterinarian Dr. Martin Goldberg and academic advisor Dr. Jay Daniel, professor and chair of the animal science department.

“I talk to Tom almost every day,” Studdard said, adding, “I reached out to Dr. Daniel a lot when I first started, and I can call Dr. Goldberg anytime to talk through problems. He’ll always come out to the farm if I need him.”

It was Harris who recommended Studdard for the job at Lyons Bridge Farm, after Wes Walraven approached Berry College Trustee Marti Berry Walstad, asking for the school’s best graduate.

Walstad spoke to President Steve Briggs, who reached out to Gunby Equestrian Center barn manager Kevin Ellis, who mentioned the job opening to Harris.

“I told Kevin about Micah and how he can literally do it all,” Harris said, adding that while Studdard was in the top 10 percent of the student workers he’s had in his 29 years at Berry, mentoring is something he does with many, many students.

“You develop a special bond with the students who work a lot and become almost as close to them as you are to your own children,” he said. “You take an interest in where they go on to from Berry.

I want to help and advise them as long as the good Lord let’s me.”

14

BERRY MAGAZINE • SUMMER 2019

“I’ve always been interested in farm equipment – big equipment,” Studdard said.

“I’ve been riding tractors since I was 8 or 9 and had lots of logging friends with a lot of big equipment.”

He planned to major in environmental science at Berry with an eye toward a career in forestry, thinking of the equipment involved as “big stuff to play with.” Although he knew nothing about cows – “I’m the furthest thing from a cowboy there is …

I don’t get on the back of something that has its own brain” – he quickly changed to animal science and its production/ management concentration after working the summer before his freshman year with Tom Harris, superintendent of Berry’s beef operations, whose son Studdard had grown up with and who had coached him in youth baseball.

“I started with Tom at the beginner level like everyone – in the sheep barn and on a tractor,” Studdard recalled of his initial student work experience.

After then working in the hayfield, Studdard spent his last two years with the Berry Angus student enterprise. He was heavily involved in artificial insemination for both the Angus and dairy herds, was feed manager for the Angus herd, and took care of the mechanical equipment for both operations. He also worked off campus at various local farms, assisting with the artificial insemination process and vaccinations.

“Micah came to Berry knowing about so many things – welding, building, construction and machinery,” Harris said. “He knows more about machinery than I ever will. He would work every hour he could. He found his passion in cattle and wanted to be here as much as possible.”

“I’ve always loved to work,” Studdard agreed. “At college if I wasn’t in class or working on campus, I was working off campus. I feel sure if I didn’t have the handson part of my Berry education, I wouldn’t be where I am. At Berry, you get both the academic learning and the experience so you can go into the workplace with both and start higher.”

PERFECT MATCH

Walraven and Moore are proud of the quality of the breeding herd now making a name for their farm and of the products they sell, with Moore emphasizing the ethical treatment of their animals. They know that none of it would have been possible without Studdard.

“We know nothing about cattle,” Walraven stated emphatically. “We have entrusted Micah with our multimillion-dollar investment in the farm. And giving back to the community is important to us; Micah is great about that as well.”

A member of the First Presbyterian Church, Studdard is president of the Floyd County Cattlemen and Young Farmers associations and involves Pepperell High School Future Farmers of America students and Berry students at the farm whenever possible.

Good fortune touched Studdard just as it did his employers when it gave him such a unique opportunity right out of college.

“The whole thing mixed together is my passion – seeing what the farm has grown into,” Micah said about his work at Lyons Bridge. “But what I’m most passionate about is starting with the smallest cell to start a cow and seeing it become a calf, and then breeding that calf. It is really nice.” B

Clay Culpepper (07C) came to Berry as a cocky, selfabsorbed 18-year-old who expected to be treated like the baseball star he’d always been. He left as the ultimate team player, well suited to serve on a highly skilled unit with life and death consequences.

by KARILON L. ROGERS photography by BRANT SANDERLIN

erry is where I became a man, a leader,” declared Sgt. Clay Culpepper, SWAT Entry Team leader and department shift supervisor for the Marietta (Ga.) Police. “But I started out doing everything wrong.”

After moving to Rome his senior year in high school, the outdoor enthusiast and baseball prodigy couldn’t wait to join older brother Lance (03C) as a Berry Viking. But his first year on the road to a college degree and the ultimate prize of a professional baseball career went anything but well – academically, athletically or personally.

“I came in thinking I was entitled, and the team didn’t like me,” he said. “I felt isolated and alone, especially after I was hit with injuries and couldn’t play that first year. My studies suffered too, and I had a horrible GPA. But I came back the next year, kept my mouth shut and worked my tail off. I earned Coach [David] Beasley’s respect and became a team leader. I learned that it is all about the team, not about me.”

Today, Culpepper remains focused on team with a capital “T.” When a door must be breached by police in Atlanta’s ever-growing northwest neighbor, he’s in charge, positioned in the middle of the “stack” of SWAT officers rushing into the crisis instead of away from it. His role is moment-by-moment assessment of rapidly evolving circumstances so that he can make quick decisions and relay information to Incident Command.

That Culpepper excels at his work is no surprise to Beasley.

“I knew that Clay would be super successful in whatever he chose to do,” asserted the coach, who has each new player develop a one-, three- and 10-year plan detailing where they want to be personally, academically and athletically and then judges

BERRY MAGAZINE • SUMMER 2019

15

Culpepper pitches to son Bronson.

himself on their 10-year post-graduation success. “He loves making a difference every day, and that is what he does in his work.

Nobody loves his job as much as Clay – or works harder at it.”

no regrets and will be prepared for the next step – for whatever door God opens for them. Clay was prepared. He had to wander a little while, but he found his calling.”

THE JOURNEY

STARRING ROLE, DASHED DREAMS

Despite his many injuries and inauspicious start with teammates who became as close to him as brothers, Culpepper developed into a true Viking standout, starting in 173 games (see statistics box), second all-time for Berry.

His career batting average was .393, and in 2005, he hit a remarkable .429. But by the end of his college career, injuries overcame his will to play through them, and he found himself sitting in the dugout watching his team until the very last out – suddenly realizing he had no chance to play professional baseball.

“It was all I ever dreamed of,” he said of his injury-dashed hopes. “After that last game, I tied my cleats together and lost it. I sat on the bench and cried. I was heartbroken that I couldn’t go on and play pro ball, and I wanted nothing to do with my backup plan of coaching. I had poured so much effort into becoming the best; a piece of my life ended that day.”

According to Beasley, Culpepper had an enormous amount of athletic talent – and the character to carry on when life did not go according to plan.

“Every baseball player wants to play forever,” Beasley said. “It’s hard when that doesn’t happen, and they don’t realize it’s over until that last out. But I tell the kids from the start that if they go through life giving everything they’ve got, they will have

Culpepper graduated with an interdisciplinary studies degree he called “outdoor therapy,” which integrated health and physical education coursework with outdoor leadership and psychology. His academic mentor, Dr. Bob Pearson, professor of kinesiology emeritus, helped him craft and succeed in the personalized major despite Culpepper’s poor academic start. Pearson also become a lifelong supporter and friend.

“By the time I graduated, I almost had a 3.0, but it was very hard digging out of the deep hole of my first-year GPA,” Culpepper stressed. “After I took my first class with Bob Pearson, I took every class I could with him, and I spent a lot of time talking to him. I wish I could go back in time and focus more

on studies. I probably wouldn’t have done even as well as I did if Coach Beasley hadn’t made the team have study halls!”

After drifting in heavy-equipment sales in Rome for an unfulfilling, if successful, three years following graduation, Culpepper realized that he longed to again be part of something bigger than himself. He tried to get into every branch of the military, but none would have him due to his past injuries. And then came SWAT. “I’d never considered police work before, but SWAT was a team,” he said, “so I set my sights on it. I picked Marietta both because the pay was good and because I wanted to get into the action. Although I enjoy a country life and live in Armuchee, I wanted the excitement and danger of policing in a bigger city than Rome.”

Training to join Marietta’s SWAT team after the required year of police service gave him a whole new skill set. And like baseball, it “totally consumed” him.

In Marietta, service on SWAT is a parttime role, so although members are on 24hour call and train thrice monthly, each also holds another full-time position. Culpepper initially spent three years as a patrolman and another three as a narcotics officer, taking the opportunity during those years to earn

CLAY CULPEPPER’S VIKING STATS ALL-TIME BERRY STANDING

173 games started

2nd

231 career hits

2nd

148 RBIs

4th

321 total bases

4th

47 doubles

4th

.393 career batting avg.

5th

588 at-bats

5th

140 runs scored

5th

multiple instructor certifications. Before being promoted to sergeant in 2018, he headed the training unit for more than a year, handling all facets of hiring and training.

Today, his “regular” job is serving as a front-line supervisor for patrol officers on the road, and he remains active as an instructor with emphasis on defensive tactics and firearms. But, “SWAT is my love, my family,” he insisted.

MOVING FORWARD IN THE STACK

Culpepper’s entrée into SWAT was a smooth one.

“I remembered how I did everything wrong at Berry,” he recalled. “So, when I joined the SWAT team, I kept my mouth shut and worked harder than anyone on the team.

I gave everyone respect, and I got it back. I became an informal leader.”

His efforts and training bore fruit. After starting on the perimeter of crisis situations, as do all new SWAT officers, he soon made his way onto the entry team.

“Everyone wants to do entry team – the guys that go in and get ’em,” he said. “You have an eight- to 10-man stack, and you start in a position at the back and work toward being at the front. The point man is the first in, the best on the team in terms of training and decision-making skills. My goal was to be point man.”

That dream was achieved if short-lived, this time squelched by senior leadership who wanted him to take over as SWAT’s sniper team leader. Upset at first, Culpepper turned the situation into a challenge, having his team work toward earning the difficult top standard for law-enforcement snipers, certification from the American Sniper Association.

“It was a long, very difficult process, and we failed on our first attempt at certification,” he said. “We passed on the second and became only the second certified team in Georgia.”

The central role of a SWAT sniper team belies its moniker, even though Culpepper himself can cover the holes he makes with five rapid gunshots across the length of a football field with just a quarter.

“A sniper’s main purpose is surveillance and reconnaissance,” he explained. “What you see in the movies of snipers shooting people is a very small part of the job. Most snipers never have to pull a trigger. I’ve never shot anyone; nobody wants to shoot anybody. The sniper team deploys first and works undercover to provide intelligence for what becomes the operation order. They gather as much information as possible, such as details about the type of door that will be breached – its size, what it’s made out of and which side the hinges are on. A sniper’s most important skill set – other than being a good shot – is being invisible in both an urban and rural setting.”

When he was promoted to sergeant, Culpepper once again was asked to change SWAT assignments: “This time, I didn’t want to leave the sniper team but was asked to be entry team leader. Now I’m back in the stack.”

SWAT’s most frequent assignments in Marietta involve high-risk warrant service and operations against gangs rather than hostage situations, which normally are resolved without SWAT entering. Teams are also called to provide special assistance, such as working with Homeland Security and the Secret Service when Vice President Mike Pence landed at Marietta’s Dobbins Air Reserve Base and assisting with protection services at the 2019 Super Bowl in Atlanta.

TRI 7

Culpepper married his high school sweetheart, Brittany, while a college sophomore, so he didn’t have much time for activities as a student. His few involvements other than baseball and working extensively

with the grounds crew included serving with Athletes Bettering the Community and helping form a weekly discipleship gathering of baseball players called “D-Group,” which remains active among today’s players.

Culpepper’s faith also remains active. He lives with Brittany and their two children – Bronson (10) and Maelee (8) – on property they call Tri 7 Farm. Brittany runs Tri 7 Screen Printing and Embroidery from their home, and Culpepper operates Tri 7 Defense as a side business, offering such classes as self-defense for women and gun safety. He and his father, sister and brother all wore No. 7 as athletes, and son Bronson wears it now.

“The ‘Tri’ in our Tri 7 name represents the trinity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, with the number 7 representing completion in the Bible,” explained Culpepper, who recently started work on a master’s degree in Christian ministry.

HIS STORY

Culpepper’s coveted baseball “career” now consists only of helping with his son’s team and remaining plugged into Berry’s squad through Beasley. Yet while life didn’t turn out at all as he thought it would or should, his story is one of exceptional preparation, purpose, devotion and service in all aspects of life – which comes as no surprise to his coach and longtime mentor.

“In Berry’s athletic department, there are stories written all the time about how the team did yesterday,” Beasley stated. “But the best stories are not yet written. They are about our kids once they leave Berry. They are stories like Clay’s.” B

BERRY MAGAZINE • SUMMER 2019

17

of

In the name Love

by KARILON L. ROGERS

Twenty years separated the Berry experiences of Betty Anne Rouse Bell (52H, 56C) and Margaret Weaver Faison (36C), yet little divides the deep love each felt for the school that changed their lives. Now, in the name of love, both women have been honored by family through Ford Auditorium namings that are uniquely and very personally theirs.

The Ford Buildings were home to Betty Anne Rouse Bell and Margaret Weaver Faison during their student days.

THE STORY OF

Betty Anne Rouse Bell Robert Bell loves his wife. She loves Berry. So, he gave her the best gift imaginable, the honor of having the Ford Auditorium recital hall named for her – the girl who once scrubbed its stage floor.

B

etty Anne Rouse Bell first set foot on the Berry campus at the age of 14 when a kind uncle delivered her there. It was the start of her junior year in high school, and she had been living with her grandmother after moving from place to place with her alcoholic father. Her mother was out of the picture for the most part by then, having suffered brain damage at 33 in an alcohol-related car accident.

With just $5 in her pocket, Betty Anne moved into the castle-like Ford Buildings and found a home that would belong to her forever.

“Berry was more of a home than any place I had ever lived,” she emphasized. “I loved it – the students, the teachers, the community spirit. We all helped one another. And even though most of the students were from rural areas, the school stressed music, drama – the arts.”

18

BERRY MAGAZINE • SUMMER 2019

Music became her particular love, especially classical music.

“When I went to Berry, I had never heard classical music, but we all had to take music- and artappreciation classes,” she explained.

“I was in music appreciation in a classroom above Ford Auditorium when the teacher played a recording of Beethoven’s Appassionata. I was blown away. After curfew, I slipped out of my room in Clara Hall and went back to the auditorium. I sat and played that record over and over with tears streaming down my cheeks. It was the start of my love of classical music. Nothing since has ever affected me as much. Berry did that for me.”

It was a lifelong gift. A Miss Berry winner in high school – itself a Cinderella story for a girl in borrowed shoes and repaired but ratchewed cotton gown – Betty Anne went on to not only win the college Miss Berry pageant singing “The Habenera” from Carmen, but also to perform professionally for decades, singing for the likes of President Ronald Reagan.

Alan Storey

THE STORY OF

Robert and Betty Anne Rouse Bell Betty Anne Rouse Bell sings for President Ronald Reagan

Margaret Weaver Faison Like a soft, warm blanket, her love surrounded the family for decades. The best wife, mother and grandmother possible, it was only at Berry that she had the opportunity to be “just Margaret.” It is that joyous time in her life that her family celebrates through a very special naming of Ford Auditorium’s entrance hall.

In addition to becoming passionate about her own art, she also developed a strong desire to help children experience the lifechanging impact of the arts as she had. She served both interests as president of the Atlanta Music Club and as a board member for such organizations as the Atlanta Repertory Opera Company, Atlanta Children’s Civic Theater, Southern Ballet and the Woodruff Arts Center, among others. She remains active in Peachtree Corners Presbyterian Church, including longstanding membership in the choir, although she declared with a grin about recent years, “Older people should know when to quit. I sing softly now and am just eye candy.”

Through it all, Betty Anne’s ardor for Berry and the Ford Complex, where she lived for five of her six years as a student, has never wavered, the auditorium holding a particular lure.

“My friend Greanel Spell and I worked on the cleaning crew, and hen Margaret Weaver Faison came to college at Berry in the our job was to scrub the floor of the stage in the auditorium,” she mid-1930s, it was not the most usual thing for a young girl to recalled. “We scrubbed as fast as we could so that we could tap dance do. Berry’s first senior-college class, consisting of only 17 students, on the stage or play Romeo and Juliet, fighting over who had to be had graduated in just 1932. But Margaret, who had finished high Romeo.” school in LaFayette, Ga., and was helping out in her father’s store, Betty Anne moved to Atlanta after graduating from college, and it was 16, smart and bored. was there that she met Robert Bell, a future Georgia state senator.

“Let’s go to Berry and see if we can go to school there,” she Sixty years after their 1958 wedding – and an equal amount of time reportedly urged cousin Jim Weaver about visiting the fledgling hearing her Berry stories – he did something particularly special. He college on the same vast campus where her brother had attended high made a gift to Berry and named the Betty Anne Rouse Bell Recital school.

Hall at Ford Auditorium.

“Of course, she fell in love with the school once she was there,” “I’ve always known how Betty Anne loved Berry,” he said. “It was said daughter Nancy Faison Bryson, “and her years at Berry were the a seminal moment for her and had a profound impact on her life.” happiest of her life. She loved being on the beautiful campus and His gift of love was a grand surprise. made friends who were important to her throughout her life.”

“He told me he wanted me to come to his office to go over a few Margaret also met her husband, John (34C), and they were married things,” Betty Anne said. “When I got there, I saw our two girls, Gaye about a year after her graduation. John worked with the North and Leigh, in the parking lot. They said their father wanted them there Carolina State University Extension Division, and the couple lived in for a family meeting. When I got inside, I saw President [Steve] Briggs, Franklin, Raleigh and Asheville before settling in Shelby, where they Scott Breithaupt and Cyndi Court from Berry, and they had a drawing raised two children and Margaret worked briefly of the recital hall with my name on it. I cried.” as a welfare caseworker and a home economics Betty Anne remains both overwhelmed about the teacher. honor her husband bestowed upon her and a little After a three-year adventure living in Peru in embarrassed by the attention surrounding it. But the 1960s – then an uncommon opportunity – most of all, she is grateful. the couple returned to North Carolina, “Robert has always given me jewelry, and I always eventually settling into retirement while living in seem to lose it,” she smiled. “I guess I won’t lose an Taylorsville and adding a part-time residence in auditorium!”

Florida. After John died in 1992, Margaret lived And to the non-Berry love of her life she has one full time in Florida, giving Florida residents message: “Thank you, Robert. You knew my heart Nancy and son John the opportunity to see her because my heart is Berry. Anything done for Berry is regularly before she died in 2009 at 95. wonderful.”

Margaret Weaver Faison continued on P. 20

W

BERRY MAGAZINE • SUMMER 2019

19

Investing in opportunity THESE GENEROUS ALUMNI AND FRIENDS made gifts, pledges, bequests and estate commitments of $10,000 or more from July 1 to Dec. 15, 2018, to provide opportunities that help students prepare for their futures.

We extend our heartfelt thanks to them and to all who make a gift of any size to Berry. It is our privilege to recognize all donors annually in Berry’s online Honor Roll of Donors (berry.edu/honorroll).

ARAMARK Corp., $37,815 for the general fund Steve and Brenda Briggs, $32,750, with $15,000 for the Berry Center for Integrity in Leadership, $3,750 for the James E. and Dorris Waters Endowed Scholarship, $4,000 for the Kathy Brittain Richardson Faculty and Staff Leadership Fund, and $10,000 for the renovation of Ford Auditorium Callaway Foundation, $16,922 to fund the F.E. Callaway Professorship Mike (92C) and Margaret Crego, $50,000 for the renovation of Ford Auditorium Edward England Jr. (57C) and Evelyn Quarles England (57C), $15,678, with

$550 for the George W. Cofield Memorial Scholarship Fund, $5,000 for the renovation of Ford Auditorium, and $10,128 for the Ed and Evelyn England Endowed Scholarship Jeff (81C) and Carol Field, $10,000 for the Dr. Peter A. Lawler Endowed Scholarship John and Mary Franklin Foundation, $30,000 for the student entrepreneurship center Georgia Power Foundation, $20,000 for the student entrepreneurship center William Randolph Hearst Foundation, $100,000 for the student entrepreneurship center Johnson & Johnson, $10,000 for the new animal science building Norma L. Kummer, $75,000 to fund a charitable gift annuity that ultimately will support Ford Auditorium Lee Jones Lance (53C), $75,000 for a charitable gift annuity that ultimately will support Ford Auditorium The Ray M. and Mary Elizabeth Lee Foundation, $10,000 for the Ray M. and Mary Elizabeth Lee Scholarship

In the name of love Margaret’s stay in Peru was exciting but still couldn’t measure up to her time at Berry, where she lived at the Ford Complex and acted on the Ford Auditorium stage. The opportunity to be her own person was exhilarating.

“She was the most incredible woman ever,” said granddaughter Jenifer Faison (92C), whom Margaret encouraged to attend Berry, advice for which Jenifer will always be grateful. “All of her life, she took care of other people. But at Berry, she was totally herself – independent, so happy. At that time, it wasn’t common for a woman to have such independence.”

“She was the most positive woman I’ve ever known and the most loving grandmother figure you can imagine,” agreed Nancy’s

20

BERRY MAGAZINE • SUMMER 2019

Leonard P. and Carol Snyder Roberts, $10,000 for the Pete and Carol Roberts Scholarship Donald R. Slater (77C) and Deborah Elyse Poss (78C), $10,000 for the renovation of Ford Auditorium The William B. Stokely Jr. Foundation, $10,000 for the William B. Stokely Jr. Scholarship Michelle and Steve Tart, $30,000 for the Football Team Booster Club Fund Michael Lewis Tidwell (98C), $20,000 for the renovation of Ford Auditorium Robert Steve Vaughn, $20,040 for the renovation of Ford Auditorium Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation, $565,000 for the Lettie Pate Whitehead Scholars Fund John (91C) and Lee Woolbright, $30,000 for the Dr. Chaitram Singh Endowed Scholarship John Zellars Jr. Foundation, $13,000, with $6,000 for the Tibbals/Zellars Endowed Education Scholarship and $7,000 for the Tibbals/Zellars Endowed Comprehensive Scholarship

continued from P. 19

daughter, Cathy Bryson. “I have so many memories of sitting next to her on her carport shelling peas and snapping green beans. She was a creative spirit with her painting, sewing and knitting and taught both Jen and I to quilt. But Berry was a time in her life when it was about her – before the wife and mother duties of a woman at that time.”

Through their Bryson Family Foundation, Nancy and husband Vaughn had established a John and Margaret Weaver Faison scholarship at Berry, which later was converted into a Gate of Opportunity Scholarship. But Nancy saw the renovation of Ford Auditorium as a way to honor her mother in a way that was totally hers, and the foundation, now led by Cathy, made a gift to Berry to name the entrance hall at

Ford Auditorium in memory of Margaret’s lifelong passion for the school.

“Mother needed her own voice – as Margaret, not just as ‘Mrs. John,’” Nancy explained, with her daughter adding, “Scholarships are important and meaningful.

But specifically honoring a woman from that era with something that is solely hers is really important.”

Nancy, Cathy and Jenifer all agree that Margaret would be incredibly honored with the naming, which also delighted her four other grandchildren. They are also convinced Margaret would think it undeserved.

“She is smiling in heaven, I am sure,” Nancy said. “She is very happy. But she’s also saying, ‘Oh Nancy, you didn’t need to do that.’”

Kathy Pollard, left, and Francy Geiger (78C) at Valhalla.

Faith, friendship, football:

The loves behind a legacy

by KARILON L. ROGERS

SOUTH CAROLINA NATIVE KATHY POLLARD DIDN’T GO TO SCHOOL ON THE WORLD’S LARGEST CAMPUS, graduating instead from Winthrop

College and then football powerhouse Clemson University. But she came to know it through the eyes of best friend Amy Smith (79C), whom she met while living and working in Atlanta. Describing Berry as a “magical place,” Smith often shared tales of its mission and her days as a student. She also took Pollard to more than one Mountain Day celebration, introducing her to Berry best friend Francy Geiger (78C).

All in all, Berry felt good to Pollard. Right somehow. Comfortable.

When Smith died of cancer in her mid-50s, Pollard had the solemn honor of serving as executor of her estate, which included a bequest to Berry and instructions for Pollard and Geiger to determine its use together. Enter football. And Jesus.

WHO KNOWS?

Smith’s gift ultimately supported the college’s highest priority at the time, construction of Valhalla stadium for Berry track and field and lacrosse, as well as the launch of football, which Smith had strongly supported. Pollard attended football games with Geiger even before Valhalla opened in 2015, loving the Berry family atmosphere and, ultimately, the stadium itself.

“Berry had her at hello,” Geiger laughed, paraphrasing a line from the movie Jerry McGuire to describe Pollard’s wonderful experiences in Mount Berry.

It was only natural that Pollard would appreciate the heart of the Berry players and coaches; she has lived and breathed football her entire life.

“I have always been a huge football fan,” Pollard declared. “I’m part of the Clemson football family, and now I’m a big-time Vikings fan. In fact, I was a fan before they ever started playing. I came to games that first year [in 2013] when they were losing every one and said, ‘I love these guys. They never give up.’ It is no surprise the team has done so well.”

Pollard also attended Clemson games, donating what she described as “a huge amount” to Clemson’s booster club just to park close to the stadium.

“Jean [Druckenmiller, Berry director of development] had told me about entrepreneurship initiatives at Berry and the scholarship program that enables students to graduate debt-free,” she said. “Faith is paramount in my life, and I became conflicted about where my money was going. The Holy Spirit spoke to me, saying, ‘You are spending all this money on football rather than investing in young people – and who knows what all they could do with their lives!’

“Jean shared an opportunity to fund the Pollard Family Worship Coordinator student work position to help a student in the chaplain’s office pay for his or her education. I stopped paying to park close [at Clemson] and gave what I could every year.”

When Pollard retired from work as a health care administrator and moved back to South Carolina, she was no longer able to fund the position in the short-term but didn’t want to let it go forever.

“I asked Jean, ‘What if I put Berry in my will?’” she recalled. “I became a member of the Heritage Society, leaving practically my whole estate to Berry to one day fund the Pollard Family Worship Coordinator position permanently.”

ORANGE AND PURPLE, SILVER AND BLUE

Pollard and Geiger continue to enjoy football together – at Berry and once each year at Clemson, with football-novice Geiger learning about the game through her friend’s enthusiastic “coaching” from the stands. Pollard knows she now has Viking blood in her veins, even if she continues to bleed Clemson purple and orange as well.

“I have no children, so my presence literally will be wiped off the face of the earth when I die,” she reflected. “I just love Berry, and I want to support young people trying to get an education, people who will go out and serve the Lord. Berry is helping me do that.”

Are your affairs in order?

Six out of 10 Americans die without a will, often leaving loved ones with a difficult knot to untangle and added expense. For helpful information on getting your estate plan in place, contact Helen Lansing, senior planned giving officer, at hlansing@berry.edu or 706-378-2867.

Establishing your own Berry legacy can be as simple as including this line, completed, in your will: “I give, devise and bequest to Berry College, Mount Berry, Georgia, 30149, the sum of $X to be used to/for X.” Financial professionals serving on Berry’s Planned Giving Council can help; Lansing can connect you! And if Berry is already in your will, let her know. We want to thank you.

BERRY MAGAZINE • SUMMER 2019

21

What a homecoming!

CUPCAKES, CARNIVAL RIDES, CLASS REUNIONS AND FOOTBALL were among

the ingredients that made Berry’s 2018 Mountain Day celebration such a tasty treat. Also adding flavor were traditional favorites like the Grand March and Friday afternoon Olympics, as well as daily performances of Neil Simon’s Rumors by the Berry College Theatre Company and a soaring 60th anniversary concert by the Berry Singers. Top it all off with glorious October weather (not a raindrop in sight!), and it’s no wonder thousands of alumni, students, parents, faculty/staff and friends turned out for the weekend festivities.

Many who couldn’t make it back took to social media to raise a cupcake to Berry’s founder – a nod to Mountain Day’s origins as a birthday celebration for Martha Berry.

We’re grateful to our friends at Plainville Brick Co. for helping to sponsor the fun. If you missed out, fear not, because Mountain Day 2019 is on the near horizon. Mark your calendars now for the weekend of Oct. 4-6. Numerous classes will be holding reunions, including the “milestone” years of 1979, 1994 and 2009.

Watch berry.edu/alumni for more details. photography by BRANT SANDERLIN; ALAN STOREY; and student photographers JACOB BUSHEY, LINDSEY CAMPBELL, BRYAN CHAMBERLAIN and MATTHEW MCCONNELL.

22

BERRY MAGAZINE • SUMMER 2019

BERRY MAGAZINE • SUMMER 2019

23

News from you CLASS NOTES – THE ORIGINAL SOCIAL MEDIA

1950s

College, he looks forward to continuing his ministry well into the future, drawing inspiration from Berry’s motto: “Not to be ministered unto, but to minister.”

Robin Samples Brothers (65C) has been named director of parks and recreation in Fort Payne, Ala.

monasteries while touring Europe with the Jefferson Choral Society.

On the career front, she has returned to the nonprofit sector, working in development for Westminster Canterbury Lynchburg (Va.) and as parish administrator for Grace Memorial Episcopal Church. She exclaims: “I’ve had a rich and varied life so far!”

1970s Bob Plank

Bill Smith (53H, 57c) showcased his creativity with the wood lathe – a tool he first learned to use as a Berry student – as May 2018 Artist of the Month at Gallery 26 in Melrose, Fla. He and wife Florence Lord Smith (57c) have been married since 1958.

Randall and Nancy Taylor Roberts Nancy Taylor Roberts (71c) married Randall Roberts, who she calls “the perfect husband for me,” on June 10, 2017. She is fully retired from a career in banking and insurance and lives in Ranger, Ga.

Howard Speegle Howard Speegle (54H, 58C) has been awarded another U.S. patent for power line communication techniques, his third since the age of 75.

1960s

Dr. Herbert Barker Dr. Herbert Barker (65C) is in his ninth year as chaplain of the Church of the Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in Taipei, Taiwan.

Retired from roles as a U.S. Navy chaplain and associate professor of philosophy and psychology for the University of Maryland University

Vivian Hosch Smith (75C) celebrated her most recent birthday with a cake depicting Berry’s famed bald eagles – complete with 10-inch tall “adult eagles,” a carrot cake “nest” and “eggs” made of fondantcovered Rice Krispie treats. The retired educator and current Humane Society volunteer has been an avid fan of Berry’s live-streaming “Eagle Cam” for the last five years, sharing weekly updates with the fitness class she now teaches.

Bob Plank (76C) and wife Lois have retired from teaching and moved to Chestertown, Md., after 27 years living in Gettysburg, Pa. Bob now runs his own woodworking and boat repair shop, Little Boats. As a student at Berry, he did renovation work on Possum Trot cabin, where he lived until graduation, and created a replica of the Old Mill for display at an Atlanta expo. Read more about his work today at robertmplanklittleboats.com.

Julie Durham Cochran (77C) and husband Steve continue working in the education field. They have four married children, 11 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Michael J. Bradford (79C) has been elected president of the board of directors for the National Energy and Utility Affordability Coalition in Washington, D.C. NEUAC is a leading organization in the areas of public policy, advocacy and education for a broad range of energy- and poverty-related issues.

He also serves as director of the Project SHARE energy assistance program for the Salvation Army Georgia Division and represents the Salvation Army National Headquarters on the NEUAC board.

BERRY MAGAZINE • SUMMER 2019

Mick McCann Michael “Mick” McCann (80C) recently climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest point on the African continent at 19,341 feet, which he says is proof that you can climb high and go far with a Berry degree. He also was granted tenure at Central Oregon Community College, where he teaches geography.

Milo Blake Van Horn Greg Van Horn (80C) announces the birth of first grandson Milo Blake Van Horn.

Beth Hesling (81C) retired from ConocoPhillips in 2016 after 35 years.

Connie Crotts Sowa and choral group Constance “Connie” Crotts Sowa (79C) has performed in magnificent cathedrals and

Content for this section managed by student KENDALL ARONSON 24

1980s

NEWS FROM YOU

CLASS YEARS are followed by a letter that indicates Berry

Deidre Mercer Martin

Dr. Susan Shaw (81C) has published a new book, Intersectional Theology: An Introductory Guide, co-authored with Dr. Grace Ji-Sun Kim of the Earlham School of Religion, through Fortress Press.

Dunn Neugebauer (82C) has published his second book, Rock Bottom, Then Up Again (And Other Spiritual Essays). His first book, Funny Conversations with God, came out in 2012. He lives and works at Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School in Sandy Springs, Ga. Ellen Owen Bailey (83C) has been promoted to executive vice president and chief human resources officer for Primerica in Duluth, Ga. She lives in Suwanee and serves on the board for Easter Seals of North Georgia.

Dr. Courtney St. John-Wacker (83A, 87C, 89G) received a doctorate in curriculum and instruction from Columbus State University in May 2018. She thanks Berry for providing her with a sound framework for more than 30 years in education.

Michele “Missy” McIntosh Gavagni (85C) is the 2018-19 chair of the National Conference of Bar Examiners, which is responsible for developing and producing the licensing tests used by most U.S. jurisdictions for admission to the practice of law. She has served on the NCBE Board of Trustees since August 2010.

Dr. Deidre Mercer Martin (85C) received the Georgia Education Advancement Council’s 2018 Award for Excellence in Educational Fundraising for her work as chief development officer at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College.

Accomplishments include a 196 percent increase in giving to the ABAC Foundation and a 568 percent increase in campus participation for the annual “Give Back to ABAC” campaign. She joined ABAC in 2015 after retiring as vice chancellor for university advancement at the University of South Carolina Aiken.

Albert “Sid” Blankenship Jr. (87C) retired in 1999 from SunTrust Banks. He since has completed the cabinetry program at Georgia Northwestern Technical College and now volunteers as a construction leader with Habitat for Humanity Coosa Valley.

Tracy Railey Jones (89C) was named 2018-19 Teacher of the Year at Rosemont Elementary School in LaGrange, Ga., where she teaches second grade.

status. Uppercase letters denote graduates; lowercase letters denote attended/attending and anticipated year of graduation.

C,c College G,g Graduate school A,a Academy H,h High school FS Faculty/Staff FFS Former Faculty/Staff SUBMIT YOUR PERSONAL NEWS, which is subject to editing,

online at berry.edu/classnotes or email to classnotes@berry.edu.

Photos of sufficient quality will be used at the discretion of the magazine staff. News in this issue was received July 1 – Dec. 15, 2018.

1990s

Lone Star Vikings IT’S NOT EASY TO MAKE IT TO A BERRY HOME FOOTBALL GAME WHEN YOU LIVE IN TEXAS, Sally Kinney Maddox Sarah “Sally” Kinney Maddox (91C) received an educational doctorate in teacher leadership for learning in secondary mathematics education from Kennesaw State University. She works in the Floyd County Schools as a math teacher at the Transitional Academy and is married to Shelby Maddox.

Editor’s Note: We regret to report that Sally passed away after submitting this class note.

so when the Vikings traveled to San

Antonio last November, Lone Star alumni made sure to turn out. A crowd of more than 100 alumni, parents, staff members, students and prospective students joined President Steve Briggs for a tailgate lunch preceding the Vikings’ regular-season finale against Trinity University. The Vikings lost that game in the final minute but won the Southern Athletic Association championship for the third consecutive year. See page 6 for more details on the season.

BERRY MAGAZINE • SUMMER 2019

25

NEWS FROM YOU

Angela Bolden Beason (at left) Angela Bolden Beason (93C) earned the Wreaths Across America TEACH Award in acknowledgment of her efforts to recognize the service and sacrifice of U.S. military personnel. Her contributions include work as a classroom teacher and as a board member for the Arkansas Run for the Fallen, in addition to service as a Wreaths Across America volunteer location coordinator.

Jeff Quagliata (93C) and his research team at the YES Network were featured in the August issue of Sports Business Journal for the statistical support they provide for New York Yankees broadcasts.

Brent Railey (93C) completed Command College and was awarded a Master of Public Safety Administration degree from Columbus State University in May 2018. He currently holds the rank of sergeant in the Law Enforcement Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

Laurie Bice Osterman

holds a juris doctor from Florida Coastal School of Law and is a member of the Florida State Bar. He previously worked as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Texas in Corpus Christi and as a member of the U.S. Coast Guard Judge Advocate General Corps. He continues to serve in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserves Legal Service Command.

Laurie Bice Osterman (94C) shares tips about travel and other subjects with more than 20,000 subscribers to her YouTube channel, Travel Tips by Laurie. Her Berry resident assistant, Sarah Carney Thurmond (94C), was one of the first people to subscribe.

Taylor/Cloud wedding

Jeffrey S. Miller Jeffrey S. Miller (96C) was appointed to serve as a judge for the Los Angeles Immigration Court and began hearing cases in October. He

Heather Taylor (97C) married David Cloud Jr. (95C) on Jan. 13, 2018, 24 years after their first date as Berry students. David, a former Berry baseball player, manages the Georgia broker division for AFLAC, while Heather is founder and director of Road Trip Home Animal Rescue. David has three children: Lexi (23), Austin (18) and Aiden (15). The couple lives in Rome and enjoys Berry and all its many activities.

Sarah McDonald Lanier Sarah McDonald Lanier (98C) has published her first children’s book, My Glasses Story: How I Learned to See Myself Clearly, the idea for which grew out of a creative writing assignment she completed as a Berry student in 1996. Sarah hopes the book, which she also illustrated, will be a resource that inspires people to think about their lives and will serve as a conversation starter for adults seeking to help children see themselves clearly in an imagedriven culture.

Leigh Anne Hipps Bleichner (99C) has opened Orphan Pianos, a piano and voice lessons studio in Acworth, Ga. She also serves as president of the Cobb County Music Teachers Association.

Grant Miller for Presidential Leadership Scholars

Lauded for leadership JOHN COLEMAN (04C) WAS ONE OF JUST 59 MID-CAREER PROFESSIONALS NATIONALLY

selected for the 2018 Presidential Leadership Scholars program sponsored by the presidential libraries/centers of George W. Bush, William J. Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Lyndon B. Johnson.

Participants had the opportunity to hone their leadership abilities through interactions with President Clinton and President George W. Bush, as well as with key administration officials and academic, business and civic leaders. Coleman was also selected in 2018 for the Atlanta Business Chronicle “40 Under 40” list of rising leaders, recognizing significant career achievement and demonstrated community service. He is chief operating officer, private markets, and chief administrative officer, global institutional client business, for Invesco and lives with wife Jackie Feit Coleman (05c) and their three children in Atlanta.

26

BERRY MAGAZINE • SUMMER 2019

NEWS FROM YOU

2000s

Vanessa Mosley Greenlee Vanessa Mosley Greenlee (00C) is working to advance global food security with the Cornell Alliance for Science in Ithaca, N.Y. She recently spent a week in Washington, D.C., where she presented graduates of the Global Leadership Fellows Program as part of a U.S. Senate briefing and met with officials from the USDA, World Bank, African Union, Embassy of the Philippines, and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

leader/logistics manager for DSC Logistics in Jacksonville, Fla. She earned an MBA with a concentration in transportation and logistics from the University of North Florida in 2017.

For Captain Marvel, she sourced fabrics used to make both the superhero costumes and the everyday clothing, per the costume designer’s vision. She also oversaw all the dyeing, special printing and other manipulations done to the fabrics before they could be made into costumes for the film.

Trinity Allen with River

Douglas Malcolm Douglas Blaise Malcolm (04C) has started a new career as a lecturer in computing for Kennesaw State University’s College of Computing and Software Engineering. He earned an MBA and MSIS from Kennesaw State in July 2018 and completed a Certificate in Leadership and Ethics from KSU’s Siegel Institute, publishing a paper in The Siegel Institute Journal of Applied Ethics.

Ryan Smith Ryan Smith (06C) received a RUBY Award (recognizing the upward, bright and young) for his track record of strategic and marketing excellence for Dow Chemical, where he now serves as digital strategy leader for consumer solutions. He lives in Midland, Mich.

Lillian Margaret Jones

Aimee Swanson Larsen (01C, 11G) has released a new book, Fresh Start, a 40-day marriage Bible study for women. Learn more at aimeelarsen.com.

Shannon Rohrabaugh Casas Shannon Rohrabaugh Casas (05C) has been appointed editor-inchief of The Times newspaper in Gainesville, Ga. Andrea Oldham Walraven with students Andrea Oldham Walraven (02C) recently completed an Ed.D. in instructional leadership. She is the lead gifted teacher and social studies teacher at Sonoraville High School in Gordon County, Ga. John Sherrod (03C) has been promoted to workstation engineer at Ramsey Solutions, where he has worked for six years.

Amanda Friswold-Atwood (04C) has accepted a new position as team

Trinity Allen (07C, FS) and her rescue dog, River, have earned the elite-level title in K9 nose work, which simulates the tasks expected of a professional search dog, receiving two “pronounced” distinctions for exceptional teamwork and search skills. River was pulled from Floyd Animal Control in the spring of 2015.

Hannah Greene Hannah M. Greene (06C) is a costumer who has worked on such films as Captain Marvel, Avengers: Infinity War, and Godzilla vs. Kong.

Laurie Cook Stevens Laurie Cook Stevens (06C) made the Chattanooga Times-Free Press “20 under 40” list of promising young professionals for 2018 in recognition of her work as founder and director of the Chattanooga School of Language. The school, which now offers instruction in 17 different languages, won the 2018 Small Business of the Year Award from the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce. It also earned a $20,000 “Idea Leap” grant from the Tennessee Valley Federal Credit Union, which Laurie will use to recruit and retain teachers and expand online course instruction.

Kathleen Betsill Jones (07C) and husband Philip announce the birth of daughter Lillian Margaret on April 25, 2018. She joined brother Philip (3) in the family’s Tyrone, Ga., home.

Stephanie Bettis Homan Stephanie Bettis Homan (08C) is in her first year as assistant professor of chemistry at Maryland’s McDaniel College. She teaches general, physical and inorganic chemistry, along with interdisciplinary courses in inorganic photophysics and materials for energy conversion. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina.

BERRY MAGAZINE • SUMMER 2019

27

NEWS FROM YOU

The Newton family Sarah King Newton (08C) and Adam Newton (07C) adopted son Joshua from South Africa in 2018.

He joined sibling Saige in the family home in Dunwoody, Ga.

Jen Welch, Marshall Lynn and Jake Hager Jen Welch (08C), Jake Hager (18C) and Marshall Lynn (89c) worked together on a Habitat for Humanity project in Gwinnett County, Ga., last summer. Jen is community engagement director for Habitat Gwinnett, while Marshall is a house leader.

Rebecca and Sean McConnell Sean McConnell (09C) and wife Rebecca announce the birth of first child Lily Ann McConnell on Oct. 17, 2018.

Joshua and Lydia Freeman Reese

Dr. Amy Poe Dr. Amy Poe (11C) has earned a Ph.D. in genetics, genomics and development from Cornell University and is working as a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Joshua Craig Stevenson (11C) married Carrie Anne Herstam on April 19, 2014, at Everett Springs Baptist Church in Armuchee, Ga. He now works as senior environmental health and safety specialist with Bostik Inc. in Conyers, Ga.; the couple resides in nearby Oxford.

Lydia Freeman Reese (09C) recently celebrated her second anniversary with husband Joshua Reese (17G). She now works at Keller Williams Northwest after six years with WinShape. The couple loves living in Rome.

2010s Lauren Mitchell Echols (10C, 12G) and Matt Echols (06C) welcomed second child Caroline on June 17, 2018. First child Jackson was born Dec. 5, 2016.

Elizabeth Barron

about interdisciplinary collaboration in research and works with a multitude of partners, including government health departments, on articles, abstracts and poster publications on public health.

Alice Coughlin Shiflett Alice Coughlin Shiflett (12C, FS) won the 2018 Chickamauga Battlefield Marathon in a time of 3 hours, 24 minutes and 33 seconds.

She was thrilled by the accomplishment, noting that she came in with no expectations of winning, having already accomplished her “big marathon goal” of qualifying for the 2019 Boston Marathon prior to the race. She credits husband Clay for being her support team and Berry coach Paul Deaton (91C) for instilling a lifelong love of running.

Elizabeth Barron (12C) has been promoted to traveler information systems manager with Intelliride, the paratransit division of Transdev North America, and relocated to Boston.

Clark/Koch wedding Taylor Clark (09C) and John Koch were married at American Spirit Works in Atlanta on May 12, 2018. The wedding party included Stephanie Butterworth (09C) and Laura Lieberman (09C). The couple resides in Milton, Ga. Gregory Hanthorn Jr. (09c) and Jessica Yawn were married Dec. 1 at Frost Chapel. The son of Gregory (82C) and Judy Cash (85C) Hanthorn, Greg Jr. is a critical care paramedic with Grady EMS and associate technical director at the Atlanta Shakespeare Tavern Playhouse. Jessica is operations manager for the Henry County Performing Arts Center. Check the back cover for a Berry-inspired photo from the wedding.

28

BERRY MAGAZINE • SUMMER 2019

Zach and Katie Lochridge Claxton

Cash and Caia Quinn Gordon Ashley Justice Gordon (10C), husband Ca’Ron and son Cash welcomed Caia Quinn on Aug. 10, 2018. The new arrival weighed 8 pounds, 0.4 ounces and measured 21 inches.

Malloree Lanier (11C) traveled to Mongolia last summer to study the ecology of steppe ecosystems as a graduate student in Miami University’s Global Field Program.

She serves as an education curator at Flint RiverQuarium Environmental Education Center and lives in Albany, Ga.

Maggie McCarter Maggie McCarter (12C) is quantitative research specialist for Atrium Health at Carolinas Simulation Center. The recipient of a master’s degree in epidemiology from the University of South Carolina, she is a frequent reviewer of the Disability and Health Journal and the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Services annual Health Data Symposium. Maggie is passionate

Kathryn “Katie” Lochridge Claxton (13C) and husband Zach Claxton (10C) welcomed first child William Reed on Nov. 8, 2018, the fourth anniversary of their wedding at Berry.

Ashley Harzog Cleland (13C) is the founding associate director of the new Women and Gender Office at East Carolina University. She is responsible for creating and developing the vision, strategic plans and operations for the office, which is charged with providing transformative learning opportunities for students on topics such as gender roles, gender identity, sexual assault and harassment

NEWS FROM YOU

prevention, and building gender equity allies across campus and in the community.

Cason Dremann (13C) graduated from the University of Georgia in May 2018 with a master’s degree in exercise physiology. He is a personal trainer at Core Blend Training and Wellness in Athens, Ga.

Peyton Alexander Hall Jamie Carelson Hall (13C) and husband Jared Hall (13C) welcomed first child Peyton Alexander on Jan. 4, 2019. The family lives in Knoxville, Tenn., where Jamie works in graduate and executive education for the University of Tennessee’s Haslam College of Business and Jared owns his own State Farm Agency. They completed their first house in September.

Abigail “Abby” Bradley Nicholls (13C) and husband Joseph Kevin Nicholls (13C) have moved to Nashville, where she is the new staff chaplain at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital.

Ariel Robelen Ariel Robelen (13C) is a veterinarian at Care First Animal Hospital in Raleigh, N.C. Shannon K. Soafer (13C) graduated from the Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine in May 2018 and now practices small-animal and exotic veterinary care in Fort Worth, Texas.

Glenn Garrido (14C) has been promoted to park video crew chief for Epcot at Walt Disney World Parks and Resort in Orlando, Fla. Avery Lee Inskip (14C) and her coworkers were featured in a story broadcast by CBS 46 in Atlanta highlighting the work of Georgia Veterinary Rehabilitation, Fitness and Pain Management, a dog rehab center in Marietta.

Odio/Smay wedding Jessica “Jessie” Odio Smay (14C) married Diedrich Smay in Norcross, Ga., on Oct. 21, 2018.

Former Berry roommates Alyson Childers Robb (14C), Chloe Moore (14C) and Hannah Henderson Chriswell (14C) served as bridesmaids.

photos by Brant Sanderlin

Glenn Garrido

Sounds of the season VOCALIST GREG ROBBINS (15C) ONCE AGAIN PROVIDED THE SOUNDTRACK

for the Young Alumni Christmas Party,

a special holiday gathering for members of Berry’s most recent graduating classes held Dec. 8 in the warm confines of the new Christopher Browning John Paul Jones

Pavilion at Oak Hill. There was no snow to hamper

John Paul Jones (14C) is making a feature-length documentary about a missionary in the Amazon basin of northern Peru who has spent the last 14 years planting churches and ministering to those living in this extremely remote region of South America.

Nancy Lovas (14C) has moved from Washington, D.C., to Durham, N.C., to serve as the entrepreneurship and business librarian for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Amanda Marbut (14C) has published a children’s picture book, I Learn Differently, about her experience being diagnosed with a learning disability as a child.

Illustrations were provided by Brian Russell (14C).

attendance this time around, and the rain that did fall failed to dampen the spirits of the 100 alumni and friends in attendance at the retro-themed event.

Two of the three instrumentalists accompanying Robbins were also alums – Nathan Talbot (18C) on drums and Chandler Brooks (17C) on string bass.

The party provided the perfect backdrop for President Steve Briggs’ annual Christmas video, with guests offering a full-throated holiday greeting and Robbins and the band setting just the right mood with their rendition of Home

for the Holidays.

NEWS FROM YOU

Karen Taylor (left) and Scout Josey (right)

Rachel Aiken

Ben Riggs

Rachel Aiken (15C) led the Creekview High School girls lacrosse team to its first-ever Region 6-AAAAAA championship and a No. 14 state ranking in her first season as head coach. She was named Cherokee County, Ga., and Region 6-AAAAAA Coach of the Year and selected to coach Georgia’s state team at the 2018 national tournament in Stony Brook, N.Y.

Ben Riggs (15C) interned in the Office of the White House Counsel last fall after earning his law degree at Belmont University and passing the Tennessee Bar Exam. He is now serving as a legal clerk with the Republican National Committee inhouse counsel.

Ryan Boyle (16c) won the time trial and road race at the 2018 Union Cycliste Internationale Paracycling Road World Championships.

He is also a Paralympic silver medalist.

Scout Josey (16C) and Karen Taylor (13C) earned the title of national quiz bowl champions as part of a four-student team representing the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine at the annual conference of the American Association of Bovine Practitioners.

Jilli Leonard

Randy Parker/The Daily Tribune News

Stephen Revard

Stephen Revard (15G) is the principal of Cass High School in Cartersville, Ga.

30

BERRY MAGAZINE • SUMMER 2019

Bo Heard Bo Heard (16C) is in his third year as a math teacher, football coach and head soccer coach at Georgia’s Jefferson County High School. Under his leadership, the boys’ soccer team has set school records for most goals in a game, most goals in a season and most wins in a season. In 2018, Jefferson County was the highest-scoring soccer team in Georgia. Bo was a member of Berry’s inaugural football team.

Daniel Alligood (17C) spent last summer at Harvard University completing an internship in cerebrovascular hemodynamics through the Medical Student Training in Aging Research program, funded by the National Institutes of Health Research. He is in his second year at the Medical College of Georgia, where he is a Harrison Scholar, the most prestigious meritbased scholarship at MCG. Daniel was a double-major in biochemistry and mathematics at Berry, where he was an honorable-mention for the national Goldwater Scholarship.

Alex Baxter Lowe Alex Baxter Lowe (16C) is spending a year in Hiroshima City, Japan, teaching English to high school students as a participant in the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program.

Jillian “Jilli” Charlotte Leonard (15C) has returned to Georgia after two years in China, where she taught English and then worked for a global nonprofit in Shanghai.

Daniel Alligood

Emily Melchior Emily Melchior (16C) graduated from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, with a master’s degree in animal science in May 2018. She is now pursuing a Ph.D. at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces with a focus on ruminant nutrition and microbiology.

Yi-Ting “Jenny” Sung (16C) has begun work on a Ph.D. in biological science at the University of Cincinnati. She hopes to discover the genetics and molecular mechanisms underlying jumping spider vision and behavior.

Midkiff/Maddrey wedding Margaret “Maggie” Midkiff Maddrey (17C) married Russell Maddrey (17C) on June 9, 2018, in Macon, Ga. Russell works for Georgia Pacific as an environmental engineer and manager; Maggie is an environmental health manager with the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.

The couple lives in Greenwood, S.C.

Savannah Wofford Staples Savannah Wofford Staples (17C) is marketing and events manager for Terminus Wake Park in Cartersville, Ga., where she enjoys wakeboarding and connecting with the community through her work.

NEWS FROM YOU

Teagle/Leadingham wedding Jessica Teagle (17C) and Hayden Leadingham (17C) were married Sept. 15, 2018, in Frost Chapel.

Members of the bridal party included Greg Howard (17C), Taylor Burton (17C) and Melissa Sullivan (17C).

Mack Wright (17C) is program director of the integration and transformation management office at Catholic Health Initiatives, where he is part of the team overseeing the largest nonprofit healthcare merger to date: CHI and Dignity Health.

Brittany Owings Brown (18C) has moved to Nashville and would love to connect with other alumni in the area.

Tinker Who?

by KARILON L. ROGERS QUICK ON THE BUZZER AND WITH A HEAD FULL OF FACTS, Jessica Cantrell (12C) went into the

Jake Hager Jake Hager (18C) lives in Atlanta, where he works in the Community Development Finance Division of the Georgia Department of Community Affairs.

Savanna McKellar Savanna McKellar (18C) is working as a social media strategist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention while pursuing a master’s degree in advertising from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.

Jeopardy Productions Inc.

Final Jeopardy! segment of the long-running quiz show with a slight lead. Years of preparation and months of cramming had prepared her for this magical moment – but not, it turned out, for furnishing the magical question befitting the “answer” host Alex Trebek provided at the end of Episode 29 of the show’s 35th season: “ This winged character from an early 20th century work is so named ‘because she mends the pots and kettles.’”

Cantrell, of Adairsville, Ga., had gone up against approximately 100,000 applicants to become one of just 400 contestants selected for the Jeopardy! season. She’d “killed” two 50-question tests, wow‘d producers with her in-person audition, and memorized everything from world capitals to facts about fabric. But that elusive fairy, created by J.M. Barrie in his 1904 play, Peter Pan, and made famous by a 1953 Disney movie, sprinkled none of her famous pixie dust on Cantrell when it came time to clinch a Jeopardy! win with the question: “Who is Tinkerbell?” Both Cantrell and the other challenger missed, while Alan Dunn, a software development manager also from Georgia, nailed it and surged to the forefront, becoming a fivetime Jeopardy! champion.

Tinkerbell may not have helped her win, but Cantrell definitely experienced a fairy tale come true.

“I started watching the show in college but never thought about applying to be on until after graduation,” she told a reporter from The Daily Tribune News in Cartersville. “I wish I had thought of it during college so I could have tried for the College Tournament and represented Berry College.”

The development assistant at Tellus Science Museum took the timed, 50-question online test multiple years in a row before becoming one of 4,000 potential contestants invited to an inperson audition involving another 50-question test, a mock game and an interview. Her audition was in Atlanta in May, and in August, she traveled to California with best friend, mother and fellow Berry alumna Sharon Murray (77C) to tape the show, which aired Oct. 18, 2018.

“It’s really bizarre. It doesn’t seem like I was actually on TV,” Cantrell said about her 30 minutes of fame, which actually took only 22 minutes to film. “But it was an amazing experience. The support I’ve gotten from everyone throughout the whole thing has been the most amazing part of it all.”

Despite that extensive support, it hasn’t been all jolly when she’s whistled her way to work following the airing of her segment.

“One of my coworkers at Tellus is a Disney nut,” she smiled. “So, I’ve been getting a TON of grief from her on Tinkerbell.”

BERRY MAGAZINE • SUMMER 2019

31

Condolences

CONDOLENCES

BERRY COLLEGE EXTENDS SINCERE CONDOLENCES to family and friends of the following alumni and former faculty/staff. This list includes

notices received July 1 – Dec. 15, 2018.

1930s

Alma Watkins Foster (39H) of Acworth, Ga., July 13, 2018.

Kathryn Elrod “Trib” Mason (39H, 43C) of Virginia Beach, Va., Sept. 1, 2018.

1940s Maurice B. Thompson (40c) of Cumming, Ga., July 21, 2018.

Beatrice Kerby Crow (41H) of Mentone, Ala., July 18, 2018.

Anna Slemp Holland (44H) of Kingsport, Tenn., Sept. 25, 2018.

Martha Thomason Mallory (44C) of Douglasville, Ga., Nov. 24, 2018.

William J. Combs (45H) of Chattanooga, Tenn., April 12, 2018.

Melvin Lee Plunkett (45H) of Subligna, Ga., Nov. 23, 2018.

Julia Pate Carroll (46C) of Stockbridge, Ga., May 3, 2018.

Juanita Starling Ivey (46H) of Lilburn, Ga., Nov. 25, 2018.

Eudora Parrish Parks (46H, 53c) of Rome, Nov. 5, 2018.

Marion M. Shivers (46c) of Rainbow City, Ala., March 7, 2018.

Jack Banister (47H) of Woodstock, Ga., Aug. 24, 2018.

Mildred Green “Billie” Gaines (47c) of Flowery Branch, Ga., Feb. 13, 2018.

Lorrayne Yates Baird-Lange (48c) of Collingswood, N.J., Oct. 23, 2017.

Lois Arnold Lamb (48H) of Rocky Face, Ga., Aug. 22, 2018.

Gerald Spencer Mullis (48c) of Macon, Ga., July 4, 2018.

Joann Hunter Del Re (49H) of Panama City Beach, Fla., Sept. 21, 2018.

Jesse R. Jones (49H) of Chatsworth, Ga., Nov. 28, 2018.

Hazel Nix Langford (49C) of Dalton, Ga., June 30, 2018.

1950s William Preston Adams (50c) of Greencastle, Ind., Aug. 19, 2017.

Dan Leslie Bowden (50C) of Miami, Fla., Sept. 14, 2018.

James Chris Floyd (50H, 55C) of Chincoteague, Va., Nov. 6, 2018.

32

BERRY MAGAZINE • SUMMER 2019

Homer Kinsey (50c) of Hiawassee, Ga., Sept. 6, 2017.

Tom Arthur Phipps (50H) of Dalton, Ga., Sept. 30, 2018.

William J. “Billy” Roberts (50C) of Montezuma, Ga., July 29, 2018.

Owen C. Sherrod (50C) of Sylmar, Calif., Jan. 11, 2018.

James David Fite (51H) of Snellville, Ga., Aug. 1, 2018.

Earnest Dwight Adams (53C) of Gainesville, Fla., Oct. 27, 2018.

Bettie Joyce Garrett Harris (53H) of Milledgeville, Ga., Aug. 8, 2018.

Ruth Miller Jackson (53C) of Flowery Branch, Ga., April 17, 2018.

Hoyt David Dickson Jr. (54C) of Rutledge, Ga., May 11, 2018.

Bessie Burch Buttram (55C) of Marietta, Ga., Aug. 6, 2018.

Elizabeth Barker Hinson (55C) of Brunswick, Ga., Oct. 19, 2018.

A. Nora Brooks Pyles (55C) of Macon, Ga., Aug. 31, 2018.

Betty Loudermilk Sisk (55C) of Mount Airy, Ga., March 3, 2018.

Barbara Calhoun Wade (55C) of Morrilton, Ark., July 25, 2018.

Bill Dent (56C) of Cartersville, Ga., June 20, 2018.

Atlas Jesse King (56H) of Hampton, Ga., Aug. 9, 2018.

Billy Ray Bentley (57C) of Meridianville, Ala., Sept. 25, 2018.

Carolyn York Grantham (57C) of Yorktown, Va., Sept. 11, 2018.

Ileen Mobley Stuart (57C) of Arlington, Ga., Aug. 10, 2018.

Katherine Young Armitage (58c) of Asheville, N.C., Nov. 19, 2018.

Ronald H. Allen (67C) of Niceville, Fla., July 18, 2018.

Roger D. Freeman (67C, 76G) of Cartersville, Ga., July 17, 2018.

Thomas L. Nowling (68C) of St. James, Fla., Nov. 17, 2018.

Rethia Camp Spence (68C) of Dalton, Ga., Oct. 28, 2018.

Betty B. Flemister (69c) of Rome, Sept. 22, 2018.

Mary Camp Patrick (69C) of Young Harris, Ga., Aug. 27, 2018.

Barbara Herrington Phillips (69c) of Summerdale, Ala., Sept. 7, 2017.

1960s

Brian L. Foshee (82C) of Atlanta, Oct. 9, 2018.

Karen J. Kemp (85C) of Johnson City, Tenn., Oct. 31, 2018.

William J. O’Shields (85C) of Atlanta, Sept. 30, 2018.

Kenneth James “K.J.” McClellan (63H) of The Villages, Fla., July 4, 2018.

Scarlett Del Green (64C) of Santa Fe, N.M., Dec. 2, 2018.

Walter Byron Addison (65A) of Jackson, Tenn., Dec. 1, 2018.

Jane Smoote Cason (65C) of Denver, Colo., Aug. 10, 2018.

Sara Townsell Wilson (65C) of Waverly, Ga., Dec. 8, 2018.

1990s

Joy Rene Patton (90C) of LaFayette, Ga., July 8, 2018.

Sarah Kinney Maddox (91C) of Rome, Dec. 1, 2018.

Gregory Scott Landers (95G) of Chickamauga, Ga., Aug. 8, 2018.

1970s Michael Paul Farr (70A, 74C) of Rome, Sept. 13, 2018.

Brenda Cash Waterfield (70C) of Austin, Texas, Aug. 16, 2018.

R. Allen Wallace (71C) of LaFayette, Ga., Nov. 27, 2018.

Jonathan Bryant Jordan (72A, 77C) of Alpine, Calif., Sept. 22, 2018.

James D. Groover Jr. (73C) of Powder Springs, Ga., June 5, 2018.

Carole Perdue Farr (74C) of Rome, Aug. 13, 2018.

Brenda Vaughn Melton (74C, 84G) of Silver Creek, Ga., Aug. 22, 2018.

Robert Garry Stowe (74C) of Rome, Sept. 25, 2018.

Dennis Avery Dyer (75C) of Rossville, Ga., Nov. 13, 2018.

Rollene Sprayberry Tucker (75c) of Lithonia, Ga., Aug. 16, 2018.

Carlton Alexander Belcher (78A) of Sugar Hill, Ga., Nov. 16, 2018.

1980s

In Memoriam The Berry community mourns the Dec. 25, 2018, death of Carolyn Thompson Smith (53C), alumni director and advancement officer emerita, who served her alma mater with distinction for more than 30 years.

Smith’s roles for Berry were many, with all focused on serving the institution and fellow alumni she loved. She was a lifetime member of the Alumni Council, active with the Berry Alumni Association’s Carpet Capital Chapter and a member of Daughters of Berry.

Following her retirement in 1996, she earned a Master of Divinity degree from Columbia Theological Seminary and worked as a supply pastor until retiring from that role in 2014.

She is survived by daughter Teresa Smith Puckett (75A, 92C) of Rome and son Clifford Smith Jr. (78A, 81C) of Belize.

The family requests that any tributes be directed to the Carolyn Smith Scholarship Fund at Berry.

Thank y ou

THANK YOU

SPECIAL THANKS FOR: Memory and Honor Gifts and Gifts to Named Scholarships and Work Endowments. The following gifts were made in memory or honor of an individual and/or to named scholarships or work endowments July 1 – Dec. 15, 2018.

MEMORY GIFTS

Mr. Ray Abernathy Martha Bently Abernathy (52c) Dr. Earnest Dwight Adams Peter (53H, 57C) and Emmaline Beard (55H, 59C) Henriksen Mrs. Katherine Young Armitage Peter (53H, 57C) and Emmaline Beard (55H, 59C) Henriksen Bill (57C) and Mary Charles Lambert (58C) Traynham Mrs. Natalie Henderson Bates Scott Jarvis (05C) Mr. Carlton Alexander Belcher Charles (64A) and Jane Downey Mr. Billy R. Blocker Sr. Bill and Faye (92c) Fron Ms. Lynn Brackey Mary Tunno Gene Wood Mrs. Louise Paul Brown Horace Brown (39C) Mr. Leon M. Bryan Darwin Samples (50C) Ms. Sandra Jane Bryant Carol Shumaker Mrs. Lois King Campbell DAR – Sam Houston Chapter Dr. N. Gordon Carper Brenda Thompson (88C) Mr. Earl H. DeVane Ed and Gayle Graviett (67C) Gmyrek Dr. Garland M. Dickey Aaron Ellis (61C) Bill (63C) and Justine Dawkins (61C) Finley Steve (79C) and Cindy Yarbrough (78C) Story Mrs. Mildred Morton Durden Vera Lowery Pennington (48H) Ms. Annette Eaton Harlan (58C) and Doris Reynolds (57C) Chapman Mr. William Seaborn Everett Jim Miller (53C) Kenneth Wehunt (53C) Mr. Ralph E. Farmer Neil Gentry (53C) Dr. Carole Perdue Farr George Donigian (74C) Charles (64A) and Jane Downey Mr. Kevin J. Federspiel Brenda Thompson (88C) Mrs. Betty Bennette Finley Jacqueline McDowell Mr. Robert E. Fleming Kaye Fleming Mr. Roger D. Freeman Michael Garland (84C) Mr. and Mrs. Thomas C. Glover Jeanette Justice Fleming (72C) Mr. Jorge Luis Gonzalez Ondina Santos Gonzalez Mrs. Carolyn York Grantham Harlan (58C) and Doris Reynolds (57C) Chapman

Dr. G. Leland Green John Green Mrs. Karen Kemp Gregory Tim Howard (82C) Ms. Marylouise Guerrieri DAR – Haddonfield Chapter Mr. Richard M. Hamrick Charles (64A) and Jane Downey Mrs. Anne Sims Hawkins Jim Hawkins (49H, 53C) Mr. Jimmy E. Hinton Velma Mitchell Hinton (66C) Mr. Oscar H. Horne Tait Owens (72C) Mr. Tony Lee Horsley Kim Sleeme Dunn (93C) Mr. Doyle V. Ingram Kenneth Wehunt (53C) Mr. Jesse R. Jones Ouida Word Dickey (50C) Peter (53H, 57C) and Emmaline Beard (55H, 59C) Henriksen Tim Howard (82C) Sue Killcreas (78C) Deena Davenport Massengale (97c) Mr. Jonathan Bryant Jordan Charles (64A) and Jane Downey Mr. Walter O. Maine Latha Coleman Maine (59C) Mrs. Martha Thomason Mallory Bob (70C) and Mary Anne Fears (70C) Gaw Emily Thomason Ingram (47c) Emma Fears O’Neal (68C) Mr. John Rule Martens Joel Martens (86C) Mrs. Kathryn Elrod Mason Max and Kathryn Barton Megan Cornish Barbara DiTullio Charlie Elrod (86C) Cleone Elrod John Lynn Thomas and Mildred Mullikin Deborah Pool John Winsbro Francis Asbury United Methodist Church Preschool Mrs. Brenda Vaughn Melton Karen Glover Ball (76c) Virginia Fair Jeanette Justice Fleming (72C) Alicia Johnson Henson (92G) Richard Junkins (66C) Maureen Munro Kurowsky (72C) Ellen Free Lueck (73C) Yvonne Morgan Susan Seagraves Margene Bonds Trimble (81G) Steve Vaughn Jimmy and Carolyn Williams Mrs. Mary Camp Patrick Karen Glover Ball (76c) Ouida Word Dickey (50C) Ed and Gayle Graviett (67C) Gmyrek

Maureen Munro Kurowsky (72C) Reg (51C) and Maxine Strickland Mr. Lee H. Pendley Charles (64A) and Jane Downey Bob (62H) and Kay Williams Mr. Elton Louie Petty Alan (64A) and Leanne Killin (69c) Woody Mr. Thomas E. Poe Anne Blocker Charles (64A) and Jane Downey Mary Outlaw Dr. and Mrs. William Harden Robison III Sheilah Robison Shealy (80C, 84G) Dr. Marion A. Sanders Bobbie Brown Sanders (53C) Mrs. Rethia Camp Spence Tim Howard (82C) Mr. James K. Strickland Wayne Stevenson (60C) Ms. Judith E. Thompson Bill Gee (01C) Dr. Carole Braden Tull Del Tull (69C) Mr. Richard Sweet Webb John Webb Mrs. Edna Earle Whatley Ouida Word Dickey (50C)

MEMORY GIFTS TO NAMED SCHOLARSHIPS

Frank Campbell Memorial Fund Mildred Campbell Tietjen (61C) A. Milton and JoAnn Chambers Endowed Scholarship Allyson Chambers (80C, 84G) J. Mitchell and Cleone Elrod Scholarship George Martin Deerfield Episcopal Retirement Community Larry A. Green Memorial Scholarship Basil Englis Paula Englis Elaine Foster Melanie Green Jones Percy Marchman Scholarship Ray Marchman (49c) Frank Miller Memorial Scholarship Melanie Prater Miller (91C, 99G) Dr. Sam Spector Endowed Scholarship David (75C, 80G) and Karen Brantley (81C) Akins John (70C) and Linda Beck Jane Jones Block (86C) Connie Korner Boudot (76C, 79G) Aaron (15C) and Lizzie Hendrix (15C) Chastain Cora Sullivan Collins (70C) Basil Englis Paula Englis Glenn (71C) and Pam Priest (71C) Ferguson Verner Free (67C) Patricia Davidson Freeman (69C, 80G) Reed Freeman (92G) Cherlyn Granrose

Dewey Hardin (76C) Tom Hill (70C) Dale Holloway Madalyn Horne (75C) Louis Joseph (13C, 15G) Todd Kelley (17G) Faye Culpepper Laney (72C) Daniel Lipscomb (69C) Ricki Wells Livingston (10C, 12G) Phil (68C) and Charlotte Lee (71C) Malone Larry Maxey (69C) Fred (09G) and Nancy Mercer Kathy Wible Minneman (76C) Joel (00G) and Wendi White (04G) Murphy Josh Murphy (03G) Todd (93C, 98G) and Buffi Fowler (96G) Murphy Allan Nelson (74G) Jim Pilgrim (70C, 77G) John Pillsbury (74G) Justin Pitcock (14G) Ron (73C) and Lynn McGill (74C) Plunkett Jean Cooper Stanley (75C, 84G) Tommy Treadway (73c) Ronnie Wallace (80G) Ralph White (70C) Lowell (75G) and Sondra Ruston (86G) Wilkins Alexander Whyte Whitaker III Endowed Scholarship Whit (81C) and Maria Crego (85c) Whitaker Nell Gilreath Williams Scholarship Pamela Hefner Chance and Rachelle New Kay New Craig Allyn Wofford Scholarship Ron Dean Georgette deFriesse Elaine Sexton Foster Janna Johnson (81C) Kay Wingo Miriam Wade Wood (94C) Equifax, matching an earlier gift from Elaine Sexton Foster

HONOR GIFTS

1976 Women’s Basketball Team Deborah Rice Parker (78C) Mr. Jerrime Grant Ball Jerrime and Shannon Ball Mr. Wesley Banks Wayne (61C) and Madeline Banks (63c) Canady Ms. Kelsey Danielle Barta Douglas and Kimberly Barta Jacqueline Bermel Ms. Vanessa Renee Belanger Mark Belanger Sheila Withers Berry Football Team Debbie Heida

BERRY MAGAZINE • SUMMER 2019

33

THANK YOU

Berry Volleyball Team Debbie Heida Ms. Alexandra Bertany Gary and Joanne Allen Jamie Reger Ms. Hannah Ruth Billiard William and Jennifer Billiard Ms. Grace Caroline Bowers Brit and Tracy Bowers Eddie and Mary Ellen Bowers Richard and Nancy Mattox Summer Prevost Rena Scharfstein Lea Anne Wiles Mr. M. Scott Breithaupt Tom and Betty Carver Mr. Andrew Jacob Butzow Darrin and Angela Butzow Dr. Thomas W. Carver Jeffrey Horn (87C) Mr. Luke Michael Crawford Dennis and Tina Crawford Jimmy and Andy Perkins Dr. Ouida Word Dickey Frank Barron Rodney (90C) and Jill Duffy (90C) Chandler Dennis (74A, 78C) and Donna Word (78C) DaSilva Jennifer Dickey (77A, 80C) Aaron Ellis (61C) Bill (63C) and Justine Dawkins (61C) Finley Kraig (96C) and Kathy Ortwein (96C) Ingalsbe Joyce Jackson Brenda Geraldson Jenkins (97C) Faye Culpepper Laney (72C) Martin (54C) and Barbara Camp (55C) McElyea Joy Anthony Morrow (54c) Brian Newsome and Susan AsburyNewsome (97C) Sheilah Robison Shealy (80C, 84G) Charlie (57C) and Keitha Davis (58C) Weatherford Mr. Andrew Graham Elgin Colleen Wilson Mr. Mitchell Leo Estes Leo and Meghan Estes Mr. Glenn B. Ferguson Rusty Bradley (71C) Mr. Jonathan William Tyler Fisher Celia Fisher Dr. Jeanette Justice Fleming Ellen Free Lueck (73C) Mr. Samuel Shelton Forte Victor and Andrea Forte Mr. Carson Lin Gilliam Janice Hamilton Dr. Vincent M.L. Gregoire Gabriela Elias Broome (04C) Mr. David Ellington Haithcock Daniel and Yolanda Wright Haithcock Mr. Ellis Franklin Hall III Melanie Green Jones Ms. Debbie E. Heida Wanda Hunt Meeks (82C) Mr. Reeve Winston Holley Michelle Carlson Wesley and Darlene Meyer Ms. Kristin Bailey Hunt Dwight and Andrea Disney

34

BERRY MAGAZINE • SUMMER 2019

Dr. Janna S. Johnson Melanie Green Jones Ellen Free Lueck (73C) Mr. Alec Leigh Jones Keith and Sara Jones Mr. William Lowes Kenworthy Randall and Elinor Kenworthy Mr. Anton Z. Kunczewski Tom and Betty Carver Debbie Heida Lady Vikings Past and Present Deborah Rice Parker (78C) Mr. William D. Landrum David and Karla Landrum Ms. Joanna Marie Logan Troy and Katherine Logan Ms. Katherine Margaret Mabbs Brian Adam Greg Dart Richard and Donna Mabbs Mr. and Mrs. Wesley A. Martin Melanie Green Jones Mr. W. Rufus Massey Jr. Alex La Pierre (14C) Mr. Nathan Andrew Masters Tom and Betty Carver Ms. Kirbi Caroline Mathews Bruce and Lisa Mathews Kali Mathews Mr. Gary E. McKnight Jennifer Dickey (77A, 80C) Dr. and Mrs. Donald R. Midkiff Paul and Mary Midkiff Mr. John “Jack” Morgan Jr. John and Missy Morgan Mrs. Caitlyn Jansen Moriarty Debbie Heida Mrs. Mary F. Niedrach Doreen LaFauci Meeks (88C) Mr. Britton Kenneth Ody Michael Ody Quicker Mrs. Bettyann O’Neill Brenda Geraldson Jenkins (97C) Mrs. Bonnie Massey Padgett Rufus (75C) and Mary Anne Schimmelmann (75c) Massey Ms. Joyce Patton Donna Weaver Mrs. Angela P. Reynolds Debbie Heida Sylvia Howard Ms. Allison Kathleen Robertson Alan and Suzanne Robertson Ms. Kendall Diane Scott Shana Nunnally Joann Scott Mr. Dylan Joseph Stalzer Dean Arciero Leonora Arciero Paul Arciero James Cavanaugh Annette Dearborn Frank Dearborn Michael Forte Paul Ingrassia Rachel Ingrassia Amy Intini Michael and Danielle Quinn Philip Quinn Timothy Quinn Anna Stalzer Raymond Stalzer Mr. Samuel Alexander Starks Michael and Melody Starks Ms. Alyssa Mae Stevens Felix and Traci Dennis

Ms. Haley Brianne Stewart Ronald Hamilton Mr. Raymond Mark Swett Ray Swett Mr. Gary A. Waters Debbie Heida Michael Waters Mr. and Mrs. Charlie J. Weatherford Melanie Caldwell Ms. Charlotte Marie Whitmer Richard and Marilyn Whitmer Ms. Catherine Ashley Williams Raymond Douglas (50C) Troy and Catherine Hendrix Emily Peake Kenneth and Elizabeth Williams

HONOR GIFTS TO NAMED SCHOLARSHIPS

Julie Ann Bumpus Endowed Scholarship Marcia Rary McConnell (83C) Laura Phillips Katherine Powell Jordan Shivers (05C) Carol Story Dr. Robert L. Frank Legacy Scholarship Steven Hames Jeffrey Horn (87C) Robert M. Skelton WinShape Scholarship Melissa Fairrel (90C) Mark Moraitakis (91C) Stacy Doster Wilson (92C)

OTHER GIFTS TO NAMED SCHOLARSHIPS AND WORK ENDOWMENTS

Dr. Frank and Kathryn Adams Endowed Scholarship Frank (54H, 58C) and Kathy Adams Tina Bucher Jim Watkins African American Alumni Chapter Scholarship Melissa Ransby Hunt (91C) Agriculture Alumni Endowed Scholarship Julie Lanning (84C) Ben Willingham (66C) Leo W. Anglin Memorial Scholarship Kathy Rogers Gann (91C) Jacqueline McDowell Barton Mathematics Award Ray Barton (77C) John R. and Annabel Hodges Bertrand Endowed Scholarship Fred and J’May Rivara David (66C) and Diana Bertrand (68C) Williams Dan Biggers Distinguished Actor Award Shannon Walburn Biggers (81C) Frances Berry Bonnyman Scholarship Bonny Stanley Horace Brown Chemistry Scholarship Paul Brown James H. Cammon Endowed Scholarship Jan Harrison Karen Rollins Cannestra Endowed Gate of Opportunity Scholarship Dianne and Kenneth Cannestra N. Gordon Carper Endowed History Scholarship Charles Freeman (92C)

Rob (92C) and Wendy Quagliano (92C) Harber Kathryn Roseen (76C) Daniel Sprinkle (00C) Carpet Capital Chapter Scholarship Harlan (58C) and Doris Reynolds (57C) Chapman Lenard and Bernice Ogle (53H) Whaley Carpet Capital Alumni Chapter Chiaha Scholarship Award Chiaha Guild of Arts and Crafts Larry L. and Mary E. Schoolar Clark Endowed Gate of Opportunity Scholarship Larry (55C) and Dixie Schoolar Class of 1951C Memorial Endowed Scholarship Reg (51C) and Maxine Strickland Class of 1953H Staley-Loveday Gate of Opportunity Scholarship Peter (53H, 57C) and Emmaline Beard (55H, 59C) Henriksen Bernie Spooner (53H) Charlie (53H, 57C) and Hazel Guthrie (59c) Underwood Class of 1954C Endowed Scholarship Leon Elder (54C) Wayne Wagnon (54C) Class of 1956C Endowed Scholarship Wallace McDowell (56C) Tillie Marlowe Parker (56C) Class of 1957C Scholarship Tom Mullis (57C) Charlie (53H, 57C) and Hazel Guthrie (59c) Underwood Class of 1960C Gate of Opportunity Scholarship Tommy Cummings (60C) Peter (60C) and Ernestine Davis (61C) Hoffmann W.C. (60C) and Sylvia Davis (60C) Rowland J.B. (60C) and Helen Rice (60C) Stanley Class of 1961C Gate of Opportunity Scholarship Peter (60C) and Ernestine Davis (61C) Hoffmann Class of 1962C Dairy Milk Quality Manager Endowed Work Position John (62C) and Geraldine Johnson (62C) Bridges Class of 1963C Gate of Opportunity Scholarship Hazl Paige Brumby (63C) Don (65c) and Hiawatha Banks (63C) Henry Class of 1964C Campus Carrier Editor-inChief Endowed Work Position Carl Goodman (65C) Glen (61C) and Martha Stephens (64c) Staples Penny Vaughn (64C) Class of 1965C Endowed Gate of Opportunity Scholarship Don (65c) and Hiawatha Banks (63C) Henry Gene (65C) and Sandra Dickerson (66C) McNease Billy (62H, 66C) and Marvalee Lord (65C) Townsend Class of 1966C Assistant Gardener Endowed Work Position Lois McAllister Hatler (66C)

THANK YOU

Thanks to all those whose gifts to scholarships and other funds help put Berry students on the road to opportunity.

Brant Sanderlin

Cecil (66C) and Sallie Moore (66C) Keith John Provine (66C) Billy (62H, 66C) and Marvalee Lord (65C) Townsend Class of 1967C Endowed Gate of Opportunity Scholarship Jean Benoy Lacey (67C) Susan Schellenger Marino (67C) Class of 1969C Endowed Gate of Opportunity Scholarship Lester (69C) and Wanda Bennett (68C) Brookshire William (69C) and Sally Schwartz (69C) Epps Johnny Phillips (69C) Jane Terry (69C) George W. Cofield Memorial Scholarship Fund Ed (57C) and Evelyn Quarles (57C) England

Charlie (53H, 57C) and Hazel Guthrie (59c) Underwood Economics Department Scholarship Anonymous Carolyn Denise Edwards Scholarship Ron (56H) and Robbie Barber (56H) Edwards B. Leon Elder Endowed Scholarship Leon Elder (54C) Ed and Evelyn England Endowed Scholarship Ed (57C) and Evelyn Quarles (57C) England Dr. J. Paul Ferguson Endowed Scholarship Paul Ferguson Jimmy R. Fletcher Memorial Endowed Scholarship Louie (68C) and Marilyn Hill (71C) Canova Emma Fears O’Neal (68C)

Georgia State Society DAR Gate of Opportunity Scholarship John Philips Isabelle Ryerson Ed and Gayle Graviett Gmyrek Scholarship Ed and Gayle Graviett (67C) Gmyrek Jorge A. and Ondina S. Gonzalez Family Endowed Scholarship Ondina Santos Gonzalez Kathleen Granrose Memorial Endowed Scholarship Christopher Borda Lyn Gresham Endowed Scholarship Tolbert Fowler (60C) Manos Kalargyros Matt and Kelly Grisham Scholarship Fund Matt (02C) and Kelly Daly (03C) Grisham Hugh Hagen Student Leadership Scholarship Fund Cecily Crow (94C) Andre Ferreira (08C, 10G) Megan Geren (08C) Chris Harney (08C) Brittnee Howell (08C) Eric (07C) and Kristie Moniz (08C) Johansen Scott (08C) and Kaylin Gadoua (08C) Perkins Nicole Pettus (08C) Brian (08C) and Saxon Kappenman (09C) Seay Susan Cunningham Tatum (08C) Matt (08C) and Rebekah Britt (08C) Warren Rebecca Welch (11C) Samantha Wilkins (08C) Erin Wright (08C) Hamilton/Smith Scholarship Gary (77C) and Hermanett Pruitt (73C) Ford Evelyn Hamilton (68C) Beverly Philpot Smith (69C) Jonathan Randall Hardin Endowed Scholarship Fund Jonathan and Leisa Withrow (90C) Baggett Dan (94C) and Christel Boyd Dale Canada Daniel Carpenter Lee Carter (76c) Brian and Laurie Hattaway (95C) Chandler Ryan Chesley (04C) Jeremy Clay Kerrie Hartline Dalrymple (17C) Nancy Dobbs (11c) Harrison Dupree Penny Evans-Plants (90C) Jonathan Floyd (04C) Kathy Rogers Gann (91C) Willis Garrett Cindy Gillespie Randy and Nita Hardin Marvin Howlett (72C) and Annette Axley Hannah LaMay Anthony Loveless Matt Maddox Jacob Pledger Jeff Smith Dienne Trimble

Ronda Mills Head Study Abroad Scholarship for the Campbell School of Business Jane Jones Block (86C) Jean Miller Hedden Endowed Gate of Opportunity Scholarship Jean Miller Hedden (52C) Heneisen Service Award Laurie Hattaway Chandler (95C) Cathleen Ann Henriksen Memorial Scholarship Peter (53H, 57C) and Emmaline Beard (55H, 59C) Henriksen LeBron and Kay Holden Endowed Gate of Opportunity Scholarship LeBron (60C) and Kay Davis (60C) Holden Tim and Odetta Howard Endowed Scholarship Tim Howard (82C) Barbara Ballanger Hughes Scholarship Barbara Ballanger Hughes (71C) Kappa Delta Pi Endowed Award Mary Clement Kevin Kleine Study Abroad Scholarship Larry (93C) and Christina Johnson (01G) Arrington Ashley Williamson Belvin (05C) Erin Drury Boorn (00C) Donna Thompson Braden (96C) Brian (97C) and Susan Wells (97C) Brodrick Jessica Murphy Butler (97C) Brian and Hisayo Carroll Sarah Carroll (17C) Kristy Carter Shannon Rohrabaugh Casas (05C) Cecily Crow (94C) David (96C) and April Miller (00C) Dawson Kelly Dickerson (13C) Jean Druckenmiller Katheryne Atkins Fields (90C) Kimberly Field-Springer Courtney Fox (17C) Bob Frank Ashley Gellert Erin Grigsby (12C) Debbie Heida Maggie Suarez Heimermann (94C) Lindsey Harrison Herrin (18c) Curt Hersey (93C) Marcie Hinton Alyssa Hollingsworth (13C) Joy Nicholson Hunt (92C) Jim (92C) and Niki Rue (95C) Jaquish Mike Jones (92C) and Debbie GeorgeJones (93C) Tom and Melodie Kennedy Kris Kleine Keith Kleine Keri Kramer (95C) Julie Brown Labbe (02C) Diane Land (88C) Valerie Loner (91C) Ashley McIntyre (12C) Alex Middleton (12C, 15G) Traci Tucker Missildine (95C) Michael and Diane Moumousis Samantha Nazione Randee Walters Paraskevopoulos (92C) Scott (08C) and Kaylin Gadoua (08C) Perkins Jason Peterson

BERRY MAGAZINE • SUMMER 2019

35

I

THANK YOU

Jeff Quagliata (93C) Megan Reed (16C) Randy and Kathy Richardson Carl (97C) and Alexis Stevens (97C) Rogers Daniel Sipocz Ross Spinks (05C) Adam and Kristen Hill (00C) Stone Genyth Travis (96C) Martha Van Cise Katherine Watson (96C) Colin (93C) and Jenny Marston (92C) William Matt (97C) and Karen Carter (97C) Williams Hope Stallings Willoughby (09C) Michelle Williamson Wilson (93C) Rick Woodall (93C) Erin Wright (08C) Duane Price Kline Endowed Scholarship Darwin Samples (50C) Lois and Lucy Lampkin Foundation Gate of Opportunity Scholarship Lois and Lucy Lampkin Foundation Land Management Scholarship Anonymous Kyle Carney Vince Griffith (81C) and Angela Hartley Michelle and Steve Tart Methus (17C) and Haley Hasting (16C) Weldon Brinson, Askew, Berry, Seigler, Richardson and Davis LLP Dr. Peter A. Lawler Endowed Scholarship Jonathan and Christie Atkins John Banks (82C) Matt Barrett (97C) Daniel Boddie (17C) Jon (01C) and Michelle Reier (02C) Boulineau Bert (82C) and Cathy Clark Leah Cobb (17C) Celeste Creswell (93C) Wendy Davis (87C) Bertis Downs Mimi Flaherty Elliott-Gower (85C) Jeff (81C) and Carol Field Charles Flynn Andrew George (06C) John Grant (03C) Greg (82C) and Judy Cash (85C) Hanthorn Will (11C) and Dana Wenger (13C) Harper Sara Henary Jeffrey Horn (87C) Catherine Jackson Mark and Pat Tutterow (82C) Jackson Katie Kelly (06C) Tom and Melodie Kennedy Helen Lansing Rita Lawler Anna Miles (13C) Valerie Oxford (02C) Michael Papazian Emily Pears Aaron Pickering (00C) Kathy Jordan Pitman (87C) Julie Ponzi Ryan (99C) and LaNell Anderson (98C, 02G) Rakness David Ramsey (01C)

36

BERRY MAGAZINE • SUMMER 2019

Alan Ratliff (02C) Raymond (92C) and Ruth Lindsey (92C) Rodrigues Amy Ryan (98C) Christy Snider Tricia Steele (09C) Michael (16C) and Allie Reed (16C) Stephenson David Sweitzer Kirsten Taylor John Tomat (87C) Caleb (04C) and Amy Gerwig (03C) Walker Cinthya Roman Wells (13C) Becky Moore White (82C) Ray M. and Mary Elizabeth Lee Scholarship Ray M. and Mary Elizabeth Lee Foundation Fred H. and Mary Loveday Endowed Scholarship Richard Barley (49H) James Brantley (57H) Everett (61H, 65C) and Donna Solomons Cecil Spooner (49H) Ross Magoulas Endowed Scholarship Virginia McChesney Dr. Charles Scott Markle Award Douglas and Faye Owens Typhnes Fish and Donald Midkiff Gate of Opportunity Scholarship Donald (57C) and Typhnes Fish (57C) Midkiff John Gideon and Diona Fordham Miller Endowed Scholarship Jim Miller (53C) Linda Mills Memorial Endowed Scholarship Stacey Spillers Amos Montgomery Endowed Scholarship Juanita Scurry (97C) Stacey Spillers Lee-Anda Hutchens Uter (92C) Emily Moothart Scholarship Emily Hoppman Moothart (89C) Graden Mullis Scholarship Tom Mullis (57C) Al and Mary Nadassy Scholarship in Memory of Mrs. Ralph Farmer Mary Nadassy Mary and Al Nadassy English Scholarship Tina Bucher Mary Nadassy Mark Taylor Jim Watkins Mary Finley Niedrach Endowed Scholarship Mary Finley Niedrach (75A, 97G) NSDAR Gate of Opportunity Scholarship Elizabeth Garner Ellen Steward NSDAR Scholarship Roberta Chance Margaret Steward DAR – Ashmead Chapter DAR – Belleville Chapter DAR – Captain Molly Corbin Society DAR – Captain Nathaniel Mills Chapter DAR – Chancellor Wythe Chapter DAR – Colonel John WashingtonKatherine Montgomery Chapter

DAR – Dancing Rabbit Chapter DAR – Fort Severn Chapter DAR – Franklin County Chapter DAR – Governor Edward Coles-Sally Lincoln Chapter DAR – Hickory Bluff Chapter DAR – Jacob Braselton Chapter DAR – Jacob’s Well DAR – John Bell Chapter DAR – John Sackett Chapter DAR – Major George Gibson Chapter DAR – Mary Butler Chapter DAR – Mary Clap Wooster Chapter DAR – Maryland State Society DAR – Monguagon Chapter Michigan DAR – Olathe Chapter DAR – Pymatuning Chapter DAR – San Antonio de Bexar Chapter DAR – Washoe Zephyr Chapter DAR – Wild Horse Trail Chapter DAR – Williamsburg Chapter National Society Daughters of the American Revolution Tim and Mary A. Page Scholarship Mary Page Dr. Bob Pearson Scholarship Scott and Fay Neal Willis and Nora Pirkle Endowed Scholarship Alice Suroviec Sara Powell Expendable Scholarship John Powell (58H) Kelley Bennett Poydence Endowed Scholarship Dan and Kelley Poydence Amber T. Prince Memorial Scholarship Janna Johnson (81C) Jamie (97C) and Elisha Wright (98C, 04G) Lindner Pete and Carol Roberts Scholarship Leonard P. and Carol Snyder Roberts Bernard and Doris Rowland Scholarship Doris Rowland Save a Student Scholarship A total of 718 current students, alumni, faculty/staff and friends made gifts to this scholarship aiding students who face sudden, unexpected financial distress. Visit berry.edu/saveastudent/donors to see their names.

Jeanne Schul Endowed Dance Scholarship Mark and Carey Dickerson (99C) Andrzejewski Buford Harbin Judith Heppner Jeanne Schul Michele Norman Sims Endowed Scholarship Bobby (92C) and Amy Tuten (96C) Bergman Dr. Chaitram Singh Endowed Scholarship John (91C) and Lee Woolbright Tom and Barbara Slocum Endowed Gate of Opportunity Scholarship Thomas and Barbara Slocum, with a matching gift from the Delta Air Lines Foundation William B. Stokely Jr. Scholarship Bill and Kay Stokely William B. Stokely Jr. Foundation Maxine Strickland Endowed Nursing Scholarship Jean Miller Hedden (52C)

Deborah Hill Reg (51C) and Maxine Strickland Student Scholarships Jamie Allison (99C) David (06C) and Rachel Wood (09c) Bayne Nancy Cannon (92C) Margaret McSpadden Cochran (53c) Shirley Hill Denny (61C) Kristen Diliberto-Macaluso Alisa Elmore Jean Hansard (76C) Jordan Hester (12C) Charles Jenkins (52c) Betty Brown Jones (55C) Timothy Larsen Michael Maney (98C) Lynde Mann (09C) Elwanda Barber McCall (59c) Tedric Palmer (17C) Matt Ragan (98C) and Shelly DriskellRagan (96C) Bill Spooner (50H) Study Abroad Award Vincent and Mary Gregoire Larry and Betty Jane Taylor Endowed Scholarship Larry and Betty Jane Taylor Texas Society DAR Scholarship DAR – Jane Long Chapter Tibbals/Zellars Endowed Comprehensive Scholarship Randy Tibbals (79C) John Zellars John Zellars Jr. Foundation Tibbals/Zellars Endowed Education Scholarship Randy Tibbals (79C) John Zellars John Zellars Jr. Foundation The Trey Tidwell Experience: A Scholarship for Musical Discovery Mandy Tidwell (93C) Microsoft Corp.

Troy/Gardner Endowed Art History Award Virginia Troy Courtney M. Urquhart Endowed Communication Scholarship Randy and Judy Urquhart James Van Meerten Study Abroad Scholarship Jim Van Meerten (70C) James E. and Dorris Waters Endowed Scholarship Steve and Brenda Briggs Lettie Pate Whitehead Scholars Fund Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation Work Week Endowed Service Award Reg (51C) and Maxine Strickland

In the end, it’s about the students.

CRAFTING SUCCESS: Harmony Petty

S

tarting her own business was not part of 14-year-old Harmony Petty’s plan when friends and family took notice of her crafting talents and began seeking out her creations. Six years later, the early childhood education major has customers flocking to her Facebook page and tables at local markets to select from the mix of handcrafted items offered by Harmony’s Crafty Creations.

Sales of unique baby onesies, wreaths, t-shirts and other creations – $20,000 last year alone – are helping Petty pay for her education as she prepares for a future uniting her love of children with a seemingly unending urge to craft.

“I have always wanted to be a teacher,” she explained. “I want to teach preschool because it’s so very hands on. I love kids, and it’s very crafty, so it’s like combining my two favorite things.”

The road to success has posed its share of challenges for Petty, not the least of which was convincing customers to take a teen business owner seriously. It was the strong support of family and friends that helped see her through.

“In the beginning, they helped me persevere through setbacks and mistakes,” she shared when featured last fall in Calhoun Magazine. “I learned how to see my mistakes as learning curves rather than reasons to quit.”

Berry College is now nurturing Petty’s entrepreneurial efforts. She has an advisor and advocate in Dr. Paula Englis, professor of management and director of Berry’s entrepreneurship program, who quickly recognized Petty’s drive and determination and recruited her into the ranks of Entrepreneurial Scholars. Petty became the first freshman to earn this distinction open to students of all majors, which provides scholarship funding and other benefits, including the opportunity to run her business from an office inside Green Hall. This spring, she was one of five finalists in a donorfunded pitch competition hosted by Berry’s entrepreneurship program (see page 2), earning a $2,500 prize she plans to use to hire a fellow Berry student to help increase productivity for her growing business.

Petty dedicates up to 40 hours a week to Harmony’s Crafty Creations while also balancing the demands of work in Berry’s purchasing office and full-time pursuit of her degree.

“She has an amazing work ethic and a great connection with her customers,” Englis praised. “She knows what will sell and does a lot of product development and customization to meet customers’ needs.”

Petty’s experiences as a young business owner have allowed her to develop skills she is now building on through classroom lessons and interaction with Berry faculty, alumni entrepreneurs and fellow students.

“It’s interesting to see how I can relate my classes back to my business, and it’s great to be able to make connections like that,” she said.

Despite her entrepreneurial drive and success, Petty doesn’t know whether she’ll continue her business after graduation when her goal of teaching is realized. But given her creativity and resourcefulness, it’s easy to imagine that she will be crafting success well into the future.

reporting by student writer KENDALL ARONSON photography by student LINDSEY CAMPBELL

BERRY MAGAZINE • SUMMER 2019

37

PRSRT NONPROFIT MKT MAIL U.S. POSTAGE PAID ATLANTA, GA 30304 PERMIT NO. 2552

Berry magazine P.O. Box 495018 Mount Berry, GA 30149-5018

Sublime Socks Greg Hanthorn Jr. (09c) and father Gregory Hanthorn (82C) found Berry socks to be the perfect complement to the soccer-inspired shoes worn by groomsmen during Greg’s Dec. 1 Frost Chapel wedding to Jessica Yawn. Best of all, sock proceeds supported Berry’s Save a Student Scholarship. Put your best foot forward for Berry students by visiting berry.edu/always and buying your own pair of 2019 deer-themed socks or a new Berry mug. Photo by Caroline E. Price