Berry Magazine - Winter 2011-12

BERRY Winter 2011-12

a magazine for alumni and friends of Berry College

ÂĄQuĂŠ vida!

What a life for international banker Michael Contreras (76C)

Endangered no more Mack Gay (59C) and Walter Maine (59C) help create a safe place for children in crisis

This is Jeopardy!

Ryan Fox (02C) is quiz show champion

VOL. 98, NO. 2

WINTER 2011-12

BERRY Features 10

¡Qué vida!

What a life for international banker Michael

Contreras (76C)

13

Endangered no more

Mack Gay (59C) and Walter Maine (59C) help

create a safe place for children in crisis

16

10

Experiencing it firsthand

Fellowship gives Meredith Smith Johnson (11C)

valuable experience, new perspective

18

This is Jeopardy!

Ryan Fox (02C) is quiz show champion

26

The call of the mountain

Approximately 7,500 enjoy Mountain Day 2011

13

Departments 2

Noteworthy News

• Students get unique firsthand experience through outside work partnership • Berry to add new sports: football, men’s and women’s track and field • Points of Pride: Travel + Leisure declares Berry beautiful

8

President’s Essay

The right team

20

Learn. Live. Give.

• Anonymous donor energizes visual arts program with $200,000 gift • Mother’s memories inspire scholarship gift • Charitable gift annuities: Give opportunity and get financial security

28

Class Notes

32

Memory and Honor Gifts

The Normandy complex on Berry’s Mountain Campus rises above the snowy landscape in this image by local photographer Zane Cochran.

Cover photo by Guillermina Fuenmayor and Maria Jose Monti

3, 8

21

20

NOTEWORTHY NEWS

BERRY magazine

Published three times per year for alumni and friends of Berry College Editor Karilon L. Rogers Managing Editor Rick Woodall (93C) Contributing Writers Debbie Rasure Joni Kenyon Design and Production Shannon Biggers (81C) Chief Photographer Alan Storey Class Notes and Gifts Listings Justin Karch (01C, 10G), Joni Kenyon and Rose Nix Contact Information Class Notes and Change of Address: alumni@berry.edu; 706-236-2256; 800-782-0130; 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: Barbara Pickle McCollum (79C) President-Elect: Haron Wise (57H) Vice Presidents: Alumni Events, Frances Richey (83A, 87C); Berry Heritage, Allyson Chambers (80C, 84G); Financial Support, Tim Goodwin (03C); Young Alumni and Student Relations, Jeff Palmer (09C); Alumni Awards, Rebecca Christopher (61C) Parliamentarian: Bart Cox (92C) Secretary: Kimberly Terrell (04C, 06G) Chaplain: The Rev. Scott McClure (89C) Director of Alumni Relations Chris Watters (89C) Assistant Vice President for Public Relations and Marketing Jeanne Mathews Vice President for Advancement Bettyann O’Neill President Stephen R. Briggs

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BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2011-12

story and photos by Alyssa Hollingsworth

Work: THROUGH A NEW STUDENT WORK INITIATIVE aimed at

developing targeted partnerships with off-campus employers, Berry students helped create an interactive exhibit of the TOW missile system for the National Infantry Museum in Columbus, Ga., without leaving the Berry campus.

Working “virtually” with colleagues at INERGI, a firm based in Huntsville, Ala., a team of three Berry students researched the development and deploy­ ment of the TOW missiles, including the industrial and employee teams that built the system over a 40-year period and key battles in which it was used.

The students’ work formed the basis of the new exhibit’s centerpiece, a suite of four “digital scrapbooks” describing

student editorial assistant

Outside partnerships provide new opportunities

the missile system in great detail for visitors as they stand in front of a glass enclosure housing each missile variant.

Austin Boyd, CEO of INERGI, was impressed both by the quality of the students’ work and the attitude they exhibited.

“The students were bright, cheerful and genuinely excited by the task,” he stated. “They met with me on a monthly basis at Berry, transmitted many hundreds of megabytes of data through Internet ‘drop box’ accounts, and submitted a welldocumented final report that led to a successful summer compilation of the data and museum exhibit installation in fall 2011. They proved that Berry’s concept of student work successfully extends to contractual support of business

off the campus. I am already looking at new long-term business partnerships to leverage this Berry innovation in our daily work at INERGI.” Senior Bobby Tuttle led the student team and found the experience to be particularly valuable.

“As a history major, it’s difficult to find paid internships,” he said.

“Berry provided an extraordinary level of experience for me during the school year – and for pay. It was extremely beneficial. I became a better researcher as a result of our work.”

In October, two of the students visited the exhibit – now open to the public – and were excited to see their hard work come to fruition.

“I researched this!” exclaimed Jessica Cantrell, like Tuttle a

Berry to add football, men’s and women’s track and field OPPORTUNITIES FOR BERRY STUDENTS TO STRIVE FOR EXCELLENCE on the playing fields of

Above left: History majors Bobby Tuttle and Jessica Cantrell view the TOW missile exhibit that they helped create at the National Infantry Museum.

history major.

The partnership with INERGI is an example of a new community industry work model being developed through Berry’s Work Experience Program. Rufus Massey, dean of student work, is confident that this initiative will complement on-campus opportunities already available through the nation’s largest work program of its type.

“While the work program will continue to focus on providing on-campus employment oppor­ tunities whenever possible,” he explained, “these partnerships will open an avenue for students to gain new types of experience not available through on-campus positions.”

NCAA Division III continue to expand with the strategic decision to add football and men’s and women’s track and field to Berry’s roster of intercollegiate sports. The proposal to add these new sports received the unanimous endorsement of the Berry College Board of Trustees at its fall meeting. Football will begin play in 2013, with track and field to follow soon after.

The decision to add football and track and field coincides with the formation of the Southern Athletic Association, of which Berry is a founding member. This new conference consists of eight highly regarded, academically focused liberal arts colleges, as well as two recently announced affiliates for football only, the University of Chicago and Washington University at St. Louis.

As members of NCAA Division III, these schools are prohibited from offering athletic scholarships, though athletes are eligible for merit and needbased financial aid. At Berry, they may also participate in the Work Experience Program.

“Berry’s involvement with the new Southern Athletic Association promotes the active engagement of athletes in all college activities and is a model for the true scholar-athlete,” said Board of Trustees Chair Karen Holley Horrell (74C). “We are proud to offer our students additional opportunities through the addition of football and men’s and women’s track and field.”

The vote of confidence by the trustees followed a multi-year evaluation process that included indepth analyses by outside consultants; wideranging discussions involving students, faculty, staff and alumni; and extensive research into the benefits these sports will bring to the campus. These benefits include increased interest among prospective students, an improved social climate through a more balanced male-female ratio, increased visibility for Berry in the company of likeminded liberal arts schools,

“

and more weekend social activities for students, alumni and friends.

Operating funds for the new sports will be generated through the tuition paid by the additional students those sports attract. This income will also cover the cost of any new faculty members required to maintain Berry’s 12:1 student-faculty ratio.

The 2013 debut of football will bring to 21 the total number of varsity sports sponsored by Berry, including 20 that compete in NCAA Division III. Since 2003, Berry has added women’s volleyball, men’s and women’s swimming and diving, women’s softball, and men’s and women’s lacrosse. The women’s equestrian team (which competes in the International Horse Show Association) has also been elevated to varsity status, winning the IHSA Western Nationals in 2011.

The process of identifying Berry’s first football coach is already under way. Plans are also being developed for an on-campus facility (to be funded through private donations), which will be located between the Cage Center and Martha Berry Highway. The plan calls for permanent seating on the west side of the field, with the east side consisting of a terraced, grassy berm that provides space for additional spectators while also shielding the facility from the highway.

Editor’s Note: See Dr. Briggs’ essay (Page 8) for more on the strategic importance of adding football at Berry.

Berry’s involvement with the new Southern Athletic Association promotes the active engagement of athletes in all college activities and is a model for the true scholar-athlete.

”

– Karen Holley Horrell

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2011-12

3

Let’s get together (online)!

THE PIPE ORGAN IN THE BERRY COLLEGE CHAPEL received a

much-needed “tuneup” during the summer of 2011. The

Status

Friends

Profile

Clearing ‘the pipes’

and running, boasting more than 860 registrations since its July launch. Similar to other popular social media sites, the interactive Web experience offers a personalized homepage providing quick access to your editable profile, friends list, status updates and affinity groups. Added bonuses include an alumni directory with powerful search options, class notes, discussion groups and event photos. If you haven’t already completed the free registration process, visit www.berry.edu/ alumni/connect and join the fun today!

My

Alan Storey

BERRY’S NEW ONLINE ALUMNI COMMUNITY, AlumniConnect, is off

Groups

project was completed by the A.E. Schlueter Organ Company of Atlanta and funded by an endowment established for exactly that purpose.

In place since the late 1980s, the organ has been damaged by temperature fluctuations (the college chapel wasn’t air conditioned until 2001) and the passage of time. The summer restoration effort included a major tuning of the pipes, replacement of some felt and leather, plugging air leaks, and extensive repairs to the console.

According to college officials, more extensive repairs or replacement will likely be needed in the coming years.

Excellence in communication THE HITS JUST KEEP COMING for Viking Fusion, Berry’s student-run multimedia website, which joined the likes of NPR, CNN and The Associated Press as an international finalist in Editor & Publisher’s 2011 EPPY™ Awards competition.

Berry was nominated for “Best College/University Journalism Website” along with DePaul University, Central Michigan University, CUNY Graduate

School of Journalism and Temple University.

Similarly impressed with the Berry site were judges for the 2011 National Student Produc­ tion Awards, who nominated Viking Fusion in two categories, “Best Student Media Website” and “Best Promo.” A third nomination, for “Best PSA,” went to a group of students taking Narrative Video Produc­ tion with Curt Hersey (93C).

Sustainablesuccess WHAT STARTED OUT AS A CLASS PROJECT in Assistant Professor of Biology Cathy Borer’s Environmental Science Methods course has turned into a unique experiment in green living – the Berry Environmental Living and Learning (BELL) House.

Born out of a long-term group project undertaken by four of Borer’s students who have since graduated – Christine Clolinger (11C), Courtney Cooper (11C), Amber Merrell (11C) and Lesley Mobley (11C) – the pilot program involves 14 current students living in two on-campus townhouses.

Participants work together to live in an environmentally responsible manner while also promoting sustainability through outreach efforts on campus.

One BELL student, senior Jenny Smolek (pictured),

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BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2011-12

traveled to San Francisco in December to participate in a two-day eco-summit as one of 12 finalists in Project Green Challenge, a nationwide contest featuring 2,600 college and high school students. Competitors were encouraged to go from “conventional to conscious” as they earned points by completing a green challenge each day during the month of October.

“It was amazing!” Smolek said of the eco-summit.

“We heard informative and inspirational speeches from various eco heroes. We were also able to collaborate with them to develop programs that we can implement on our campuses and [at] other schools nationwide.”

Alan Storey

Ringing the ‘BELL’ for green living

Changing of the guard in the chaplain’s office

Make time for Alumni Weekend, Young Alumni Weekend and Alumni Work Week!

CHERISHED MEMORIES AND FACES YOU CAN’T FORGET will be

the order of the day at Alumni Weekend, May 18-20.

Highlights include reunions for the classes of 47H, Alan Storey

47C, 52H, 52C, 57H, 57C, 62H, 62C, 67A and 67C, as well as the annual gala honoring DISTINGUISHED SERVICE as

college chaplain and pastor of Mount Berry Church, Dr. Dale McConkey (above right) has returned full time to the faculty as associate professor of sociology. The Rev. Jonathan Huggins (left), formerly coordinator of student ministries, has stepped in as interim chaplain and pastor.

McConkey has been a familiar and comforting presence on the Berry campus for nearly two decades, serving as chaplain since 2002. Whit Whitaker (81C), Berry chief of staff, praised McConkey’s “unquestioned love and respect” for Berry students, as well as his “absolute devotion” to providing for the spiritual needs of the entire college, irrespective of religious background.

“It has been a distinct honor to serve the Berry community as its chaplain for the past nine years,” McConkey said. “I became chaplain because of a specific sense of God’s calling, and every facet of the job has been meaningful, rewarding, challenging and fun.”

In setting aside his duties as chaplain, McConkey was excited

by the prospect of returning full time to the classroom and focusing more attention on his family and wife Ingrid, who has struggled with illness for nearly a decade. He was pleased to see Huggins selected for the interim appointment, noting, “Jon joined our staff a year ago and has done an exceptional job ministering to the whole campus in all of its religious diversity.”

Huggins brings considerable experience to his newly expanded role, including prior service as an assistant pastor at GracePointe Community Church in Cumming, Ga., and Hixson Presbyterian Church in Tennessee. He is ordained in the Anglican Church of North America and holds master’s degrees from Wheaton College Graduate School (biblical and theological studies) and Reformed Theological Seminary (religion). He earned his bachelor’s degree in Christian ministry from Shorter University and is now a Th.D. candidate at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. In addition to his duties in the chaplain’s office, Huggins also serves as adjunct faculty in religion and philosophy.

Distinguished Alumni Award recipients and Golden Guard inductees.

Paul O’Mara

AFTER NINE YEARS OF

THAT SAME WEEKEND, young alumni (those who

attended Berry in the last 10 years) are invited back for a program that’s low in cost and high on fun.

Last year’s inaugural Young Alumni Weekend drew more than 100 alumni and friends, and we’re hoping for another strong turnout in 2012.

Activities will include a mixer in downtown Rome, service projects on campus, intramural games, a party at Oak Hill and an outdoor movie.

FOR MORE INFORMATION on these events

and Alumni Work Week (May 20-25), contact the alumni relations staff at 800-782-0130, 706-236-2256 or alumni@berry.edu.

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2011-12

5

Points of Pride O

O

Argentina

honors professor THE ARGENTINE NATIONAL

Chicken Soup for the Soul

Fulbright journey to Vietnam YET ANOTHER RECENT BERRY Alan Storey

Argentina Social Action for Music Foundation have bestowed the Argentinean Music Medal on Dr. Glenn Garrido for his work on behalf of the South American youth orchestra system that launched his own career.

Garrido, associate professor of music and director of bands at Berry, was honored in Buenos Aires (left) after leading a seminar for youth orchestra conductors from Argentina, Chile and Paraguay and conducting a gala concert with the National Youth Symphony Orchestra of Argentina.

Zane Cochran

GOVERNMENT and the

BERRY STAFF MEMBER AND GRADUATE STUDENT HEATHER BRAND

authored one of 101 short stories selected for the new book Chicken Soup for the Soul: Food and Love. Brand’s motivation for writing “Stepping Outside My Comfort Zone” – recounting her experience as a new bride venturing into the kitchen for the first time to prepare a full meal on her own – was simple: “I knew I wasn’t the only newlywed who couldn’t cook!”

Brand is faculty secretary for the Campbell School of Business and a student in Berry’s Master of Education program.

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BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2011-12

GRADUATE has received a coveted

Fulbright grant from the U.S. State Department. Atlanta native and former Berry Bonner Scholar Tanner Huýnh (11C) currently is exploring his parents’ homeland of Vietnam as an English Teaching Assistant at Nha Trang College of Art-Culture and Tourism in Nha Trang, Khánh Hòa Province, Vietnam.

“The Bonner program instilled in me the courage to explore and the importance of volunteerism and helping others

who are underprivileged,” Huýnh stated. “Vietnam is a growing culture, and its people are still under­educated and undernourished by Western standards. I gravitated toward Vietnam because it displays a resilience I have never felt before.”

Another big reason for his journey abroad is the chance to become immersed in his heritage.

“I am Vietnamese-American,” he explained, “yet Vietnam seemed so distant and mysterious to me because I have lived in the U.S. my whole life.”

Berry named among America’s most beautiful college campuses BEAUTY MAY BE IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER, but who wouldn’t agree with Travel + Leisure’s September 2011 assessment that America’s largest college campus is also among its most breathtaking?

That’s right! Berry is one of 29 colleges and universities featured in the Travel + Leisure article, “America’s Most Beautiful College Campuses,” joining such renowned institutions as Stanford, Notre Dame, Princeton, Duke and the University of Virginia on the celebrated list.

“America’s most beautiful college campuses have the power not only to sway indecisive high school students, of course, but also to attract tourists,” noted Travel + Leisure writer Ratha Tep. “Their appeal comes through varying combinations of awe-inspiring architecture, landscaping, and surroundings.”

Of Berry, Tep wrote, “This rural college holds a lofty record: it’s the world’s largest contiguous college campus … with more than 26,000 acres of fields, lakes, forests, and mountains. Berry makes prime use of its setting too, with numerous reflecting pools and fountains situated nearby its beautiful English Gothic-inspired buildings like the Ford Dining Hall, Ford Auditorium, and Mary Hall, made possible by the school’s largest benefactor – Henry Ford.”

The complete article, including photos of the various campuses, can be accessed online at www.travelandleisure.com/articles/americas-mostbeautiful-college-campuses.

SCHOLAR ATHLETES, SERVANTATHLETES BERRY ATHLETES do well in the

Berry helps to “Move that bus!”

IT’S BEEN FIVE YEARS SINCE TY PENNINGTON

graced the

Goin’ molecular

pages of Berry magazine

A $258,971 GRANT from the

Jenifer Faison (92C), then

as part of a feature about a producer for Extreme

Makeover: Home Edition.

Last summer, Berry crossed paths with Pennington again, this protons and electrons that make up the substance,” Hoke explained. “It uses the same underlying principles as MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) but gives information that is interpreted at the molecular level. This instrument will give our students experience with state-of-the-art techniques for studying molecular structures.”

time joining forces to help

Bryan Harris / Jackson Spalding

National Science Foundation has brought a state-of-the-art nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer to the Berry Science Building that dramatically enhances research opportunities for chemistry students and faculty. The grant was secured by three members of Berry’s chemistry faculty, Drs. Gary Breton, Dominic Qualley and Kevin Hoke, in collabora­ tion with a colleague from Shorter University.

“This instrument allows us to deduce the structure of mol­ ecules based on the interactions of a magnetic field with the

service organization, Athletes Bettering the Community. The athletes’ service included work in elementary schools, homeless shelters, cause-based thrift stores and after-school programs.

Other recent good works by Berry athletes include fund­ raising for supplies for a U.S. military unit in Afghanistan by the men’s lacrosse team, raising money for breast cancer medical research and patient support by the volleyball squad, and support for a foundation focusing on childhood cancer by the men’s and women’s soccer and lacrosse teams.

classroom and do good for the community.

The 2010-11 intercollegiate softball team is the most recent Berry squad to claim AllAcademic Team honors, earning recognition from the National Fastpitch Coaches Association.

In addition, six players received individual acclaim as AllAmerica Scholar Athletes.

Last fall, nearly all of Berry’s 310 student-athletes volunteered in 20 different locations in Rome and Floyd County as part of a semi-annual service day hosted by the athletic department’s

change the life of Anaiah Rucker, a fifth-grader who lost her leg saving her sister from an oncoming truck.

Pennington and his crew worked their usual magic on the family home in Madison, Ga., while Berry provided hope for the future by awarding a scholarship to the young hero, who dreams of one day becoming a doctor or lawyer. The episode aired in October.

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2011-12

7

PRESIDENT’S ESSAY

THE RIGHT TEAM BERRY IS ADDING FOOTBALL to its strong lineup of varsity sports in the fall of 2013, having

received unanimous approval by the Berry College Board of Trustees at its October meeting. After a robust – and sometimes noisy – campus decision-making process, I am Dr. Stephen R. Briggs

confident that this decision positions Berry well for the decades ahead in ways that extend far beyond athletics.

recruiting scandals and player misconduct.

It’s a culture dominated by dollars. The People in the Southeast are passionate football budgets for LSU and Alabama about college football – often beyond logic. exceed $70 million, including multimillionThe drama of another season concluded dollar salaries for the head coaches. Even the recently as Louisiana State University and assistant coaches earn salaries exceeding the University of Alabama met in a rematch $250,000. Now, advocacy groups are calling to determine the 2011 BCS National for BCS football players to be paid a salary Football Championship, ensuring the based on their value to the institution. One Southeastern Conference its sixth can make a compelling case that majorconsecutive national title. college football is out of control.

It’s difficult to exaggerate the fanaticism At the same time, football remains the that accompanies SEC football. With an most popular sport for high school boys with average crowd of more than 100,000, home more participants than basketball and games at the University of Alabama are baseball combined. Many young men want larger than the Super Bowl. Average to play football at the collegiate level, attendance at SEC games exceeds that of including those interested in an academically NFL games. Major-college football is big challenging residential college like Berry. business: Television revenue alone generates Some may be surprised to learn that about $17 million a year for each of the SEC football has a long history even at Berry, in schools. the intramural and club form. Records The discussion about adding football at indicate that a Berry was student-formed inevitably colored team existed as by this larger early as 1906, and context. Although two campus intercollegiate literary societies football at a school enjoyed an annual like Berry bears Mountain Day little resemblance tackle football to the BCS game for a spectacle, many number of years. find it difficult to There is a longthink of football in running legend any other way. For The unique history of football at Berry includes a that Martha Berry some, college long-running Mountain Day rivalry between the banned football in football is Georgian and Syrreb campus literary societies her will, but there appealing, while (seen here in the 1972 Cabin Log). is no mention of others find it football or any appalling. other sport in that document. And while a We should all be troubled by what is 1925 letter did prohibit Berry’s high school happening in college football today. The lust boys from playing baseball, football and to win has created a culture riddled with THE CONTEXT

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BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2011-12

other sports, a football field is clearly sited behind Richards Gymnasium in a 1937 master plan of the college campus.

THE PROCESS

Over the last decade, Berry has deliberately increased its number of varsity sports as part of a strategic commitment to enhance the college’s reputation as a top-tier residential college. At this point, football is the only major sport that Berry does not offer.

Residential institutions often emphasize athletic participation as an integral part of the campus experience and encourage student-athletes to be broadly involved in campus life. This culture of participation, reinforced by the absence of athletic scholarships, defines Division III of the NCAA, which is why most top liberal arts institutions belong to that division and why Berry joined in 2009.

The issue of football was considered briefly at Berry about seven years ago, but a study was postponed in order to focus on the need for upgraded facilities and expanded opportunities for women. The process of studying football began in earnest in 2010, two years after the opening of the Cage Center.

In spring 2011, Berry retained a consulting firm with experience in the startup of Division III football programs to provide a formal review of program needs and costs. As part of their review, the consultants interviewed more than 90 people representing all parts of the Berry com­ munity. The plan was to present the consultant’s report to the Board of Trustees at its May meeting, develop a refined cost projection for Berry during the summer, and then submit all of this material for open discussion on campus in the fall of 2011.

Krannert Center

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

In the early stages of review, campus vibrancy, particularly in September and October, and an improved male-to-female ratio were identified as two primary benefits of adding football. As the game tends to be a social experience as well as an athletic event, football at Berry will add many opportunities to have parents, alumni and friends on campus in the early fall and to build additional appropriate events around it.

Campus culture and cost were the areas of greatest concern. People at Berry care about its special culture and want to protect it from the excesses some­times associated with football and tailgating. Questions from college constitu­ents focused on Berry’s commitment to remaining a dry campus and the

Mar tha Berr y Hw y.

In the days leading up to the May meeting of the Board, however, the question of football took on new urgency. In joining Division III, one of our hopes and goals was to be accepted as a member of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC), a group of 12 highly regarded colleges and universities extending from Georgia and Kentucky to Texas and Colorado. After several years of inquiries and overtures from us, a group of the SCAC’s eastern members approached Berry about joining them in forming a new conference. The one stipulation was that Berry had to agree to add football and make that decision within two weeks (by the end of May).

While it was Berry’s good fortune to be in the midst of a football study, our Board determined it inappropriate to make such a decision without completing the on-campus review process. Thankfully, the other members of the new conference affirmed this principle, and Berry joined them as a charter member of the Southern Athletic Associa­tion, which commences play in 2012. The on-campus discussion then ensued as planned.

Main Campus Entrance

Cage Center

Moon Building

This initial rendering demonstrates the planned location for Berry’s football, track and tennis complex to be constructed as funds are raised.

behavioral challenges of having a large group of men all part of one team.

In many ways, it was affirming to hear students and alumni talk about the reasons they love the Berry community and the kind of campus experience we provide. Everyone agrees that we must pay careful attention to setting the right tone, beginning with the selection of the right head coach, in order for football to be successfully integrated at Berry.

It will not be enough just to endorse Berry’s mission; the right coach must be a champion for Berry’s campus culture. (By way of update, we had already received letters of interest from 65 candidates prior to release of the position description in early January.)

Operating costs for the football program are estimated at $600,000 per year (including coaching and related staff salaries as well as uniforms, insurance and game-day expenses).

These expenses will be offset by the tuition (less regular financial aid) generated by the 80 or more additional students at Berry who will play on the team. This net revenue will also be sufficient to cover the additional faculty members needed to maintain our current student-to-faculty ratio.

One of the clear preferences expressed by many on campus was to add football only if Berry could “do it right,” meaning building appropriate facilities on campus. But there also was a concern about borrowing money to fund these facilities. Our current plan is to build a facility across the parking lot from the Cage Center, using an existing ridge line to hide the field from Martha Berry Highway.

Phase I will cost approximately $4 million and includes stadium and terraced (hillside)

seating, a synthetic turf field, lights and a locker room facility. Phase II (another $2.5 million) adds additional seating, a new complex of tennis courts and an eight-lane track that will open track and field as a new athletic option for both men and women.

The facility will be funded by gifts to the college; construction will begin as adequate funds are raised.

THE FINAL FACTOR

In the end, after considering all factors, our board approved the addition of football largely because it believes that Berry’s continued success will be enhanced through long-term affiliation with the colleges and universities that are members of the Southern Athletic Association. Athletic affiliations of this sort often facilitate academic comparisons, as seen most notably in the Ivy League, which was formed as an athletic conference. By adding football, we strengthen the stability of the SAA and facilitate conference scheduling. We accentuate the visibility of our affiliation with these fine institutions even as we help ensure that the new conference will thrive.

We have joined the right team, a fact that was underscored in early December when two very highly regarded academic insti­ tutions were accepted as affiliate members of the SAA, competing in football only, beginning in 2015. The new colleagues in Berry’s conference are the University of Chicago and Washington University at St. Louis. I hope to see you here in 2015 when Berry hosts one of those renowned institutions on our campus! B BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2011-12

9

¡Qué

Guillermina Fuenmayor and Maria Jose Monti

(What a life!)

If a movie were to be made about the life of international bank executive Michael Contreras (76C), his would be one banker role that just begs for an action star. Forget someone like Jimmy Stewart, who played the steadfast savings and loan officer in It’s a Wonderful Life. Picture instead a young Harrison Ford, a dashing Hugh Jackman or, better yet, the swashbuckling Antonio Banderas.

For while Contreras might not have leapt from tall buildings in a single bound or fought the bad guys personally, he certainly built a banking career in locations and times of incredible action. It’s as if someone once asked him if he understood crisis management and believed him completely when he said

10

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2011-12

yes.

vida!

by Karilon L. Rogers

As a longtime executive of the Citibank international financial conglomerate, Contreras found himself No. 4 on a dreaded 1995 kidnapping list in Colombia – and lived to tell the tale. He took over Southeast Asia Pacific operations just months before the vast tumult of the Asian financial crisis ensued in 1997. He oversaw the evacuation of bank employees during 1998 riots in Indonesia in which upwards of 5,000 people were massacred. And he managed the reopening of Citibank banks in Hanoi and the former Saigon, now known as Ho Chi Minh City, enabling the same employee who turned off the lights when that city fell in 1975 to turn them back on 23 years later.

If that isn’t the stuff good movies are made of, what is?

AN ESCALATING CAREER

Contreras always wanted to be a banker but actually knew very little about what business banking entailed – to say nothing about banking during political upheavals, civil wars, financial crises, drug wars and sundry other difficulties.

His career started calmly. Born in New York and raised in Puerto Rico, Contreras came to Berry sight-unseen on a baseball scholarship, eventually earning All-American honors as a pitcher while enjoying what he describes as “a great four-year experience.”

After graduating with a degree in business, he joined Citibank’s Puerto Rico operations as a management trainee and was one of the first four Puerto Ricans accepted into a highly competitive training program in New York City. It was game-on for Contreras from the start.

“It was very motivating that we were the first from Puerto Rico to be sent for the program,” Contreras said. “I am a very competitive person, but when my boss reminded us that we were the first from Puerto Rico so we had to do better than everyone else, he made it even more challenging and competitive for me. It was grueling and tough and interesting.”

Contreras spent six years in Puerto Rico in a variety of positions with Citibank, during

which time he also earned an MBA from Inter-American University and, most importantly, met and married wife Milagros in what was hailed as Puerto Rico’s “wedding of the year” by the local newspaper. He got his first big break in international banking in 1984 when he was selected to manage the largest corporate Citibank branch in Venezuela, a post that set up a long career in a longer list of nations.

In 1985, at age 31, Contreras was named general manager for Citibank in the Dominican Republic. It was a time of deep trouble for the agricultural nation that provided fertile ground for Contreras’ growing crisis-management skills. Falling sugar prices, surging gas prices and the Latin American debt crisis had hit the Dominican Republic hard, making it one of the poorest countries in the Americas.

Despite the difficult fiscal environment, Contreras managed the operation into one of Citibank’s most profitable in the Caribbean while his family grew to include three sons.

He was asked to serve as president of the island nation’s bank association because of the solidity of his operation and his impeccable reputation. In return for his distinguished service, Joaquin Balaguer, then president of the Dominican Republic, decorated Contreras with the national Order of Christopher Columbus.

WORKING IN A (CIVIL) WAR ZONE

Success in the Dominican Republic netted Contreras a hardship posting in Bogotá, Colombia, as president of Citibank operations in both Colombia and Ecuador.

There was a reason why he earned combat pay for the assignment. Chaos reigned in Colombia due to bloody fighting between revolutionary forces and the Colombian government, as well as a campaign of terror and murder being waged by powerful drug lords.

“Before I went to Colombia, I thought CNN coverage exaggerated what was going on,” Contreras said ruefully. “But I learned it did not. You had to be careful. It was interesting and a big opportunity at a

relatively young age, but my kids had to go to school with armed guards and we drove in armored cars. My wife was very close to a lethal bombing attempt.”

It wasn’t until his family had already left the country that Contreras fully understood the danger. His security chief informed him that a computer message decoded by the government revealed Contreras’ position as No. 4 on a prioritized kidnapping list.

“That made me move a little faster,” he chuckled about his physical move back to Venezuela, where he would continue to lead operations in Colombia and Ecuador while adding Venezuela to his list of responsibil­ ities. “He told me the bad news, and I said, ‘Oh boy, that’s not good!’ For my family, I kind of downplayed it. And I never let it be in the front of my mind, but it was always in the back of my mind. I did tell my successor, however, that he would not automatically take my place as No. 4 on the list. He had to earn it.”

ON TO ASIA

In 1996, Contreras was tapped again for crisis leadership – this time far outside of Latin American culture – when he was promoted to head the Southeast Asia Pacific division headquartered in Singapore with responsibility for corporate banking business in Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Brunei and Vietnam.

Contreras was sent to Asia because Citibank recognized many of the same warning signs that had doomed Latin America to economic crisis a decade earlier.

The corporation needed leaders who knew how to plan for and manage worst-case scenarios. When Contreras took over Southeast Asia Pacific operations, another veteran of Latin American operations was assigned to North Asia.

Only a few months after Contreras’ arrival, the predicted financial crisis began with the collapse of Thailand’s currency and quickly spread throughout Southeast Asia and Japan. Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and Vietnam – all within Contreras’ scope of

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2011-12

11

family and faith Michael and Milagros Contreras are active in their church and have set up a family foundation in support of spiritual and educational projects.

Guillermina Fuenmayor and Maria Jose Monti

currency, rampant unemployment and a void of leadership that eventually led to rioting and a run on the banks. It was an incredibly difficult environment from which Contreras is proud Citigroup eventually emerged unscathed. The crisis was his last with his long-term employer.

AT WORK TODAY

responsibility – were affected. But Indonesia was hit hardest of all when already tense political and social forces erupted with cataclysmic violence. Thousands of citizens were raped and killed in rioting that also destroyed more than 5,000 homes, malls, shops, offices, markets, hotels and banks.

“Indonesia imploded,” Contreras said.

“We had to take our staff out.”

As extensive and challenging as his Citibank training had been, evacuation of employees in physical danger was not part of the curriculum. But neither was managing the first United States bank in Vietnam after decades of frozen relations.

“Good crisis management builds from your own experience,” Contreras explained, “and the talents of the people you work with.

Sometimes you have to go with your gut.

And you need to have backups for your backups.”

His backup plans worked. During his three action-packed years in Asia, Contreras managed $17 billion in assets and 2,700 employees and generated a 19 percent increase in revenue. Not surprisingly, he was named senior vice president.

HOME AGAIN

Contreras ended his career with Citibank/ Citigroup in Miami, first as head of the Latin America Corporate and Investment Banking Group with responsibility for 24 countries and then as executive vice president of global relationship banking. His unified strategy for the Latin America region resulted in revenues of $1.8 billion and net income growth of 12 percent. He managed $30 billion in assets and 5,100 employees.

And of course there was a crisis. This time it was Argentina that self-destructed economically and politically with devalued

12

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2011-12

Today Contreras serves as director of LAFISE (Latin America Financial Services), a major regional financial institution specializing in corporate, investment and consumer banking in Latino countries.

Headquartered in Miami, LAFISE has offices in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Venezuela, El Salvador, Colombia, Spain and the Dominican Republic and includes banking and insurance interests, brokerage networks and other operations supporting business development in Latin America.

“LAFISE started for me like a consulting job after I left Citigroup,” Contreras explained. “The company was founded by a friend and great entrepreneur I met while working for Citibank in Venezuela, Roberto Zamora, and his wife, Maria Josefina. My involvement has grown over the years, and I now dedicate the majority of my time to it.”

Contreras particularly likes LAFISE’s focus on social responsibility. The corpora­ tion is heavily involved in the One Laptop Per Child Program that strives to put a nearly indestructible basic computer in the hands of every underprivileged child. In an effort to improve lifestyles through education, the company has already provided more than 25,000 computers to children in Nicaragua and soon will be making them available to children in Honduras and Costa Rica as well.

“We are one of few in the private sector involved in this program,” Contreras stated.

“Most involvement is by governments.”

MORE TO LIFE

In a life filled with successfully managed crises and the roller coaster highs and lows of banking’s big leagues, Contreras always has found deepest meaning elsewhere, from his earliest days growing up with parents Antonio and Emily and sisters Marilu and Maria Elena to the present.

“Frankly, my most interesting achievement has not been business related,” he stated. “It was actually when, after some years of trying, Milagros and I were able to have three extraordinary and amazing kids that have made our lives so fulfilling. This is especially true because, in addition to the security issues I experienced in Bogota, Colombia, I have faced up to my mortality twice already in my relatively young lifetime as I am a two-time cancer survivor. The first time was when I was about to go to Asia some 15 years ago when I was barely 42; the second was six years ago. Fortunately, I am now cancer-free.”

Contreras and Milagros have been married 30 years, and their sons are doing well. Michael is 25 and a graduate of Boston College. He works for Venevision, a media company in Miami with Venezuelan origins.

Manuel is a graduate of Indiana University and has followed his father into banking. At 24 years of age, he is a banker with J.P. Morgan Chase in New York City. Marcel, 20, is a junior at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. “A great deal of the credit for their success is due to Milagros,” Contreras emphasized, “as she dedicated herself to them at all times, when I was often not around.”

The couple is deeply engaged in the ministries of St. Hugh Catholic Church in Coconut Grove and pilgrimaged together last year to Israel. They have established their own foundation, the Michael and Milagros Contreras Family Foundation, in support of education and spiritual projects.

“We wanted to create something focused on those things we support so that our boys could be involved with them later in life,” Contreras explained.

CHANGE IN CASTING

Michael Contreras has lived a surprisingly action-packed life in a profession not normally known for adventure. From baseball at Berry to banking, he has found great success. But if a movie really were to be made about his life, the action star in the leading role needs to have a softer side as well. Because faith and family also are the stuff that good movies – and Contreras’ life – are made of. B

No more • E N D A N G E R E D •

Alumni Mack Gay and Walt Maine help kids find safety, hope and love

J

oshua (not his real name) was convinced that his mother didn’t love him, and it seemed he was right. At age 5, the boy was so tiny from lack of proper nutrition that he wore toddler’s clothing. By the time he was removed from his family’s home, he’d been neglected to the point of abuse. But even beyond that, Joshua knew he was unloved because his mother told him so. Every day.

A decade ago, endangered children like Joshua living in Florida’s panhandle had little hope. Taken from abusive homes, each became one in a sea of 1,400 faces each year

entering a foster care system on the brink of collapse. With no emergency shelter available, children traumatized by those who were supposed to love and protect them often were kept in child protective services offices during the day and sent home with staff at night until foster home placements could be arranged.

And with only about 170 foster homes and 370 beds available in a fourcounty area, placement

was often difficult. Florida’s Department of Children and Families (DCF) staff frequently had no choice but to place children outside their home counties, many times separating siblings. They also had to move children from one temporary

By Debbie Rasure Phot os by

Jeff and Meggan Haller

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2011-12

13

Walt Maine

Mack Gay foster home to another an average of three to four times a year, with some children being moved as many as 10 times.

The situation was dire, as two Berry alumni with hearts of gold and wills of steel discovered.

A CRY FOR HELP

Franklin “Mack” Gay (59C) learned of the crisis in Northwest Florida’s foster care system in 2002 when a DCF staff member asked his church mission committee to help provide an emergency shelter for endangered children newly removed from their homes.

The committee accepted the challenge but realized within months how naïve they’d been. Fundraising difficulties and legal red tape proved the problem to be much larger than they could manage alone.

Instead of accepting defeat, however, they joined forces with another group working to ease the foster home shortage. Before long, Gay and that group’s leader, Sharilyn Darnell, co-founded Children in Crisis Inc., a not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing housing and hope for endangered children.

Gay was elected president of the organization’s newly formed board and asked good friend Walter Maine (59C) to join him in his mission.

The two, who have been friends for nearly 60 years, met in the 1950s while classmates in Berry’s physics program. They went their

14

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2011-12

1959 Berry College classmates Mack Gay and Walt Maine joined forces to create a safe haven for children in crisis in Northwest Florida.

separate ways after graduation but found themselves together again within a few years – this time as civilian physicists developing “smart” weapons for the U.S. military at Eglin Air Force Base. Until recently, the pair also carried on a decades-long weekly tennis rivalry. So when Gay accepted the challenge to help endangered children, it seemed only natural to ask the person who’d been by his side throughout most of his life to get involved as well.

BUILDING THE FOUNDATION

Gay is the first to admit that when he began working with Children in Crisis, he knew very little about foster care. In a sort of baptism by fire, he became a DCF volunteer and before long was going into the homes of troubled families with investigators, observing their inquiries, and sitting in on meetings with case workers discussing the children and their needs.

It was an eye-opening experience, and years later, the memory of what he witnessed still brings a note of sadness to his voice.

“The most heart-wrenching thing I saw was siblings in terrible home situations with only each other to cling to – no parent to depend on – who were being separated from each other when they were taken from their homes. Even if it’s only for a few days, during

that early period it is the most traumatic thing that can happen to a kid.”

Understanding the problem was only part of the challenge. Gay and his fellow board members also had to learn how to effectively help children in crisis. To gain insight, they toured facilities throughout Georgia, Florida and Alabama and sought advice from people who’d successfully operated foster care facilities, people such as Truett Cathy, founder of the Chick-fil-A restaurant chain and WinShape Homes for foster children.

“We learned a lot about how to properly help these children and their families,” Gay said. “Through the process, we decided that we didn’t want to create an institution.

Instead, we wanted to create a family neighborhood, and we set out to do that.”

Gay spent the next five years working as part of a community team to raise money, secure land, and plan and oversee the development of the neighborhood. Maine’s role as chairman of the Faith Community Committee was equally challenging. He faced an uphill climb in rallying the faith community to support the fledgling organization not only with money, but also with time and talent.

“We went down a few rabbit trails trying to figure out how to do this,” Maine said.

“Right after we got started, the economy began to tank.”

Maine kept at it, garnering funds and helping people and churches figure out how

The Children's Neighborhood

they could get involved. Today, more than 60 area churches are committed to doing every­ thing from holding food and clothing drives to recruiting volunteers for tutoring. Maine makes such a convincing argument, it’s no wonder the response has been so great.

“People have to understand, if we don’t give these kids a chance now, we’re going to have to give them a second and third chance of a different kind further down the road,” he explained. “The statistics about what happens to these kids after they get out of foster care are frightening. Seventy percent of our present prison population started out as foster kids. After they get out of foster care, two-thirds wind up selling drugs, taking drugs or getting into prostitution; and many become homeless. If we don’t do something for these kids now, we’re going to have to do something about them later.”

A PLACE TO CALL HOME

The amazing result of their efforts is The Children’s Neighborhood, a DCF-licensed facility consisting of a 24-hour emergency shelter with room for 16 children to stay from 30 to 90 days, or longer if necessary; one long-term family foster home for eight children staffed with two full-time, married foster parents; two transitional homes for up to 13 young adults ages 18 to 22 who are too old for the foster care system but still in need of support; a neighborhood center housing administrative offices; a club­house for

More than 270 children no longer safe in their own homes have found refuge at The Children’s Neighbor­hood since its opening in 2008.

tutoring, activities and group meetings; a food pantry; and a play­ground.

Gay is non­chalant about what some would say is an extraordinary accomplish­ ment.

“My faith teaches me that we’re here on earth to help our fellow man, not to build aircraft and go to war, not to advance our professional careers,” he said. “We’re here to take care of those who are unable to take care of themselves.”

And both Gay and Maine credit Berry for instilling in them the untiring work ethic and exceptional commitment to service they’ve brought to the project.

The friends are quick to emphasize that, from the ground up, this has been a community effort encompassing a number of partners, such as the community college president who helped broker a lease of 20 acres of land at $1 a year for 50 years and the United Methodist Church district that built the first building – that much-needed emergency shelter.

And that just scratches the surface. An astonishing 90 percent of the neighborhood’s infrastructure has been provided by in-kind gifts from donors. The first foster care home was built by an individual donor, and more are in development. Community contributions cover 65 percent of the cost to

sustain the neighborhood, and countless community volunteers have served as house parents, tutors and mentors and have provided funds for birthday parties, field trips, food, clothing, medical care and more.

The impact on children’s lives has been immense. Since opening its doors in 2008, The Children’s Neighborhood has operated at near full capacity, providing a haven for more than 270 children who were no longer safe in their own homes. More than 40 sibling groups have been kept together as families, and scores of children have been helped to get back on track academically, with some excelling at school. Most importantly, the neighborhood has given children like Joshua a safe, family-like, emotionally stable home in which to live, grow and thrive.

Now settled into his new life, Joshua was recently seen making pretend snow angels on the carpet of the shelter and happily singing a little tune that went something like this: “I have mommies who love me – Lauren and Megan and Caitlin and Sue and…”

He was naming all the female staff members at The Children’s Neighborhood.

And he knows what he sang to be true because they tell him.

Every day. B

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2011-12

15

Woodruff and Whitehead Foundations Fellow

Paul O’Mara

MEREDITH SMITH JOHNSON

Experiencing it Firsthand

by Karilon L. Rogers

W

HEN MEREDITH SMITH JOHNSON (11C)

graduated from Berry with a double major in psychology and Spanish, she had more leadership and community service experience under her belt than do most people two or three times her age. She also had more honors and accolades, including acceptance to the Harvard Graduate School of Education where she plans to study for a Master of Education degree in prevention science and practice on her way to a career

16

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2011-12

as a certified counselor working with adolescents.

For now, however, Harvard is on hold as Johnson benefits from an opportunity and honor simply too exceptional to pass up: selection as the Woodruff and Whitehead Foundations Fellow for 2011.

The fellowship is a one-year opportunity for a recent graduate of select Georgia colleges to gain work experience with and exposure to the charitable sector in Atlanta.

The fellow assists staff of the Robert W. Woodruff, Joseph B. Whitehead, Lettie Pate Evans and Lettie Pate Whitehead foundations in the full range of foundation activity, including site visits and meetings with grantees and applicants.

For someone like Johnson, who has spent countless hours as a volunteer worker for nonprofit organizations, the fellowship is a unique opportunity to see a different side of the world in which she intends to work.

“I am being exposed to a new side of how charitable organizations operate – a side that few in the field I will enter have been exposed to,” she said. “I am building a knowledge base and awareness about the wide variety of organizations serving people in the Atlanta area. But I’m also learning the business side of what it takes to make organizations work for their causes. I’m seeing that it takes more than passion and that a good idea and good intentions are not enough to make an organization able to serve. I also am learning about the large role foundations play in helping organizations serve their intended populations and accomplish their missions. I am very impressed.”

Johnson took full advantage of the many service and leadership opportunities available at Berry to help her build her future – the types of experiences that led to her nomination at Berry to apply for the prestigious fellowship and to her eventual selection.

“During the fellowship interview process, Meredith stood out to us because of the leadership roles she held at Berry, her strong commitment to community service and her outstanding academic record,” said Lizzy Smith, grants officer for the Woodruff, Whitehead and Evans foundations. “We have been extremely pleased with Meredith’s performance. It is obvious that Berry prepared her well for this role.”

A BUSY FOUR YEARS

Johnson didn’t waste any time getting started at Berry.

“When she became president of Habitat for Humanity in the freshman year, we knew we had a special student,” said Vice President of Student Affairs Debbie Heida.

Johnson held that presidency throughout her four years at Berry while also founding an English as a Second Language program at a local church, interning with the Northwest Georgia Latin American Center and volunteering with numerous charities. Her work experience was extensive and included heading Berry’s Student Orientation, Advising and Registration (SOAR) program attended by more than 700 incoming students and their families. In addition to

While on her honeymoon last July, Meredith Smith Johnson posed in Matapalo, Costa Rica, with the same students she taught in 2007 as part of the Partners in Progress program between Berry and the Fundación Progreso Guanacaste.

planning, scheduling and developing a guidebook for the program, her responsibil­ ities included hiring, training and supervising a team of 15 student leaders.

“It was a lot of responsibility,” she said.

“No other school gives such responsibility to students.”

Johnson was also named to the Phi Kappa Phi academic honor society and the Omicron Delta Kappa national leadership honor society and won such awards as the Martha Berry Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Achievement, the Exchange Club of Rome Book of Golden Deeds Award, the Heart of Berry Award, and the Gloria Shatto Leadership and Service Award.

Three experiences stand out most in her mind, however: three years as a Peer Educator with the Berry College Counseling Center developing prevention programs for high-risk behaviors, three years mentoring two students through Rome’s Communities in Schools program, and seven weeks immersed in the culture of Costa Rica as she helped local kindergarteners learn English.

“My work as a Peer Educator and a mentor confirmed my interest in counseling and piqued my interest in prevention,” Johnson said. “These experiences helped me determine what I am most passionate about.

I hope to work with at-risk kids in a school setting or with a nonprofit serving the same population.”

Participation in the Partners in Progress program in Costa Rica cemented Johnson’s particular interest in working with Hispanic and Latino populations. Partners in Progress is a collaborative effort between Berry College and the Fundación Progreso Guanacaste, a nonprofit organization founded by Berry Trustee Emeritus H.G. “Pat” Pattillo to make a positive difference in the lives of the people in the Guanacaste area of Costa Rica. Berry students selected

for participation have the opportunity to live with local families as they work in local schools.

“It was a new experience in a new place and took me out of my comfort zone,” Johnson said. “I love the country. I love the language, the people and the Latin American culture.”

The experience had such an impact on Johnson that she took her husband, Marc Johnson (10C), to Costa Rica for their honeymoon after they married in the Berry College Chapel last summer.

“I wanted to share with my husband the really big impact the experience and country had on me,” she said. “I wanted to share the area and the people I learned to love.”

THE NEXT STEP

Johnson will head to Harvard in September 2012 after completing her fellowship. She believes firmly that her future would be very different had she not attended Berry.

“Berry offers so many volunteer, extracurricular, work experience and leadership opportunities,” she explained.

“And everyone encourages involvement – to try different things. I grew from the abundant opportunities. They helped me meet my full potential. I wouldn’t have done that elsewhere.”

She also believes that her Woodruff and Whitehead Fellowship will be equally valuable.

“The foundations have such rich histories, as do the families who created them,” she said. “I am so impressed by all that the founders did to make sure that their money would count and how the staff members are dedicated to the same thing. I see how respected the foundations are – the high regard in which they are held. The experience of working with them will hold great value as I move forward.” B

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2011-12

17

$200

$400

$600

This is

by Rick Woodall

Photos courtesy of Jeopardy Productions Inc.

F

OR YEARS, BERRY PROFESSOR OF

HISTORY JONATHAN ATKINS has jokingly motivated students by telling them, “This will come in handy if you’re ever on Jeopardy!”

Now he has proof.

Ryan Fox (02C), a history minor at Berry who now teaches math education at Penn State Abington, claimed the title of Jeopardy! champion during a March 2011 taping of the long-running syndicated hit. After surviving the ultimate quiz-show crucible, he tipped his cap to the man whose British history class inspired his winning answer (in the form of a question, of course), “Who is Charles I?” “Thank you, sir! Thank you! Thank you!

Thank you!” Fox exclaimed in a memorable “Winner’s Circle” video posted to the Jeopardy! website that also featured him running jubilantly around the stage hoisting

18

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2011-12

an imaginary Stanley Cup. “That [knowledge] came in handy.”

Atkins was thrilled to learn of his role in Fox’s triumph in the aftermath of the July 27 broadcast, but nothing matched the exhilara­ tion of his former student.

“It’s not a stretch to say it’s the fulfillment of a childhood dream,” Fox said. “I’ve watched the game since I was a kid and always thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be great to be on the show?’”

PERSISTENCE PAYS OFF

Fox’s Jeopardy! moment didn’t come about overnight. The four-year College Bowl player took the preliminary online test several times in the years after he graduated from Berry before finally earning an invitation to the regional auditions in 2010.

By then a doctoral student at the University

of Georgia, Fox chose the site closest to him – Raleigh, N.C. – and set off in early June for testing, interviews and the opportunity to participate in a mockup of the actual show.

Though he felt good about his perfor­ mance, Fox had no idea whether he would be among the 400 chosen (out of approximately 2,000 regional audition participants nationwide) for the new season.

Months passed with no word from the show’s producers. Working on his dissertation and considering various employment opportunities, Fox mulled the possibility that he might have to start over in January 2012, when he would be eligible once again.

Finally, in February 2011, a call from an unfamiliar number yielded the question he had yearned to hear: “How would you like to be on Jeopardy!?”

$800

“

$1000

I’ve gone from dead in the water to having a shot, but it’s going to take some weird, weird wagering to make this happen.

– Ryan Fox

”

Ryan Fox (right) with Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek.

BUSY WEEK

The unexpected invitation set off a whirlwind of activity. Fox was scheduled to appear the final week of the season, all five episodes of which would tape March 23, two days after his dissertation was due. He made his academic deadline and then set off for Los Angeles.

Fox will never forget his first steps onto the famous Jeopardy! set. There, in front of him, were those three familiar podiums, along with an intimidating wall of 52-inch HD monitors on which the questions would appear.

“It’s like walking into a cathedral or, if you’re a sports fan, a major league stadium,” he described. “The angelic choir in the background is just about the only thing you need to complete the imagery.”

Ten other potential contestants joined Fox in the studio for the daylong shoot. Before each episode, a blind draw determined which two competitors would challenge the returning champion. Everyone else sat in a secluded area of the studio audience so they wouldn’t be recognized.

With few exceptions, episodes are recorded in real time, complete with

commercial breaks. Fox watched the first two from the audience before hearing his name called for the Wednesday show. The air date of July 27, his parent’s wedding anniversary, proved to be a good omen.

INTO THE BREACH

Standing behind his podium, Fox acclimated himself to a new view of the set he had seen so many times on television. He found the perspective to be “surprisingly calming,” noting, “It’s actually really hard to see the audience. The board is so big and the studio lights are so bright, that’s all I could see.”

Host Alex Trebek is also positioned at a unique angle, so he’s not always in the players’ line of sight. Contestants, Fox noted, pay particular attention to the “strands of Christmas lights” on either side of the question-and-answer board that indicate when it’s OK to ring in with an answer. Click too early, and your buzzer is locked for a quarter of a second.

“That doesn’t seem like much,” he explained, “but that’s all you need to not be the first to answer a question.”

Right away, Fox discovered that the grip he had used in College Bowl wouldn’t work – the buzzer was too big. He made the necessary adjustment but was still buried in third place with a negative dollar amount at the first commercial break.

Fox kept his composure and gradually got back into contention, making his big move in the Double Jeopardy! round with a strong showing in the category of “Colleges and Universities.” By the time that round ended, Fox was still in third place but within striking distance of the leader. Considering his wager for the Final Jeopardy! category of “Royalty,” he thought, “I’ve gone from dead in the water to having a shot, but it’s going to take some weird, weird wagering to make this happen.”

He decided to risk $4,000 of his $14,800 total, figuring that the second-place contestant would “go for broke” and that the returning champion – in the lead with $19,600 – would wager enough to leave the door open for him. If his assumptions were correct, he would win regardless of whether he answered correctly, so long as both of his opponents missed.

As soon as the question was revealed, Fox flashed back to Atkins’ class and the list of kings in his British history textbook. With the unmistakable Final Jeopardy! music serenading him in the background, he wrote “Who is Charles I?” so large on his screen that there was no room to strike through it if he changed his mind. This answer had to be correct, and it was!

Because he was in third place, Fox’s correct response was revealed first, increasing his final total to $18,800. The second-place contestant missed the question, eliminating her from contention. The camera then focused on the defending champion, who was shaking her head from side to side.

When her incorrect answer and correspond­ ing wager were revealed, the realization hit him – “Oh my God! I just won Jeopardy!”

“Even now, it’s like it didn’t happen,” Fox said months later. “Only in your wildest dreams, in some sort of made-for-Hollywood ending, is that going to happen.”

ONE MORE THRILL

Fox’s Jeopardy! experience ended with a second-place finish in the next taping.

Afterward, the math education major in him mused of his victory, “I just made $18,000 in 30 minutes of work. That’s the best hourly rate I’ll ever get in my life!”

As soon as he returned to Atlanta, Fox was off again, flying to Philadelphia to interview with his current employer. No one but wife Sarah Purvis Fox (02C) knew how things had turned out in Los Angeles. All he could reveal was the air date.

On the night of the broadcast, Fox gathered with friends at a restaurant in Athens, Ga. He enjoyed watching their reaction as he steadily gained steam. In the meantime, his cell phone began buzzing with congratulatory texts from friends watching in another market where the show aired a halfhour earlier. When the end finally came in Athens, the reaction was electric.

“Once people realized that I had won, it sounded like the Bulldogs had just won the SEC in football or the Braves had won the World Series,” he recalled. “It was just an eruption of celebration. It was the funniest thing. I loved it!” B

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2011-12

19

Guests attend the opening reception for an exhibit in the newly-renovated Moon Gallery.

Photos by student photographer Blake Childers

Patron saint: Anonymous donor energizes visual arts program with $200,000 gift

by Rick Woodall

A

SSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF FINE ARTS BRAD ADAMS

was understandably shocked last February when he received an email from an anonymous sender identified only as “Berry Fine Arts Fan” offering funding for much-needed renovations in the Moon Building as well as a new visual arts scholarship.

Adams’ skepticism quickly turned to admiration as the anonymous donor not only lived up to the initial $100,000 com­ mitment for facilities upgrades, but also matched that amount when establishing a new endowed scholarship, awarded for the first time this spring.

“I am very grateful that the funds were donated and hope the anonymous donor is pleased with the vast improvements to our facilities as well as the improved learning opportunities for our students,” Adams stated.

“I think this investment bodes well for the art program at Berry with improved facilities support­ ing a strong curriculum.”

Rebecca Buglio, an art education major, is just one of the many students enjoying the new learning oppor­ tunities that the Moon reno­ vations provide.

“We needed new equipment to keep the art program growing 20

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2011-12

and thriving, and that’s exactly what was given to us,” she said.

“It’s people like this donor who make creating art worthwhile because they can see the impor­ tance of having an art program and teaching others about it.”

The physical improvements to the Moon Building are extensive, including complete renovation of the gallery space, a dedicated computer lab for visual arts students, a new classroom on the second floor, an expanded darkroom, a new podium for the art history auditorium, and a computercontrolled kiln for ceramics.

The gallery renovations are particularly impressive. Sheet­ rock mounted over plywood has replaced the dark carpeting that once covered the walls. White paint throughout has increased the amount of light while also providing the perfect back­ ground for artists to display their works. Additional exhibit space has been created by adding a new wall that covers the windows on the west side of the gallery.

“The new gallery has been well received by all,” said Associate Professor Jere Lykins, gallery director. “It has always been the center of our program, and now it is first class. Overall attendance has increased, reflecting new interest from our students and the community.”

Learning opportunities for students have been significantly enhanced by the new computer

Rebecca Buglio and Ruddi Nefid unload the first items fired in the new art department kiln.

lab, which includes 12 state-ofthe-art work stations for students and one for the instructor.

“It is our lab in our building, and all of us find it inviting and extremely functional,” Lykins said. “It will be extremely important to us as we enhance our program offerings to include more design courses.”

Echoed Adams, “Now we have a space constructed to our particular curricular needs, classroom-specific software and more flexibility in scheduling classes. Converting the space that was previously used for drawing and painting also allowed for the darkroom to be enlarged to accommodate more students and for a smaller general classroom space to be constructed.”

Another notable upgrade is

the computer-controlled kiln, which incorporates a “lid lifter” that makes raising the lid both easier and safer. It also has a special venting system that removes fumes and gases from the classroom and a “zone control” feature that automatically senses and corrects temperature differences.

“This is my 40th year as an art faculty member,” said Lykins, who oversaw the planning and execution of the summer renovations alongside Dr. Stan Pethel, chair of fine arts, who provided on-site assistance and managed the budget for the project. “In that time, this is the most extensive and important set of improvements to our visual art facilities that I have seen. We are blessed and extremely thankful for the generosity of the donor.”

LEARN. LIVE. GIVE.

Mother’s memories inspire generosity

by Debbie Rasure

T

ONY BENNETT MAY HAVE

specializing in folk songs and ballads of the Southern mountains. The group was directed by Alice B. Warden, whom she greatly admired.

LEFT HIS HEART IN SAN

FRANCISCO, but Bea Lockerman

Bollam (39C) left hers at Berry College. In fact, the late Mrs. Bollam’s love for Berry was so great that it inspired her son, Rich Bollam, to make a gift of $25,000 to endow a scholarship in her memory at her beloved alma mater.

“She talked a lot about her years at Berry,” Bollam recalled about his mother. “Coming to Berry changed her life. It gave her opportunities to do things that she wouldn’t have had otherwise. She was very appreciative of the experience and proud to be one of the few in her family to have earned a college degree.”

A HARD ROW TO HOE

Growing up on a North Carolina tobacco and cotton farm as the ninth of 10 children, Bea Lockerman, as she was known then, was famous among her siblings for disappearing when chores needed to be done.

It wasn’t that she meant to shirk her duties, it’s just that she enjoyed reading, writing and singing so much more, even if it meant hiding away in a tobacco field to do it. In fact, it was during one of those hideaways

“

FULL CIRCLE

I wanted to help someone who has chosen music as their career – someone with significant need who is working his or her way through school, like my mother did.

that Bea, thumbing through a farming magazine, discovered Berry and its promise of an education in exchange for work.

With high hopes, she dashed off a letter of application and, to her delight, was accepted. Her elation quickly turned to despair, however, when she learned there was no full-time work assignment available during her first semester, meaning she would need $100 to enroll. In the depths of the Great Depression, this was a sum far beyond what her family could afford, and she assumed her dream of a college education was over.

”

– Rich Bollam

As often happens in small towns, though, the news of her disappointment spread, finally reaching the one person most likely to help – her high school English teacher. A few months later, with her teacher’s gift securely pinned inside her blouse, the wide-eyed farm girl set out on the greatest adventure of her life.

Bea majored in English at Berry, but it was music she enjoyed most. She began singing with the Girls’ Quartet her freshman year, performing at chapel and for special guests.

During her senior year, she joined the Ballad Girls, a group

Seven decades later, Rich Bollam is passing on the generosity of his mother’s high school English teacher by creating a scholar­ship for deserving students in his mother’s memory. He has chosen to create a music scholarship. The Beatrice Lockerman Bollam (39C) Memorial Endowed Scholarship is designated for a junior or senior music major with financial need who has been a leader in a Berry choral group, preferably the concert choir, for at least two years. The recipient is selected by the director of financial aid and the music department choral director. The first recipient was named for the fall 2011 semester.

“I wanted to help someone who has chosen music as their career – someone with significant need who is working his or her way through school, like my mother did,” Bollam explained. “I want this scholarship to really make a difference for the recipients.”

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2011-12

21

Betty Jane and Larry Taylor used a charitable gift annuity to create a scholarship supporting Berry students.

Gift annuity W

HEN BETTY JANE TAYLOR

started looking for a unique way to honor her husband, a Berry College scholarship seemed the natural choice. After all, Larry Taylor was a longtime member of the physical education faculty who coached baseball and basketball for 14 years in the 1960s and ’70s, influencing countless lives in the process.

Equally natural was the decision to use a charitable gift annuity to help bring the Larry J. and Betty Jane Taylor Endowed Scholarship to fruition. This unique investment vehicle allowed the Taylors to transfer proceeds of an inheritance to Berry while ensuring the security of a fixed income stream.

Their interest rate of 6.9 percent was determined by Larry’s age at the time the annuity was established in 2004.

More than seven years later, in the midst of a struggling economy, Betty Jane continues to be pleased with the strength of their investment.

“The interest is far better than anything you’re going to get anywhere else at the moment,” she remarked. “You get a nice tax break on it too. It’s a winwin situation.”

“

According to Scott Breithaupt (91C, 96G), assistant vice presi­ dent of campaign and leader­ship giving, charitable gift annuities are an increasingly popular giving option because of the higher rate of return they offer.

“Charitable gift annuities make it possible to support Berry students even for those who previously did not think they could,” he said.

The Taylors will continue to receive income through Larry’s lifetime. (They also could have opted to receive income throughout both of their lives.)

When he dies, the balance will pass to Berry, guaranteeing the continuation of a legacy that began when the Taylors first fell in love with the college a halfcentury ago.

“It is a special place,” Betty Jane said. “And unless you lived there, went to school there or were connected in some way, there’s no way to explain how special it is.”

Editor’s Note: Please see the information at right for more details about charitable gift annuities and contact informa­ tion for Berry’s planned giving officer.

Zane Cochran

guarantees opportunity for students, strong return for donors

and get financial security

A charitable gift annuity with Berry College gives you a fixed income for life and an immediate tax deduction even as it helps make a Berry education possible for future generations of hardworking students. And in today’s unstable market, a gift annuity provides a much higher rate of return than do traditional certificates of deposit.

Invest in what matters: Your retirement security and Berry students.

by Rick Woodall

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2011-12

”

– Betty Jane Taylor

Alan Storey

The interest is far better than anything you’re going to get anywhere else at the moment.

22

A rock-solid haven where you can give opportunity

For more information, call Helen Lansing toll free at Berry College today: 877-461-0039.

LEARN. LIVE. GIVE.

Berry cousins honor family by helping students

M

Martha Berry’s, the four-year Gate of Opportunity Scholarship Program offers highly motivated students the chance to “work their way through Berry” with the prospect of graduating debt free. The program is funded through a three-way partnership: one third from the student (through the Berry Work Experience Program) and his or her family, one third through existing school scholarship money, and one third from new donor money, such as Randy and Marti’s donation.

Randy is certain that his and Marti’s fathers would have liked the Gate of Opportunity Scholarship Program concept.

“Everyone contributes, everyone wins, and everyone has ownership,” he said. “This is not a gift; it is an investment, a

ARTHA BERRY WALSTAD (MARTI) AND D. RANDOLPH

BERRY (RANDY) have something

to Berry – a gift eligible for a tax deduction (and you may save in lower capital gains tax).

■ Berry pays you (and up to one beneficiary after you) a fixed income for life.

■ The income you receive is based on your age when you establish the annuity (currently 5.1% at age 70!).

■Y our annuity is backed by the rock-solid assets of Berry College.

■W hen the balance passes to Berry, your legacy of support for Berry students is set in stone.

“

”

This is not a gift; it is an investment, a three-way partnership.

Alan Storey

How it works ■ You transfer cash or securities

very important in common with their great aunt, Martha Berry – and it’s more than the family name.

Fueled by a strong belief in Berry College’s mission and a dedication to helping its students fulfill their potential, the cousins have invested generously in the school over the years, contributing not only financial support but also their time and talents serving in leadership roles.

Now, as Berry family members and members of the Berry Board of Trustees, the pair is once again working together to advance their great aunt’s mission. Last spring, Randy and Marti initiated an endowment fund to create the D. Randolph Berry and Thomas Berry Gate of Opportunity Scholarship in memory of their fathers, Martha Berry’s nephews. And rather than wait until their pledges are paid in full to help students, they asked that a portion of their annual pledge payments be used to fund an immediate yearly scholarship.

“My wonderful cousin and friend Marti has been talking to me for about five years about honoring our fathers with some kind of scholarship,” Randy said.

“When the new Gate of Opportunity Scholarship idea came along, it filled the bill exactly. And the way we have worked out the endowment payments to include immediate yearly awards allows us to have our cake and eat it too.”

With an approach similar to

three-way partnership. What’s not to like?”

Marti shared that she and her cousin are both very proud to be part of Martha Berry’s family, to have the opportunity to serve on the college’s board and to be an integral part of the school. They see this scholarship as one more way to express appreciation for the heritage they share.

“Berry College tends to attract students who want to get an education and appreciate the opportunity,” Marti said. “They seem to have good character and a strong moral compass.

And when you see that kind of student – the sort of ‘citizens of the world’ that you would like to promote and support – then you know that, through them, you are truly honoring your family members.”

– Randy Berry

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2011-12

23

their stories:

Leo

Students’ lives shaped by scholarships

A second chance Leo Gutierrez is thankful to The Goizueta Foundation

I

STUDENTS who hardly had to crack a book to get good grades, but poor study habits nearly ended his Berry career. Thanks to a scholarship fund designated for Hispanic and Latino students, however, Leo got a second chance – and learned a valuable lesson in life.

Drawn to Berry by the beauty of the campus, the small classes and the soccer team, Leo came to the college from Peachtree, Ga., with a dream of one day working in international business. Those dreams were jeopardized his sophomore year when poor study habits led to the loss of his HOPE scholarship and nearly forced him out of school. With an older sister in law school, his mother out of work, and his father working and going back to school himself, funds were tight.

“It was really rough,” Gutierrez said. “I was thinking about transferring because my family just couldn’t afford it, but I loved the school, the soccer team and the friends I’d made. I didn’t want to leave. The reality that I might not be able to stay at Berry turned it around for me.”

Desperate for an opportunity to prove himself, Gutierrez approached the financial aid office to see if he could get more help. Fortunately, financial assistance through The Goizueta Foundation Scholars Fund, which he’d received during his freshman year, was available to him again and in a greater amount.

“It would have been nearly impossible for me to stay without that scholarship,” Gutierrez said. “It was a turning point.”

Since then, Gutierrez has worked hard to earn the gift he’s been given. Now a junior, he has raised his grade point average significantly, and in addition to being awarded the scholarship for a third year, he has regained the HOPE Scholarship.

With a new perspective on education, Gutierrez is determined

“ ”

I learned that you have to give it everything you’ve got. You have to realize the opportunity you have and take advantage of it.

– Leo Gutierrez

24

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2011-12

Alyssa Hollingsworth

N HIGH SCHOOL, LEO GUTIERREZ WAS ONE OF THOSE

Scholarship support has enabled Leo Gutierrez to stay at Berry and expand his international horizons.

to take advantage of the opportunities Berry offers – including the chance to study in Florence, Italy, this spring. While previous travel experiences through his father’s job at Delta Airlines shaped his worldview and hopes for the future, Gutierrez is looking forward to learning how to live in an international setting, as well as making connections with people in other cultures.

“Traveling and experiencing other cultures opened my eyes,” he said. “It made me appreciate everything I have. People complain every day, but in the end I know I’m blessed – blessed to be at Berry and to have the opportunity to learn.”

Gutierrez is making the best of his second chance, pursuing his dreams and seizing the opportunities made possible by Berry’s commitment to raising scholarship funds and by a donor’s generosity.

“I learned to put school first, not to rely on things just working out,” Gutierrez said. “I learned that you have to give it everything you’ve got. You have to realize the opportunity you have and take advantage of it. I want to thank The Goizueta Foundation from the bottom of my heart. They’re the reason I’m still here.”

by Alyssa Hollingsworth student editorial assistant

LEARN. LIVE. GIVE.

Keeping students in mind S STUDENTS ACROSS THE NATION struggle to afford a

college education, Berry alumni and friends are stepping forward like never before to hold Berry’s Gate of Opportunity open wide for a growing number of hardworking students. In the first four months of the 2011-12 year, giving to scholarships and work alone exceeded $2 million!

This support couldn’t come at a better time: Total Berry institutional aid to students in the 2010-11 year completed June 30, 2011, was $23.6 million, compared to $19.3 million the previous year.

It is our privilege to formally recognize all 2010-11 Berry supporters on our online Honor Roll of Donors (www.berry.edu/ honorroll). We hope you’ll take a look. In the meantime, please review the following list of gifts and new pledges of $10,000 or more that were made between July 1 and Oct. 31, 2011.

Anonymous, $209,385 for facility renovations Anonymous, $200,000 addition to the Tree Restoration Fund Anonymous, $100,000 endowment gift for the Work Experience Program to invest in training, partnerships, programs and systems ARAMARK Corp., $30,746 to the general fund Stephen and Brenda Briggs, $50,000 for the science building endowment James (55C) and Annie (55C) Clark, $30,000 addition to the James F. Clark Expendable Internship Scholarship

Virginia Allen Cornelison (53C), $25,000 addition to the Rembert and Virginia Cornelison Endowed Scholarship Elaine Smith Crawford, $243,555 addition to the Howard M. and Elaine Crawford Endowed Scholarship Joan F. Fulghum, $25,000 charitable gift annuity that will endow the Mendel D. Johnson Memorial Scholarship Fund Emily Bourne Grigsby, $119,000 in-kind gift of land to support the Steven J. Cage Athletic and Recreation Center Hubert Judd Charitable Trust, $19,477 for the general fund Henry and Norma Kummer, $30,000 charitable gift annuity to ultimately support the Steven J. Cage Athletic and Recreation Center National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR), $17,000 for the historical marker project William B. Stokely Jr. Foundation, $10,000 addition to the William B. Stokely Jr. Scholarship Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation, $300,000 for the Lettie Pate Whitehead Scholarship Koji (65C) and Reba Ann Nichols (67C) Yoda, $10,000 for the Men’s Soccer Team Fund John Zellars Jr. Foundation and Randall Alan Tibbals (79C), $10,000 for the Tibbals/ Zellars Gate of Opportunity Expendable Scholarship

BEQUESTS

The estate of Sarah H. Bailey, $67,765 for the Sarah and Bobby Bailey Endowed Miss Alta Sproull Mathematics Scholarship and $67,765 for the Sarah and Bobby Bailey Endowed Dr. Lawrence McAllister (Dr. Mac) Physics Scholarship

The estate of John K. Hamrick Sr., $38,839 addition to the Hamrick Family/Aunt Martha Freeman Endowed Scholarship The estate of Martha C. Lester, $1.5 million for the Raymond H. and Martha C. Lester Endowed Scholarship

Paul O’Mara

A

Lighting the lamp of education

L

UCILLE GILSTRAP WEST (50C) understood the power of

education. In a career spanning more than 40 years, West excelled as a teacher in Georgia and Florida, winning Teacher of the Year honors in the Sunshine State. She also taught mathematics at the Berry Schools, where she was an assistant to the dean of women.

One of several family members to attend Berry, West showed appreciation for her undergraduate alma mater by achieving a life goal of establishing three different $100,000 scholarships. Though she passed away in October 2010, provisions in her estate – including an initial gift in excess of $420,000 – ensure that her impact on students will continue for many years to come.

“Gifts like this mean so much to Berry as they touch countless lives,” said Bettyann O’Neill, vice president for advancement. “We will always remain grateful to Lucille for her everlasting generosity.”

As one way of recognizing West’s generosity and keeping her memory alive, the Reading Room in the math department of the Science Building will be named in her honor.

Editor’s Note: Please contact Senior Planned Giving Oficer Helen Lansing at 877-461-0039 (toll free) or hlansing@berry.edu if you have made provisions for Berry in your estate.

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2011-12

25

Mountain Day Zane Cochran

2011

A timeless (and growing) tradition! imes may change, but Mountain Day never gets stale! The 97th new record for attendance with an estimated 7,500 alumni, students, faculty/staff, parents and friends swarming the slopes of

Alan St orey

observance of Berry’s one-of-a-kind homecoming celebration set a

Lavender Mountain for the Saturday afternoon picnic and Grand March.

The fun continued as day turned to night with 373 attending the Mega Reunion at Oak Hill and 2,400 turning out for the Marthapalooza student carnival in the Clara Bowl.

In addition to the huge crowds in attendance at various events, nearly 550 accessed the Virtual Mountain Day website from Sept. 26 to Oct. 2, enhancing their on-site experience (or tuning in from afar) thanks to a live chat function and streaming video of the approximately 900 students who took part in the Grand March.

More coverage of Mountain Day 2011 – including photos and video – can be found at www.berry.edu/aroundberry/oct62011. Mark your calendars now for Mountain Day 2012 – Oct. 5-6 – which will include a Mega Reunion celebration for the college and academy classes of 1972, 1977, 1982, 1987, 1992, 1997, 2002 and 2007.

26

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2011-12

Photos by Alan Storey and student photographer Blake Childers

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2011-12

27

WHERE? are they now Trading

places

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL EDUCATOR JENNIFER HANNAH (05C) is as passionate about learning as she is about teaching, and she had the opportunity to do both in Scotland this fall as part of the 2011-12 Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program.

Hannah is one of 60 U.S. teachers selected on the basis of academic merit and leadership potential for a direct position exchange with a colleague from another country. While Hannah taught the “Primary 4” fall term at Morrison’s Academy in Crieff, Scotland, her counterpart took over her equivalent third-grade classroom at High Meadows School in Roswell, Ga. Each had the opportunity to learn the methods of the host country and share her own best practices.

“An experience like this really demonstrates the similarities among children everywhere – in both academic and social issues,” Hannah said while still in the land of bagpipes, kilts and the Loch Ness Monster. “I hear, ‘You’re not my friend anymore!’ in Scotland just as I do at home. And I have found the same issues in teaching how to add and subtract with several digits.”

Hannah applied to the Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program because she was seeking the next step in her teaching career and wanted to learn more about educational trends and teaching methods in other nations. She got her first taste of international learning while still a student at Berry when she visited Italy as part of the “Maymester” international experience program of Berry’s Charter School of Education and Human Sciences.

“We weren’t tourists; we visited schools and went into classes,” she said. “I saw the connections between education in different countries.”

While Hannah found many teaching similarities between Scotland and the U.S., she discovered vast differences in other areas.

“There is a much slower pace of life here,” she said from her location in Central Scotland. “My school is pretty rural and quite old – it just celebrated its 150th year. All of my neighbors are sheep and cows. And I definitely haven’t found the traffic and go-go-go of Atlanta. It seems like we often have every season in one day in Scotland, but it is so green and absolutely beautiful here.”

28

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2011-12

CLASS YEARS are followed by an uppercase or lowercase letter

that indicates the following status: C College graduate G Graduate school alumna/us A Academy graduate H High school graduate c, g Anticipated year of graduation from Berry College a Anticipated year of graduation from academy h Anticipated year of graduation from high school FFS Former faculty and staff FS Current faculty and staff

[Legend]

ALUMNI CLASS NOTES

SEND ALL CLASS NOTES TO: alumni@berry.edu or Alumni Office,

P.O. Box 495018, Mount Berry, GA 30149 All class notes are subject to editing due to space limitations. Class notes and death notices in this issue include those received July 1 – Oct. 31, 2011.

1980s Jason Sweatt (88C) has returned to Ernst & Young LLP, working in tax quality and risk management. He and wife Melinda Mitchell Sweatt (90C) live in Simpsonville, S.C. They have two children: Chad, a cadet at West Point, and Rebekah, a high school junior.

1990s Patrick McVey (90C) and wife Susan announce the July 25, 2011, birth of daughter Roxy Harper, weighing 10 pounds, 2 ounces and measuring 20.25 inches. Roxy joined brothers Jackson and Preston in the family home.

Melissa Walker Shipman (91C) and husband Randy welcomed daughter Margaret Lucy on June 24, 2011. Maggie joined Melissa, Randy and big sister Grace at the family home in Alpharetta, Ga. Melissa is executive director of PACE, an online training organization for education consultants in missions.

Craig Elder (91C), an instructor at Beth-El College of Nursing and Health Sciences, served as an athletic trainer for athletes participating in the November 2011 Parapan American Games in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico.

Richard Bessilink (92C) and wife Cassandra welcomed son Benjamin William on July 23, 2011. The family resides in Decatur, Ga.

James McNutt (92C) and Dr. Kyoko Leann Yoda (91C) were married May 28, 2011, at Barnwell Chapel and now reside in Hampton Cove, Ala. James recently completed a deployment to Kandahar, Afghanistan, where he served as an advisor to the Afghan National Army and a forward liaison to the Regional Command-South Headquarters. He now works for the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center at the Redstone Arsenal.

Julianna Taylor Larson (92C) and husband Mark announce the Nov. 12, 2010, birth of son Malachi Peter, who joined sister Hannah at the family residence in Spearfish, S.D. Juli is a retention advisor at Black Hills State University.

Rose Peek Bernard (94C) and husband David announce the June 27, 2011, birth of daughter Agnes Sophia, who joined siblings Gemma (12), Nora (12), Erin (11), Maria (9), Patrick (6) and Therese (2) at the family residence in Augusta, Ga. Owen Malcolm (97C) has been named president of Sanders Financial Management, bringing 11 years of experience with the company to his new position. He has managed the day-to-day activities of the firm for several years and continues to do so in his new role.

Sally Hileman Stratton (99C) and husband Steve announce the March

?

3, 2011, birth of son Paul Riley, who joined brothers Bryan (2) and Thomas (2) at the family residence in Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.

2000s Heather Hoechst (02C) won the 2012 D. Arthur Magaziner Human Services Award at Penn State’s Dickinson School of Law. The award recognizes third-year law students who have demonstrated good character, sound academic performance, high ethical standards, fidelity to the highest goals of the profession, and commitment to selfless human service. In addition, she is featured in the State College Magazine article “50 Miles and a Little Bit of Crazy” for completing a 50-mile ultramarathon.

Allison Childs Turk (02C) and husband Jesse celebrated the birth of daughter Amelia Grace on Aug. 23, 2011. The family lives in Dahlonega, Ga. Amy Dobbs (03C) and husband Brad announce the Sept. 21, 2011, birth of son Parker Brentley, weighing 7 pounds, 3 ounces. Parker joined brother Paxton at the family home in Douglasville, Ga. Erin Adkinson (03C) and husband David announce the June 24, 2011, birth of daughter Reagan Julianna, weighing 8 pounds, 10 ounces and measuring 21.5 inches.

The family resides in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Kelley Peyton Warnock (03C) graduated with a Master of Interior Design degree from Brenau University in May 2011.

Gabriela Elias Broome (04C) is a first-grade bilingual teacher at Castleberry Elementary School of the Castleberry Independent School District in Fort Worth, Texas.

Erin Rebecca Karch (06C) graduated with a Master of Science degree in athletic training from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga in May 2011. She is now the athletic trainer for the women’s basketball program at Southeastern Louisiana University.

Meredith Alston Lucas (07C) received a Juris Doctor degree in May 2011 from the Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law at the University of Memphis.

Abbi Ruth Pullen Smith (07C) and Rhett Michael Smith (07C) were

united in marriage Sept. 4, 2010, at Frost Chapel. Alumni in the wedding party included Lindsey Wable (08C), maid of honor; Natalie Bates (07C, FS), matron of honor; Rachel Czyz (14c), bridesmaid; and Christopher Harney (08C), Walt Wiley (07C), Doug Clayton (07C) and Nathan Bates (05C), best men. The couple resides in Ringgold, Ga. Emily Segrest Tucker (09C) and Michael Lee Tucker were married June 4, 2011, at the Berry College Chapel. The wedding party included maid of honor Allison Segrest (11C) and bridesmaid Stephanie Jinright (08C). The couple resides in Carrollton, Ga. Ellen Dutro Hearn (09C) and Michael John Hearn Jr. (07C) were married June 18, 2011, at Frost Chapel. Attendants included Susan Cunningham (08C), Megan Geren (08C), Merinda Hayman (09C), Allie Watts (09C, FS), Amanda Adams Winstead (07C), Corey Treaster (09C) and Anthony Williams (09C).

The couple resides in Chapel Hill, N.C.

2010s James Michael Story (10C, FS) and Candace Foster Story (09C) were married March 26, 2011, at the Berry College Chapel. The wedding party included Adam Caldwell (09C), Chad Rowell (10C), Stephen Santana (10C), Jenna Foster (11C), Emma Phillips (09C) and Allie Watts (09C, FS). Jimmy is coordinator of student work at Berry.

Deaths Berry College extends sincere condolences to family and friends of the following alumni, faculty and staff members, and retirees.

This list includes notices received July 1 – Oct. 31, 2011.

1930s Wayne L. Dowdey (32H, 38c) of Litchfield Park, Ariz., March 4, 2011.

Clara Ellison Hinnant (32H) of Sumter, S.C., May 7, 2011.

Anne Ashworth Speegle (34H) of Florence, Ala., Oct. 24, 2011.

Elizabeth M. Jarratt (35c) of Black Mountain, N.C., July 12, 2011.

Elizabeth McGehee Sullivan (38C) of Camilla, Ga., March 29, 2011.

Hazel Warr Culberson (39C) of Skipperville, Ala., June 13, 2011.

Julia Phillips McGlamory (39H) of Rydal, Ga., April 20, 2011.

John S. Richardson (39H) of Loveland, Ohio, Sept. 8, 2011.

1940s Henry Lem Clark (40C) of Mechanicsburg, Pa., Oct. 14, 2011.

Everett L. Lake (40C) of Prosperity, S.C., Aug. 26, 2011.

Annelle Green Bentley (41C) of Fort Valley, Ga., Sept. 12, 2011.

J. Preston Jackson (41C) of Fairburn, Ga., Sept. 9, 2011.

Fred McCaleb (41C) of Bowling Green, Ohio, Sept. 7, 2011.

Thomas J. Hester (42C) of San Antonio, Texas, Aug. 16, 2011.

Louise Buffington Keim (43C) of Wilmington, Del., Aug. 21, 2011.

Margie V. Lowrance (43C) of Matthews, S.C., Aug. 17, 2011.

Jeanette Stanton Gardner (44C) of McDonough, Ga., Sept. 18, 2011.

Mary Brownlee Minchin (44C) of Chipley, Fla., Oct. 16, 2011.

Ruth Robbins Nichols (44C) of Calhoun, Ga., Sept. 5, 2011.

Sterling Bargeron (45c) of Reidsville, Ga., Sept. 13, 2011.

Marguerite Elvis Dennis (45c) of Conway, S.C., July 20, 2011.

Helen Hendry McHargue (45H, 49c) of Greenville, Fla., Sept. 28, 2011.

S. Elizabeth Whitfield Thomas (46c) of Covington, Ga., Aug. 15, 2011.

Virginia Brooks Bradford (48H, 52c) of Conyers, Ga., Sept. 28, 2011.

Rebecca Mackey Burch (48C) of Gainesville, Ga., July 27, 2011.

Mamilee Kilpatrick Henry (49C) of Columbus, Ga., Oct. 18, 2011.

AlumniAuthors Berry magazine has been notified about the following new alumniauthored books since our last listing. Congratulations! nJ ohn

Coleman (04C), Daniel Gulati and W. Oliver Segovia, Passion and Purpose: Stories from the Best and Brightest Young Business Leaders, December 2011, Harvard Business Press, www.amazon.com or http://hbr.org. nF arrell J. Davis (46H), The Land of Neglect, published under the pen name of Timberline Davis, August 2011, Kindle edition available through www.amazon.com. nC atherine Marshall, Ph.D. (76C), Surviving Cancer as a Family and Helping Co-Survivors Thrive, Praeger, June 2010, www.amazon.com. nJ amie Poissant (01C), Lizard Man, Rope Walk Press, October 2011, www.usi.edu/ropewalk/RopeWalk_Press.asp.

If you have a newly published book (2011-12) you’d like us to include, please send your name and class year, book title, publisher, publication date, and a Web address for a synopsis and/or order information to krogers@berry.edu with a subject line of “Berry Alumni Authors.”

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Roadless traveled FOR BRIAN (97C) AND JODI (98C) TUTEN, FAMILY IS THE

ADVENTURE. Last July, the couple set out from Arizona with their

five children – Kendall (8), Chloe (6), Sydney (4), Elijah (2) and Tirzah (1) – to see the country and strengthen their family bond. By the end of September, they had traveled 11,777 miles through 39 states. And after spending the winter back in Arizona, they plan to hit the road again in 2012 to complete their self-proclaimed “Funhog Family 50 State Challenge.”

“We were looking for a story larger than ourselves that our family could invest in together,” explained Brian, who was granted a three-month leave of absence from his job in the computer industry to make the first leg of the journey possible.

Highlights so far would overflow a year’s worth of travel and adventure magazines. A short list includes kayaking the headwaters of the Mississippi River in Minnesota and the Farmington River in Connecticut, visiting Laura Ingalls Wilder’s homestead in South Dakota, rappelling in Illinois, caving in Missouri and Kentucky, boating to Boldt Castle in New York, lobstering in Maine, and sailing in Rhode Island. In September, the children experienced Berry – the place where their parents met – firsthand.

Because the trip is a celebration of marriage and family, the Tutens have also made a point of seeking out and visiting ministries that in the past have had a positive impact on their Christian faith.

“A lot of people have said, ‘You must be crazy to travel with so many little ones,’” Brian related. “But we consider ourselves blessed to be able to raise the family God gave us.”

The trip hasn’t been without its challenges, ranging from the natural – swarms of mosquitoes and horseflies – to the practical – as in, how do you keep five kids occupied during a cross country drive? (For all you parents out there, the answer to the latter question includes audio books, coloring books, card games, toys and, especially in the case of the youngest children, food).

When they finally pulled into their driveway in Arizona, the Tutens felt a definite sense of comfort to be back in familiar surroundings.

But after so much time together, they are eager to hit the road again.

“Daddy is sorely missed throughout the day now that we are home, and I miss being with them,” Brian stated. “Home is where the heart is, and I was ‘home’ all summer being with my family.”

Visit http://funhogfamily.com for more on the Tutens’ journey.

by Rick Woodall

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Kathleen Bennett Leonard (49H) of Kennesaw, Ga., Aug. 5, 2011.

Merle Wade Matthews (49C) of Atmore, Ala., Oct. 9, 2011.

1950s George R.W. Bentley Jr. (50c) of McIntyre, Ga., Sept. 3, 2011.

Dubignion Douglas (51C) of Dublin, Ga., Sept. 13, 2011.

Charles A. Fortanbary (51c) of Gaffney, S.C., July 30, 2011.

James R. Anderson (52C) of Kingston Springs, Tenn., Sept. 4, 2011.

Talmadge Parkerson (54C) of Eastman, Ga., Oct. 9, 2011.

1960s John H. Mooney (60H, 64c) of Duluth, Ga., July 27, 2011.

Larry Hallman (62H) of Baxley, Ga., April 16, 2011.

Unal Bener (65c) of Annandale, Va., Oct. 22, 2010.

Barbara Davidson Rowland (67C) of Warner Robins, Ga., Aug. 8, 2011.

Elmer Dillingham Jr. (69C) of Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., Aug. 9, 2011.

1970s William C. Webb Jr. (71A) of Pensacola, Fla., Aug. 1, 2011.

Donald S. Lemmer (73C) of Glendale, Calif., June 1, 2011.

Avis Hardaker Ivey (78G) of Rome, Ga., Sept. 22, 2011.

1980s Cindy Painter Hart (83C) of Villa Rica, Ga., April 14, 2011.

Mary C. Padgett (85c) of Woodstock, Ga., Feb. 27, 2010.

Elizabeth Watts DeLorme (86C) of Stone Mountain, Ga., Oct. 13, 2011.

Faculty/Staff Ben A. Elkin (FFS) of Rome, Ga., Aug. 9, 2011.

Judson Moss (FFS) of Rome, Ga., Aug. 31, 2011.

In Memoriam Percy Taylor Marchman (47C) Percy T. Marchman (47C), who served his alma mater faithfully as president of the Berry Alumni Association (1982-1984), trustee (1984-1993) and trustee emeritus, passed away Oct. 17, 2011, at the age of 89.

Marchman served in the U.S. Army in the Philippines during World War II. He retired as senior vice president from Cotton States Insurance Companies after 35 years of service and later from MarchmanSteele Agency. He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Violet Atkins Marchman (44H, 48C), whom he met and married at Berry; daughter Janis Steele and son Mike; as well as four grandchildren and two great granddaughters. His brother, Ray Marchman (49C), also is a Berry alumnus.

The family requests that any tributes be made to the Percy Marchman Endowed Scholarship, Berry College, P.O. Box 490069, Mount Berry, Ga., 30149.

Dr. N. Gordon Carper Dr. Gordon Carper, Dana Professor of History Emeritus, died Sept. 3, 2011. Carper joined the Berry faculty in 1965 and retired in 2003. He was the long-time director of Berry’s College Bowl Program.

The Carper Room on the third floor of Krannert Center and an endowed scholarship are named in his honor.

The family requests that memorial contributions be sent to the Dr. N. Gordon Carper Endowed History Scholarship, Berry College, P.O. Box 490069, Mount Berry, Ga., 30149, or to the American Lung Association.

QUEEN OF THE FAIR Zell Hemphill (39C) of Cedartown, Ga., earned the title of Ms. Senior Coosa Valley Fair during an October 2011 pageant. All the contestants were 55 or older; Hemphill won the competition at age 96.

So we’ve heard From the editors of Berry magazine: Highlights about Berry alumni sometimes come to our attention via the news media – especially when a Berry affiliation is mentioned. When we can, we want to share what we’ve heard with you. See any names you know?

Multiple media outlets reported that John Thomas Horton (99C) has been named the first women’s golf coach at Clemson University.

Horton previously served as head coach at Tulane, where he restarted the women’s golf program in 2008 after a three-year hiatus in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In three seasons with Tulane, Horton was twice named Conference USA Coach of the Year.

Business Wire announced Rodger Fuller’s (85C) expanded role for Sunoco as vice president of global rigid plastics and corporate customers. Fuller, who earned an MBA from Emory, has been with Sunoco since 1985.

WTOV9 heralded the August 2011 appointment of Briona Arradondo (10C) as a reporter on the Steubenville, Ohio, based NEWS9 team. Arradondo has a master’s degree in broadcast journalism and international affairs from American University in Washington, D.C. Georgia Trend has named Jason Winters (01C) to the magazine’s annual “40 under 40” list of the state’s top young leaders. Winters was elected sole commissioner of Chattooga County in 2008 at the age of 29.

The September/October 2011 issue of Handwoven included reflections of Joy Padgett Johnson (73C) on her student job as a weaver at Berry College.

Johnson said that Berry continues to be her weaving inspiration, even in her retirement years.

Daniel Varnado / Rome News-Tribune

FORMER BERRY ACADEMY ADMINISTRATOR HONORED Bill Thornton (68C) received a special honor last July when the North Floyd Recreation Center was named the Bill Thornton Center and a plaque in his likeness was unveiled. In its coverage, the Rome News-Tribune heralded Thornton’s numerous community sports involvements as well as his many years as a teacher, coach and administrator at Berry Academy and nearby Armuchee High School.

Laurie Cook Stevens (06C) and Kathryn Curry (11C) made news for their entrepreneurial efforts. According to Nooga.com, Stevens has opened the Chattanooga School of Languages, which currently offers adult classes in five languages with plans to add children’s classes and other programs.

Curry recently started Nancy Raygun Costuming. Her new venture – as well as her use of math in everyday life – was discussed on mathforgrownups. com.

The Georgia Humanities Council and the Office of the Governor honored Gwendolyn Hutcheson (50C) with the 2011 Governor’s Award in the Humanities medallion. According to reports, Hutcheson has served as a social studies teacher and educational leader for more than 60 years, advocating for and modeling excellence. The Georgia Council for Social Studies named its top teaching award in her honor in 2009.

In health care related news, Floyd Medical Center in Rome announced the promotion of Warren A. “Sonny” Rigas (02G) to executive vice president while Cullman (Ala.) Regional Medical Center announced the addition of neurologist Dr. Paul M. Gilreath (03C) to Cullman Primary Care – Neurology. Gilreath received his medical degree from the Medical College of Georgia and completed his postdoctoral training at the University of Florida and Shands in Jacksonville.

Daniel Varnado / Rome News-Tribune

Also in the news, with education accolades, were Coy Dunn (90C, 98G) and Miriam Ledford-Lyle (98C). Dunn, a theater instructor at Kennesaw Mountain High School, was named Cobb County (Ga.) High School Teacher of the Year.

Ledford-Lyle, who teaches history at North Oconee High School, received Teacher of the Year honors for the Oconee County (Ga.) School System.

The promotion of Dr. John Wright (91C) from associate professor of theater and communication arts at the University of WisconsinManitowoc to associate dean was announced by the Herald Times Reporter of Manitowoc.

Wright earned his doctorate from Louisiana State University.

Michigan State Athletics announced the hiring of Tyler Faulkner (05C) as assistant women’s tennis coach. Faulkner previously served four seasons as the men’s and women’s assistant tennis coach at Troy University, where he earned a master’s degree in sport and fitness management. He held a similar post at Berry in 2006-08.

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[Gifts]

MEMORY AND HONOR GIFTS

MEMORY AND HONOR GIFTS Special thanks go out for the following gifts to Berry, which were specifically designated in memory or honor of an individual. Honor and memory gifts can be made by noting your intentions and the name of the person recognized at the time you make the gift. Note: Memory gifts have been designated to scholarship funds named for the honoree unless otherwise specified by the donor.

MEMORY GIFTS

HONOR GIFTS

July 1 – Oct. 31, 2011

July 1 – Oct. 31, 2011

Mr. Reginald M. Barrineau Ms. Nancy Jo Taylor Mrs. Virginia B. Bradford Mr. William C. Bradford Mrs. Carole G. Bressette Dr. and Mrs. Dwight Kinzer Dr. N. Gordon Carper Dr. Ouida W. Dickey Mr. and Mrs. Charles O’Brien Wilkie Mrs. Eva McFalls Collins Mrs. Doris Gentry Collum Mrs. Melinda Vines Cribb Mrs. Carolyn Keesee Orr The Hon. Dubignion Douglas Dr. Ouida W. Dickey Mrs. Lillian C. Farmer Mr. William C. Bradford Ms. Jean Benoy Lacey Mr. Steven Wayne Strickland Mrs. C. Juanita Fox Mr. Timothy R. Howard Dr. Thomas W. Gandy Mrs. Theodora Nettles Gandy Ms. Inez Wooten Henry Rosebud McCormick Foundation Mr. Herman A. Higgins Sr. Dr. Kenneth F. Hancock Mr. Jimmy E. Hinton Mrs. Velma Mitchell Hinton Mrs. Ruby Lee Hogan Mr. and Mrs. Robert L. Sumner Mr. Harry W. Watkins Jr. Mr. Paul W. Horton Mrs. Jane M. Horton Mr. Kenneth Kutzko Mr. and Mrs. Jeffery Michael Jarrett Mr. John R. Lipscomb Mr. and Mrs. Michael David Crego Mr. and Mrs. Thomas W. Jones Jr. Ms. Kathryn B. Lipscomb Lt. Col. and Mrs. Reginald E. Strickland Mr. and Mrs. John G. Wheeler Jr. Miss Margie V. Lowrance Mr. and Mrs. E. Harry Broome Jr. Mr. Willis A. Goodrum Mr. and Mrs. Roy C. Page Ms. Kathleen H. Stuart Mr. Ben F. Lucas Mr. Joseph E. Dabney Mrs. Merle Wade Matthews Mr. William A. Brown Mr. Fred McCaleb Ms. Marilyn Ramey Mr. and Mrs. William A. Reach Mr. Jim Reach Dr. Walter O. Pendley Mrs. Emma Fears O’Neal Mrs. Evelyn Hoge Pendley Mr. Timothy R. Howard Dr. Amber T. Prince Dr. Steven H. Bell Mr. C. Wayne Vaughn Mr. Daniel F. Jones Mrs. Lucille Gilstrap West Ms. Betty L. White Mr. Monte C. Wood Mr. E. Tricey Godfrey Mr. and Mrs. John H. Parker Jr. Mr. J. Brad Stephenson

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BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2011-12

Mr. Billy R. Blocker Sr. Mr. and Mrs. William T. Bell Dr. D. Dean Cantrell Mr. Timothy R. Howard Mrs. Maureen Munro Kurowsky Mr. and Mrs. A. Milton Chambers Mr. Steven Wayne Strickland Class of 2012 Mr. David William Barry Dr. Ouida W. Dickey Mr. Timothy R. Howard Mr. Samuel Johnan Duenckel Ms. Martha J. Duenckel Dr. Vincent M.L. Gregoire Mrs. Gabriela Elias Broome Mrs. Ruth T. Hale Ms. Evelynne C. Mashburn Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Lynn Liles Mr. and Mrs. Bruce L. Liles Ms. Meredith Louise McDermott Mr. Frank E. Muth Mrs. Ollie M. Scoggins Mr. Steven Wayne Strickland Ms. Sunnie Son Mrs. Melissa Beth BrumbaughSudduth Dr. Sam I. Spector Mrs. Kathryn Wible Minneman

GIFTS TO NAMED SCHOLARSHIPS AND WORK ENDOWMENTS July 1 – Oct. 31, 2011 Frank and Kathryn Adams Endowed Scholarship Dr. Christina G. Bucher Dr. James H. Watkins Dr. Lara B. Whelan Pat Alderman Scholarship Mrs. Pat Alderman Leo W. Anglin Memorial Scholarship Dr. and Mrs. Wade A. Carpenter Dr. Jacqueline Macy McDowell Perry Anthony Memorial Scholarship Mrs. Elsie Joy Anthony Morrow Sarah and Bobby Bailey Endowed Alta Sproull Math Scholarship The Estate of Sarah H. Bailey Sarah and Bobby Bailey Endowed McAllister Physics Scholarship The Estate of Sarah H. Bailey Barton Mathematics Award Mr. Rayford W. Barton Dan Biggers Distinguished Actor Award Mrs. Shannon W. Biggers Bonner Scholars Program Endowment Mrs. Fontaine McFerrin Souther Frances Berry Bonnyman Scholarship Dr. Isabel Bonnyman Stanley Joshua Bradshaw-Whittemore Memorial Scholarship Mr. Richard N. Bass Horace Brown Chemistry Scholarship Merck Company Foundation Louise Paul Brown Work Scholarship Dr. Horace D. Brown Wanda Lou Bumpus Endowed Scholarship Ms. Julie A. Bumpus

David R. Burnette Agriculture Leadership Scholarship Mr. Leach Delano Richards Sr. Mr. and Mrs. Robert L. Sumner N. Gordon Carper Endowed History Scholarship Mr. and Mrs. Michael Adamczak Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Bigham Mr. and Mrs. J. Kyle Bigham Mr. D. Anthony Bush Mr. and Mrs. Gene Carper Mrs. Jean Etherton Clark Mr. Thomas Lawrence Crocker Mr. Ralph S. Daniels Mr. and Mrs. Jimmy L. Davis Mr. and Mrs. William Kenneth Day Mr. and Mrs. Raymond A. Del Rosso Mr. and Mrs. James E. Dixon Mrs. Catherine W. Dohrmann Ms. Rebecca T. Forrest Mr. and Mrs. W.R. Hauser Dr. John C. Hickman Mr. Timothy R. Howard Mr. and Mrs. Harvey J. Keisel Dr. and Mrs. Dwight Kinzer Mr. and Mrs. Mark Henry Kozera Ms. Bettyann M. O’Neill Mr. William L. Pence Ms. Darlene Rateau Mr. James Otey Reed Mr. and Mrs. Michael J. Rousseau Mr. Mordechai Rozanski Mr. F. Mackey Schneider Mr. Steven Wayne Strickland Ms. Barbara B. Strock Mr. and Mrs. Larry J. Taylor Ms. Rachel Amanda Tidwell Dr. George D. Turner Mr. and Mrs. Samuel J. Villegas Mrs. James L. Vinson McKesson Corp.

Microsoft Corp.

Whittington, Jones and Rudert CPAs PC A. Milton and Joann Chambers Endowed Scholarship Mr. and Mrs. William M. Chambers Gene B. and Jean E. Clark Endowed Scholarship Mrs. Jean Etherton Clark Class of 1951C Memorial Endowed Scholarship Lt. Col. and Mrs. Reginald E. Strickland Class of 1954C Endowed Scholarship Mr. B. Leon Elder Mr. Charles E. Houston Mr. and Mrs. Bill G. Waters Class of 1956C Endowed Scholarship Mr. Wallace G. McDowell Mrs. Tillie Marlowe Parker Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Mell Strickland Class of 1957C Endowed Scholarship Mr. Franklin D. Windham Class of 1960C Gate of Opportunity Scholarship Mr. Tolbert A. Fowler Mr. and Mrs. LeBron Holden Ms. Eleen Rowell Mitchell Mr. Earnest Rabon Rodgers Mr. and Mrs. W. Cleveland Rowland Mr. and Mrs. J.B. Stanley Mrs. Sharlene Kinser Stephens Mr. H. Wayne Stevenson Mr. and Mrs. James Perry Vincent Sr. Coca-Cola Co.

Class of 1961C Gate of Opportunity Scholarship Mrs. Patricia Davis Hendrix Mrs. Joyce Hawes Pickelsimer Class of 64C Campus Carrier Editor Work Endowment* Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Allen Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Buice Mr. and Mrs. Edgar Fite Mrs. Rheba Fronebarger Mr. and Mrs. Dale Hitchens Mr. and Mrs. Leslie Howard Sr. Mr. John Kemp Mr. and Mrs. William Edmond Laird Mrs. Charlotte Massey Mrs. Beulah Meadows Mr. and Mrs. Melvin Merrill Mr. and Mrs. James Moody Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Ragsdale Mrs. Sharon Stanley Mr. and Mrs. Robert Sumner Miss Penny Vaugh Mr. Harry W. Watkins Jr. Mr. James Williams Omnova Solutions *List includes all donors since inception.

Class of 1953H Scholarship in Memory of Staley-Loveday Mr. C.F. Green State Farm Companies Foundation Rembert and Virginia Cornelison Endowed Scholarship Mrs. Virginia Allen Cornelison Howard M. and Elaine S. Crawford Endowed Scholarship Mrs. Elaine Smith Crawford Edward Gray and Doris Cook Dickey Endowed Scholarship Mrs. Doris Dickey Brooks Mrs. Anne Cook Neal B. Leon Elder Endowed Scholarship Mr. B. Leon Elder Ray F. Faulkenberry Endowed Scholarship Mrs. Roslyn Glosson Faulkenberry Ray F. Faulkenberry Expendable Scholarship Mrs. Roslyn Glosson Faulkenberry Willard Ferguson Science Scholarship Mr. Willard Ferguson Ruby and Clifton Fite Endowed Scholarship Mr. and Mrs. Bobby L. Whitmire Jimmy R. Fletcher Memorial Endowed Scholarship Mr. and Mrs. Lester E. Brookshire Jr. Mr. Charles P. Downey Dr. James E. Hairston John A. Shahan Construction Co. George Gaddie Endowed Scholarship Mrs. Arlene D. Minshew Mrs. Cherrie D. Shaw Gate of Opportunity Scholarship Ms. Heather Henderson Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Martin McElyea GICA/UPS Scholarship Georgia Independent College Association Ed and Gayle Graviett Gmyrek Scholarship Mrs. Gayle Graviett Gmyrek Jorge and Ondina Gonzalez Endowed Scholarship Mrs. Ondina Santos Gonzalez

Larry A. Green Memorial Scholarship Dr. Janna S. Johnson Mrs. Melanie Green Jones Hamrick Family/Aunt Martha Freeman Endowed Scholarship The Estate of John K. Hamrick Sr. Mr. Lewis C. Spruill Helen First Baptist Church Heneisen Service Award Mrs. Laurie Hattaway Chandler Cathleen Ann Henriksen Memorial Scholarship Mr. Peter N. Henriksen Mr. and Mrs. Jack A. Jones Ms. Martha Gale Van Cise Becky Musser Hosea Scholarship Mrs. Paula Lyon Womack Indonesian Scholarship Mr. and Mrs. Joseph L.Walton Sr. H.I. Jones Endowed Agriculture Scholarship Mr. and Mrs. Charles Kerry Noles Kappa Delta Pi Endowed Award Dr. Mary C. Clement Clay Kenemer Memorial Scholarship Mr. and Mrs. John J. Bridges Mr. Timothy R. Howard Mrs. Rethia Camp Spence Peter A. Lawler Endowed Scholarship Mr. Jeffrey Douglas Horn Mrs. Rita Kay Lawler Mrs. Carol Snyder Roberts Mr. David Anthony Rowland Ray M. and Mary Elizabeth Lee Scholarship The Ray M. and Mary Elizabeth Lee Foundation Raymond H. and Martha C. Lester Endowed Scholarship The Estate of Martha C. Lester Fred H. Loveday Endowed Scholarship Mr. Lyle H. Hess Ross Magoulas Endowed Scholarship Ms. Cecily J. Nall Mr. and Mrs. Robert L. Sumner Percy Marchman Scholarship Mrs. Robert E. Carpenter Mrs. Eloise G. Cawthon Ms. Carol E. Conner Ms. Naomi M. Credille Mr. Frank Gartland Mr. Thomas W. Jenkins Mr. and Mrs. Jim L. Moore

✁

Mr. and Mrs. G. Calvin Norman Mr. Charles T. Richardson Chambless, Higdon, Katz & Griggs LLP Information Services Unlimited Inc. National Conference of Insurance Guaranty Funds Oklahoma Property Insurance Guaranty Association Stone & Boehm PC Tapley Group LLC Mariella Griffiths Berry Loyalty Scholarship Fund Dr. Kristen A. Diliberto-Macaluso Dr. Charles Scott Markle Award Mr. and Mrs. George A. Hayles Mr. and Mrs. Joseph E. Ringhoffer Baldwin Pole & Piling Co. Inc. Wheel’n Outdoor Adventures Inc. Martha! Centennial Scholarship Lt. Col. and Mrs. Reginald E. Strickland Lawrence E. McAllister Endowed Scholarship Mrs. Mary Alice Ivey Blanton Ms. Ruby E. Maloney Fred and Betty McCaleb Student Work Fund Mr. and Mrs. William A. Reach Frank Miller Memorial Scholarship Mr. and Mrs. William H. Banks Music Scholarship Dr. John E. Davis Al and Mary Nadassy Scholarship in Memory of Mrs. Ralph Farmer Mrs. Mary I. Nadassy Mary and Al Nadassy English Scholarship Dr. Christina G. Bucher Dr. Sandra L. Meek Mrs. Mary I. Nadassy Dr. Mark N. Taylor Dr. James H. Watkins Dr. Lara B. Whelan NSDAR Scholarship Mrs. Elizabeth Steward Garner Georgia State Society NSDAR New York State Organization NSDAR Shikelimo Chapter NSDAR Bobby Patrick Endowed Scholarship Mrs. Mary Patrick Mr. and Mrs. John G. Wheeler Jr. Accucard Inc.

Dr. Bob Pearson Endowed Scholarship Mr. and Mrs. W. Scott Neal Dr. and Mrs. Robert W. Pearson Dr. Bob Pearson Expendable Scholarship Mr. and Mrs. W. Scott Neal Amber T. Prince Endowed Scholarship Dr. Steven H. Bell Mrs. Jean W. Druckenmiller Ms. Debbie E. Heida Dr. Janna S. Johnson Mr. and Mrs. James R. Lindner Jr. Amber T. Prince Expendable Scholarship Mr. and Mrs. M. Scott Breithaupt Dr. Jacquelyn McDowell Ann Russell Memorial Scholarship Mrs. Kathleen Robinson Ray Vesta Salmon Service Scholarship Mrs. Rose T. Nix Mrs. Angela P. Reynolds A. Shaw Memorial Scholarship/Award The Estate of Bruce V. English Joyce H. Shelton Memorial Scholarship Mr. Jerry W. Shelton Hamilton/Smith Scholarship Mrs. Terri Colson Earls Ms. Evelyn L. Hamilton Dr. Ann Saywell Spears Expendable Scholarship Dr. Ann Saywell Spears Mary Alta Sproull Endowed Math Scholarship Mrs. Jim Ann Stewart William B. Stokely Jr. Scholarship The William B. Stokely Jr. Foundation Reginald E. Strickland Expendable Gate of Opportunity Scholarship Lt. Col. and Mrs. Reginald E. Strickland Student Scholarships Dr. Sarah Lee Allred Mrs. K. Janelle Gay Anderson Mr. Matthew Armstrong Barrett Mrs. Deborah Keith Boshears Mr. John L. Brock Mrs. Anna Hebert Daniel Ms. Sara Catherine Evans Ms. Jacqueline Hale Griffin Ms. Debbie E. Heida Mr. and Mrs. Peter H. Hoffmann Mr. Timothy R. Howard Mr. Robert F. Ingram Ms. Deana Marguerite McDougall Mrs. Christy Proffit Ottaviano

Mr. Aaron Duane Pickering Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Eastwood Ragan Mrs. Edna Earle Whatley Mrs. Ivette Snaider Woldenberg Mrs. Tiffany Harmon Youngblood Fred J. Tharpe Endowed Scholarship Signature FD LLC Time Warner Inc. Tibbals/Zellars Expendable Gate of Opportunity Scholarship Randall Alan Tibbals John Zellars Jr. Foundation Troy/Gardner Endowed Art-History Award Dr. Virginia G. Troy Alexander Whyte Whitaker III Endowed Scholarship Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Whyte Whitaker IV Lettie Pate Whitehead Scholarship Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation Jeff Wingo Memorial Scholarship Mrs. Starr Wright Boylan Dr. Janna S. Johnson Mrs. Kathryn M. Wingo BASF Corp.

Craig Allen Wofford Scholarship Mrs. Elaine Sexton Foster AT&T Foundation Richard Wood Scholarship Mr. Timothy R. Howard Wyatt-Lipscomb Scholarship Mr. and Mrs. Frank Barron Jr. Dr. and Mrs. Thomas W. Carver Dr. Ouida W. Dickey Mr. and Mrs. William G. Fron Mrs. Donna N. Fulford Mrs. Ondina Santos Gonzalez Mr. and Mrs. Gary Herrick Ms. Karen Holley Horrell Drs. William and Sara Hoyt Mrs. Lee Jones Lance Mr. and Mrs. Bowen H. McCoy Mrs. Catherine M. McDonald Mrs. Wanda Bagwell McPherson Ms. Bettyann M. O’Neill Mrs. Rose T. Nix Mr. and Mrs. H.G. Pattillo Mrs. Kathleen Robinson Ray Dr. and Mrs. Frederick P. Rivara Mrs. Janice Sherrouse Hugh M. Inman Foundation

Send us your

Class notes

Name & Class Year______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Email Address__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Phone Number__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ News (marriage, birth, job, retirement, achievements, etc.) ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ To have your news included in Berry magazine, mail to Berry College Alumni Office, P.O. Box 495018, Mount Berry, GA 30149 or submit via email to alumni@berry.edu.

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2011-12

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NON-PROFIT U.S. POSTAGE PAID ATLANTA, GA 30304 PERMIT NO. 2552

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

Appealing to a ‘hire’ power

An inventive December graduate uses a heady medium to tell the world she’s ready to put her Berry education to work.

Alan Storey