Mars Hill University Magazine - Fall 2021

The Magazine of Mars Hill University | Fall 2021

Ambassador for a Culture Miss Cherokee Amy West ’19

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The Magazine of Mars Hill University | Fall 2021

MAGAZINE STAFF: Editor: Teresa Buckner, Director of Publications Associate Editor: Mike Thornhill ’88, Director of Communications Additional Contributors: Rick Baker, Director of Athletics; Tatum Boggs ’20, ’21, Assistant Women’s Basketball Coach; Samantha Fender, Senior Director of Marketing and Communications; Jimmy Knight, Director of the Cothran Center for Career Readiness; Jaime McKee ’00, Director of Online Presence and New Media; Dr. Dave Rozeboom, Vice President for Student Life; Lisa Wachtman, Senior Director of Student Success; Adam Williams, Director of Athletic Communications

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President’s Leadership Team:

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Tony Floyd, J.D., President Tracy Parkinson, Ph.D., Provost Rick Baker, Director of Athletics Grainger Caudle, Ph.D., Senior Director of Planning and Strategy Bud Christman, Vice President for Advancement Samantha Fender, Senior Director of Marketing and Communications

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IN THIS ISSUE Letter from the President.......................................4

Joy Kish, Ed.D. ’82, Senior Director of Alumni and Trustee Relations

The Show Must Go On ............................................5

Jennie Matthews, Director of Human Resources

Second Socially-Distanced Graduation....................6

Rev. Stephanie McLeskey, University Chaplain

Amazing Alum: Amy West ’17..................................8

Dave Rozeboom, Ph.D., Vice President for Student Life Roger Slagle, Vice President for Finance and Administration Kristie Vance ’07, Director of Admissions Mars Hill, The Magazine of Mars Hill University is published regularly by the Office of Marketing and Communications. It is distributed, without charge, to alumni, donors, and friends of the university.

Notices of changes of address and class notes should be addressed to the Alumni Office, Mars Hill University, P.O. Box 6792, Mars Hill, N.C., 28754. Phone 828-689-1102. Email alumni@mhu.edu.

Letters to the editor and all other correspondence regarding the magazine should be addressed to the Office of Marketing and Communications, Mars Hill University, P.O. Box 6765, Mars Hill, N.C., 28754. Phone 828-689-1304. Email tbuckner@mhu.edu.

Postmaster: Send address changes to the Alumni Office, Mars Hill University, P.O. Box 6792, Mars Hill, N.C., 28754.

Copyright 2021. All rights reserved.

Cover photo: Amy West ’17, Miss Cherokee. Photo courtesy of Clay Nations Photography.

At right: Paul Penderman ’21, in the lead role of the Bailey Mountain Cloggers’ spring show, titled: Pure Imagination. See story on page 5.

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Being an Ambassador for a Culture

Prairie Project To Become a “Living Lab”............... 11 Amazing Alum: Marquez Williams ’16..................... 12 Three Things We Can Learn

Faculty Focus: John Gripentrog............................ 14 History Professor Releases Book About the Lead-Up to WWII

New Majors and Minors........................................ 15 MHU Legacies: Darryl Norton ’80........................... 16 After 40 Years, It was the Relationships That Mattered

Lions Dig In with PAWS......................................... 19 Donor Generosity Supports Facilities Upgrades...... 20 Campus News...................................................... 22 MHU Receives $10,000 Grant for Vocational Exploration Inaugural Blackwell Scholarship Announced Nursing Students Receive Prestigious Scholarship Get to Know Your Alumni Board New Band Director Hunter Kopczynski Boone Receives Teaching Award

Athletics

MHU Begins Acro/Tumbling Team Lion Athletes and Coaches Recognized by the SAC

Class Notes.......................................................... 27

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LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT

The Show Must Go On

Last year was a whirlwind of stressful experiences. Despite headwinds blowing against us all, we want you to know that we are very optimistic about our future. We are seeing amazing things happen in our classrooms and on our campus. We have seen Mars Hill graduates, in unusual and stressful circumstances, rise to the challenge, persevere, and leave Mars Hill to begin to make a positive impact in our world.

We are also seeing students and families that can’t wait to get back to campus, to experience the fullness and enrichment of all that embodies our Lion residential experience.

Our campus is rising through the high caliber of people who teach here and through our new incoming class. We are encouraged by rising retention rates of students that are thriving in this gorgeous place, full of connected people that care deeply about them, and that devote hours of every day to helping each student realize the potential we see in them. We see a campus full of people helping students discover their life’s purpose and learning how to live that out in uncertain times.

We cannot do this without our devoted alumni, friends, and donors. We see our campus rising through your incredible generosity of gifts of your time and treasure. Your gifts are transforming lives through scholarships, and transforming physical spaces on campus right before our eyes. This summer we have been able to upgrade some residence halls, some of our dining facilities, locker rooms, theatre spaces, and historic buildings on Lunsford Commons.

Our theatre is open, the arts are alive, and scholarship is moving forward in the next few weeks.

We are excited and so grateful for your outpouring of love for our students, our campus and the exciting things going on here despite the chaotic world around us. Thank you for your prayers and gestures of support. We feel you from a distance and appreciate you. See you on The Hill this fall!

Tony Floyd, J.D. President

Above, a scene from Pure Imagination, the spring show of the Bailey Mountain Cloggers.

Below right, a scene from Little Shop of Horrors, performed outdoors in Ellen Amphitheatre.

There is just no substitute for in-person performance, but providing opportunities for students in the arts to perform before live audiences was difficult during 2020, due to COVID-19 restrictions.

In April, restrictions eased in North Carolina, due to the availability of vaccinations, and the Mars Hill University Department of Theatre Arts took the opportunity to put on a live performance with an outdoor production of “Little Shop of Horrors,” April 22–24.

Again, seating was limited to maintain social distancing for those in the audience.

Stay tuned this year to the MHU website, for information about more performance opportunities, www.mhu.edu.

The musical performance was an adaptation of the famous Broadway musical by the same name. It was performed for a live audience outdoors in Ellen Amphitheatre (in front of Pittman Dining Hall), with appropriate social distancing in place.

Also in April, the Bailey Mountain Cloggers put on their annual spring show, titled “Pure Imagination,” a clogging and dance adaption of the classic children’s story, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”

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Mars Hill University Holds Second Socially-Distanced Commencement Mars Hill University held its spring commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 15, 2021, in a socially-distanced format. Graduates processed across the Lunsford Commons quadrangle area of the upper campus, accompanied by their chosen guests. Graduates were grouped by their academic majors, with groupings staggered throughout the afternoon.

The class of 2021 included 196 graduates. Of those, 17 received their master’s degrees, with the rest earning bachelor’s degrees. Several dozen students who completed their degree requirements in the fall 2020 semester also participated in the ceremony, since their December commencement was canceled because of COVID-19 precautions. The most popular majors were business administration, criminal justice, nursing, and social work.

Because of the format of the commencement ceremony, there was not a guest speaker.

Graduating senior Danielle Fann, a music education major from Weaverville, North Carolina, performed a flute solo near the beginning of the ceremony.

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Amazing Alumni

MISS CHEROKEE AMY WEST ’19 Ambassador for a Culture As a teacher of first- and second-graders in Cherokee Central Schools, Amy West ’19 goes to work each day to do the work of an educator: to prepare her elementary students for life in the 21st century.

“This is my favorite age,” she said recently. “I’ve worked with middle school, high school, and day care, but this is really my favorite age of students.”

At other times, Amy is an educator of a different sort. She wears clothing similar to that her ancestors would have worn (she calls it 18th century), and educates others by representing the history, culture, and customs of her people.

Most of us call them the Cherokee, but the native Indigenous people in western North Carolina actually called themselves Anikituwah (the principal people). “‘Cherokee’ is not a word in our language,” she said.

“That was a word that was used by the settlers in this area for our people.”

Amy is Miss Cherokee, 2019-2021, the first, in fact, whose reign has extended for two years. This is because the reign for Amy and her fellow “royalty” (Teen Miss Cherokee, Junior Miss Cherokee, and Little Miss Cherokee) in 2020 was almost nonexistent due to pandemic shutdowns.

While her title may share some language with what people think of as beauty pageants, Amy said Miss Cherokee is a different sort of role.

“I don’t represent a geographical location,” she said. “I represent a culture; I am an ambassador.”

The pageant for Miss Cherokee involves, not bathing suits and evening gowns, but traditional Cherokee clothing. The talent portion involves young women demonstrating their grasp of Cherokee culture. Amy, for example, sang a song in the Cherokee language for her talent portion of the pageant.

This summer, Amy has been able to carry out her duties by attending a number of events and gatherings put on by the various bands of the

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Cherokee Nation, as well as other Indigenous tribes, including the Choctaw Festival in Mississippi, and the annual Kituwah Celebration in Cherokee, N.C. In June, she attended the “Tri-Council” gathering in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, a meeting of the three bands of the Cherokee: the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI, from Cherokee, N.C.), and the two bands from Tahlequah: the Cherokee Nation, and the United Keetowah Band (UKB).

The three bands gather, in part, to commemorate their history and customs. They also remember the very reason that their people are divided between East and West—The Trail of Tears. In the early- to mid-1800s, thousands of native people were displaced from their homes in the southeast and forcibly removed to what was then called “the Indian Territory” in Oklahoma. Today, the Tri-Council honors those who lived and became the ancestors of the western bands, and they honor the thousands who died on the way to the west, from hunger, exposure, and exhaustion.

Amy’s role (and that of the “royalty” from other tribes), in part, is that this history will be remembered.

In addition, she is one of many people who are concerned about the dying Cherokee language.

“There are very few fluent speakers of Cherokee still alive, and most of them are elderly,” Amy said. She said she has a rudimentary knowledge of the language, but she is not fluent. The primary reason that the language died so quickly is that in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, young Native Americans throughout the U.S. and Canada— including the Cherokee—were sent to governmentrun residential schools where they were forbidden to speak their native languages. In many schools, conditions were so horrible and abusive that children died in great numbers.

(In June 2021, officials in Saskatchewan, Canada found 751 unmarked graves of children who were believed to be the victims of a residential

Amy West ’19, Miss Cherokee 20192021, and her mother, Deborah West ’83, Miss Cherokee 1975. Photos courtesy of Clay Nations Photography.

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Amazing Alumni school there. It was only the latest of several mass cemeteries and graves associated with the residential schools.)

In North Carolina, Amy’s grandmother was forced to attend a residential school near Cherokee. While conditions were better than in some places, the intentional damage to the culture and to Cherokee families was still devastating.

As Miss Cherokee, Amy feels a responsibility to educate the public about this largely ignored piece of native history. In July of this year, Amy organized the Every Child Matters Walk in Cherokee, to honor and memorialize these children.

elements of Cherokee culture. For example, she organized two frybread lunches for the campus, as well as a couple of exhibition stickball games featuring the Kolanvyi (Big Cove) Stickball Team.

The club also hosted a documentary about native stereotypes, called “Smoke Signals.”

Amy and her fellow Cherokee students at MHU benefitted from an agreement between MHU and the EBCI which provides scholarship funds for all students from the tribe who qualify academically.

But the tribe is also generous with qualifying students who choose to go to other colleges and universities.

Amy hopes that as Miss Cherokee, she can not only be an In being both an ambassador to others alumna of Mars Hill outside the EBCI, but University and Miss that she can also be Cherokee, Amy is an example to young following in the people in the tribe, footsteps of her mother, who are historically Deborah West. Deborah less likely to go to is a 1983 graduate of college than white MHU and the 1975 Miss high schoolers in the Cherokee. area.

In fact, Amy Members of the EBCI who graduated from MHU in 2019: (front, l-r): Amy West, According to Amy, when Dre Crowe, Madison Crowe Woodard; (back, l-r) Spencer McCoy, Cruz Galaviz. is currently going she was growing up, her Sashes displaying the student’s name in Cherokee, and the seal of his or her through the process clan, were provided by EBCI. mother made it clear to get approval for that education was scholarship funds to a high priority, but she did not push Amy to attend pursue a master’s degree. Her eventual goal is to work MHU. Rather, Amy said that she chose MHU because with the EBCI’s Department of Education in a role that the campus atmosphere felt comfortable to her. The will benefit and uplift Cherokee youth.

Wests live in the tight-knit Big Cove Community of And, whether as tribal royalty or not, she will continue the Qualla Boundary, private land which is owned by to educate those around her about both the past and the EBCI, and where, Amy said, “everybody knows the present of the Cherokee people. everybody. It’s what I’m used to.”

“A lot of people really don’t know who we are,” Amy Even at MHU, Amy was an educator, assuming the said. “And part of my job, not just as Miss Cherokee, role of president of the Native American Student but as a Cherokee woman, is to educate them. My Association (now the Indigenous Student Association). message is, ‘we’re still here, and we’re thriving.’”

In that role, she led her fellow students in organizing events that would educate others about various

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Prairie Project To Become A “Living Lab”

by Mike Thornhill, Director of Communications

A prairie is growing on the Mars Hill University campus. On a hillside on the north side of campus, student Shaelyn Roberts and biology professor Nicole Soper Gorden, Ph.D., are bringing in native grasses and flowers to retake the land from the invasive and other non-native species which now cover it. The project began in the 2019-2020 academic year with several students growing native seedlings, but got derailed when the COVID-19 pandemic forced the university to finish the school year with remote learning.

“We’re hoping to use it in the biology department as another type of site that we can come out and look at for ecology projects and things like that,” said Soper Gorden. “There are plenty of forest sites we can go to, but not as many native meadow areas.”

Photo below (l-r): Nicole Soper Gorden, assistant professor of biology; Jenifer Miller, grounds supervisor, Ully Martins ’21, facilities employee; Laura Boggess, instructor of biology; Shaelyn Roberts and Pamela Fitzhugh, biology students.

Now Roberts is taking the student lead on the project for her senior seminar. The rising senior from Weaverville, North Carolina, is a biology major, with a concentration in field biology.

According to Soper Gorden, the area will be easier to maintain, and it will provide a a good habitat for birds, reptiles, insects, and other pollinators.

And, importantly for the university, it provides a living lab.

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AMAZING ALUMNI

Life Lessons Marquez Williams ’16 Shares Insights on Life After Football

by Jimmy Knight Director of Cothran Center for Career Readiness

Marquez Williams came to Mars Hill from Athens, Georgia, to play football. Not just to play the game, but, as he put it, to “dominate on the field!”

preparation and meticulous attention to detail iare the keys, he said. This translated to the classroom, football field, and ultimately, his new business.

His career HAS been remarkable. After graduating with a degree in social work, Marquez left MHU in 2016 for Miami to start work on his master’s degree.

The easy phrase to write here would be, “hard work pays off,” but it’s simply too trite to describe the success that Marquez has made for himself and his family (fiancee Abby Curry ’17 and daughter Zephaniah “Zephy”). The more accurate sentiment is that success is something he hunted down. He made things happen that would have otherwise never come together.

He used his final year of NCAA eligibility to play for the University of Miami. Afterwards, he was drafted into the NFL by the Jacksonville Jaguars, continued to the Cleveland Browns, and then the Arena Football League where he played for the Atlantic City Blackjacks. He had started playing for the Houston Roughnecks in the XFL league when COVID-19 shut down the season.

It’s rare to meet someone who lives an “instructional life,” where life lessons become obvious just by meeting and talking to them. It’s rarer, still, to meet someone who accomplishes this in just a few years out of college, but if you get the chance to meet and speak to Marquez Williams, you’ll find that he is that kind of person.

I got to interview Marquez recently about life after football, and how things came together to create a thriving business in the sock industry. Here are some takeaways from our conversation that I would like for all current students and recent graduates to know:

Put in the Work: Odds of a player from a Division II school making it into the NFL are very slim, but Williams climbed his way up. Playing for a Division I power like Miami as a grad student was a big jump, but then to be picked in the NFL draft proves that Marquez’s work ethic of “Do more.

Be more.” was successful. Hours of Right: Marquez with his fiancee Abby Curry ’17, and daughter, Zephy, and with a display of Pop’s Socks.

Far right: Marquez on the field at MHU.

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During his time as a professional athlete, he noticed teammates doing well in side ventures. The light went off about needing a good “Plan B” for his life and supporting his family, in case he got hurt or could no longer play. After a lot of research and personal “sweat equity,” his business venture, Pop’s Socks, was born. (“Pop” is a reference to Marquez’s nickname during his days at the University of Miami.)

Be Open to New Thoughts and Experiences:

Have a Backup Plan:

Williams has a surprising response when asked about the class or classes that impacted him most when he was a student at Mars Hill.

A recent quote on Williams’ Instagram account (@Quezdaman_36, if you’d like to follow him) gives a good summary of his view: “Learn to create opportunities for after the game. Build relationships so that no matter if you aren’t an athlete anymore, people still want to help you. Don’t let this go over your head.”

“Women’s Studies!” he said with little hesitation.

“When I showed up to campus, I was just a punk who thought he knew some stuff. When I took this class, I didn’t know what to expect. Then I learned we all go through serious stuff: things like racism and sexism. I saw the obstacles women have had to overcome and still deal with, and it just really opened my eyes.”

The art of learning HOW to learn was not lost on Williams. He cites his experience in MHU’s liberal arts curriculum as being key in seeing that he needed a plan if football didn’t work out, and being able to identify—and effectively evaluate—new opportunities

According to Marquez, an integral part of creating a Plan B is knowing how to create a network, activating it when needed, and approaching every day as a new opportunity to grow it more.

“Everything just builds on everything!” he said.

He also learned the value of community and connections. Giving back to his community is a high priority for Marquez. That’s why he completed the second annual Marquez Williams Youth Football Camp in Athens in June of 2021. Marquez calls on his connections to enlist former and current Division I and II players and coaches to run the camp for children in the area.

“I noticed my teammate Andre Williams had his own denim line,” Marquez told me, “and he was doing great in it, and really having fun. That inspired me to start looking for something I could do. Another teammate showed me how drop-shipping businesses work. I started reading and asking anyone I could find about finding suppliers, website help, point-of-sale systems, shipping, labels—everything! It took many, many hours, weeks, and months of planning to start Pop’s Socks. But, here we are. I love what I do; I found another passion after football!”

This fall, Marquez has agreed to be part of a symposium panel aimed at educating students on identifying and pursuing unexpected career options.

He will have the opportunity to share more of his success story with our students, as well as some words of wisdom he’s learned along the way. Stay tuned for more information about the symposium, which will be sponsored by the Cothran Center for Career Readiness.

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faculty focus

Mars Hill University Adds

HISTORY PROFESSOR RELEASES BOOK EXAMINING THE LEAD-UP TO WORLD WAR II In his new book, Dr. John Gripentrog, professor of history at Mars Hill University, explores both conventional and nonconventional diplomacy between the United States and Japan in the years leading up to World War II. The book, titled Prelude to Pearl Harbor: Ideology and Culture in U.S.-Japan Relations, 1919-1941, was published this year by Rowman & Littlefield of Maryland, and has met with critical acclaim by scholars of diplomatic and interwar history.

“I saw the need for an updated, wide-lens study of the origins of the AsiaPacific war,” Gripentrog said. “This book draws on years of research, personal background, and classroom discussions over the years with hundreds of Mars Hill University students.”

In the late-1980s, Gripentrog spent a few of years traveling in East Asia and living in Japan. He said the formative experiences of those years have given him a lifetime fascination for the history and culture of East Asia that has formed the basis of his scholarly pursuits.

The seeds for World War II, he argues, were scattered in the soil of global diplomacy following World War I. At that time, America and, more particularly, Woodrow Wilson, led the world toward an understanding of the world order based on the “orderly processes” of “liberal internationalism,” which emphasized democracy, multilateral cooperation, selfdetermination, disarmament, and collective security. These ideals led, ultimately, to the creation of the League of Nations, the precursor to the United Nations.

For a time, Japan embraced a cautious public acceptance of the ideals of liberal internationalism. But ultimately, the relationship between the U.S. and Japan fell victim to what Gripentrog calls competing ideologies of world order.

A rising and rather widespread undercurrent in Japan increasingly saw the ideals of the U.S.-led internationalism “Americans tend to think of Professor John Gripentrog as a front for Anglo-American Pearl Harbor as the beginning supremacy. Further, it saw Japan of World War II, because as an exceptional nation whose duty was to lead and it was the beginning of our active involvement,” protect the interests of Asia, an ideology scholars Gripentrog said. “But the war in Asia not only began refer to as “Pan-Asianist regionalism.” earlier than that, the conditions which set the stage for U.S.-Japan conflict began to develop as early as “My book also highlights in greater depth than the 1920s.” previous books the extent to which American officials Gripentrog argues that previous scholarly explorations of Japan’s increasing militarism in the 1930s as an outgrowth of its need for economic 14 Mars Hill, the Magazine | Fall 2021

New Majors and Minors

security are not incorrect, but they don’t go far enough—or far enough back—in explaining the factors that led toward war.

and media commentators clung to an exaggerated ‘civilian-military split’ within Japan’s polity,” he said. “Japanese militarism and imperialism were

Mars Hill University students will have some new academic options for the fall 2021 semester. Among them are two new majors and three new minors.

NEW MAJORS: Interdisciplinary Studies is a new major that will offer a custom solution for students who find it difficult to narrow their focus to just one major, and who are excited by several academic disciplines or topics. The major also offers a path for those who would like to customize a major to help them prepare for specific career goals.

Community and Nonprofit Leadership offers an option specifically for students who want to work in the world of nonprofit organizations and community development.

NEW MINORS Gripentrog, continued

not confined to a small cabal of ‘military men,’ but rather to a wide swath of officials, including civilian statesmen, intellectuals, the monarchy, and cultural elites,” he said.

These early struggles with a rules-based system of world order, he said, have implications for modern politics and global foreign relations.

Future leaders of our world, like perhaps the young men and women sitting in Gripentrog’s classes at Mars Hill University, can learn from the past as they make decisions for the future of our world.

Community Engagement is a current certificate program, which is being revamped into a minor. The minor is an interdisciplinary program in which students gain an understanding of their own special leadership abilities and how to use those abilities to lead in community organizations.

Pre-Law Studies is a minor for students who may want to pursue a career in the law. It differs from the ones offered by other local institutions in that it is administered by a member of the North Carolina Bar, Heather Hawn, J.D., Ph.D.

Musical Theatre is a minor that will prove an ideal fit for students planning to major in theatre arts or music, and also will provide an academic option for students who enjoy performing, but don’t wish to major in theatre arts, musical theatre, or music.

Students unable to choose between two or more interests can now choose the major interdisciplinary studies.

[A paperback edition of Prelude to Pearl Harbor will be released in October.]

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MHU Legacies After a couple years working as a counselor with Upward Bound in the mid-1980s, Norton returned to management of the bookstore in 1986, at the request of thenpresident Fred Bentley. Since then, his list of responsibilities has grown. At the time of his retirement, Norton’s title was Director of Auxiliary Services. In addition to the bookstore, he had responsibility for food services, conferences and events, university rental properties, campus vending, Paw Prints copy center, and the swimming pool.

Norton said he found the management of the bookstore to be a fulfilling career.

But the thing that made working at Mars Hill University worthwhile, he said, was relationships, especially with students.

After 40 Years, it was the Relationships That Mattered Darryl Norton ’80

by Teresa Buckner, Director of Publications

“I love Mars Hill, and I always have,” Darryl Norton said recently.

That’s why, even now, as he retires after 40 years of working for Mars Hill University, he can’t break with the institution entirely. As he reorders his life around his hobbies rather than his career, he has included volunteering at the Ramsey Center for Appalachian Studies, and he intends to continue his decades-long habit of volunteering with MHU athletics.

Darryl Norton’s relationship with what was then Mars Hill College began with the Upward Bound program during the four summers between his years at Madison High School. He did not know, all those years ago, how much Mars Hill University and the people associated with the institution, would come to mean to his life.

Norton enrolled and spent one semester at Appalachian State University, but soon realized that he preferred the atmosphere of Mars Hill College.

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“I decided I wanted to come back to Mars Hill, where I could be a person and not a social security number,” he said.

He completed the spring semester at Mars Hill, and then found himself at a crossroads. He was in dire need of a summer job so he could continue his education. He said he prayed that God would direct him, help him find a job, and help him know whether he should stay at Mars Hill.

The very next morning, he was offered a job that he didn’t know even existed at the Mars Hill College bookstore. That summer job turned into a workstudy position, and by his senior year, he was offered a position as assistant manager of the MHU bookstore. His major at MHU was accounting, but he also said his work with assistant bookstore manager Kathleen Wallin was the equivalent of a four-year internship, which taught him the realities of business management on a daily basis.

“It was a blessing to work here because of the students and the relationships I formed with them. I tried to reach out to all the students that I could and help them as much as possible,” he said. “My job here, it never really was about the pay. I always considered my job half missionary and half career, because I feel like that’s what we’re here on earth to do as Christians.”

Many of the students with whom Norton formed close relationships through the years were members of Delta Kappa Theta Fraternity. Norton was the advisor for the fraternity for over 25 years and referred to the young men involved as “my kids.”

He said he saw his position as not just an advisor, but also as a mentor to the fraternity members.

“When those young men came to Mars Hill, I felt they came not just to learn, but to grow. And the best way to grow is to learn responsibility,” he said. “And that’s what a lot of them did during the four years at Mars Hill, and I was blessed with seeing that growth.”

Norton said he also enjoyed the wonderful relationships with the staff who worked for him in the various departments he managed.

“The success of everything I’ve done is not me. It’s the people I’ve worked with. I was blessed with the best staff, hands down, and I loved them just like family. And still do.”

Norton said he also enjoyed relationships with many faculty, beginning in his days as a student. He was especially close to Harley and Betty Jolley (history professors), Tom and Gail Sawyer (religion professor and psychology/sociology professor), and Coach Harrell Wood (physical education professor), Frances Snelson (presidential secretary) and Mildred Bingham (business professor). Norton said he benefitted from the nurture and wisdom of people like these, who formed his concept of the ideal that is a Mars Hill education.

As an outgrowth of his relationships with retired faculty and alumni, Norton has been a participant in, or the coordinator of, several alumni trips to all areas of the globe. He said he loved the memories he made through his travels to the American West (led by Harley and Stuart Jolley), Turkey, Greece, Alaska, Italy, Israel, and Egypt.

During most of his tenure at Mars Hill University, Norton has been a consistent volunteer with MHU athletics. According to Athletic Director Rick Baker, Norton has long kept the scorebooks for the MHU basketball teams. He is a member of the Lions Athletic Club and he works in the concession stand quite often (when he’s not keeping the books) during the basketball season. He has also driven vans many times to away events for several teams, including basketball and tennis.

Left page: Darryl stands in the Mars Hill University Bookstore.

This page, top: young Darryl Norton as a student at Mars Hill College; middle: with his mother, Charlotte Norton, in the College Street Ice Cream and Soda Shoppe; bottom: with history professor Betty Jolley, on an alumni trip to the American West.

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MHU Legacies Norton, continued

“Darryl is very devoted to MHU and wants the institution to excel,” Baker said. “He has a tireless work ethic and always puts others first. He is willing to help anyone and goes the extra mile to make MHU succeed. His unselfish nature is what makes Darryl special.”

Baker said that Norton also brings a sense of humor to every situation. “Darryl’s sense of humor always cheers me up,” he said. “He is extremely generous with his time, volunteering to help athletics any way he can. He is thoughtful, dependable, and trustworthy. He truly cares about our students.”

In the early-1990s, Norton made a proposal to President Max Lennon for an ice cream and soda shop on campus. Lennon agreed, and hired Norton’s mother, Charlotte Norton, to run the College Street Ice Cream and Soda Shoppe. Over the next 25 years, “Miss Charlotte” made a great many relationships with students herself. After she passed away in 2020, Darryl said he found several notes from student in her house, which expressed appreciation to “Miss Charlotte” for her kindness, concern, and friendship.

Miss Charlotte was also a die-hard Lions basketball fan. As Darryl Norton kept books, his mother sat prominently in the arena, where she could cheer for her Lions. In the months since her death, Norton has made a commitment to create an athletics scholarship in her memory.

2003. Norton had the idea to publish a pictorial history of the college’s first 150 years. Lunsford liked the idea and suggested that he aim to finish the publication in time for the college’s sesquicentennial (150 years) celebration in 2006.

Over the next few years, Norton, together with retired Registrar Robert Chapman ’45 and retired Vice President of Publications Walter Smith ’49 scoured thousands of photos, researched the history of the institution, wrote copy, and guided the project to completion. Through the Long Years, Photographic Reminiscences of Mars Hill College, was published in 2006. Since then, it has been a treasured source of history and inspiration for faculty, staff, alumni, and other friends of the university.

These days, Norton said he enjoys keeping up with alumni on Facebook and he always welcomes new “friends” on social media. And although he has retired from his daily service to the university, he looks back on his 40 years with fondness. “I gave it my best,” he said, “and I hope I made a difference. I’ve been blessed.”

He said he hopes his volunteering will still give him the opportunity to continue to interact with students at MHU. “That’s what’s important to me,” he said.

Another proposal that formed part of Norton’s legacy to MHU was one he made to Dr. Dan Lunsford around

4MHU

Day

Copies of Through the Long Years are available at the MHU Bookstore.

Lions Digging in with Beginning in fall 2021, all First Year MHU Lions will add to their classroom experience through PAWS, a holistic co-curricular program that serves to complement the MHU liberal arts curriculum.

PAWS

Ryan W. Bell, Director of First Year Academic Success and Advising said, “A liberal arts education is not confined to the classroom or class meetings; campus events and experiences function as edifying ‘lab’ components to classes and seminars. Therefore, PAWS is not an additional piece of MHU’s promise to provide a liberal arts education to our students; it is, rather, an integral part of that education.”

Students complete the program by attending 42 events over four years across four distinct categories, each of which relates to the MHU mission.

PAWS will be a graduation requirement for all traditional undergraduate students moving forward.

All events in all categories must have clear student learning outcomes. Faculty and staff will be able to submit events, as can student organizations, with approval from the organization’s advisor. There will be at least 10 events in each category each semester.

PAWS events will be tracked using Presence, a new platform which has an event management

component.

Students will be able to see at any time how many events they have attended and in what categories, in addition to seeing upcoming events. Presence can also provide almost any imaginable data about the events related to the demographics of attendees. This will help MHU better provide programming that reaches a wider audience and perhaps encourages some students to step outside their comfort zones.

According to Chaplain Stephanie McLeskey, “PAWS gives students an incentive to take advantage of all Mars Hill has to offer during their undergraduate careers. The program also holds the university accountable for providing a well-rounded, relevant, co-curricular experience for them as they dream of, plan for, and build toward a successful and fulfilling life beyond graduation.”

The categories of PAWS events are:

Planned for March 3rd

Day4MHU will be on Thursday, March 3, so mark your calendars and prepare to show your support in one or all of the following ways!

• Purpose/Calling: These events focus on life/career/vocational discernment—helping a student

imagine what they want their life to look like, and teaching tools and skills to help meet that goal.

• Arts/Academics: These events engage students with the academic departments at MHU in ways

that are different from the “typical” classroom experience—including theatre productions, political debates, art openings, guest speakers, and a wide variety of other opportunities.

1. Give back to the fund of your choice on 3-3-2022. (We recommend the Mars Hill Fund as it supports the university’s greatest needs!)

• Well-being: These events emphasize physical and mental wellness—helping students to develop

2. Post a personal plea picture or video, encouraging others to participate. Let others know why your alma mater is important to you and why they should support MHU.

• Spiritual formation/Character: These events focus on spiritual and character development—

3. Spread the word! Discuss Day4MHU with your former classmates, teammates, etc.

4. Wear your Mars Hill gear!

positive habits of wellness, and helping them appreciate the value of those habits.

engaging students in reflection of what kind of person they want to be, and how they connect with God/humanity/community.

Stay tuned for more updates as Day4MHU draws closer.

18 Mars Hill, the Magazine | Fall 2021

Mars Hill, the Magazine | Fall 2021 19

Donor Generosity Supports

Mars Hill Fund monies, together with two donations for specific needs, have resulted in numerous facilities improvements across campus during the past few months. And whether they are readily visible or not, all those facilities upgrades make an impact on the student experience.

Perhaps the most visible and impactful improvement in the past year is the replacement of the lights at Meares Stadium. The new state-of-the-art lights are a point of pride for MHU athletics, and they have made possible the three night games now planned for MHU’s 2021 fall football schedule.

The old wooden light poles that encircled Meares Stadium for many years continue to be an asset to the campus, but in a different form. MHU facilities staff repurposed the wood from the poles into a beautiful new bridge across Gabriels Creek near the Hart Tennis Complex.

Other recent upgrades include: • repairs to the roof and guttering of Renfro Library, • new pavement at Dickson-Palmer apartments and Lunsford apartments, • repairs to the HVAC system in the Wall/Ferguson Science complex • improvements to the roof and grounds of Pittman Dining Hall, and • additional digital signage.

20 Mars Hill, the Magazine | Fall 2021

Facilities Upgrades

Due to a sizeable gift from Trustee Charlie Trammell and his wife, Sandra (both class of 1959) of Memphis, Tenn., residents of Huffman Residence Hall may look forward to air conditioning when they return to campus in the late summer months.

An additional gift from a local business will make a difference for shows and productions on the Moore Auditorium stage.

Dimensions Studio donated “Marley” flooring for the stage when the business closed its Weaverville location.

These and other renovations across campus are the direct result of the many gifts from alumni and friends to the Mars Hill Fund. Small steps add up to a university with big spirit.

Background photo: the bridge at the Hart Tennis Complex.

Photos at right, top to bottom: New state-of-the-art lights in Ammons Family Athletic Center and Charlie and Sandra Trammell.

Mars Hill, the Magazine | Fall 2021 21

Campus News

Mars Hill University Receives $10,000 Grant to Enhance Vocational Exploration

MHU Students Selected for Prestigious Nursing Program

According to Chaplain Stephanie McLeskey, the goals of the grant fit in well with MHU’s liberal arts curriculum, as well as its mission statement, which promises to provide an education that is “connected with the world of work.”

these ideas relate to the institutional mission and identity, including religious identity. Participants will engage in a series of events, including book discussion groups and workshops. The goal of this work will be to create a common vision, vocabulary, and approach to student development in relation to discernment of career and life goals. At the end of the academic year, a selected cohort of 15 members of faculty/staff will participate in an overnight retreat in which they will develop a strategic plan for turning the discussion outcomes into action.

Two nursing students in Mars Hill University’s Judge-McRae School of Nursing spent the summer learning from and working with nurses at Veterans Administration facilities in the area. Michaela Baker of Arden, North Carolina, and William Brawley of Morganton, North Carolina, were selected for the VALOR Program at the Western North Carolina VA Health Care System. VALOR stands for VA Learning Opportunities Residency. It gives rising seniors in nursing schools the opportunity to work as residents in a clinical setting at a Veterans Administration medical facility.

MHU will use the funds to provide professional development of faculty and staff to explore concepts of both individual and collective calling, and how

This initiative is administered by the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) with generous support from Lilly Endowment Inc., and members’ dues.

More than 20 students from across the region applied for the four VALOR positions available this summer at the health care system. Following a rigorous selection process, Mars Hill students were selected to fill two of those positions.

Mars Hill University has received a $10,000 grant from the Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education (NetVUE), a nationwide network of colleges and universities formed to enrich the intellectual and theological exploration of vocation among undergraduate students.

Inaugural Blackwell Scholars Announced

The purpose of the MHU Alumni Board is to represent you, the MHU alumni. Their job is to connect alumni to each other, to the MHU administration, and to the university itself through promoting alumni participation in MHU activities. Members serve three-year terms.

Current alumni board members are: President: McKelle Ulm ’02, Willow Spring, N.C. ; Vice President: Jameson Donnell ’12, Charlotte, N.C.; Secretary: Kelly Holdway ’02, Greer, S.C. Ex-Officio Member: Dr. Joy Kish ’82, Sr. Director of Alumni & Trustee Relations.

McKelle Ulm ’02

Additional members:

The Blackwell Scholarship was made possible by a generous donation to Mars Hill University from the estate of Judge Robert Blackwell of Yanceyville, N.C.

22 Mars Hill, the Magazine | Fall 2021

Photo, above (l-r): Michaela Baker, Dr. Deborah Wiltshire, JMSON director of nursing, and William Brawley.

Get to know YOUR Alumni Board

Mars Hill University announces nine students who will make up the inaugural class of Blackwell Scholars. The Blackwell Scholarship is an academic and meritbased award which recognizes students who are involved in leadership and citizenship activities in their high schools, and want to continue in those types of roles at Mars Hill University.

Along with receiving a significant financial award, Blackwell Scholars will work with on-campus mentors to help them develop leadership skills, broaden connections on campus, and engage in important events and projects on- and off-campus. The mentors for the 2021-2022 academic year are Amanda Knapp, Ph.D., associate professor of chemistry; and Monica Gordy Polizzi, assistant athletic director and senior woman administrator for MHU athletics.

Baker and Brawley began the program in June and finished in August. They worked 400 hours in a paid

preceptorship and completed an evidence-based project that they presented at the end of the summer to the medical center’s leadership. For nurses who successfully complete the VALOR program, the Western North Carolina VA Health Care System commits to offering fulltime nursing positions after graduation at a higher pay rate than new graduates without the VALOR experience.

The inaugural Blackwell Scholars are: Brandon Edward Bailes, Gibsonville, N.C.; Bruno Barrera Hernandez, Spindale, N.C.; Samuel Reilly Evans, Bostic N.C.; Haley Nicole Hargus, Zirconia, N.C.; John Albert Jackson II, Kernersville, N.C.; Lexis Makendal Lusk , Leicester, N.C.; Camryn Jeannette Miller, Sandy, Utah; Jarib Jachin Pott , Weaverville, N.C.; Caroline M. Rizzo, Flagler Beach, Fla.

Ann Bennett ’81, Boynton Beach, Fla. Carter Benge ’14, Lillington, N.C. Kiel Bollero ’14, Charlotte, N.C. Janis Blackwell ’68, Lubbock, Texas Maxine Brown ’98, Marshall, N.C. Bob Burnette ’79, Belmont, N.C. Greta Byrd ’88, Asheville, N.C. Terry Chavis ’14, Greensboro, N.C. Louie Cox ’67, Lexington, N.C. Whitney Davis ’98, Bryson City, N.C. Bobby Dean Franklin ’67, Chuckey, Tenn.

Jeff Flowers ’81, Evans, Ga. Justin Gragg ’12, Hudson, N.C. Monnie Griggs ’94, Bahama, N.C. Charles Harbison ’95 Charlotte, N.C.

Derek Hodges ’04, Sevierville, Tenn.

Tara Hornick ’99, Indian Trail, N.C. Gerry Hutchinson ’76, Stone Mtn., Ga. Wayne King ’79, Greenville, S.C. Sarah Lemons ’98, Fuquay-Varina, N.C. Brian Matlock ’98, Asheville, N.C. Hal Messick ’88, Lewisville, N.C. Barry Moore ’90, Weaverville, N.C. Kellye Ratcliff ’86, Simpsonville, S.C. Kellie Shirley ’88, Arden, N.C. Patrick Spence ’98, Weaverville, N.C. Bob Taylor ’84, Arden, N.C. Annie Westbrook ’12, Alpharetta, Ga. Sheryl Wilson ’91, Asheville, N.C.

Kelly Holdway ’02

Jameson Donnell ’12

Mars Hill, the Magazine | Fall 2021 23

Campus News

MHU Welcomes New Director of Bands When the Mountain Lion Marching Band takes the field for the fall football season, it will be under new leadership. Dr. Hunter Kopczynski is the university’s new director of bands, a role which includes codirection of the marching band with director of percussion studies, Dr. Brian Tinkel.

An assistant professor of music at Mars Hill, Kopczynski teaches conducting and music education courses. As director of bands, he conducts the wind symphony as well as co-directing the marching band.

“I am honored to serve the students and community of Mars Hill University as the next director of bands,” Kopczynski said. “I’m excited to work with our incredible students and alongside the respected faculty of MHU as we create experiences, develop globally-minded exceptional studentmusicians, and build the future of a legacy.”

Kopczynski earned the Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees in wind conducting from Michigan State University. He also completed a Master of Arts in education and a Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude, in music from Virginia Tech. While at MSU, he was active in all aspects of the band and wind conducting programs in the College of Music and served as a Leadership Fellow in the graduate school.

Recent artistic projects include collaborations with composers David Biedenbender, Anna Clyne, and Elena Specht; soprano Michelle Johnson; pianist Zhao Wang; Musique21; and the Maryland Chamber Winds.

Kopczynski taught for seven years in the public schools of Virginia, teaching middle and high school band in Roanoke County and most recently as director of bands at Warhill High School in Williamsburg. While teaching in Virginia, he was active in the Virginia Band and Orchestra Directors’ Association and served on several school and district committees. Kopczynski is an active adjudicator, clinician, and guest conductor, and has presented at state and regional music education conferences.

He holds professional membership in the College Band Directors National Association and the National Association for Music Education.

Boone Receives Teaching Award Dr. Natalie Boone, assistant professor of health, human performance, and recreation at Mars Hill University, has been named as the 2021 University Teacher of the Year by the Physical Education Association of NCSHAPE. According to information from NC SHAPE, a professional organization representing North Carolina’s 4,000+ health & physical education teachers at the kindergarten through 12th grade level, the award is given for members who demonstrate leadership, meritorious service to the profession, and active service to the board and committees of the NC SHAPE organization.

Boone teaches in the Department of Health and Human Performance at MHU and works closely 24 Mars Hill, the Magazine | Fall 2021

with the Department of Education to advise and supervise those students who plan to go into teaching.

Boone leads presentations and professional development workshops for physical education teachers through NC SHAPE, as well as the Western Regional Education Service Alliance (WRESA) and the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching (NCCAT). She has also served on the boards of directors for both NC SHAPE and WRESA.

MHU Begins Acrobatics and Tumbling Team Article by Adam Williams, Director of Athletic Communications Photos by Jaime McKee ’00, Director of Online Presence and New Media

In winter of 2020, Mars Hill University announced the hiring of Shelby Armstrong as the first head coach for the newly-added acrobatics and tumbling team. The addition created the university’s 23rd varsity sport, which will begin competition in the winter/spring crossover of 2021.

Upon graduation from the University of Oregon in 2016, Armstrong created an acrobatics and tumbling program in Austin, Texas, called Tumble Tech. Serving as the Director of Acrobatics and Tumbling, Armstrong instructed basic progressions and modified collegiate acrobatics and tumbling skills while also coaching the power tumbling team and tumbling classes.

“I am honored to be named the head coach of the first acrobatics & tumbling team at Mars Hill University,” Armstrong stated. “I believe my experience as an athlete and as a collegiate coach, having previously built a program, will make me a great addition to the Mars Hill community and university. I am grateful to Rick Baker for the opportunity, and excited for this new journey on the Hill.”

Armstrong hit the ground running in the recruiting aspect, signing 19 athletes to the program. The inaugural class spans the United States with signees from 14 different states with North Carolina, Texas, and California producing two apiece.

“I am very excited for the level of talent and character in our Inaugural class,” Armstrong added. “I am looking forward most to sharing my passion for this sport with 14 new freshmen and our three upperclassmen, and for the leadership role our two transfers will play in leading this first-year team.”

In early June, Mars Hill became an associate member of Conference Carolinas, becoming the third South Atlantic Conference school to add the program, joining Coker and Limestone.

Top: Team member Alexandra Helmers (junior) Middle (l-r): Team members Karrington Lacy, Alexandra Helmers, Victoria Chambers, McKinsey Ruhland.

Bottom: Coach Shelby Armstrong.

Mars Hill, the Magazine | Fall 2021 25

Athletics

Lion Athletes and Coaches Recognized by the SAC

both the pre and post season while also helping lead her team to their fourth straight SAC Tournament Bid. Austin Treadway was honored as the 2021 Elite 20 Award winner for baseball, presented by the South Atlantic Conference on Friday, April 23. This award honors the student-athlete with the top cumulative grade-point average (based on a minimum of 48 credit hours) in each of the league’s 20 team championship sports. Treadway, an infielder from Cherryville, N.C., graduated summa cum laude in May, with a major in health and human performance.

Article by Adam Williams, Director of Athletic Communications CommunicationsGraphics by Tatum Boggs, Assistant Women’s Basketball Coach

Mars Hill athletics saw a bevy of awards during the 2020-21 school year.

Many student-athletes excelled, both on and off their respective playing surfaces, and were recognized for their hard work.

Three Lions were selected by the South Atlantic Conference as their respective sports’ Scholar Athlete of the Year. Those awarded that special honor were women’s basketball’s Gabby Gianikos, men’s soccer’s Jeppe Christensen, and volleyball’s Ully Martins. Austin Treadway of the baseball team was named the Elite 20 Award winner.

Within the department, men’s soccer head coach Gregg Munn ’14 was selected as the SAC’s Coach of the Year, as voted on by his peers within the league. Munn, an MHU alumnus, led the Lions to a 3-2-2 record and an appearance in the conference

The South Atlantic Conference Scholar Athlete of the Year award is presented annually to one student-athlete in each of the conference’s championship sports and is voted on by the SAC’s Faculty Athletic Representatives Committee. The winners are selected based on their achievements in academics, athletics, service, and leadership.

1970s

U #MH U #MH

26 Mars Hill, the Magazine | Fall 2021

Mars Hill, the Magazine of Mars Hill University welcomes your personal snapshots when you send in news of weddings, babies, accomplishments, etc. Send your news and photos to alumni@mhu.edu, or Alumni Office, P.O. Box 6792, Mars Hill, N.C. 28754.

U ac #MHall -s

Ully Martins, a senior defensive specialist, was a member of the women’s volleyball program for four years and graduated magna cum laude in May, majoring in computer science. Martins made the Mars Hill Dean’s List all four years as well the SAC Commissioner’s Honor Roll her first three years.

In a short 10-match spring season, she concluded her senior season with 223 digs, 34 assists, and six aces, and became No. 1 in the league for digs per set and digs overall. She was named to SAC First Team All-Conference in

Allen Shelley and the athletic training staff were awarded the David Riggins Service Award at the league’s annual meeting held in early June. The David Riggins Service Award is awarded annually to administrators at member institutions based on their outstanding service to their institutions and the South Atlantic Conference. Further, the individuals would have displayed loyalty to the ideals of the South Atlantic Conference and NCAA Division II. Marty Gilbert ’99 was the inaugural recipient of the award established in 2019.

Class Notes

Gabby Gianikos, a senior guard, was a member of the women’s basketball program for four years and maintained the highest cumulative GPA in the program of 17 members. She was a studio art major and graduated summa cum laude this spring with her bachelor’s degree. Gianikos faced and overcame a spinal fusion and ACL/meniscus surgery her sophomore year only to become a team captain and starter in her junior season. She led the team in assists (2.0), while averaging 4.9 points per game and 3.1 rebounds.

As she finished her senior season, she led her team in assists, was 4th in the SAC for minutes played, 9th in points, and 13th in points per game.

Jeppe Christensen, a senior business administration major, is a fourtime Mars Hill Dean’s List selection. He has been named to the SAC Commissioner’s Honor Roll each of the last four years and has been selected as a Mars Hill marshal. He will graduate in December of 2021. On the field, Christensen was a 2020-21 second team All-SAC selection as a defender. A two-time team captain, he played and started in all six matches this spring, leading the Lions to a berth in the SAC Men’s Soccer Spring Tournament. He anchored a defense that allowed just 2.01 goals per game and recorded two shutouts in the spring of 2021. Christensen finished the season with five shots, including three on goal.

tournament for the first time since 2017 as a No. 6 seed. He coached the leading point scorer in the league, Sebastian Bertilsson, as well as two-time Defensive Player of the Week, Brennan Whalen.

******** ******** ******** ********

LIONS LIONS LIONS Elite 20 ******** ********

TREADWAY X AUSTIN ________________ COACH OF THE YEAR

sac

Melba Smith Evans ’70, president of the National Organization for Women, Charlotte, N.C. chapter, is the 2020 recipient of the IMPACT Award. The award is given by the the Charlotte-Mecklenburg LGBT Chamber of Commerce to honor women and non-binary individuals for their great work and impact in the community.

Melba Evans is a retired educator who has always had a passion for social justice. Her career was spent in Title 1 public schools and upon retirement she resumed teaching at Central Piedmont Community College, working with international students. Melba has been an advocate in the Charlotte/Mecklenburg area for immigration, LGBTQ equality, and other issues.

Dr. John Edward Saunders ’75 has retired as the director of missions for Roanoke Valley Baptist Association after 6 1/2 years and 45 years of ministry. He and his wife, Sally Phillips Saunders ’78, will continue living in Salem, Va., after his retirement.

Dr. Steven Chicurel-Stein ’77 was awarded professor emeritus status following his retirement from the University of Central Florida in May 2021. This honor was granted in recognition of his distinguished performance, outstanding contributions, and exceptional service to the UCF community as a professor and administrator. He

spent a total of 30 years working in higher education, 19 of which were at UCF. Dr. Chicurel-Stein served on the MHU faculty from 1997 to 2000.

Cynthia Lynn Peterson ’78 has been appointed vice-

chair of the Texas Library Association Lariat Reading List committee. The Lariat List is devoted to adult fiction “that is a pleasure to read.” Each year the nine-member committee reads upwards of 100 works of fiction, then whittles the list down to 25. The Texas Library Association sponsors seven committees devoted to choosing book lists based on age groups and genres, of which the Lariat is one.

1980s

Darryl Norton ’80 retired from MHU in October of 2020, after 40 years with the institution. See the story about him on page 16 of this publication.

Dr. Michael Sitton ’80 retired in July 2020 as Dean Emeritus of The Crane School of Music at The State University of New York (SUNY) Potsdam in northern New York, where he had served as dean since 2009. His teaching and administrative career in higher education spanned 33 years and four institutions. At his retirement, he was awarded SUNY Potsdam’s Roger B. Linden Mars Hill, the Magazine | Fall 2021 27

Class Notes Distinguished Service Award, and granted lifetime honorary membership in its alumni association. He lives with his partner Mark in central Vermont, where he plans to continue work as a performing pianist, teacher, and composer. He is also active in the music program at Christ Episcopal Church in Montpelier, where he serves on the church vestry.

Susan Ramsey Platt ’83 has been appointed vice chair

of the Horry County Historic Preservation Commission.

She is also the president and a founding member of the North Myrtle Beach Historic Preservation Society, which was instrumental in saving the historic Ingram Dunes located in North Myrtle Beach, S.C. Susan currently works in commercial real estate sales at TRAAD real estate in Myrtle Beach. She and her husband reside in North Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Magay Shepard ’84, Trustee, Senior Vice President/

Investments for Shepard Wealth Management Group, has been named to Forbes’ America’s Top Women Advisors List for the second consecutive year. Shepard joined Shepard Wealth Management Group, which is affiliated with Stifel financial services firms, in 2009. She and her husband, Rev. Dr. Tim Moore, live in Charlotte.

Dr. Phillip Wayne Turner ’87 will celebrate 30 years

as pastor of Pine Street Baptist Church in Richmond, Va., on July 1, 2021. Pine Street Baptist Church has been Turner’s only pastorate since graduating from Union Theological Seminary in 1991. The church is located in an inner-city community of Richmond, and has an active ministry to the homeless population there. Phillip and his wife, Jennifer, have two adult daughters.

1990s

JeanAnn Everidge Taylor ’92 has published a book

titled Mermaid Magic, An Enchanting Story of Secrets and Adventure. The book, which was published by Grateful Steps Publishing in Asheville, N.C., is a children’s book featuring JeanAnn’s own watercolor illustrations.

Patrick Lemont Crudup ’95 has been promoted to

Division Chief with the Asheville Fire Department. With his promotion, Chief Crudup becomes the highest-ranking African American in the history of the Asheville Fire Department. Read more about Chief Crudup in a “Mountain Mover” article about him on the MHU website: mhu.edu/mm.

Sarah Lemons

Sarah Beth Simmons Lemons ’98 has been

named the senior director of quality systems at Beam Therapeutics, located in Research Triangle Park, N.C. Beam Therapeutics is a company which aims to combat serious disease through precision genetic medicines.

Previously she was the Director of Quality Systems at Seqirus located in Holly Springs, N.C. She lives in Fuquay-Varina, N.C.

Amanda Metcalf ’99 has been named the dean of the

College of Education, Health, and Human Performance at Fairmont State University in Fairmont, W.V.

Copeland Parrish

Aaron Daniel Annas ’02 is the creator of a feature

documentary film, “There’s No Such Thing as Ghosts?,” which was released last year by 1091 Pictures. In an article about the film, Annas said the purpose of the film is to find out why people believe what they do about the subject. Currently, Annas is an associate professor and the director of television and film arts at State University of New York at Buffalo State. Daniel credits his time at Mars Hill with beginning his career in storytelling.

Teresa Tysinger ’02 has published her third novel, Someone Found (2021), and her fourth novel, Say It’s for Good, is due for release in late 2021 or early 2022. The two novels will complete her Laurel Cove Series, which is set in Laurel Cove, N.C., a fictional town inspired by Burnsville, N.C. Tysinger is also the author of two story collections. Her books are available on Amazon.

Andrea Bailey, ’06 married Eric Coleman on May 30, 2021. The couple lives in Asheville, N.C. Andrea is the choir director for Higgins Methodist Church in Burnsville, N.C. Brian Danforth ’06 has been promoted to assistant vice president for development and executive director of the University of Florida Alumni Association. In July, Brian completed eight years with development at the University of Florida. Brian lives with his wife, LaZendra, and their two sons in Gainesville, Fla.

Kaitlyn Allen Parrish ’11 and her husband, Matthew, welcomed their son, Copeland Canyon, on April 7, 2021.

Jacob and Dani Finkbiner (classes of ’12 and ’14)

had a daughter, Selah Mercy, on December 16, 2020.

Selah has two older sisters, Shiloh, who is 6, and Adlie, who is 3.

Billy ’13 and India Ellis Bomar ’14 had a son, Lewis

Rook Bomar, on February 15, 2021. The Bomars live in Greensboro, N.C., where Billy is an attorney at the Law Offices of Adams and Winfree.

Wayne ’13 and Olivia Buckner Ellis ’13 had a son on January 20, 2021, Palmer Luke Ellis. Palmer has a sister, Quinn, who is three years old. The Ellis family lives in Spruce Pine, N.C. Lauryn Christians Higgins ’15 was among the New York Times staff who contributed to the newspaper’s data-heavy coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. In

Since the last issue of Mars Hill, the Magazine, we have learned of the following deaths of alumni and other members of the MHU community.

Lois Parsons Stringfield Simone ’38, Salisbury, N.C.,

Jessie Reynolds Clay ’17 recently completed her

master’s degree in English rhetoric and professional writing from Western Carolina University. She is currently an adjunct English instructor at AshevilleBuncombe Technical Community College as well as the communications and development coordinator at Evergreen Community Charter School in Asheville, N.C.

Bryan Barbee ’20 has been hired as an activities director at Valley Nursing and Rehabilitation in Taylorsville, N.C. He is also working on his master’s degree in Human Services from Lenoir-Rhyne University, with an expected graduation date of 2022.

George L Buchanan ’42, Knoxville, Tenn., May 22, 2020 Dr. James “Luther” Jarvis ’42, Concord, N.C., April

27, 2021

Marie Lois Sparks Clay ’45, Greenville, S.C., February

22, 2021

Betty Jane Wheeler Pinkerton ’46, Duluth, Ga.,

March 8, 2021 1940s

Arthur Leonard Beaman, Jr. ’40, Buffalo, N.Y., March

1, 2020

James “Jim” Tabor Hutchins, Sr. ’40, Raleigh, N.C., May 2, 2020

Marjorie E Carter Kruschwitz ’40, Florence, Ky.,

November 19, 2020

28 Mars Hill, the Magazine | Fall 2021

June 2021, the newspaper received the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for its coverage of the pandemic. The award is shared by several departments at the NYT. Lauryn was featured as a “Mountain Mover” on the MHU website earlier this year. Readers may access that story at mhu.edu/mm.

Fayellen Fullam Pitts ’44, Asheville, N.C., July 27, 2019

December 26, 2020

Brian Danforth

Jessie Clay

In Memoriam

1930s

Andrea Bailey and Eric Coleman

Quinn and Palmer Ellis

Lewis Bomar

2010s

2000s

Teresa Tysinger

Shiloh, Selah, and Adlie Finkbiner

Rev. Harry David Vance ’46, Sylva, N.C., March 4, 2021 Willard R. Jordan ’47, Sandersville, Ga., May 5, 2020 John Brooks May ’47, Ridgecrest, N.C., January 31, 2021

Barbara “Anne” Davis McKnight ’47, Yadkinville, N.C.,

January 19, 2021

Mars Hill, the Magazine | Fall 2021 29

In Memoriam Mary Jewell “Judy” Spain Oliver ’47, Waco, Texas,

Bonnie Sue Eller Conn ’51, Nashville, Tenn., April 16,

January 4, 2021

2021

Eleanor Frances Ostwalt Poe ’47, El Paso, Texas,

Jessie “Burlen” Aldridge ’52, Robbinsville, N.C.,

March 23, 2021

Elizabeth “Lib” Hamilton Howard Willoughby ’47,

March 7, 2021

Gladys “Marie” Draper Bingham ’52, Knoxville, Tenn.,

Clyde, N.C., January 3, 2021

January 15, 2021

Robert Jacob Miller ’48, Roswell, Ga., September 23,

Patsy Rebecca Pearson Crump ’52, Raleigh, N.C.,

2020

April 22, 2021

John Carl “J.C.” Wallin, Jr. ’59, Weaverville, N.C., March 10, 2021

1960s

Maxine Hamrick Kennedy ’60, Shelby, N.C., March 27,

2021

Marian Lee Miller ’60, Fairview, N.C., March 18, 2021 Amelia Ann Coates Johnson ’61, Hendersonville, N.C.,

December 23, 2020

Fred Hubert Garner, Sr. ’52, Sanford, N.C., August 4,

February 20, 2021

2020

Dean DeWitt Trivette ’48, Winston-Salem, N.C., July

Chester “Chet” Richard Boyd, Jr. ’53, Asheboro, N.C.,

February 11, 2021

Angelene “Angie” Woodruff Wright ’48, Pinehurst,

Doris Neomia Bogie Bryan ’54, Salisbury, N.C.

John Harris Roberson ’48, Manchester, Tenn.,

26, 20’

N.C., February ’, 2021

William Joseph “Joe” Caskey ’49, Florence, S.C.,

October 3, 2020

January 4, 2020

Dixie Anne Jordan Potts ’54, Casselberry, Fla., March

Nancy Jo Hannah Corriher ’62, Raleigh, N.C.,

Thomas “Tommy” George Rich, Jr. ’62, Garner, N.C., March 29, 20’

Jerry Lloyd Dyer ’65, Horse Shoe, N.C., May 21, 2021 Dr. James Michael “Mike” Arnette ’67, Matthews,

December 5, 2020

29, 2021

N.C., January 22, 2020

Elizabeth “Libby” Hester Davis Cilley ’49, Essex Jct,

Leonard Carey Tilson ’54, Clemmons, N.C., February

Katy Ann Yancey Christmas ’67, Roxboro, N.C.,

Vt., December 25, 2020

28, 2021

Leon Lewis Kittrell, Jr. ’49, Dunn, N.C., June 28, 2020

Gerald Smith Echols ’55, Asheville, N.C., May 31, 2021

Bobby Huntley Lamb ’49, Garland, N.C., May 19, 2021

Homer Fred Greene ’55, Hickory, N.C., October 28,

Dr. Robert “Leary” Reid, Sr. ’49, Lincolnton, N.C.,

2020

Rev. Howard “Cloyes” Starnes ’49, Waynesville, N.C.,

16, 2021

Laura Evelyn Nanney Wallace ’49, Gastonia, N.C.

May 16, 2021

Elsie “Marilyn” Gaines Wetherington ’49, Melvern,

February 1, 2021

Charlotte Lane Wilson Wilkening ’49, Prince

November 27, 2020

February 17, 2020 February 17, 2021 January 4, 20’

Ark., May 8, 2021

Frederick, Md., March 6, 2021

1950s

Althea “Grace” Erwin Lane ’55, Franklin, N.C., March

Carolyn Evedna Killian Tillman ’55, Burlington, N.C., Dr. Watson Hewell Black ’56, Kannapolis, N.C.,

October 26, 20’

Julian James “Jim” Blanton, Jr. ’73, Bowling Green, Va., May 27, 2021

Mary Frank Yates ’73, Millers Creek, N.C., September

23, 2020

Terry Alan Usery ’74, Bessemer City, N.C., February 14, 2021

Margaret Coward Edwards ’79, Asheville, N.C.,

February 28, 2021

1980s

Margaret Faye Tabor Moss ’80, Spruce Pine, N.C.,

March 8, 2021

Peggy Amos Womack ’82, Forest City, N.C., May 21,

2020

Jeffrey “Jeff” Ricks Southall ’85, Weddington, N.C., April 8, 2021

Divver “Barkley” Hendrix, Jr. ’67, Charlotte, N.C.,

March 2, 2021

Robert “Bob” Earl Simpson ’67, Wilmington, Del.,

May 31, 2020

Paul Herman Thompson, Jr. ’67, Fairmont, N.C.,

November 16, 2020

Wanda Susan Locklear ’68, Fairmont, N.C., February

8, 2019

1990s

Mary Elizabeth “Bett” Speir Stroud ’91, Weaverville,

N.C., February 14, 2021

Patricia “Patty” Ann Gillum Buckner ’92, Candler,

N.C., February 9, 2021

Diane Ramsey Maxwell ’96, Hendersonville, N.C., May

25, 2021.

Andy Lewis Stevens ’68, Arden, N.C. September 1,

Von Baxter Hamrick, Jr. ’56, Lewisville, N.C.,

2020

Patsy “Pat” Joan McCroskey Lloyd ’56, Charlotte,

2021

Shelby Stuart Buckner ’57, Mars Hill, N.C., April 20,

13, 2020

Vivian Sue Hollingsworth Ingram ’57, King, N.C.,

2021

N.C., July 23, 2020

James “Jim” Arthur Wright, Jr. ’72, Allendale, S.C.,

June 2, 2021

Myra Ellen Burgin Epps ’69, Bishopville, S.C., April 3,

Gary Stephen Jones ’69, E. Flat Rock, N.C., November

2000s

Felicia Maria Fox ’04 Goldsboro, N.C. April 21, 2021 Thomas “Andrew” Barlow ’08 Lenior, N.C., March 8, 2021

Faculty, Staff, Trustees

Ronald Oscar Wilson ’69, Rutherfordton, N.C., May 30,

Don David Anderson ’50, Hot Springs, N.C., April 15,

2021

Barbara Ann Davis Bennett ’50, Mars Hill, N.C., May

March 7, 2021

Barbara “Bobbie” Angelia Morris Cloaninger ’50,

2019

Verna “Lee” Crawford Fisher ’50, Asheville, N.C., May

April 5, 2020

Clara Lynn Green Martin ’70, Sylva, N.C., April 21, 2021

16, 2021

Larry Bradsher Fox ’58, Gaffney, S.C., June 18, 2021

Patricia Ann Brown Griffin ’71, Asheville N.C., July 28,

Dr. Donald Melton Hensley ’50, Dallas, N.C., July 5,

Larry Bradsher Fox ’58, Gaffney, S.C., June 18, 2021

Clyde E. Lawrence, Retired Faculty, Mars Hill, N.C., April 21, 2021

Martha J. Clayton Hoyt ’71, Weaverville, N.C.,

M. Claude Vess, Jr. Retired Faculty, Burnsville, N.C., May 23, 2021

2021

21, 2021

Charlotte, N.C., April 11, 2021

2019

James “Jim” London Ingram ’50, Durham, N.C., April 4, 2021

Bonnie “Sue” Eller Conn ’51, Nashville, Tenn., April

16, 2021

30 Mars Hill, the Magazine | Fall 2021

Richard Guy Riddle ’57, Weaverville, N.C., May 12, Dr. James Campbell Taylor ’57, Bozeman, Mont.,

1970s

Marlene Freck Graham ’70, Greensboro, N.C.

,February 1, 2021

2021

Charles Kenneth Patterson ’58, Waynesville, N.C.,

February 14, 2021

Ronald “Ron” Barnette Kellar ’59, Kenova, W.V.,

16, 2021

April 22, 2020

March 18, 2021

Rev. Robert Edward Seymour, Jr. Former Trustee, Chapel Hill, N.C., October 11, 2020 Walter Stroud, Retired Faculty, Marshall, N.C., July 4, 2021 Rev. Monroe “Monk” Maston Ashley, Sr., Retired Chaplain, Brevard, N.C., February 12, 2021

Paula Kay Lester Tanner ’71, Winterville, N.C., March

Mars Hill, the Magazine | Fall 2021 31

P.O. Box 370 Mars Hill, N.C. 28754

Homecoming 2021 When you’re here, you’re HOME!

es: t Da -9 e h er 8 t e b Sav cto O Highlights will include: Alumni and Friends Golf Tournament ~ MHU Choir Concert ~ The Lion’s Roll ~ Forever Lions 5K Race ~Tailgating ~ MHU vs. Barton Football 32 Mars the Magazine Fall 2021 Game ~ Mountain LionHill, Marching Band ~ Bailey| Mountain Cloggers ~ MHU Spirit Teams ~ Reunions: 1970 & 1971, 1980, 1981, 1996, and 2016–2021

Make plans now to attend. We look forward to seeing you in person! Visit www.mhu.edu/homecoming for details. Go Lions!