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Class Notes
Lions’ Choice Awards Continued...
One thing the Male and Female Athlete of the Year had in common was the fact that they both cemented their legacies by breaking Mars Hill school records. Craig Rucker capped off his sensational career on the gridiron by repeating as Male Athlete of the Year, SAC Offensive Player of the Year, All-SAC First Team selection, and AFCA First Team All-American, among countless other accolades. Rucker is the MHU record holder in receiving touchdowns (43), career receiving yards (4,320), and receiving touchdowns in one game (5), to name a few. The aforementioned are also SAC records. On the court, SallyAnne Johnson followed up her incredible junior campaign with an even better final season. Johnson led the SAC in solo blocks with 29 and finished the season with 93 total, setting the new standard for career blocks with 382 in her
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Class Notes 1970s Rev. Bruce Norman Hartgrove
’71 will be retiring this year from First Baptist Church of High Point, N.C., where he has served as minister of music for 39 years. Robert “Bob” Scruggs ’74 has been named the Outstanding Veterans Administration at The American Legion’s Washington Conference in March 2020. Scruggs is a 52-year member of American Legion Post 77 in Hendersonville, N.C. He has volunteered at the Charles George VA Medical Center in Asheville, N.C., since 1970, logging over facility. Since 2000 he’s served four years on the Hill. The Asheville native was also named an All-SAC Second Team selection. Johnson added another award, one of the most important that can be given, and that is the Woman of the Year award. Highlighted by her accomplishments in the classroom (3.41 GPA in biology), Johnson became the second volleyball student-athlete to take the award in the show’s three-year history (Lauren Hochstetler-2018). Dual-sport athlete Jayson Moorman took home the prestigious Man of the Year award. The soccer/ lacrosse standout served as the SAAC president for two years, the Faculty Athletics Committee male representative, Lions’ Day of Play Committee Chair, and Student Liaison for CREDO communication. The 2020 Lions’ Choice Awards premiered on Wednesday, June 3, through Stretch Internet and
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.
Voluntary Worker of the Year 27,000 hours of service at the YouTube.
Bruce Hartgrove
Bob Scruggs as The American Legion VA Volunteer Service representative there. Scruggs was also named Post Service Officer of the Year, at the American Legion Department Convention in Raleigh in June 2019.
Mary Elliott Williams ’77
published a devotional book in November 2019, titled Under His Wings, in memory of her father, Gordon Elliott. Williams illustrated the book of her father’s writings with her original song bird paintings. Elliott served as a pastor and priest in several churches in the Toronto area before his death at age 90.
1980s
Dr. Elizabeth “Beth” Abernathy Vogler ’81, has been named North Carolina Social Worker of the Year by the National Association of Social Workers
North Carolina Chapter. Vogler is a professor of social work and chair of the department of social work at MHU. Timothy Greene ’82, has been named the new county manager of Mitchell County, N.C. Greene, a Mitchell County resident, took office in April 2020. He was formerly the county manager of Avery County, N.C. and vice president of administrative services at Mayland Community College. Rev. Carl “Lee” Ziegler, Jr. ’83, has been named the principal of Hixson High School in Chattanooga, Tenn. Previously, Ziegler was the principal of Daisy Elementary. Both schools are part of the Hamilton County (Tenn.) School System. Magay Shepard ’84, Senior Vice President/ Investments for Shepard Wealth Management Group, has been named to Forbes’ America’s Top Women Advisors List. 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. Aimee Stephens ’84 passed away on May 12 of this year before she saw the outcome of the Supreme Court case in which she was named as a plaintiff. The case, which was ultimately successful, could have major employment rights implications for transgender people. Stephens, a former funeral director in suburban Detroit, was fired in 2013 after she announced to her colleagues in a letter that she would begin living as a woman. She successfully sued her employer, claiming that the protections of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act covered transgender individuals. Her case was upheld by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and by the U.S. Supreme Court. Dr. Carol Bennett ’88 has advanced to the rank of associate professor in the faculty of education and social work at Brigham Young University in Laie, Hawaii, where she has taught for six years. She also recently published a research article in the Journal of Leadership Carol Bennett Accountability and Ethics, titled “Bloom Where You’re Planted: Spreading the Seeds of Leader in Me Everywhere.”
2000s
Mar Perez-Albela ’00 was featured in an online concert in May as part of the Keep Music Live event series. This was a goodwill event intended to bring people together during the COVID-19 pandemic and allow musicians to safely perform during this period of isolation. Donations collected during the event went to CARE Peru to help bring food to vulnerable people in extreme poverty. Jerome Ramsey ’04 has been named the Northwestern Foothills 2A Conference 2019-2020 boys basketball coach of the year. The award was announced in February. This is the second time that Ramsey has received the award in his seven seasons at East Burke High School, in Morganton, N.C. Greta Statler Brammeier ’04 received a master’s degree in occupational therapy in 2008 and has received specialty certification in environmental modification. She is also a certified aging in place specialist. She works full time at a level 1 trauma hospital in Palm Beach County, Fla. She and her husband Marc, have two children, Landon (6) and Alayna (4).
2010s
Megan Weaver ’11, earned a Ph.D. in English from Old Dominion University in May. Megan has accepted a position as collegiate assistant professor of rhetoric and writing at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University beginning in August. Chelsea Parker ’13 has been hired as the new head coach for women’s soccer at Francis Marion University, in Florence, S.C. Previously, she was an assistant coach at Tusculum University in Greeneville, Tenn. Dr. Alison “Ali” Fridley ’16 has been hired by Northern State University in Aberdeen, S.D., as a professor of health, human performance, and recreation. She will begin classes in the fall 2020 semester.
Faculty/Staff
Dr. Virginia Hart ’43 retired professor of physical education and coach, turned 97 years old on May 16. See celebration photos on page 23. Dr. Harley Jolley, retired professor of history, turned 100 years old on July 5, 2020. See celebration photos on page 23.
In Memoriam
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.
1940s
Dr. James “Rush” Beeler ’40, Edison, N.J., January 24, 2020 Mary Lois Leach Harper ’42, Troy, N.C., December 31, 2019 John Wesley Carty ’43, Mount Union, Iowa, April 22, 2019 Dr. Marcus Marcellus Gulley ’43, Winston-Salem, N.C., April 15, 2020 Mary “Kitty” Kathryn Monteith Hupman ’43, Mebane, N.C., March 15, 2020 Marian McEachin McNeill Hutto ’43, Florence, S.C., March 18, 2020 Jane Elizabeth Lee Froneberger ’44, Gastonia, N.C., February 19, 2020 Nancy Carolyn Bearden Telle ’45, Shelby, N.C., March 5, 2020 Billie Sue Triplett Isbell ’46, Fuquay-Varina, N.C., February 25, 2020 Nancy Josephine Joyce Dunlap ’47, WinstonSalem, N.C., March 5, 2020 Billy “Bill” Dale Edwards ’47, Canton, N.C., February 10, 2020 Dr. Robert Carpenter Hanes ’47, Charlotte, N.C., March 8, 2020 Aleine Dawn Holcomb Wright ’47, Oxford, N.C., April 19, 2020 Dr. James Relerford Helvey ’48, Honorary Trustee, Winston-Salem, N.C., April 5, 2020 Rev. Ray Keith Hodge ’48, Smithfield, N.C., May 5, 2020 Everett McNeil Kivette ’48, Burnsville, N.C., April 7, 2020 Gene Thomas Ross ’48, Pinehurst, N.C., April 28, 2020 Ernestine Lake Hockaday Bender ’49, Wilmington, N.C., March 10, 2020 Martha Stribling Easler ’49, Leesburg, Va., May 23, 2020 Hilda Christine Boone Sherard ’49, Burlington, N.C., May 18, 2020 Ruth Smith Walpole ’49, Largo, Fla., January 20, 2020
1950s
Barbara Jean Mitchell Brock ’50, Spartanburg, S.C., March 9, 2019 Rev. Edgar Ervin Ferrell, Jr. ’50, Summerville, Ga., May 7, 2020 Anne Pearline Booe Reavis ’50, Mocksville, N.C., May 23, 2020 Dr. John Wesley Whitehead, Jr. ’50, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, April 11, 2020 Grover Aubret Gore, Sr. ’51, Winston-Salem, N.C., March 8, 2020 Hunter Chester Lang, Sr. ’51, Charlottesville, Va., November 21, 2019 Jack Clifton Mosteller ’51, Bellevue, Wash., December 18, 2018 Rev. James A. Pittman ’51, Former Trustee, Roanoke Rapids, N.C., April 7, 2020 Robbie “Inez” Matthews Rudisill ’51, Charlotte, N.C., April 21, 2020 Boyd George Brogden, Jr. ’52, Princeton, N.C., May 13, 2020 Willa “Jene” McGlamery ’52, Myrtle Beach, S.C., March 17, 2019 Rev. Duncan Lacy Futrelle, Jr. ’53, Wilmington, N.C., March 3, 2020 Dr. Fred Nelson Knott ’53, Oxford, N.C., May 14, 2020 Alice Jeanette Radford Radcliff ’53, Asheville, N.C., January 7, 2017 Dr. James Dewitt Whetstone ’55, Wilmington, N.C., March 7, 2020
Larry Neal Painter, Sr. ’56, Charlotte, N.C., March 24, 2020 Timna “Timmie” A. Smith Voyles ’56, Spartanburg, S.C., May 12, 2020 Dr. Marshall Macon Wilson ’56, Altamonte Springs, Fla., March 19, 2020 Walter Edwin Yow ’57, Hattiesburg, Miss., March 4, 2017 Melba Rea Murphy Bridges ’58, Rutherfordton, N.C., January 7, 2020 Edwin “Ed” Donald Sizemore ’58, Asheville, N.C., May 28, 2020 Wayne Wilson Stafford ’58, Rural Hall, N.C., March 27, 2020 Lynda Jean Crawford Wentz ’58, Arden, N.C., May 5, 2020 Anne Marie Buttemere Davis ’59, W. Columbia, S.C., January 28, 2020 Elizabeth Loretta “Lori” Duncan Gilliam ’59, Lexington, N.C., April 30, 2020 Patricia Morgan Harden ’59, Wilmington, N.C., March 18, 2020 Charles Glen Toms, Jr. ’59, Forest City, N.C., April 15, 2020
1960s
John “Gary” Vannoy, Sr. ’60, Millers Creek, N.C., March 15, 2020 Verlie Lawing Leatherwood ’61, Black Mountain, N.C., March 13, 2020 Paul Albert Clark, Jr. ’64, Washington, D.C., April 3, 2020 Phyllis Anne Dunning ’65, Covington, La., December 25, 2019 Thomas “Tom” Edward Nash, Jr. ’66, Former Trustee, Asheville, N.C., June 4, 2020 Charles “Charlie” Iredell Pierce, Jr. ’67, Colerain, N.C., March 26, 2020 Philip Mark Bryson ’68, Kings Mtn., N.C., December 14, 2019 Richard Gunter Crommelin, Jr. ’68, Virginia Beach, Va., March 8, 2019 Robert “Bob” Glenn Pierce ’68, Dunn, N.C., March 15, 2020 Patrick “Pat” Boyd Spivey ’69, Florence, S.C., January 26, 2020
1970s
Constance “Conny” Ann Henderson Price ’72, Twin Falls, Idaho, April 19, 2020 Thaddeus Winfred Brendle ’73, Charlotte, N.C., March 15, 2018 John Dale Starnes ’74, Leicester, N.C., March 11, 2020 John Edwards Watts ’74, Winston-Salem, N.C., June 9, 2020 Patricia Ann Phillips ’76, Richmond, Va., July 7, 2019 Blanche Elaine Jones Tennent ’79, Arden, N.C., April 20, 2020
1980s
Sandra Jean Thornton Westall ’82, Stokesdale, N.C., February 16, 2020 Aimee Stephens ’84, Redford, Mich., May 12, 2020 Ricky Melvin Chandler ’85, Weaverville, N.C., March 7, 2020
1990s
Alan Dean Coley ’90, King, N.C., May 25, 2020 William “Bill” Edward Wright ’95, Weaverville, N.C., June 10, 2020
2010s
Jennifer Ann McCullough Huff ’19, Fletcher, N.C., April 15, 2020
Faculty/Staff/Friends
Dr. Joseph P. Schubert, Jr., Ret. Faculty, Dania Beach, Fla., May 26, 2020 Dr. Jack Ray Ferguson, Donor and Friend of MHU, Candler, N.C., May 6, 2020
P.O. Box 370 Mars Hill, N.C. 28754
Homecoming 2020 REdesigned
MHU alumni and friends will experience a “redesigned” homecoming weekend this fall. While most “inperson” events will not be possible, MHU will host a number of virtual or live-streamed events in honor of Homecoming 2020, including: u
u
u New: Virtual Variety Show Release Hosted by Producer/Composer Mark Cabaniss ’82.
New: The Lion’s Roll A fundraiser to benefit the MHU Student Relief Fund. Watch as hundreds of balls race downhill through an
New: The Encouraging Light A special event to send light and love to all MHU students. u
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Virtual 5K Race
A virtual 5K is a walk or a run that you complete on your own any time October 1–4. obstacle course. Will yours survive?
Alumni of the Year Announcement The traditional announcement, but online.
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Alumni & Friends Golf Tournament
* in person* Reems Creek Golf Club, Weaverville, N.C. Friday, October 2, Tee off at 9:30 a.m.
