Mars Hill: The Magazine of Mars Hill College - Spring 2012

SHOWSTOPPERS Celebrate 25 Years s

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MAGAZINE STAFF: Editor: Teresa Buckner, Media Relations Coordinator Associate Editor: Mike Thornhill ’88, Director of Communications Contributors Rick Baker, Sports Information Director Amanda Powell, Communications Intern Neil St. Clair ’74, Director of SHOWSTOPPERS C. Robert Jones, former Director of SHOWSTOPPERS Donna Kull, Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations Dr. Karen Paar, Director of the Ramsey Center for Regional Studies

MARS HILL COLLEGE ADMINISTRATION

President: Dr. Dan G. Lunsford ’69 Executive Vice President: Dr. John Wells VP of Institutional Advancement : Bud Christman VP of Finance: Neil Tilley Executive Director of Planning & Auxiliary: Dr. Grainger Caudle 2

Mars Hill, The Magazine - Spring 2012

Mars Hill [mahrz hil] noun

1. A site in Athens, also known as the Areopagus, where Paul used persuasive reason and logic to preach Christ to the intellectuals of first-century Greece, as detailed in Acts 17:21 of the Bible.

2. A town in the mountains of North Carolina known for the beauty of its surroundings and its welcoming, small-town atmosphere.

3. A college in the town of Mars Hill which strives to provide the best in liberal arts education for its 1300-some students.

4. A concept (esp. for faculty, students, staff and alumni of Mars Hill College) signifying that place where faith meets reason, to lay a foundation for a life of character and compassion.

Mars Hill, The Magazine of Mars Hill College is published regularly by the Office of Communications. It is distributed, without charge, to alumni, donors, and friends of the college.

Notices of changes of address and class notes should be addressed to the Alumni Office, Mars Hill College, P.O. Box 370, Mars Hill, NC 28754. Phone 828/689-1102. Fax 828/689-1292. E-mail alumni@mhc.edu.

Letters to the editor and all other correspondence regarding the magazine should be addressed to the Office of Communications, Mars Hill College, P.O. Box 6765, Mars Hill, NC 28754. Phone 828/689-1304. Fax 828/689-1105. E-mail tbuckner@mhc.edu.

Postmaster: Send address changes to the Alumni Office, Mars Hill College, P.O. Box 6792, Mars Hill, NC 28754.

Copyright 2012. All rights reserved.

In This Issue: Letter from the President................................................4 NEH Challenge Grant Met; Ramsey

Center Plans Celebration......................................5 Exciting Facilities Improvements...................................5 25 Years of SHOWSTOPPERS.......................................6 Mars Hill College at a Glance ........................................9 Catching up with First Lady Beverly Lunsford...........10 Amazing Alumni - Karen McDonald ’74.....................12 Amazing Alumni - Joe and Sarah Ellen Mamlin ’56...14 Fall 2011 Sports Update................................................18 Scenes from Homecoming 2011...................................20 Faculty Scholarly Achievement and

New Faculty and Staff..........................................22 They Came and They Stayed,

A Celebration of 30-Year Employees..................24 Class Notes.....................................................................25

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I have long believed that students who attend Mars Hill College find themselves engaged in a quality educational experience that gives them the tools for a life of success, both personally and professionally. That belief is only strengthened when I meet our alumni who, again and again, impress me with the contributions they make to the world.

Mars Hill College alumni live and work literally around the globe, doing what they can to make the world a better place.

They brighten lives and make a difference as teachers, social workers, business people, missionaries, pastors, writers, scientists, doctors, artists and, just as importantly, as parents and spouses. And everywhere they go, they take with them lessons and values learned here on “The Hill.”

In this magazine, you will meet three of those alumni, who, through their particular areas of interest, are changing lives in Kenya, and here in western North Carolina. It is our intention to offer similar stories of alumni in each issue, through segments called “Amazing Alumni.” We can never tell all the amazing stories of our alumni, but we hope to offer one or two stories each issue to compel and inspire you.

This issue is literally chocked full of other stories and features to keep you abreast of what’s going on here on campus. You will get to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the incredible SHOWSTOPPERS. And, you will get to know my best cheerleader (and my most valued critic!), First Lady Beverly Lunsford. As it has with many others, Mars Hill College has won her heart and made her a proud honorary alumna.

There is much excitement on campus at having met the very important Challenge Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for the Ramsey Center. Our hope is that you will join us in Mars Hill on April 13 to celebrate that accomplishment, which is due to the generosity of many donors, and all their contributions, large and small.

Spring sports are in full swing here at Mars Hill College, but we continue to bask in a very successful fall athletic season, particularly for football and cross country. A number of standout players in every sport made us proud, but running back Jonas Randolph re-wrote the Lions’ football record book. You can read about him and his fellow Lion athletes in the Fall Sports Roundup in this issue.

In this issue, you can learn about ongoing efforts to improve facilities on campus. And whether you joined us for homecoming, 2011 or not, you will enjoy photos of last fall’s events. We hope they will inspire you to join us for Homecoming, 2012!

Spring in the mountains is a glorious time that reminds us of the blessing of being here at Mars Hill College. Near or far, we hope you will come for a visit soon. And in the meantime, we hope you will enjoy this peek of life here on “the Hill.”

Dr. Dan Lunsford ’69 President 4

Mars Hill, The Magazine - Spring 2012

NEH Challenge Grant Met;

Ramsey Center Plans Celebration

Mars Hill College is delighted to announce that its $1.5 million fundraising goal to match a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Challenge Grant has been met. A grant from the A.V. Davis Foundations, as well as support of many other generous donors, made this accomplishment possible.

The NEH Challenge grant provided $500,000 in federal funds to endow the Southern Appalachian Archives at the college’s Liston B. Ramsey Center for Regional Studies, contingent on a 3-to-1 match which the college has raised over a five-year period.

The Ramsey Center is gearing up for a community celebration on April 13 to honor this success.

The celebration will take place at 7

p.m. in Chambers Gymnasium on the Mars Hill College campus.

All are welcome to join the celebration. Rodney Sutton will call dances to the music of the Spring Chickens, and the Bailey Mountain Cloggers and the Cole Mountain Cloggers will perform.

Photograph from The Saturday Evening Post, May 22, 1948. From the Bascom Lamar Lunsford Scrapbook, Southern Appalachian Archives, Mars Hill College.

In the coming months, a

of facility upgrades ies number t and improvements will i l impact life at Mars Hill aci nts College.

F It’s all part of the e g m n i e ongoing effort to provide the t ci rov best experience possible Mars x E mp Hill College students and the for campus I community as whole:

Students are already enjoying a CLIMBING WALL that was completed recently on the Lion’s Eye side of Wren Student Union.

Construction will begin in late March or early April on a $1.2 million RENOVATION OF PITTMAN DINING HALL.The Caf ’s newly designed interior is expected to be completed by this summer, and will feature “made to order” prep stations and an open kitchen. The new design will mean fresh, to-order food and more variety without a large impact on meal plan costs.

Total RENOVATION OF THE TOWNHOUSES has already begun and is expected to be completed by the end of July. The Townhouses will be gutted, completely remodeled, and open for occupancy in fall of 2012.

NEW SECURITY LIGHTING to be installed this spring in popular walkways on campus will provide

According to director Karen Paar, Ramsey Center staff have been deeply moved by the enthusiastic response to appeals for help in building an endowment to support Mars Hill College’s Southern Appalachian Archives. “All of this fundraising has taken place during very difficult economic times, and the generosity of our donors is a testament to the value that this community places on preserving Southern Appalachian history and culture.”

safer and easier walking after dark. This will include at least three new lighting poles on Highway 213 and improvements to the walkway between Renfro Library and Wren Student Union.

Construction is due to begin in late May on the DON HENDERSON BASEBALL FIELD, a project that has been a dream of Lions baseball enthusiasts for some years. Phase I of the project, due to be complete by the fall of 2012, will include a One of the Townhouses repositioned playing field under construction with new grass turf, an in-ground irrigation system, new fencing, new backstop, and a 385-foot center field (up from a current center field of 345 feet). Phase II, to begin next academic year, will add dugouts and a new game operations/press box.

Construction on a pavilion behind Broyhill Chapel is also planned for this spring. Students in vocational classes at Madison High School are currently cutting timbers to frame the pavilion and a contractor will assemble the pavilion on site. A later, second stage of construction will include masonry on the pavilion to match the chapel.

During the summer of 2012, improvements will be made to the restroom facilities in Stroup Residence Hall.

In addition, Stroup will receive replacement hall floor covering.

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25 Years of

SHOWSTOP SHOWSTOPPERS TODAY

by Neil St. Clair Showstoppers is Mars Hill College’s musical theatre performance ensemble. It is comprised of select musical theatre majors and performs a number of important functions for the college.

Showstoppers provides entertainment for college functions and events, recruits students by performing at area high schools and serves the community by performing at churches, retirement centers and conferences, and for community groups and civic organizations.

This year Showstoppers is proud to celebrate 25 years of service to the college and community. Since its beginning in 1986, Showstoppers has had a number of directors. C. Robert Jones founded and directed the group, and Dewitt Tipton served as the first accompanist/musical director. For its first 10 years C. Robert Jones directed the ensemble with the exception of one year while he was on sabbatical. That year Jim Thomas was the director. Other directors have included Steve Chicurel, Cynthia Perkins, Neil St. Clair, Dewitt Tipton, and Paul Schierhorn. In the fall of 2011, Neil St. Clair returned as director to lead Showstoppers in its 25th anniversary year.

Showstoppers has performed for a number of prestigious events in recent years, such as the Mars Hill College President’s Recognition Dinner and a Rotary Foundation Benefit Dinner for the Rotary Club of Madison County. Under the direction of Dewitt Tipton, they were regular performers for the Asheville Mid-Day Musical performance series and were guest performers for the Asheville Symphony Orchestra’s Holiday Pops Concert. Showstoppers looks forward to many more years of service to Mars Hill College and the western North Carolina community.

Top Picture: The Dapper Duo SHOWSTOPPERS Directors C. Robert Jones and Neil St. Clair Bottom Pictures: SHOWSTOPPERS 2012: Director Neil St. Clair, Musical Director/ Accompanist Virginia McKnight, Mary Elise Jones, Joshua Miller, Brittany Hazeldine, Joshua Stein, Sarah Richardson, Chandler Smith, Melanie Morton, Issac Fulk, Heather Bronson, Tyler Winkler, Peyton Lawrence, Steven Green, Alexis Miller, Justin Gaylard

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Mars Hill, The Magazine - Spring 2012

Showstoppers performances, which can range from 10 minutes to a full hour, change each semester and with each new director.

Sometimes the group chooses several nunbers from the same show or different numbers from a particular composer or musical theatre style. Sometimes the group will pick a decade and choose songs from different shows within that time frame. The goal is to expose students to many different songs, styles, composers, lyricists, shows, etc., in fulfilling the educational function of Showstoppers.

The auditions are open to all students. However, as the musical theatre major has grown, the competition has grown more intense.

PPERS SHOWSTOPPERS HISTORY

by C. Robert Jones Jim Thomas, former chair of the Fine Arts Division at Mars Hill College, asked me to form a musical theatre ensemble and in the fall of 1986, I did. Dewitt Tipton was the first accompanist; Sara Stewart was the first costumiere; Julie Fortney was the musical advisor; and I built/arranged/wrote the material and directed the group for 10 seasons. There were different choreographers as I was able to find/ employ them.

Auditions for the first group of Showstoppers were open to any student on campus, not just music and theatre students. In fact, one member of the original group was a business maior.

Originally, Showstoppers was an extra-curricular ensemble, but it became too difficult to find common times for rehearsals. In the spring of 1987, it became an official course with one credit hour per semester.

The group performed in churches, schools (all of the Buncombe County high schools in fairly short order), retirement centers, conference centers for all kinds of groups, and for conventions (like the Association of College Bookstores in Winston-Salem in the mid 1990s).

Showstoppers performed only in the Carolinas during my 10 years as a director. The shows were built to accommodate 30-45 minute slots, particularly for school assemblies and organizational guest stints. By the 90s, the shows—performed mostly away from campus—were brought to Owen Theatre at the end of the spring term where they were given a major production type performance for the campus. These were full-length two-hour shows with lights and minimal sets (which we did not have for the road performances).

The shows were built around the individual performers and covered every style and genre, including opera. I devised two segments which we always used and indeed were often Showstoppers. One of these was an arrangement of a group of songs called “Musical Links.”

Each following song (at the beginning measure) used the same first word as the last word of the previous song. It was set up to look improvisational. The singer would point to an “unsuspecting” member of the group who would then think up a song which began with the last word of the song just song. It was great fun.

cont. on page 8

Top Picture: SHOWSTOPPERS 1989 front: Lisa Atkinson; 2nd row: Erin Owen, Nancy McKinster; back Joel Rogers, Ken Gahagan , Michael Lester Middle Picture: SHOWSTOPPERS 1994: (l-r) Bethany Burgess-Smith, Jeffrey Whitt, Shani Nielsen, Keith Michel, Beth Thisse Bottom Picture: SHOWSTOPPERS 1995 (l-r): Kristofer Geddie, Beth Thisse, Eric Medford, Gina Handy Mars Hill, The Magazine - Spring 2012

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The North Carolina 7:30pm, April 25, 2012 Moore Auditorium Mars Hill College

Symphony

Mars Hill College is pleased to welcome the North Carolina Symphony to campus for a spring concert to help raise funds for the college’s fine arts programs. It will be the first time in more than 30 years that the North Carolina Symphony, founded in 1932 by Mars Hill College alumnus Lamar Stringfield, has performed at the college.

N.C. Symphony Music Director Grant Llewellyn, often praised for his “graceful and expressive direction,” will lead the Mars Hill event. Among the pieces to be included in the concert will be Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8 and Concert Aria “Ah, perfido!” Other pieces planned for the concert include: Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, Wagner’s Preludes to Acts I & III from Lohengrin, and Mozart’s “Martern aller arten” from The Abduction from the Seraglio.

General admission tickets are $25, with open seating.

Patron tickets for $100 offer reserved premier seating,

SHOWSTOPPERS HISTORY, cont...

The other predictable hit segment was called “Singing the News.” I bought a copy of the local newspaper wherever we sang. The audience was told the number of sections in that day’s edition. A random audience member was then asked for a page and a column, and to name one of the Showstoppers who then had to SING whatever was in that space on the page. The music vamp under the singing improvisation could be anything— waltz, rhumba, dirge, oom pah-pah, etc.

These mini mono-operas almost always brought down the house—and were marvelous training for the singers/ actors who occasionally must improvise before an audience when in a play.

Being a SHOWSTOPPER may have been the best and most practical in-the-moment training the college could have offered a student in the performing arts. When the group was only four in size (the group has usually averaged 8-10 in number) a singer, in error, missed a performance. The other three carried on without him,

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Mars Hill, The Magazine - Spring 2012

reserved parking and entrance to a private post-concert reception with the maestro & soloists. $60 of each patron ticket price is a charitable gift to benefit the fine arts program at MHC. Sponsors for this event are: Drs. Reese Steen, DDS and McKenzie Snyder DDS; Oppenheimer & Co.; and N.C. Tourism Development Authority

Buy tickets online: www.mhc.edu/symphony

and the audience never knew. A last minute illness for a performance at North Buncombe High School meant a complete re-doing of the show, even as we were arriving at the school. It went off with great skill and success.

And at Madison Manor Nursing Home, a lady wandered up from her chair to where the singers were in the middle of a number. Beth Thisse simply reached out her hand to the lady and they held hands to the end of the song. A very touching and gentle moment. Beth led the lady back to her chair afterwards with a big smile and a hug. One simply can’t teach that kind of grace under pressure.

My experience with Showstoppers, though often nervewracking since I knew how busy they were and with a constant spotlight on them, were pleasant ones. The students almost always were better than they knew they could be. The confidence and self-assurance they gained and showed in their work have probably accompanied them in other phases of their lives, and I’m glad to see that the group still shines.

MARS HILL COLLEGE

At A Glance...

Operating Revenues 2008 2009 2010

Net Student Tuition and Fees $ 12,284,250 $ 12,937,236 $ 13,685,940 Sales and Services of Auxiliary Enterprises 1 $ 6,897,236 $ 7,431,080 $ 7,860,207 Private Gifts, Grants, and Contracts $ 5,929,520 $ 3,890,696 $ 4,206,565 Federal Grants and Contracts $ 1,833,535 $ 1,911,708 $ 1,841,944 Other Core Revenues $ 311,224 $ -602,515 $ 661,610 Total Operating Revenues $ 27,255,765 $ 25,568,205 $ 28,256,266

2008-2010 % Change 11% 14% -29% 0.5% 113% 4%

Operating Expenses Instruction Public Service 3 Academic Support Student Services Institutional Support2 Auxiliary Enterprises 1 Other Expenses Total Operating Expenses

$ 7,699,195 $ 472,991 $ 809,318 $ 1,440,753 $ 6,847,082 $ 6,765,543 $ 3,818,954 $ 27,853,836

$ 7,420,662 $ 7,038,284 $ 508,828 $ 613,311 $ 828,263 $ 808,767 $ 1,545,700 $ 1,449,879 $ 7,366,791 $ 6,795,641 $ 7,058,216 $ 6,925,270 $ 3,624,897 $ 4,150,573 $ 28,353,357 $ 27,781,725

Source: IPEDS Finance Report 1 Auxiliary Enterprises includes entities such as the cafeteria, bookstore, residence halls, etc.

2 All employee benefits are included in institutional support.

3 Conferences and Events

-9% 30% 0% 1% -1% 2% 9% 0%

Fall 2010 undergraduate enrollment: ...................................................................................................1175 Fall 2011 undergraduate enrollment: ...................................................................................................1281 Enrollment in Master of Education graduate program:........................................................................ 14 Full-time faculty (fall 2011): ....................................................................................................................... 75 New full-time faculty (replacements & additions):................................................................................ 12

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Catching Up with

First Lady Beverly Lunsford

by Teresa Buckner

It wasn’t love at first sight, but Beverly Lunsford did fall in love.

With Mars Hill, that is.

Beverly and Dan Lunsford talk about the day on the deck of their home in Mars Hill.

“I never imagined I’d come to Mars Hill.

When Dan first brought me up here, we drove through the college, and I looked around and said, ‘well, is this all there is? Is this it?’” she said.

Having grown up in Florida and attended Florida State University, Mrs. Lunsford was frankly surprised by the size of Mars Hill College. And as a “flat-lander,” she found the mountains, though beautiful, somewhat disconcerting.

“The mountains bothered me a little bit,” she said. “A closed-in feeling, you know?”

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Mars Hill, The Magazine - Spring 2012

But with gentle persistence, the college, the town, the mountains, and their people have conspired to win Lunsford’s heart. Now, some 10 years after becoming First Lady, Beverly Lunsford is one of the college’s most ardent fans, and together with the president, often becomes the face of Mars Hill College hospitality.

It is with obvious sincerity and conviction that she said: “I love this place now. I really do. I wouldn’t want to be any other place.”

In fact, in 2009, Mrs. Lunsford became one of very few people to be named honorary alumni of Mars Hill College, an honor she treasures even more than her earned diplomas. “It means that I’m part of the

history of this institution, which is special,” she said.

Born in Key West, Florida, Mrs. Lunsford attended college at Florida State and Florida Atlantic. After ten years of teaching English and art in Florida, she came to Chapel Hill, NC, to teach middle school art and English.

In 1981, she began teaching at Orange High School, where she met Dr. Dan Lunsford, superintendent of Orange County Schools.

The Lunsfords married in 1984, and in 1988, they adopted a son, Eddie. In 1990, Dr. Lunsford accepted the superintendency of Henderson County Schools, and so the family moved to the western part of the state. After one year as art interim at Edneyville High school, Mrs. Lunsford taught, at times, English and gifted education at East Henderson High School.

In 1998, both Lunsfords retired from their public school careers. It was then that Dr. Lunsford came back to his alma mater, Mars Hill College, as the dean of the School of Education.

Was the eventual presidency of Mars Hill College in either of their minds? “No, absolutely not,” Mrs. Lunsford said. “He never once had an idea that that would happen. I never once had an idea that that would happen.”

But in 2002, Dr. Lunsford was named interim president after the resignation of President Max Lennon. The following year, the trustees of Mars Hill College hired Lunsford as president.

Initially, Mrs. Lunsford said she felt ill at ease with her role as First Lady. Though always comfortable in a classroom of children, she said she felt uncomfortable with being thrust into a role as hostess and college representative, particularly with people she did not know and with whom she did not share a history.

“I’m not really an outgoing kind of person, unless I know you. I’m content to sit in the corner and watch everybody, and I’ve had to come out a little bit,” she said.

Unlike some previous presidents’ wives, she does not have a paid position at the college, and says she likes it that way.

“I’m more of a cheerleader than a player,” she said.

Mrs. Lunsford has spent the past 10 years, in a sense, discovering her role at Mars Hill College, and making the title of First Lady

her own. She said she has worked toward a delicate balance between not “interfering” in the work of a wonderful and competent faculty and staff, and yet involving herself in a meaningful way in this place she has come to love.

One of the benefits of Mrs. Lunsford’s retired status is that she is free to accompany the president on trips related to his presidential duties.

“We travel, we meet people,” she said. “We have met some of the most wonderful, wonderful people that I ever hope to meet. I consider myself a friend to these folks and they are friends of ours.”

“I love this place now. I really do. I wouldn’t want to be any other place.”

Beverly Lunsford

Another tangible way that she has made the role of “president’s wife” her own is to adopt projects on campus that make use of her unique skills and her love for beauty, for art, and for history.

The first such project was the Wall of Presidents that now hangs in the president’s suite of Blackwell Hall. The project, suggested by college historian Richard Dillingham, required much research, work, and even travel. Eventually, Mrs. Lunsford, Dillingham and MHC Special Collections Supervisor Peggy Harmon assembled pictures of each of the 21 presidents of Mars Hill College – including Dan Lunsford – to hang on the wall.

Mrs. Lunsford has served on the college beautification committee which has been responsible for many decisions involving landscaping and signage across campus. But the campus project of which she is most proud has been overseeing the decorating of the CarterHumphrey Guest House.

On the porch of the cozy At the beginning of Dr. Carter-Humphrey Guest House.

Lunsford’s presidency, the small house across from Chambers Gymnasium had fallen into such disrepair that it was no longer used.

The little house was deteriorated after a long cont. on page 13 Mars Hill, The Magazine - Spring 2012

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Amazing Alumni

Karen Batson McDonald ’74

by Teresa Buckner

About a year ago, Karen Batson McDonald (’74) was in a hardware store when she ran into a young woman who recognized her.

“She was so proud to tell me that she had been working at this same place for 12 years, was married and had a family,” Karen said.

These are the type of personal facts that may seem ordinary for the average young adult, but for this young woman and hundreds of other young people with whom McDonald has worked through the years, this is a story of overwhelming success.

Then, as an older teen, McDonald said she felt a calling to social work, a calling which has remained strong throughout her life, and which she has tried to answer with her life’s career.

Though the desire came earlier, McDonald credits her experience at Mars Hill College with giving her the tools and opportunities that set her on the path to her life’s work. The social work program that students enjoy now at Mars Hill was in the developmental stages in the early 70s, so she majored in sociology.

During her senior year, McDonald had an internship with the Buncombe County Juvenile Justice Department.

Just as McDonald graduated from Mars Hill College, the department had an opening, giving her a seamless transition from intern to employee.

McDonald, who retired recently as area administrator of the Department of Juvenile Justice, spent a career intervening in young lives that showed early signs of descending into a lifestyle of crime and incarceration.

“And the rest is history,” McDonald said. She started as a court counselor, and eventually moved up to lead court counselor. In 1993, she was promoted to chief court counselor in Buncombe County, and in 1999, she was promoted yet again, to western regional area administrator. In that position, McDonald oversaw court counseling programs in 28 western counties and eight judicial districts.

“I always enjoy it when I run into young people and they tell me, oh I’m doing well and you really helped me,” McDonald said.

Among many successes, McDonald recalls the young person who came out of the juvenile justice system to graduate from college with honors and another who went to considerable trouble to find McDonald and show her the LPN (licensed practical nurse) certificate she had received.

“I was so proud of her.” McDonald said. “That took a lot of effort for her to find me.”

But sprinkled in with the successes were many stories of heartache and disappointment. What keeps a person faithful to a career that offers such fleeting glimpses of success? For McDonald, the answer is twofold: passion and calling.

“I tell young people starting out in their careers that they can get discouraged, because you don’t hear the success stories until many years later sometimes,” McDonald said. “But I am passionate about this work. To the very bitter end, I was always dedicated and passionate about this work.”

The desire to work in a social work-related field came even before McDonald’s years at Mars Hill College. As a member of “Girls in Action,” a mission organization in her Baptist church in Greenville, SC, McDonald developed a fondness for volunteer projects working with at-risk populations.

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The job of court counselor involved working with adolescents and teenagers who have committed undisciplined or delinquent acts. The goals of the program are protecting the community from crime, as well as providing appropriate services for children and families to deter future delinquent, undisciplined behavior.

Karen McDonald

But whatever the specific task, according to McDonald, the most important job of the court counselor is to treat offenders and their families with respect, a piece of advice she passes along to people who are just starting out in the career.

“I always try to tell young people, when you work with a family, you might not remember what you told them, but they will always remember how you made them feel,” McDonald said. “I would hope my legacy is that I made a difference and that the children and families I worked with knew that I cared about them as individuals.”

In addition to her work at the office, McDonald was instrumental in helping to found Trinity Place, a shelter for homeless and runaway youth in Buncombe County.

Karen Batson, as she appeared in the 1973 Laurel.

“Children can walk in the door and say they need a place to stay, and they can stay there up to 14 days,” McDonald said. “There are counselors on the staff that work with the child and the family to try to reunite them and put into place appropriate services. So really Trinity Place has become more of a prevention service, and some of those children never even come to the courthouse or office.”

When McDonald retired in September of 2011, she was honored by being inducted into the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, an award presented by the governor of North Carolina to individuals who have a proven record of extraordinary service to the state.

“That was kind of neat,” McDonald said. “I was just humbled by the recognition, but I didn’t do it for awards or accolades; I did it because that’s who I am.”

Because her years at Mars Hill College were so important, McDonald now hopes to help sow those seeds of passion in others, by serving on the Mars Hill College Social Work Advisory Board. She said the position is her way of staying in touch with and giving back to her alma mater.

McDonald’s willingness to not only serve on the advisory council, but to make herself available as a resource and example to Mars Hill College students continues to demonstrate the giving person that she is, according to Mars Hill College Professor of Social Work Beth Vogler.

“She’s wonderful; we just appreciate her so much,” Vogler said. “She is always willing to be available for students.

She is one of those board members who is willing to be a resource, to come speak in classes, to answer students’ questions, and to provide connections for our students who wish to explore the juvenile justice field through internships.”

In addition to serving on the board, McDonald plans to spend her retirement years in an advocacy role for the juvenile justice system.

First Lady, cont. line of uses—including student housing—but in Mrs. Lunsford’s words, “the bones were good.”

Mrs. Lunsford was instrumental in the decision to renovate the house, and then, she looked on eagerly as the house was brought up to code and remodeled to include six bedrooms, six baths, a small living room, and a small dining room/kitchenette. After the construction was completed, she set to work in decorating the house in a “craftsman” style, using her own paintings, as well as artwork with a connection to the college. At focal points in the house are paintings by long-time art professor Joe Chris Robertson; Beverly Hough, former MHC instructor and wife of Dr. John Hough (retired Dean of the MHC Education Dept); Charity Ray, retired library staff member; and Connie Kramer, wife of retired German professor, Bob Kramer.

Since Mrs. Lunsford completed the project in 2006, the house has proven to be a valuable asset to the college’s atmosphere of welcoming hospitality for visitors and guests to campus.

But perhaps Mrs. Lunsford’s favorite role of all is simply being a “sounding board,” as well as a helper and partner to President Lunsford. She proudly uses the biblical term “helpmate,” to describe herself and is clearly content to emphasize Dr. Lunsford’s presidential achievements as the goal of any work they share.

Her personality, too, works to balance the seriousness required of the presidential office. As an example, it was Mrs. Lunsford’s idea for Dr. Lunsford and herself to dress as Dr. and Mrs. Robert Moore, and recreate Dr. Moore’s arrival into Mars Hill on horseback during the college’s celebration of its sesquicentennial.

But for the time being, she’s taking a break and enjoying spending time with her recently-retired husband, former Asheville Police Chief Bill Hogan. She’s given herself six months to rest, and then she has plans for several avenues into which she can channel the passion for helping others that has dominated her working life.

“I figured if Dr. Moore could do it, we could do it,” she said, laughing.

“I feel blessed” McDonald said. “I received a good education at Mars Hill and through the internship program I was allowed to obtain practical experience in my field. As I reflect on this, all of the pieces fell into place which allowed me to have 37 wonderful years in my chosen career with the NC Juvenile Justice System. I worked with many wonderful and dedicated colleagues and through our efforts we have touched the lives of many youth and families.”

“We laugh, we laugh a lot,” she said. “We do a lot of things spur of the moment; we love to travel; and we are awed by sunsets. That’s something I’ve taught Dan. I think I probably have taught him to laugh a little more and to see perhaps a different view of things. And in return, he’s taught me patience and consistency.”

Such an appreciation for whimsy can be just the needed touch when the pressures and worries of the presidency find their way to the Lunsford house.

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Amazing Alumni

Joe Mamlin ’56 and Sarah Ellen Dozier Mamlin ’56

by Teresa Buckner

It is probably safe to say that Joe Mamlin is the only student to ever graduate from Mars Hill College without first graduating from high school.

Factor in that Joe went on to receive a medical degree from Wake Forest University and to teach at medical schools on three continents, and he may, in fact, be in an educational category all his own.

Sarah Ellen Dozier Mamlin’s route into Mars Hill College was also unconventional, but in an entirely different way. As the daughter and granddaughter of Baptist missionaries, Sarah Ellen left behind a childhood in Tokyo, Japan, and Hawaii to come to Mars Hill.

There may have been unexpected turns in the road that brought Joe and Sarah Ellen Mamlin together at Mars Hill College, but the years since have sent them on a winding journey around the globe, from North Carolina to Indiana, Afganistan, and finally, Africa. Today, over five decades removed from their meeting at Mars Hill College, the Mamlins’ daily work involves helping to provide medical care, child care and other comprehensive services for thousands of Kenyans who are suffering through famine, poverty, and the pandemic of AIDS. The map of their lives is large, but the story begins with a personal touch from one person — the kind of personal touch that can happen in a small place like Mars Hill College.

“I was kicked out of high school,” Joe said. “I was capable of being a student, but I didn’t know that.” A native of Asheville, Joe was working at JC Penney department store when he became acquainted with Olive Blackwell, the wife of Dr. Hoyt Blackwell, then-president of Mars Hill College.

“She chatted with me and got interested in me, and she arranged for me to come out and talk to Dr. Blackwell.

He decided to give me a one-semester trial at Mars Hill, just to see what I could do,” Joe said. “And for the first time in my life, I discovered I was a student. If you pull up my old transcript you’ll find I rose to the point of straight A’s before I left Mars Hill.”

Joe and Sarah Ellen at work: Joe examines a patient in the clinic and Sarah Ellen oversees a game at the Sally Test Child Life Center.

Joe and Sarah Ellen met each other within the first month of coming to Mars Hill in 1954 and dated throughout their time at Mars Hill.

Sarah Ellen was interested in nursing. Joe originally came to Mars Hill as a ministerial student, but a catastrophic accident changed the course of his life.

Hitch-hiking from Asheville to Oregon for his summer job as a lumberjack, Joe took a ride with a man who ran into a tractor trailer.

Joe remained in the hospital for about a month and, though seriously

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injured, he found that he enjoyed learning about his treatment.

The long hospital stay introduced him to the world of medicine, and he found it fascinating.

“I came back between my freshman and sophomore years at Mars Hill and switched at that moment to pre-med, just because I’d been exposed to something that just overwhelmed me with interest,” Joe said. “So, you could say that the ‘lucky’ thing that happened to me was a truck hit me.”

The long convalescence had other effects, though, on Joe’s mind and heart. He came back to school unsure of the faith he had grown up with, a faith that seemed too simple to answer the questions he had wrestled with in his hospital bed. He came back to Mars Hill “ready to throw the whole thing out,” he said. This time the personal touch that Joe needed came from Mars Hill Baptist Church, where then-pastor Dr. Bob Seymour took an interest in him.

“He said, ‘Look Joe, the Christian journey is the most intellectual journey the world has ever known.

Don’t throw that out.’” Seymour gave Joe a book by theologian Paul Tillich that he says “opened his mind” to a deeper and “less-fundamentalist” faith.

Joe and Sarah Ellen attended Wake Forest College (now Wake Forest University) and married soon after their graduation. Joe went to Bowman Gray Medical School in Winston Salem, and Sarah Ellen began a nursing program there.

After medical School, the Mamlins moved to Indianapolis for Joe’s internship and residency at Indiana University Medical Center and Sarah Ellen completed her nursing degree. By this time, the Mamlins had one daughter, Vaughn. Another daughter, Leigh, and a son, Burke, were born before Joe went to interview for a cardiology fellowship at Duke Medical Center. On the way back from Durham, Joe stopped

by Washington, D.C., to look into a new organization he and Sarah Ellen had heard about called the Peace Corps, which was enlisting doctors to start a medical school in Afghanistan.

“So I had these two offers on the table when I got back to Sarah Ellen,” Joe said. “We could do a cardiology fellowship at Duke, or we could get $75 dollars a month and a bicycle to help start a medical school in the boondocks of Afghanistan.”

Joe Mamlin and Sarah Ellen Dozier in the 1956 Laurel

According to Joe, the decision was a “no-brainer.” They packed up their three small children—two in diapers —and went to Jalalabad, Afghanistan, a decision that brought them all they had hoped for and more.

It certainly was not easy, but it also was a “magical” time, Joe said. Afghanistan at that time was ruled by a king and did not yet know the horrors of Taliban rule.

Joe describes with respect Sarah Ellen’s efforts to run the household and keep the children healthy while he “played doctor at the med school.”

When the family returned to the U.S., Joe accepted a faculty position at Indiana University Medical School, while Sarah Ellen got her master’s in education and began teaching elementary school. And for 13 years, Joe and Sarah Ellen continued a relationship with the medical school in Afghanistan, making many occasional trips to check on its progress.

Then came the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.

For the next few years, Joe and Sarah Ellen did what they could to help Afghan refugees living in Pakistan, some of whom were their friends. Eventually, they accepted that the Afghanistan they had known was gone and that they could not go back. During this time, they also gained a new family member. Siar, a young boy who had lost his home and been separated from his family during the Afghan war, moved to the U.S. to live with the Mamlins.

In the late ’80s, Indiana University sent Joe and a team of other medical school faculty to select a partner medical school in a developing country. They chose Moi University Medical School in Eldoret, Kenya.

For a year in the early ’90s, Joe and Sarah Ellen lived in Kenya, where Joe worked as Team Leader for the partnership, now called called AMPATH (Academic Model for Providing Access to Healthcare). AMPATH includes Moi University, Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, and a consortium of North American academic health centers, led by Indiana University, working in partnership with Kenya’s Ministry of Health.

When Joe retired from his faculty position in 2000, he and Sarah Ellen decided to go for what they believed would be another one- or two-year stint in Kenya. But this time, the Moi Teaching Hospital was treating Mars Hill, The Magazine - Spring 2012

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Joe and Sarah Ellen Mamlin patients with a new disease, called AIDS, and it was everywhere.

“We were in the middle of the worst pandemic that the world has ever seen. We were just swamped with dying young people, and so we broadened the mission to get involved in HIV,” Joe said.

Since the Mamlins moved to Kenya in 2000, they have also gained another adopted son, Dino, whose single mother was teaching at one of the Eldoret preschools Sarah Ellen worked with during their first year in Kenya.

Since moving to Kenya, the Mamlins have begun a habit of spending one month of the year in the U.S. In What began with Joe’s treatment of one HIV patient October, they come home around twelve years ago has to see their children and grown to include 140,000 grandchildren, “so we can enrolled patients in some 55 sites remember what we all look across western Kenya. Today, like,” Joe said. It is quite a AMPATH employs close to feat to gather the children 3,000 employees, working with and their families: Vaughn the Kenyan Ministry of Health lives in Chapel Hill, NC, to provide primary healthcare and is on the faculty of the for thousands of Kenyans in University of North Carolina; many areas, including obstetrics/ Leigh is a classical guitarist gynecology, reproductive health, who lives in Columbus, maternal/child health, oncology, The Mamlins get together with their children OH; Burke is an associate mental health, hypertension, and grandchildren each October on the coast professor of medicine at diabetes, etc. The consortium of NC. This photo includes Leigh, Vaughn, Indiana University; Siar is a even works to provide food and Siar, and several grandchildren. physician who practices in clean water in every home.

Los Angeles; and Dino has In addition to government recently completed a Ph.D. dollars, the program receives in evolutionary biology at Harvard, and is working in millions in grant monies. “My first grant was around Kenya. $12,000,” Joe said, “and now some are in excess of $60 Though they’ve gone far from Mars Hill in many ways, million.” both Joe and Sarah Ellen credit their time at Mars Hill And while Joe stays busy as AMPATH field director, College for beginning them on a journey of looking Sarah Ellen runs the Sally Test Child Life Center outside themselves for meaning in life. she founded as part of Moi Teaching and Referral “Since our years at Mars Hill, we’ve become Methodist, Hospital. The purpose of the center is to minimize we’ve become perhaps more global citizens, and the stress and anxiety for children in the hospital. we have lived in many different cultures around “We explain to children what’s being done to them many faiths comfortably but still if you look deep during procedures and prepare them for operations,” in our roots, I think you’ll find the faith journey Sarah Ellen said. and learning to care for more than just self as part The center also generally takes care of abandoned of wholeness is still part of our life. That quest has children. “We’ve had as many as 17 at a time, but allowed us to create ways we’d like to spend our life most of the time we have between four and eight,” to be in harmony with those values as opposed to just Sarah Ellen said. “Initially, we had many children who grabbing a job and clicking the clock,” Joe said. were HIV positive, or HIV exposed, and now that’s For all the meaningful adventures of their lives, some fairly rare because of the good work that AMPATH might call the Mamlins brave. is doing.”

Sarah Ellen also has started a rape crisis center for women and has been instrumental in the growth of a legal aid program and a system of orphanages in Eldoret. “Basically, she spends her time looking after women and children in Kenya, and occasionally paying attention to me,” Joe said.

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“We’re not brave,” Joe said. “We just don’t follow anyone else’s script. Maybe that’s part of our legacy from Mars Hill.”

But Sarah Ellen has a different explanation for their unconventional life choices. “Maybe we’re just crazy!”

HERITAGE COMES HOME TO FEATURE ONE-OF-A-KIND EVENING Make plans now to join Mars Hill College on May 20, for Heritage Comes Home, a one-of-a-kind evening when five of Nashville’s finest musicians take the stage of Moore Auditorium together.

On May 20, Sutton will come home to western North Carolina, and he’s bringing a few friends.

Bryan Sutton, raised in Buncombe County, has enjoyed a career of great success by any measure as a guitarist who has garnered multiple Grammy awards and recorded with the likes of Dolly Parton, Norah Jones, and Doc Watson. Most notably, Sutton spent four years as a member of Ricky Skaggs’ band, Kentucky Thunder, during a time when Skaggs reentered the bluegrass scene after a successful stint in mainstream country music.

Jerry Douglas, one of the world’s most renowned Dobro players, is a 12-time Grammy Award winner, and was the Country Music Association’s “Musician of the Year” in 2002, 2005, and 2007.

Brian Sutton

Tim O’Brien won a Grammy Award in 2005 for “Best Traditional Folk Album.”

The International Bluegrass Music Association named him “Male Vocalist of the Year” in 1993 and 2006, and in 1990 named his band, Hot Rize, “Entertainer of the Year.”

Casey Driessen is a Grammy-nominated fiddle player who has gained world-wide attention for his famous red shoes and signature energetic percussive fiddling style.

Dennis Crouch is considered one of the nation’s foremost upright bass players, recording and performing with Dolly Parton, Johnny and June Carter Cash, Emmy Lou Harris, Elvis Costello, Randy Travis, Steve Earl, and many others.

General admission tickets for Heritage Comes Home are $30 each. Patron tickets, which include special seating, reserved parking, and admission to a private reception with the performers, are $100 each. To purchase tickets, contact the Madison County Arts Council at 828-6491301, or at info@madisoncountyarts.com.

For more information about the event, contact Mars Hill College at 828/6891571 or go online to www.mhc.edu/ ramsey-center/heritage-comes-home.

Sponsors include WNCW Radio, Earth Fare, NC Tourism Development Authority and the Madison County Arts Council.

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LION ATHLETICS:

2011 Fall Sports Update

by Rick Baker

Football The football team enjoyed its most successful season since becoming a member of NCAA Division II. They won the SAC regular season title and hosted an NCAA Playoff game. They placed 10 players on the All-SAC team, with five named All-Region and three named to All-America teams (Jonas Randolph, Tyler Hodgson & Troy Harris).

Head coach Tim Clifton was named the SAC Coach of the Year.

Jonas Randolph re-wrote the Lions’ record book en route to being selected as the Division II Player of the Year by winning Jonas Randolph the Harlon Hill Trophy.

Photo by Cindy Whitt Randolph, a senior from Daleville, AL, received 19 first-place votes in the balloting as a record six players were first on 10 or more ballots. Randolph is the fifth running back to win the award in the last six years and is the first winner in the award’s history from the South Atlantic Conference.

He led Mars Hill to its first post season game since becoming an NCAA Division II member. He became the South Atlantic Conference’s career rushing leader with 5,608 yards and led all NCAA divisions this season in rushing yards per game (197.27). The SAC Offensive Player of the Year, Randolph’s 2,170 yards in 2011 also set new SAC and school marks. He also had six games of 200 or more rushing yards and nine games of over 100 rushing yards this season. He is a three-time first team All-Super Region 2 honoree and was the Super Region 2 Offensive Player of the 18

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Year this season. Randolph finished the year with 2,170 yards rushing on a Division II-leading 366 carries and scored 18 touchdowns. He averaged over 37 yards per game more than the next closest Division II rusher.

Randolph has also been named an AFCA All-American, Daktronics All-American, AP Little All-American and a USA College Sports All-American.

Men’s Soccer The Lions men’s soccer team finished third in the conference and placed six players on the All-SAC team. The Lions then received a bid to the NCAA Tournament where they defeated Montevallo in the first round and no. 5 Coker in the next round before falling to no. 10 Flagler to end the season.

The Lions earned a no. 17 national ranking at the conclusion of the season. Four players earned All-Region honors. The Lions ended the 2011 season establishing new school records for fewest goals allowed (15) and tying a school record for most shutouts (9). The previous records were held by the 1998 team which allowed only 20 goals and the 2010 squad which also posted nine shutouts.

Goalkeeper Zac Scott set new school records this season. He allowed a record-low 15 goals, posted a goals against average of only 0.76, and tied the record for most shutouts (7). Pat Piscatelli previously had allowed only 20 goals in 1998 and posted a goals against average of 1.04 in 1997. Scott also posted seven shutouts in 2010, as did Piscatelli in 1998 and Sean Merfeld in 2007.

Zac Scott Photo by Cindy Whitt

Women’s Soccer The Lions women’s soccer squad struggled a bit in the 2011 campaign. They placed one Maggie Murphy player on the all-conference team.

A young team, 13 of the squad’s Photo by Cindy Whitt members are either freshmen or sophomores, so the future looks bright for the program in the future.

Volleyball Volleyball finished in fifth place in the SAC and made a strong run in the SAC Tournament.

They eliminated Lincoln Memorial University, the host of the 2011 SAC Tournament, in the opening round of the event before losing a close match to Catawba College in the semifinals. The team placed two players on the All-SAC squad and one on the All-SAC Tournament Team.

In addition to these recognitions, the men’s cross country awards ceremony included the presentation of the 2011 SAC ScholarAthlete of the Year, which went to Mars Hill’s Kit Powell. The Lions took home SAC Coach of the Year hardware as well, as head coach Mike Owens was recognized following his team’s conference title. Mars Hill placed fourth in the 2011 Southeast Regional Championship Meet held at McAlpine Park. The Lions Gragg finished sixth overall in the 10K event.

Gragg finished the race in a time of 31:52.7. Powell was second on the team and 20th overall with a time of 32:49.7.

Eric Blackburn came in third on the team and 24th overall with a finish of 32:57.7. Josh Greenfield-Tuttle rounded out the top four Mars Hill runners in the meet. His time after placing 30th overall in the race was 33:04.

Gragg, Powell, and Blackburn were named to the NCAA D-II Southeast All-Region Team. Gragg ran the third fastest 10K time in school history, while Powell ran the eighth fastest 10K time in Mars Hill Justin Gragg history.

Libero Maggie Murphy was named the NCAA Division II national statistical champion in digs per set, according to the final NCAA National Rankings Summary. The Lions finished the year ranked second in the nation as a team in digs per set.

Murphy, a second team All-SAC selection, posted 6.91 digs per set this season and led Division II since Oct. 16. Mars Hill averaged 19.7 digs per set throughout the season, which is topped only

by Minnesota State Moorhead’s mark of 19.88.

Jessica Viscusi Photo by Greg Witherspoon

Photo by Greg Witherspoon

Men’s Cross Country The Lions men’s cross country team won its 15th consecutive title last fall. The Lions won the 2011 title behind three top-10 individual performances, edging runner-up Anderson by just two points.

Mars Hill was led by individual champion and SAC Runner of the Year Justin Gragg, whose time of 26:31.2 was more than 10 seconds faster than the second place finisher. MHC also got a first-team All-Conference performance from junior Eric Blackburn, the No. 5 individual finisher.

Women’s Cross Country Mars Hill’s women’s cross country team finished in fifth place in the SAC Championships. They placed three runners on the All-SAC squad. Mars Hill placed 16th in the 2011 Southeast Regional Championship, held at McAlpine Park.

Mars Hill’s Jessica Viscusi finished the race first on the team and 34th overall in a time of 23:40.

Her time was a personal best, and she posted the 11th fastest time ever in school history. During the season, Viscusi improved her best high school time by over 2:00. Cassie Adamson was second on the team and 52nd overall with a time of 23:57.7.

Heidi Hooker came in third on the team with a finish of 25:09.3.Danielle Metz rounded out the top four Mars Hill runners in the meet. Her time in the race was 25:15. Savannah Maisel, through the 5K mark of the race, came up with a personal best. During the season, she improved her best high school time by over 2:30.

HOMECOMING 2011 was “OUT OF T

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THIS WORLD” Join us for Homecoming 2012

October 11-14

Golf Tourney: Oct 12 at Grove Park Inn

Homecoming Festival and Game vs Catawba College: Oct. 13

1. The MHC Alumni and Friends Golf Tournament, held this year at Grove Park Inn, raised money for athletic scholarships. This is the third year that the tournament has been held on the Friday of homecoming weekend.

2. Current student and alumni members of the MHC choir provided their traditional performance prior to the homecoming game.

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3. Weizenblatt Gallery featured an exhibit of alumni art during homecoming. Featured were the work of: Joelle Diepenbrock ’06; Kristalyn Bunyan ’07; and Marcus Thomas ’86.

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4. For the second year, the Dynamic Imperials performed a classic blend of beach music and rhythm and blues in Chambers Gymnasium on Friday evening of homecoming weekend.

5-10. A brand new event at this year’s homecoming was the Mars Hill College Homecoming Festival. Student groups, as well as alumni from all over the eastern U.S. sold their wares and demonstrated crafts on the quad. Inflatables for the children (and college students!), good food provided by Chartwells, and sidewalk performances by the Bailey Mountain Cloggers made the festival atmosphere complete.

11. The Lions scored 28 consecutive points in the second half to pull off an exciting homecoming win over Wingate University.

12. Brittany Hazeldine and Jameson Donnell were crowned homecoming queen and king by last year’s royalty: Megan Weaver and Kit Powell.

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13. Alumni of the Year were honored at halftime: Fred Crisp, ’55; Carolyn Laughlin Jackson ’58; Bill Murdock ’84; and Linda Judge-McRae ’86.

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Faculty

ICATIONS...ACHIEVEMENTS...PRESENTATIONS...PUBLICATIONS...ACHIEVEMENTS...PRESENTATIONS...PUBLICATIONS... A Dr. Adrienne Akins, Assistant Professor of English • December 2011: Published “‘By the Sweat of Thy Brow’: Work, Gender, and Eden in Cather’s My Ántonia and Hurst’s ‘Sweat,’” Willa Cather Newsletter and Review 55.2 (2011): 7-14.

• September 2011: Published “Ethnic Identity in Sandra Cisneros’s Caramelo,” Notes on Contemporary Literature 41.4 (2011): 10-11.

• 2011: Published “‘We weren’t laughing at them. . . . We’re grieving with you’: Empathy and Comic Vision in Welty’s The Optimist’s Daughter,” Southern Literary Journal 43.2 (2011): 87-104.

• 2011: Published “’Each of Us Tell It as We See It’: Memory and Storytelling in Roberta Fernández’s Intaglio,” Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction 52.1 (2011): 30-40.

• 2011: Published “’Put Banner on the map!’: Knowledge, Power, and Colonialism in Welty’s Losing Battles,” Eudora Welty Review 3 (2011): 87-95.

• May 2011: Presented “‘Now what did you want to tell that for?’: Violence and Silencing in Losing Battles” at the American Literature Association Conference, Boston MA. Dr. Carol Boggess, Professor of English • 2011: Contributed the afterword to James Still’s Chinaberry, edited by Silas House (University Press of Kentucky), a previously unpublished manuscript of a young boy’s coming of age in Texas.

• Fall 2011: Led a workshop titled “Teaching Primary Source Research Using Archival Materials,” at the Appalachian College Association Summit, Asheville NC. Dr. Hal McDonald, Professor of English • March 2011: Presented “‘The Stairway of Surprise’: Toward a Poetics of Entropy,” at the College English Association 2011 Conference in St. Petersburg, FL. Dr. Kimberly Reigle, Assistant Professor of English • October 2011: Published a review of Ballads and Broadsides in Britain, 1500-1800, ed. Patricia Fumerton, Anita Guerrini, and Kris McAbee, in Journal of British Studies 50 (2011): 967-68.

Dr. John Gripentrog, Associate Professor of History • Fall 2011: Published an online commemorative essay, “Pearl Harbor: The Road to Irreconcilable Worldviews,” on the 70th anniversary of Pearl Harbor as part of a roundtable for the Society for Historians of Foreign Relations (SHAFR).

• October 2011: Published a review of Ballads and Broadsides in Britain, 1500-1800, ed. Patricia Fumerton, Anita Guerrini, and Kris McAbee, in Journal of British Studies 50 (2011): 967-68.

Dr. Kathy Newfont, Associate Professor of History • February 2012: Published Blue Ridge Commons: Environmental Activism and Forest History in Western North Carolina (Athens: U of Georgia P, 2012), a study of three hundred years of Appalachian environmental history.

• October 2011: Organizer of and plenary speaker for the session titled “Personal Stories and Public Lands: Exploring Common Ground in Oral and Environmental History” at the fortyfifth annual meeting of the Oral History Association, Denver, CO; accompanied by MHC students Traci Morgan and Jonee Taylor.

Blue Ridge • October 2011: Commentator for the Commons, a book session “The Blue, the Gray, and the Green:

by Dr. Kathy Toward an Environmental History of the Newfont.

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Civil War” at the third annual “UnCivil Wars” Conference, University of Georgia, Athens.

Dr. Greg Clemons, Professor of Spanish: • 2011: Awarded first prize for the special edition of the English translation of a short story by Argentine writer Manuel Mujica Lainez, “The Small Man on the Tile” (along with the Spanish original and translations in French and German), from the Cámara Argentina de Publicaciones in the general literature category for the best short story, novel, poetry, and theater edited and published in Argentina in 2010.

• October 2011: Invited to serve as an outside evaluator of the MFL program at Campbell University as part of a seven-year study in coordination with a SACS review (compensation by honoraria).

Dr. Maria Mareno, Assistant Professor of Modern Foreign Languages: • June 2011: Presented “The Linguistic Crossroads of French Caribbean Writers” at the bi-annual conference of the International Society of Language Studies in Aruba.

Dr. Yael Baldwin, Associate Professor of Psychology • 2011: Published Lacan and Addiction: An Anthology, ed. with Kareen R. Malone and Lacan and Thomas Svolos, London: Karnac.

Addiction, Dr. Jonna M. Kwiatkowski, Assistant an anthology Professor of Psychology: co-edited by Dr. • August 2011: Presented, with student Moritz, K., Dancing is attractive: Evidence Yael Baldwin from judgments of movement, at the American Psychological Association Annual Convention, Washington, DC. • August 2011: Posted: Notes from SoundSchool, Dr. Bob’s Soundschool.

Dr. Matt Baldwin, Associate Professor of Religion and Philosophy • January 2012: Published “Rick Perry’s Strong Definition of Religion,” Occasional Religion, an online forum for “scholars and artists engaging the world.”

Dr. Kathy Meacham, Professor of Philosophy • August 2011: Presented “Longitudinal Clinical Ethics at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine/Asheville (UNC SOMA)” to the UNC Hospitals Ethics Committee, Chapel Hill, NC. • October 2011: Presented “Classic Cases in Clinical Ethics,” sponsored

by Mission Hospital’s Ethics Committee and the Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC), Asheville, NC. • November 2011: Presented “Evidence-Based Ethics” the Society for Ethics across the Curriculum annual meeting, St. Louis, MO. • 2011-2012: Awarded a sabbatical and an ACA Stephenson Faculty Fellowship to develop a clinical ethics program in conjunction with the UNC School of Medicine at Asheville (SOMA).

• May 2011: Presented “Teaching Ethical Competency to Medical Students: When to Call for a Consult” at the International Conference on Clinical Ethics Consultation in Amsterdam.

Dr. Marc Mullinax, Associate Professor of Religion • January 2012: Participated, as both adjunct professor and student, in “Fierce Landscapes: Listening to the People of Appalachia,” a two-week course on religion in Appalachia with twenty seminary students, sponsored by the Appalachian Ministries Educational Resource Center (AMERC) and Wake Forest Divinity School.

Dr. Beth Vogler, Professor of Social Work • June, 2011: Presented in Association for Death Education and

ACHIEVEMENTS...PRESENTATIONS...PUBLICATIONS...

Counseling Annual Conference, Poster Session, Hospice Utilization

by African-Americans in Western North Carolina.

Dr. Chris Cain, Associate Professor of Education • Published, 2011: Cain.C. , & Faulkner, N. V, (2011). Teaching Number in the Early Elementary Years. Teaching Children Mathematics, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (January 2012), 289-295.

• 2011: Presented Taking the Magic out the Mathematics in K-12 Schools. MTSS National Numeracy Conference, KS. • 2011: Co-wrote D.O.E. Grant with Mitchell County Schools funded at 100% in the amount of $150,000.

• 2011: Co-wrote U.S. Department of Education grant (U.S.D.O.E.) for a 12 state partnership to enhance learning through the new Federal Common Core Standards, 2011. Grant was funded at 90% of the original $24,875,111.

Dr. Amanda Knapp, Assistant Professor of Chemistry • January 2012: Published a perspective article: Youngs, W.J.; Knapp, A.R.; Wagers, P.O.; Tessier, C.A. 2012. Nanoparticle encapsulated silver carbene complexes and their antimicrobial and anticancer properties. Dalton Transactions 41 (2012): 327-36.

• January 2012: Published an article: Leid, J.G.; Ditto, A.J.; Knapp et al. 2012. In vitro antimicrobial studies of silver carbene complexes: activity of free and nanoparticle carbene formulations against clinical isolates of pathogenic bacteria. Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy 67 (2012): 138-48.

Dr. Matt Milnes, Assistant Professor of Biology • January 2012: Published meeting report: Ganswindt, A., M.R. Milnes et al. 2012. International Society for Wildlife Endocrinology: the future of endocrine measures for reproductive science, animal welfare and conservation biology. Biology Letters doi: 10.1098/ rsbl.2011.1181.

• March 2012: Published research article: Tubbs, C., M. Milnes et al. 2012. Activation of southern white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum simum) estrogen receptors by phytoestrogens: potential role in the reproductive failure of captive-born females. Endocrinology 153(3): 1444-1452.

Dr. Scott Pearson, Professor of Biology • May 2011: Published book review: Pearson, S. M. 2011. Biodiversity science: Book review of The Challenges of Biodiversity Science by M. Loreau. Landscape Ecology 26:751-752.

• August 2011: Published book chapter: Pearson, S. M. and J. M. Fraterrigo. 2011. Habitat quality, niche breadth, temporal stochasticity, and the persistence of populations in heterogeneous landscapes. Pp. 115-138 in J. Liu, V. Hull, A. T. Morzillo, and J. A. Weins (eds.). Sources, Sinks, and Sustainability. Cambridge University Press; Cambridge, UK. • September 2011: Presentation: Cohen, E. B, S. M. Pearson, and F. R. Moore. Application of a spatially explicit individual-based model to conservation of migrating songbirds. National Wetlands Research Center, Lafayette, LA,.

• November 2011: Presentation: Pearson, S. M., K. Rossouw, and H. A. Lumpkin. Effects of residential development on breeding bird communities & habitats in the Southern Blue Ridge Province.

Southern Appalachian Man-and-the Biosphere Conference, Asheville NC. • November 2011: Presentation: Pearson, S. M. and H. A. Lumpkin, Interactions between climate and residential development for breeding bird communities in the Southern Blue Ridge Province.

North Carolina Partners-in-Flight meeting, Grandfather Mountain NC..

WELCOME NEW

FACULTY AND STAFF • Ryan Bell - Upward Bound, MA Liberal Arts, St. Johns College • Monica Gordy - Head Softball Coach, MS Coaching Education, Ohio University • Che Gothard - Asst. Athletic Trainer and Instructor of Athletic Training, MEd Higher Education Administration, Nicholls State University • Josiah Hagemann - Asst. Athletic Trainer and Instructor of Athletic Training, MA Sports Administration, UNC Pembroke • Dave Klarmann - Head Lacrosse Coach, BA Education, UNC Chapel Hill • Dr. Joy Kish - Special Assistant to the President for Strategic Initiatives, Ed.D Education, NC State University • James Knight - Director of the Annual Fund, BA Communication, University of Alabama • Renee Parrish - Human Resources Assistant, BA Graphic Design, Appalachian State University • Ashley Reid - Financial Aid Counselor, BS Mathematics, Mars Hill College • Marcia Vackel - Business Office Cashier, AAS, Accounting, Onondaga Community College • Matt Vader - Asst. Sports Information Director, BA Journalism, Western Michigan University • Dr. Laura Whitaker-Lea - Asst. VP of Student Development, Ph.D, Educational Policy Studies, Georgia State University • Derrick Everhart - Cheerleading Coach, BA Music, Mars Hill College

Current and retired faculty members posed at this fall’s dinner for the MHC Dept. of Modern Foreign Languages: (L to R) Bob Kramer, retired Professor of German; Dr. Greg Clemons, Professor of Spanish and Coordinator of MFL; Gordon Hinners, Associate Professor of Spanish and International Studies; Dr. WalliAnn Wisniewski, Adjunct Professor of Spanish and General Studies; Dr. Maria Moreno, Assistant Professor of French and General Studies; and Dr. Richard Knapp, retired Professor of French. Absent is Dr. Katherine MaCoy, retired Professor of Spanish.

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They Came...And They Stayed!

During a special ceremony on September 29, 2011, Mars Hill College honored living current and former full-time employees who worked for the college for at least 30 years. The program was titled: “They came… and they stayed.” Many of the 30-year honorees are pictured above.

A. Vernon Carver, Grounds Keeper ..................................................... *46 Rachel M. Chapman, Business Administration ...................................45 Noel Kinnamon, English ...........................................................................45 Emmett Sams, Mathematics ....................................................................45 Evelyn Anderson, Asst. Dir. Computer Center/Payroll ......................44 Robert Chapman, Associate Dean/Registrar .......................................44 Sylvia Murphey, Asst. to Dean: Adult & Grad. Programs ................ *44 Robert Kramer, Modern Foreign Languages-German .......................43 Carolyn Lamberson Music .......................................................................43 Harley Jolley, History .................................................................................42 Walter Smith, VP/College Publications .................................................42 Arthur E. Wood, Mathematics and Physics ..........................................42 Virginia Hart, Physical Education ......................................................... *40 Charlie Narron, Business Administration .............................................40 Larry Stern, Political Science ................................................................. *40 Calvin Davis, Plumber/Electrician .........................................................39 Julie Fortney, Music ................................................................................. *39 Charity Ray, Library Assistant .................................................................39 Donna Robertson, Music ..........................................................................39 Naomi Ferguson, Asst. Director of Human Resources ......................39 David Knisley, History ..............................................................................38 George Peery, Political Science ...............................................................38 Charles Phillips, Physical Education ......................................................38 Donald Russell, Mathematics ................................................................ *38 Teresa Stern, Education ............................................................................38 Walter Stroud, Psychology .......................................................................38 James W. Thomas, Theatre Arts ..............................................................38 Nancy Medford Wood, Mathematics ....................................................38 Penny Ponder, Accounts Payable Associate ..........................................37 Winona Bierbaum, Education/Home Economics ...............................35

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Mars Hill, The Magazine - Spring 2012

Anna Hines, Music ....................................................................................35 Gwen Metcalf, Information & Input Mgr. Admissions ......................35 Frank Quick, Biology .................................................................................35 Shelby Robinson, Program Asst.: Div.

of Natural Sciences and Dept. of Physical Education ............... *35 Gerald Ball, Director of Information Technology ............................. *34 Brenda Briggs, Mail Room Supervisor ..................................................34 Earl Leininger,

Religion & Philosophy; Vice Pres. for Academic Affairs ............34 Phyllis Bechtol, Custodial Supervisor .................................................. *33 Bruce Bradley, Grounds Keeper ..............................................................33 Marie Brown, Asst. Office Mgr., Facilities; Secretary, Music ............33 JoAnn Croom, Biology ..............................................................................33 Nancy Fosson, Assistant Registrar ....................................................... *33 Jack Groce, Business Administration .....................................................33 Page Lee, Religion ......................................................................................33 James Lenburg, History ............................................................................33 David Mace, Custodian .............................................................................33 Kenneth Sanchagrin, Sociology ..............................................................33 Jeanette Proffitt, Executive Assistant ................................................... *33 Edwin Cheek, English ...............................................................................32 Lura Edsall, Education ............................................................................ *32 Karen Hedrick, Gifts Services Associate ............................................. *32 Ray Rapp, Dean of Adult ACCESS .........................................................32 Dorothy Roberts, Music ...........................................................................32 Genevieve Adams, Chemistry .................................................................31 John Adams, Music ....................................................................................31 Alta. M. Capps, Custodian ..................................................................... *31 Deana Holland, Director of Human Resources ................................. *31 Richard Knapp, Modern Foreign Languages-French .........................31 Darryl Norton, Director of Auxiliary Services ................................... *31 Lisa Tweed, Housekeeping ..................................................................... *31 Nathan Harmon, Housekeeping..............................................................30 Rebecca Cody, Apparel and Interior Merchandising ........................ *30 Robin Cole, Assistant Dean of Students .............................................. *30

*still employed at MHC

Class Notes

Mars Hill, the Magazine of Mars Hill College welcomes photos (personal snapshots preferred) when you send in news of weddings, babies, accomplishments etc. Send your photos to: alumni@mhc.edu, or Alumni Office, P.O. Box 370, Mars Hill, NC 28754.

1920s A scholarship has been named in honor of the Hon. J. Frank Huskins ’29 at the University of North Carolina School of Law. Huskins’ widow, Ruth Huskins, passed away in early 2010, leaving a sizeable endowment to establish the Justice J. Frank Huskins Scholarship.

1940s An elementary school in Clemmons, NC, has been named for William Frank Morgan ’43. The W. Frank Morgan Elementary School opened in August 2011. The recognition honored Morgan’s 33 years as a teacher and principal in Clemmons and his service as a World War II veteran and prisoner of war. velyn Hope Bailey ’44 has been a freelance writer E since retiring from Asheville City Schools, where she served as music teacher and then as media specialist.

During her writing career, she has had several articles published on the subjects of biography, religion and history. For eight years, she served as president of the Woman’s Club of Burnsville and was instrumental in establishing two scholarships. She is currently the historian for the Parkway Playhouse in Burnsville. illiam Henry Crouch ’47, MHC Trustee, was honored W as the first president of the Baptist World Alliance, on the 25th anniversary of its founding in February 2012. arlos “Pete” Davis ’49 and his wife, Carolyn, C celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary last summer with an ice cream social given by their children. The Davises, residents of Wilmington, NC, were married on July 8, 1956.

1950s isner Washam ’51 won a Writers’ Guild of America W competition and was awarded a public reading at Lincoln Center in New York City for his controversial novel, The Cloning, about a young American scientist who clones DNA from the Shroud of Turin. Washam was

the long time head writer of “All My Children” daytime drama. larence and Reva Cook Groce, ’60 and ’57, of C Winston-Salem, NC, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on August 20, 2011, by inviting their children and grandchildren to join them on a family cruise. uth Winchester Ware ’59, for the 2011 Thomas R Wolfe Conference in Savannah, GA, donated for auction her black and white photographic work,“Wolfe Angel,” together with her poem inspired by the arson fire that several years ago struck the Wolfe Memorial in Asheville, NC. Previous Wolfe-related papers titled “Thomas Wolfe’s 1918 Flu Story,” and “Thomas Wolfe’s Grove-Story: Journey through Grief to Resolution,” have been published in the Thomas Wolfe Review. The Grover paper was also published in Short Story Criticism: Criticism of the Works of Short Fiction Writers, volume 113.

1960s eonard Edwards ’65, and his wartime experiences L in Vietnam are the subject of a biographical blog at nctovietnam.com. The blog is published by Edwards’ daughter Lynne Edwards Wheaton ’94, with help from daughters Melanie Edwards Moss and Lori Edwards Willis ’03. Highlights of the blog will include letters to and from Edwards, family photos, and historical documents. harles Deweese ’67 is the editor of a new book C from Mercer University Press, called Cancer and Healing: Memoirs of Gratitude and Hope, 2012. The book provides first-person glimpses into the cancer experiences of eighteen contributors, all of whom are Baptist. arry Collins ’68 has retired from military sealift L command. He says: “After going around the world eight times and visiting 43 foreign countries, I will miss the travel.” He plans to move from Gastonia, NC, to the Philippines in the near future.

1970s avid Smith ’70 retired in September as Director of D Burke County (NC) Department of Social Services.

Smith had worked for the Burke County DSS for 39 years, and had served as its director for eight years.

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Class Notes

eil Avent ’72 has been named Mason of the Year for N 2012, for his local Masonic Lodge in Sanford, NC. r. Rebecca Ruth Compton Hendrix ’73 completed D the requirements for her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Teaching at Auburn University in fall 2011. Hendrix’s dissertation was titled: Using Creative Dramatics to Foster Conceptual Learning in an Elementary Science Enrichment Program. r. Robert Kirk ’74 recently completed a doctorate D in Education Administration from Gardner-Webb University. Robert and his wife, Elizabeth Hegenbart “Cookie” Kirk ’74, live in Concord, NC, and would enjoy hearing from Mars Hill friends. aren Batson McDonald ’74 was inducted into the K Order of the Long Leaf Pine upon her retirement from the North Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice in September 2011. McDonald served as area administrator covering 28 counties in western North Carolina since 1999. (See article on page 12.) hillip S. Ashley ’76 has been named Assistant P Professor of Education/Coordinator of Education Field Partnerships at Anderson University, Anderson, SC. He retired in 2006 from Anderson County (SC) Public Schools, district #2, Belton-Honea Path. teven Hill ’78 retired as site manager of the Thomas S Wolfe House in Asheville, NC in December 2011. Hill had managed the boyhood home of Asheville’s most famous author for 34 years. illiam David Guice ’79 has been appointed by W North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue as Chief of the Division of Community Corrections in the new Department of Public Safety. Guice, who took office in January 2012, resigned from a second term in the NC House of Representatives to take the position. andall Henderson ’79 was inducted into the Sports R Hall of Fame at Asheboro High School in September 2011. Henderson was a standout in football, baseball and basketball at Asheboro High before playing both football and baseball at Mars Hill College. He and his wife, Ginny, live in Fort Myers, FL, where he is the mayor.

1980S J anice Poteat Hensley ’80 was elected the Chairperson of the Democratic Women of McDowell County Auxiliary Club in October of 2011. Hensley is a retired licensed clinical social worker. She and her husband, Leonard, live in Old Fort, NC. 26

Mars Hill, The Magazine - Spring 2012

eisa Laney Fink ’81 was named the new Recruitment L Manager for Girl Scouts Carolinas Peaks to Piedmont in October 2011, serving the NC counties of Forsyth, Stokes, Surry and Yadkin. She and her family live in Kernersville, NC. ene Couch ’84 was hired as Executive Vice President G of Alamance Community College in Graham, NC, in July 2011. Prior to this position, Couch was a member of the administration of Southwestern Community College in Sylva, NC. In his 25 years there, Couch served in several positions, including Vice President of Instructional Services. tan Dotson ’84 is the author of a novel, Poor Memory, S published in July 2010. Dotson is also the founding director of InOurElements.com, which provides reflection resources and facilitation for engaged learning in school, college, church, and business settings. avid Beaver ’86 was featured as a “Thanks to D Teachers” winner on WLOS-TV 13 News on January 13, 2012. Beaver, who has been a teacher at North Buncombe High School for 27 years, was nominated by a student for the honor. lbert “Lumpy” Lambert ’86 was been named E assistant general manger of casino operations at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino and Hotel in Cherokee, NC, in December 2011.

T heresa Plemmons Reiter ’86 of Lakeland, FL, is the author of a resource for children’s ministry leaders called Nelson’s Children’s Minister’s Manual. The manual was published by Thomas Nelson, Inc. in 2011. ev. B. Kris Kramer ’88 has been appointed the R Chaplain of St. Edmond Hall, Oxford University. He is married to the Rev. Caroline Kramer, Associate Priest of All Saints Wokingham. They have four children.

J ames Timothy Brewer ’89 was been named President of Mitchell Community College by the Board of Trustees in January 2012. Brewer lives with his wife, Shannon, and two children in Mooresville, NC.

1990S J ohn Verstrate-Dishner ’92 and his wife, Nicole, had a daughter, Zoe Marie, on October 13, 2010. The Verstrate-Dishner family lives in Bangkok, Thailand. hristopher Kouns ’92 is completing his first year as C head women’s soccer coach at Capital University in Columbus, OH. Under his leadership, the team won

the Ohio Athletic Conference Championship, went to the second round of the NCAA Division III National Tournament and set five program records. Previously, Kouns has held head coaching positions at NAIA Union College (KY) and Jacksonville University (FL). aniel Metcalf ’92 was named Madison County D Schools (NC) Principal of the Year in January 2012. He is the principal of Brush Creek Middle School in Walnut, NC. arren Cabe ’93 was hired as the fire and emergency W management director for the town of Franklin, NC, in August 2011. Cabe has served as the Macon County director of emergency services since 1996. r. Steve Glenn ’93, has been hired as the director of D the G. Frank Russell Career Center in Greenwood, SC. The Career center serves approximately 1,500 students from three school districts in Greenwood. ichael Treadway ’93 has been hired as the principal M of Swain County High School in Bryson City, NC.

aj. Jerry Baird ’96, a 25-year Army veteran, assumed M command of the North Carolina Army National Guard’s 105th Military Police Battalion in January 2012. eather Cochran Grogan ’96, H and her husband, Robert, had a son, Gavin Grogan, on April 18, 2010. atrick Nelson ’97 has been P named principal of NewtonConover Middle School in Newton, NC. Nelson was formerly the principal at Shuford Elementary School in Conover.

Gavin Grogan

ary Lou Yelton Davis ’98 married Marc Christian M Davis, Jr. in October 2011. The couple resides in Granite Falls, NC.

2000S

hristine Brown ’94 was named Buncombe County C Schools’ (NC) Teacher of the Year. This is Brown’s 16th year at North Buncombe Middle School.

r. Llanie Ranzer ’00 received her doctorate in D chemistry and biochemistry from Florida Atlantic University in 2006. She is the Director of Biotechnology at Keiser University in Port St. Lucie, FL.

andra Payne Fambrough ’94 has recently assumed S a position as the lead interpretive and education ranger at Elk Knob State Park in Todd, NC, near Boone.

Previously, Fambrough had the same position at Goose Creek State Park in Washington, NC.

anny Peck ’01 (aka “dep”) is an electronic musician D and composer living in Weaverville, NC, whose most recent album Defiant Heart, was released in 2011. This is the 14th album dep has released since 2006.

r. Michelle Johnson Chandley ’95, a postdoctoral D fellow in pharmacology at the James H. Quillen College of Medicine, is one of two scientists to receive a research grant for an innovative study of autism that could someday lead to new treatments. The grant was from Autism Speaks, an advocacy group that funds biomedical research. elanie Ramsey Collins ’95 has been hired as M the principal of Joe P. Eblen Intermediate School in Buncombe County, NC.

indsey Cope ’02 was chosen as the Teacher of the L Year at Hayesville Middle School in September, 2011.

Cope, who teaches music, is a National Board Certified Teacher. ynthia O’Neal ’02 has been hired as the assistant C principal of Garrett Elementary School in Mebane, NC. She holds a master’s degree in school administration from N.C. Central University.

J ennifer Hoyle Powell ’02 married Paul Dean Powell on July 30, 2011. The Powells live in Forest City, NC.

onald Kirk Hensley ’95 of Fairview, NC, was named D Trooper of the Year for Troop G, which is comprised of 16 NC counties. He is a Highway Patrol instructor and also trains federal, state and local law enforcement officers.

elley Chandler Badman ’03 married Thomas Badman K on May 21, 2011. The couple live in Fletcher, NC. In February 2011, Kelley obtained licensure as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker from the N.C. Board of Social Work.

Attorney Jason Wunsch ’95 opened the Wake County office of the Law Offices of Jason Wunsch in FuquayVarina, NC, on December 1, 2011. Wunsch already has an established law practice in Harnett County. Wunsch and his family live in Fuquay-Varina.

achary Moss ’03 was named Hayesville High School Z Teacher of the Year in 2011. He has taught middle school and high school science for ten years and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in science from Piedmont College in Georgia.

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Class Notes Cultural Revolution which was included in the 2011 issue of Explorations: The Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities for the State of North Carolina.

lizabeth Nebel Vassey ’03 E recently received her Ph.D. in Neuropsychology, and began a postdoctoral research position with the Boston University School of Medicine in January 2012.

eather Buckner Hollifield, ’11 married John H Hollifield on May 28, 2011. She is a special education teacher at West Buncombe Elementary School.

rian Danforth ’06, and his wife B LaZendra, had a son, Stephen Breon, on November 18, 2011. ynthia Tomberlin Whitt, C ’06 welcomed granddaughter, Lilyian Jade Parrott on March 17, 2011. Lilyian is the daughter of Lacee and Lee Parrott.

Stephen Danforth

harles Burleson C ’07 was ordained into Cindy Whitt and Lily Parrott the gospel ministry at West Burnsville Baptist Church on June 5, 2011. He is currently working in a chaplaincy residency program at New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington. lake and Rebekah Ludlow Hart (’07, ’07) have B moved from Atlanta, GA, to Arica, Chile, in the country’s mountainous northern region. They are currently serving as Cooperative Baptist missionaries, working primarily with the indigenous Aymara people. Information about their ministry is available through their blog, Desert Journeys, at thehartbeat.wordpress.com.

2010S ary Kate Christian ’10 was chosen as the first place M winner in the John Claypool Preaching Contest at Mercer University’s McAfee School of Theology in January, 2012.

T asha Janel Whitt, ’10, graduated December 2011 from Virginia Tech with a Master of Science degree in Human Development. mory Hensley ’11 was hired as a music teacher at W. E D. Williams Elementary School in Swannanoa, NC, for the 2011-12 school year. ouglas Green ’11 married Sarah Dean on September D 3, 2011, at Broyhill Chapel on the campus of MHC. The couple resides in Marshall, NC. lifford E. “Trey” Mayberry, III, ’11 authored a research C essay called Sam Phillips, Elvis, & Rock N’ Roll: A 28

Mars Hill, The Magazine - Spring 2012

T rustee Justus “Jud” Ammons was inducted into the Raleigh Hall of Fame October 27, 2011 at the Raleigh Convention Center. The mission of the Raleigh Hall of Fame is to honor individuals and non-profit organizations that have made lasting contributions to Raleigh’s history.

In Memoriam

Since our last publication, we have received word of the passing of the following members of the Mars Hill College family. Each name is followed by date of death and last city of residence.

1930s Louise Bowles Kapp ’34, October 9, 2011, Pfafftown, FL Nina Hayes Hoye ’35, October 26, 2011. Salem, VA Charles Jervis ’35, January 6, 2010 Bartow, FL Ethel Davis Booth ’36, August 26, 2011, Wilmington, NC Ernest Harrill ’36, December 9, 2011, Charlotte, NC aye McBee ’37, June 30, F 2011, Spruce Pine, NC urwood Murray ’37, D November 24, 2011, Goldsboro, NC artha Beck Thompson M ’37, October 20, 2011, Hudson, NC Edith Breedlove ’38,

August 7, 2011, Murphy, NC illiam Cross ’38, April W 16, 2010, Del Ray Beach, FL aul Johnson ’38, P November 10, 2011, Advance, NC ade McInnis ’38, W October 28, 2011 Colfax, NC eona McMahan Pendley L ’38, December 20, 2008 Chattanooga, TN ildred Stines ’38, M September, 26, 2011, Morganton, NC arah Smith Atkinson S ’39, June 2, 2011, St. Petersburg, FL ev. James Kirk ’39, May R 28, 2011, Bloomington, GA

1940s Rexford Campbell

In Memoriam

’40, February 9, 2012, Winston-Salem, NC Ruth Jones Lewis ’40, February 23, 2012, Augusta, GA rank Proffitt ’40, B November 10, 2011, Marshall, NC I ris Melton Whitaker ’40, January 22, 2011, FuquayVarina, NC illiam Spillman ’41, July W 19, 2011, Mocksville, NC

I va Dill Yarborough ’42, November 24, 2011, Asheville, NC rances Cathy Bost ’43, F July 2, 2011, Winston Salem, NC oswald Daly ’43, R November 3, 2011, Georgetown, SC eonard “Pug” Green L ’43, October 20, 2011, Greensboro, NC

ancy Kennickell N Thelma Baker Stephenson Johnston ’43, December 5, 2010, Jefferson, NC ’41, January 20, 2012, Richmond, VA Talmadge Bailey ’44, March 11, 2011, Palm City, Mary Finch Bryan ’42, January 14, 2012, Raleigh, FL NC Ruth Blount Fentress ’44, September 8, 2011, Chevy James S. Clarke ’42, November 27, 2011, Eden Chase, MD Prairie, MN Clara Watts Huffman ’44, January 11, 2012, Drexel, Edwin Luther Copeland NC ’42, November 19, 2011, Raleigh, NC Thomas Austell ’45, July 11, 2011, Earl, NC Dr. Rufus Hambright ’42, February 22, 2012, Mandora Powell Fillman Beaufort, NC ’45 August 20, 2011, York, NE Carl Harris ’42, August 9, 2011, Winston Salem, NC Rev. Latt Beshears ’46, November 22, 2011, Betty Spainhour Hennessee ’42, November Wilkesboro, NC 12, 2011, Winston-Salem, Mary Colvard Davis NC ’46, August 20, 2011, Chesapeake, VA Robert Lancaster ’42, August 17, 2011, Concord, Helen Allred Edson ’46, NC August 27, 2011, Lake City, FL Sara Davis Sigmon ’42, August 5, 2011, Forest Lillie Ferguson Erickson City, NC ’46, June 6, 2011, Clearwater, FL Dave Wessinger ’42, February 17, 2010, Catherine Wilkins Grimes Pinehurst, NC ’46, January 22, 2011,

Raleigh, NC

ev. James Craig ’49, R Ethel Louise Beck McGinn January 1, 2012, Durham, NC ’46, August 10, 2011, Lexington, NC John Dotson ’49, June 9, 2011, Fletcher, NC Laura Boggs Parson ’46, October 28, 2011, Lenoir, NC itzi Brockman M Tzouvelekas ’46, December 18, 2011, Simpsonville, SC. len Clanton ’47, May 23, G 2011, Nashville, TN

orothy Mosley Green D ’49, October 12, 2011, Myrtle Beach, SC rank Ingle ’49, August F 19, 2011, Oak Ridge, TN eneva Ammons Maney G ’49, October 3, 2011, Woodfin, NC

J essie Hutchson ’47, July udrey Jolley McMullan A 9, 2011, N. Wilkesboro, NC ’49, October 19, 2011, Kitty Hawk, NC Jean Black Lohr ’47, July 22, 2011, Shelby, NC

ary Catherine “Kitty” M Ritchie Poole ’47, August 17, 2011, Badin, NC ilda Lominac Waller H ’47, December 22, 2011, Stillwater, OK I ra Adams ’48, July 11, 2011, Kershaw, NC Ethel Rogers Brunson ’48, February 21, 2012, Charleston, SC illiam McIver ’48, W January 28, 2011, Gastonia, NC impson Wilde ’48, S January 28, 2012, Rocky Mount, NC harles Bunn ’49, June C 27, 2011 Conover, NC ary Lou Joyce Cooper M ’49, October 7, 2011, Pittsboro, NC iriam Quigley Cooper M ’49, July 13, 2011, Greensboro, NC

ary Anne McCraw M Meadows ’49, November 12, 2011, Leicester, NC oraine Bennett Rae ’49, L July 4, 2011, Portland, OR . Harold Stephens L ’49, August 23, 2011, Morehead City, NC J ohn Williams ’49, September 10, 2010, Sandy Springs, GA

1950s lizabeth Knight ’50, E September 26, 2011, Wilmington, NC harles Lemley ’50, C November 12, 2011, Mebane, NC ruce Olive ’50, January B 25, 2012, Greensboro, NC J ohn Peck, Jr. ’50, January 27, 2011, Kingston, NJ ebecca Anne Hoots R Alderman ’51, April 19, 2011, Dublin, OH

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In Memoriam

ecil Bailey ’51, July 16, C 2011, Richmond, VA lma Louise Brock ’51, A July 17, 2011, Goldsboro, NC red Mathis ’51, June 3, F 2011 North Augusta, SC T heodore McClelland ’51, August 21, 2011, WinstonSalem, NC ary Burch Middleton M ’51, November 19, 2011, Winston-Salem, NC atricia Yates Tolbert P ’51, December 2, 2011, Hickory, NC harles Epley ’52, C November 17, 2011, Asheville, NC ax Kell ’52, July 20, M 2011, Sacramento, CA enneth Newton ’52, K October 12, 2011, Easley, SC Lee Andrews Pritchard ’52, January 28, 2012, Lenoir, NC

Charlottesville, VA

harles Reese ’55, C January 28, 2012, Advance, NC

Donald Caldwell ’60, February 16, 2012, Mars Hill, NC

athryn Davis Bell ’56, K July 17, 2010, Surfside Beach, SC

T immons Gordon ’60, November 16, 2011, Rutherfordton, NC

J oseph Grantham ’56, January 13, 2012, Halifax, NC

alston Edwards ’61, R August 10, 2011, Rock Hill, SC

arol McManus ’56, C December 17, 2010, Newport News, VA

eba Perry Shepherd R ’61, September 8, 2011, Charlotte, NC

atricia Bush Power ’56, P June 5, 2011, Vinton, VA

aye Coker Walker ’62, F September 14, 2011, Brevard, NC

hirley Jean Walker ’56, S December 29, 2011, Rutherfordton, NC arold Odom Sr. ’57, April H 30, 2011, Taylorsville, NC hirley “Toni” Carter S Reese ’57, November 19, 2011, Hendersonville, NC J ohn Tyner ’57, July 17, 2011 Plant City, FL

erman “Ace” Ragan Jr. F ’52, October 11, 2011, Lexington, NC

J ames Bennett ’58, September 2, 2011, Madison, TN

ary Stewart Skulkety M ’52, January 23, 2012, Charlotte, NC

larence Parsons ’58, C October 18, 2010, Burlington, NC

on Payne ’54, July 11, D 2011, Spartanburg, SC

oberta “Robbie” Duff R Snipes ’58, February 7, 2010, State College, PA

J acob Gerald ’55, January 11, 2012, Knightdale, NC artha Lorena Lee ’55, M May 23, 2011, Charlotte NC harles Merten ’55, C September 21, 2009, Ball Ground, GA 30

hirley Styles Phillips S ’55, October 23, 2011, Bakersville, NC

ichard Hirata ’58, R October 19, 2011, Waipahu, HI J ack Merrell ’59, September 24, 2011, Pisgah Forest, NC lifton McClure ’59, C October 30, 2011,

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1960s

J ohnsie Reynolds Woody ’62, August 27, 2011, Charlotte, NC T homas Adams ’65, October 23, 2011, San Angelo, TX obert Wurst ’66, October R 25, 2011, Asheville, NC rnold Bryson ’67, A February 3, 2011, Mills River, NC inda Cowan Warfford L ’67, December 18, 2011, Siler City, NC illiam Seel ’68, W September 28, 2011, Murrells Inlet, SC renda Cook ’69, B September 9, 2011, Mars Hill, NC T heresa Kenny Gaskin ’69, January 18, 2012, Pawleys Island, SC

1970s Lester Murphey ’70,

March 13, 2011, Burnsville, NC velyn Johnson Verduin E ’70, July 22, 2010, Richmond, VA T erry Scruggs ’71, September 14, 2011, Brevard, NC thel Ray Austin ’73, E September 22, 2011, Asheville, NC J effrey Conner ’74, April 5, 2011, Candler, NC anda Rogers Hollifield W ’74, August 8, 2011, Mars Hill, NC lden Benjamin “Toby” A Chrisawn ’75, October 19, 2011, Burnsville, NC herry Aiken Thackston S ’75, October 5, 2011, Greenville, SC ary Ledford ’76, August G 5, 2011, Marion, NC J ames ReMine ’78, September, 2, 2011, Asheville, NC

1980s athryn Gates Chase K ’80, December 13, 2011, Eden, NC obert Keith Johnson, R Jr. ’81, May 8, 2010, Lexington, NC arry Hines ’83, L September 21, 2011, Knoxville, TN tanley Ellis ’84, S December 5, 2011, Iva, SC

2000s rant Perkinson ’07, July G 24, 2011, Sanford NC

TRUSTEES AND FRIENDS David Powell Nanney, Sr. ’37, long-time resident of Gastonia, NC, passed away February 15, 2012. He was a veteran of the U.S. Navy and a long-time employee of Orange Crush Bottling Company, having served as Secretary, Vice President, Treasurer, and Vice Chairman of the board of directors. In 1991, Nanney was Mars Hill College Alumnus of the Year. He was also a significant benefactor and was highly influential in major gifts coming to MHC through the Charles and Irene Nanney Foundation, for whom he was a trustee.

Nanney was preceded in death by his wife of 42 years, Mary Spivey Nanney.

John Bunyan “Red” Walker, Jr., passed away on Sunday, July 31, 2011 at his home at Grace Ridge Retirement Community in Morganton. A native of McDowell County, Red was a great friend of Mars Hill College and served multiple terms on the both the Board of Advisors and Board of Trustees. He was a man of many talents, mastering different skills which were useful to him in his eventual occupation as a partner and co-owner in the Lowe’s Associate and Ace Hardware store in Marion. His was an active participant in Marion community and was a member of First Baptist Church, Marion for over 75 years. He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Vivian Morgan Walker, a daughter, Nancy Walker Talbert ’77, and many additional family members who loved him dearly.

Paul P. Greene, a native of Asheville and the proud owner of Wick and Greene Jewelers died on November 16, 2011. At age 18, Paul joined the US Navy as a Midshipman and later became a Fireman First Class. Together, Paul and his wife of 63 years, Lucia, worked to grow Wick and Greene into one of the premier jewelers in the country. Paul was a great philanthropist; he supported many causes benefiting Calvary Baptist Church and his beloved Asheville.

He was a pioneer in the revitalization of downtown Asheville and served on numerous community boards.

He was a deacon emeritus at Calvary Baptist Church and a devoted former member of the Mars Hill College Board of Trustees.

Henry L. Brown ’40, died January 20, 2012 at Hospice of Wake County. He was a former member of both the Board of Advisors and the Board of Trustees. He was also a member of the Founders Society. He was a “cheerleader” for Mars Hill and a significant benefactor. Brown was a veteran of the U.S. Army and earned the Combat Infantry Badge, Bronze Star, and a Purple Heart. He was discharged in May 1946 with the rank of Captain. He worked for many years as a salesman for Pilot Life Insurance Company.

He was predeceased by his wife, Miriam. They were members of Ridge Road Baptist Church for many years, where Henry served as a deacon.

Ann Roberts Melvin of Advance, NC, formerly of Mars Hill passed away on August 04, 2011. She was born in Burnsville, NC and graduated from Wake Forest University in 1954. Mrs. Melvin was an active member of the Mars Hill College community and Mars Hill Baptist Church. She was preceded in death by her husband, Dr. Robert A. Melvin ’51, beloved religion professor and former Mars Hill College chaplain.

Pearl Francis Seymour, 84, of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, passed away on October 28th, 2011.She earned a BA in music from the University of Michigan in 1949, and an MA in music from Mills College in Oakland, California in 1952.An accomplished pianist and organist, she started her career teaching in the Music Department of Mars Hill College, and was also the organist of the Mars Hill Baptist Church. Following her marriage to the Reverend Robert Edward Seymour, Jr., the couple moved to Chapel Hill in 1959, where she served as the organist for the Olin T. Binkley Memorial Baptist Church for 30 years.

Mars Hill, The Magazine - Spring 2012

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Mars Hill College PO Box 370 Mars Hill, NC 28754

SUMME R

Picture yourself here

2013

with MHC Alumni and Friends as you retrace

The Journeys of Paul with tours led by Dr. Tom Sawyer, MHC professor emeritus of religion.

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Sign up now for more informational emails as the trip unfolds.

Contact Darryl Norton (828/689-1347, dnorton@mhc.edu) or Fifi DeGroot (828/689-1438, fdegroot@mhc.edu.)