MILLSAPS WINTER 2021
MAGAZINE
Senior Dhruv Patel is studying abroad this semester at the University of Bern in Switzerland through Millsaps College’s partnership with ISEP, one of the college’s study abroad partners. Said Patel to the college’s study abroad team, “I’m having the greatest time meeting new people, living here, experiencing the culture, trying the fondue and getting to travel everywhere! Thank you for pushing me to do it!”
MILLSAPS MAGAZINE
FROM THE PRESIDENT
WINTER 2021
This is the time of year when we look back on our many blessings with gratitude. What a great year it has been!
EDITOR
Annie Schott Mitchell ASSOCIATE EDITOR
John Sewell DESIGNER
Kelley Matthews MILLSAPS MAGAZINE ONLINE
Emma Stockton
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Chris Lawrence Myles Melancon Annie S. Mitchell John Sewell Joey Shelton
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS
Greg Campbell Imani Khayyam John Sewell Katie Sorey
Millsaps Magazine is published by the Office of Marketing and Communications at Millsaps College, 1701 North State Street, Jackson, MS 39210, for distribution to alumni, parents and friends. Visit millsaps.edu/magazine to view the magazine online. SEND ADDRESS CHANGES OR UPDATES TO Office of Alumni and Parent Relations Millsaps College 1701 North State Street Jackson, MS 39210 alumni@millsaps.edu 601-974-1000
Millsaps College does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status or any legally protected status.
CONNECT WITH US
Over the course of 2021, Millsaps College welcomed one of the largest classes of new Majors in the past 10 years. We broke ground on the first phase of a $1.8 million, three-stage upgrade to the college’s primary athletics facility thanks to the generosity of parents, alumni and friends of the college. Our talented faculty received prestigious grants, an example of which you will see on the next page. Our students continued to successfully pursue their life’s passions and extraordinary talents while navigating another academic year impacted by a global pandemic. And that’s just scratching the surface of the good news from Millsaps College. In September, I had the sincere pleasure of spending time on campus with Jim Waits ’58 and his family. During the visit, the names of Jim and his late wife, Fentress Boone Waits ’65, were installed as members of the Founders Society on the Millsaps Bell Tower. Ordained as a Methodist minister in 1961, Jim was one of the authors of the Born of Conviction declaration opposing racial segregation, published nationwide in January 1963. As part of Fentress’ and Jim’s legacy to Millsaps, they have also established The Waits Scholars Program, a permanent endowment fund to provide scholarships for outstanding African American students at Millsaps. This generous gift has the potential to transform the lives of our students and the future of our community. The Waits family also dedicated Fentress’ collection of 17th century English furniture to Millsaps in her memory. The furniture is proudly showcased in the Wilson Library’s Millsaps Room, as it was Fentress’ desire that, if given the ability to touch history, perhaps Millsaps’ students would become as inspired with British culture and literature as she was inspired by it during her time at the college. We are indeed blessed by the work of our alumni, as detailed in the pages that follow. From the service of The Rev. Dr. Joey Shelton ’82 to the impact of alumni like Jeff and Debbie Good and Luther and Janet Ott, we all have the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of our students and the future of our college. We also pause, as we did on All Saints Day, to remember and celebrate those alumni and friends who passed away this past year. As we look toward a bright and promising 2022, my hope is that you will remain — or become — engaged with Millsaps College in a way that transforms our future and brings you home. After all, you belong here. Merry Christmas, happy holidays and best wishes for the New Year!
Rob Pearigen
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THE EYES HAVE IT Assistant Professor of Neuroscience Nicolas Brunet received a grant from the National Institutes of Health to study the potential of eye tracking to diagnose concussions. The ultimate goal is to give coaches the tools to diagnose concussions on the field. Dr. Brunet and his Millsaps student researchers are using a highend eye tracking device that allows the measurement of the tiny eye movements we don’t realize we make when our eyes are fixed on an object. This research has the ability to revolutionize the future of concussion protocol in athletics and other areas.
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CONTENTS 4
GUIDING WITH A SKILLFUL HAND The work of The Rev. Dr. Joey Shelton
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WINDGATE GRANT TO SUPPORT NEED-BASED SCHOLARSHIPS One of the largest endowed scholarships in the history of the college
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CLASS NOTES Majors on the Move
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IN MEMORIAM Those we loved and lost in 2020 and 2021
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COMING NEXT YEAR — A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE! Freeman, Hauser and Hollywood on the Millsaps campus
8 GOOD FOR MILLSAPS AND MISSISSIPPI The work and service of alumni Jeff and Debbie Good
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LIVES WELL LIVED
RETURNING TO A SENSE OF NORMALITY
The teamwork of alumni Luther and Janet Ott
College, COVID-19 and the return of sports
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GUIDING WITH A SKILLFUL HAND
by Annie S. Mitchell
The Rev. Dr. Joey Shelton has some large shoulders, which is fortunate considering what rests on them. Serving Millsaps College as dean of the chapel, director of church relations and director of the Center for Ministry, Shelton has supported the spiritual needs of the campus and the community since joining the staff in 2017. No stranger to Millsaps, Shelton played football and baseball while attending the college, from which he graduated in 1982. Shelton went on to earn his Juris Doctor from the University of Mississippi in 1985, and together with his wife, Connie, they both earned their Master of Divinity from Duke University in 1997, followed by their Doctor of Ministry from Columbia Theological Seminary in 2006. For the Sheltons, a family that prays — and studies — together stays together. “It has been a joy to return to my alma mater and be involved with the convergences of faith, reason and work alongside students, faculty, staff, alumni and all our church-related communities,” said Shelton in a 2020 college interview. “I get to engage both internal and external audiences, hopefully helping each benefit from the other.”
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The importance of the college’s relationship with The United Methodist Church is a central theme within Millsaps’ current and upcoming strategic plan, according to Millsaps President Dr. Robert W. Pearigen. “One of our strategic goals is to position the college as a place vital to our community and known for free, courageous and bold academic discourse that is deeply informed by a Wesleyan tradition that values intellectual honesty, integrity and civility,” said Pearigen. “The broad and important work of Joey and his leadership team is vital to the future of our college.” Some of the many areas of Shelton’s work include teaching Wesleyan theology each spring semester and, in July 2021, assuming directorship of the Center for Ministry at Millsaps College. The Center has developed Christian leaders through lifelong learning for over two decades. Each year, more than 800 pastors and laypersons from across the southern U.S. engage in spiritual formation, theological education, leadership development and training in the practices of ministry. Strategic partnerships make it possible for the Center for Ministry to offer programs that transform clergy, laity and congregations. Other vital spiritual areas and programs housed within the Center for Ministry include: • The Jump Start Program, a unique series of online modules that introduce students to Wesleyan theology, pastoral care and other essentials of effective ministry. • The License to Preach School, which includes classes on preaching, worship and sacraments, and leadership and administration. • The Mississippi Course of Study School, an extension of the Candler School of Theology at Emory University, featuring classes that equip bi-vocational pastors for spiritually grounded, theologically responsible, relationally skilled and professionally effective ministry. • The Thriving in Ministry program, made possible with support from the Lilly Endowment Inc., through which southern clergy women of all Christian denominations benefit from peer group support, mentorship, leadership development, retreats, congregational training and resources for clergy well-being. • The Millsaps Youth Theological Academy, designed to guide Christian teenagers to think theologically and integrate their faith into their daily activities.
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Shelton also works directly with the college community in the role of chaplain. Responsibilities include overseeing campus worship services, working with student faith organizations and offering personal spiritual counseling to students, faculty and staff.
“I am grateful,” Shelton adds. “I never dreamed that I would be back at Millsaps College in this unique role with the opportunity to offer to others what continues to be so graciously given to me.”
While Shelton’s portfolio is vast, his commitment is singular — to serve. “For all my work, I stand on the shoulders of many incredible people who laid firm foundations upon which to build,” said Shelton. “Throughout my life, through sheer grace, there have always been people willing to give of themselves as mentors, teachers, coaches and friends, all the while challenging my mind, body and spirit.
DID YOU KNOW?
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SHELTON WAS AN ELSE SCHOLAR WHILE AT MILLSAPS. ELSE SCHOOL DEAN JERRY WHITT WROTE SHELTON’S ACADEMIC RECOMMENDATION FOR LAW SCHOOL AND, OVER A DECADE LATER, DID THE SAME FOR HIS APPLICATION TO DIVINITY SCHOOL.
A PRAYER FOR 2022 In the Beginning God Spoke ... “Light Appear! Day and Night! Evening and Morning! Sky and Water! Water and Sky! Separate! Heaven and Water and Land! Earth, Green Up! Seed and Plant and Tree and Fruit! Lights Come Out! Shine in Heaven’s Sky! Seasons and Days and Years! Ocean and Fish and Sea Life, Swarm! Birds, Fly! Earth, Generate Life! Animal and Reptile and Bug! Human Being! Reflect God’s Image! Rest and Blessed and Holy!” May God’s Creation of Heaven and Earth and Sky and Sea and We and Thee, Be Received as a Gracious Gift to You and Me, and by God’s Grace with Joy Anew, We Wholly Embrace the Genesis of Two Thousand Twenty-Two. — Joey Shelton with help from The Message Translation by Eugene Peterson of Genesis 1, adapted.
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GOOD FOR MILLSAPS AND FOR MISSISSIPPI
BY ANNIE S. MITCHELL MILLSAPS.EDU
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The lives of Mississippi’s future foodies and Latin students were sealed on Presidents Day in the early 1980s. That’s the day Millsaps student Jeff Good knocked on the first floor Bacot window of Debbie McGregor and presented her with a George Washington stamp he bought at the student union. Debbie thought it endearing enough that she eventually started dating him. And like the stamp, they stuck. Their initial introduction, however, was about a year prior. DEAN GOOD WITH THE EASTER BUNNY; 1987 BOBASHELA
“I first met Debbie in a zoology class our freshman year at Millsaps, but I did so poorly that year the dean of students sent me home,” said Good. That dean of students was Stuart Good, Jeff’s father. The Goods had relocated to Mississippi a few years earlier from Utah, where the senior Good was dean at Westminster College in Salt Lake City. “Whatever success I’ve had in life did not present itself during my first year at Millsaps,” said Good. “But after getting the lowest score in zoology class and living at home on academic probation for a semester, I took my return to Millsaps pretty seriously,” added Good, who ended up with straight A’s in the school of business from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration in 1986. It was from her American history teacher at St. Mary’s Episcopal School in Memphis, Tennessee, that Debbie first heard of Millsaps. “I fell in love with the college on my first visit,” said Debbie. “My roommate was also from Memphis, and I knew other girls from my hometown, so it was a perfect fit.”
JEFF AND DEBBIE ALONG WITH DAUGHTERS ALEX (LEFT) AND CARLY
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Debbie joined the Kappa Delta Sorority and majored in classics. “I took my share of
Latin, Greek and culture courses, which were taught by amazing faculty,” said Debbie. “In fact, I still visit with Dr. Catherine Freis a couple times a year.” Jeff and Debbie married after graduation, and Jeff worked in computer sales with the NCR Corporation while Debbie taught Latin at Jackson’s Callaway High School. Jeff put his Millsaps degree to good use and, together with his best friend from high school, Dan Blumenthal, raised every penny needed to open their first restaurant, BRAVO!, in 1994. “There wasn’t GoFundMe back then,” said Jeff. “We got in the trenches, found people who believed in us and used hand-to-hand combat to realize our dream.” Fast-forward a few decades, Jeff is president of Mangia Bene Restaurant Management Group, which owns and operates BRAVO! Italian Restaurant and Bar, Broad Street Baking Company and Sal & Mookie’s New York Pizza & Ice Cream Joint, all located in Jackson. He’s the founding chairman of the non-profit Refill Jackson Initiative, a workforce training program designed to empower young adults so they are more confident, better equipped and more motivated to enter into, navigate and stay in the workforce. He is also chairman of the Greater Jackson Chamber Partnership’s 2021 Executive Committee. Debbie taught Latin at the high school level for three decades and is now an adjunct classics professor at Mississippi College. Together they raised twin girls Alexandra (Alex) and Caroline (Carly).
Debbie also currently serves the college as president of its alumni association, a board on which she has served for two years. “It’s too easy for alumni to become removed from their alma mater,” says Debbie. “Millsaps needs people to be engaged. To get involved. To come back and to come home.” Debbie was home recently for Millsaps’ Homecoming, and is excited about the college’s largest first-year class in nearly a decade. “It’s vital to our city and state that Millsaps thrive,” says Debbie. “I’m honored to serve the college in this way, and look forward to building on our current momentum.” “I’m proud of Debbie for paying it forward,” adds Jeff. “We all need to remember where we came from. We need to show up and show out for Millsaps. That’s how we will ensure the same experience we received will be received by others.” Both Goods credit much of their individual and combined success to the profound impact Millsaps College had on their lives. “Millsaps does an excellent job of teaching its students one of the most valuable skills – the ability to think critically,” said Jeff. “Through Millsaps, I found my place, my passion, my talent, my first job and my wife.”
MILLSAPS SOPHOMORE DEBBIE MCGREGOR, 1983 BOBASHELA
MILLSAPS SENIOR JEFF GOOD, 1986 BOBASHELA
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LIVES WELL LIVED By John Sewell
Saturday, Oct. 11, 1969. The Millsaps football team had just trounced the Southwestern (now Rhodes) Lynx by a score of 44–0 at homecoming, and a first-year student from Laurel, Mississippi, named Janet Sanderson strolled onto the football field to meet her date for the weekend, an offensive tackle named Luther Ott. “I met Luther for the very first time on the football field,” Sanderson recalls, “because in Laurel, if you had a date with a football player, you walked him off the field. I just got up from my seat, walked down there and he was talking to his daddy, who always came to see his football games. The rest is history.” History, indeed. Fifty-one years later, they are still a team. Sanderson came with a strong connection to Millsaps. Her aunt’s mother, Fannie Buck Leonard, was one of the four founders of the Kappa Delta chapter at Millsaps. Sanderson’s mother and three aunts all attended Millsaps, as did her brother Joe, sister Sarah and her cousins, O’Hara Bass BY JOHN SEWELL Croswell and Marilyn Thompson.
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Ott hailed from Hattiesburg, where he was a starting tackle at Hattiesburg High. “I was a terrible football player until my senior year,” Ott said. “My coach called me in his office and said Millsaps Coach (Harper) Davis had seen me on film and wanted me to play for him. I got on a bus and came up to Millsaps. I was still basking in the glow of having succeeded in football and was so thrilled that someone thought I could play in college, so the next thing I knew, I was a Millsaps Major.” Ott laughed as he remembered his time as a player under the legendary Coach Davis as “a joyful, character-building experience.” That experience paid off when Ott was voted into the Millsaps College Sports Hall of Fame. Listening to the Otts, who married in March 1970, it’s easy to imagine their life together as the same type of experience. They speak with a gentle humor and affection about each other and what they have done together. And they’ve done a lot.
Luther Ott graduated with a history degree from Millsaps in 1971, and the next day he and Janet moved to Oxford. Ott earned his law degree from the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1973. He went on to practice law for the next 30 years and established the Ott & Purdy law firm in 1981. His education at Millsaps definitely prepared him for law school. “People were asking questions and challenging assumptions at Millsaps and trying to move past immature, unformed thoughts toward thoughts that had structural integrity and could withstand questions,” Ott remembered. “That's the currency at Millsaps. When I got to law school, there were no clear right or wrong answers — you just had to pick the best answers, and to do that, you had to ask a lot of questions. By the time I got there, that was something I had already learned how to do.” By 1993, however, the practice of law was set to the side for a while as Janet and Luther decided to attend Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was a time in which they sought to simply study, and they pursued it with no intention of being ordained. “It was an outstanding time,” Janet Ott said. “We said, independent of each other, that we're going to immerse ourselves in biblical studies and biblical history. I had been founder and director of children's services at Stewpot (Community Services) and had basically been doing pastoral care with those kids and their families. I began to have thoughts of the priesthood and got into the track for ordination.” They graduated from Episcopal Divinity School in 1996, and Janet was ordained into the diaconate in June 1996 and the priesthood in March 1997. She served three parishes in the central Mississippi area — St. Columb’s in Ridgeland, Church of the Creator in Clinton and St. Mark’s in Raymond. It wasn’t long before Luther followed suit. “Luther went through the process after I was ordained,” Janet said. “He just did it. He just said, ‘I see now.’” Ordained in 1998, Luther Ott is quick to admit he didn’t follow the ordinary process in the Episcopal Church of discernment before seminary. “I had a contentious relationship with religion,” he said. “I expect a lot of religion, and I expect a lot of myself. When I got to Millsaps, I began reflecting critically on the role of the
church and things I saw as injustices in the community I lived in and the church I grew up in.” As Janet and Luther built their lives together and shared their talents with others, they also stayed busy raising a family and strengthening their legacy at Millsaps. Luther served as a member of the Board of Trustees for the college and was selected as alumnus of the year in 2012. In 2015, he and Janet each were awarded an honorary Doctor of Public Service degree at commencement. Their son, Luther, graduated from Millsaps in 1993; his wife, Gabrielle (Sciortino), graduated in 1995; and their daughter, Abby, is a current student in the class of 2023 and pursuing a degree in psychology, with minors in Spanish and communication studies. Their daughter, Sara Katherine Beckett, is married to Ryan Beckett, a 1996 Millsaps graduate and current member of the Board of Trustees. With her parents in Texas, Abby Ott is happy to have her grandparents nearby. “Having them right down the street from me is such a blessing, and their love for Millsaps is immeasurable,” Ott said. “They are always there for me, whether it’s preparing a home-cooked meal or visiting with me in the rocking chairs on their front porch.” Now retired, Luther and Janet spend their time with their grandchildren and working their cattle farm in western Hinds County. Millsaps, however, is always close to their hearts. In fact, Luther will be on campus in the spring of 2022 as an adjunct faculty member, teaching business law in the Else School of Management. Harvey Fiser, interim dean of the Else School, was particularly concerned with selecting the right person to teach core business law classes. “Luther was the first name that came to mind,” Fiser said. “His character and legal knowledge are unparalleled, and his expertise in ethics will help infuse a sense of social responsibility into the discussions.” Janet is quick to note the formative experience Luther had — and continues to have — at Millsaps. “I promise you, every time they draw blood from him, I expect it to be purple.”
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RETURNING TO A SENSE OF NORMALITY Battling through a Pandemic, Staying Vigilant and Coming Back in Full By Chris Lawrence
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In sports, as in life, there are the highs of big wins and the lows of heartbreaking defeats. When the world was halted by COVID-19 in spring 2020, sports and life began to ride the same roller-coaster of emotions. In an instant, collegiate and professional sports were quick to respond with action, but with a cloud of disbelief, sadness and hints of fear as spring seasons were cut short last year. The season turned into a waiting game of both uncertainty and watching the clock for a return to play. On March 12, 2020, NCAA President Mark Emmert and the Board of Governors canceled the soon-to-be-held March Madness basketball tournament as well as the remaining winter and spring NCAA championships in an attempt to prevent the spread of COVID-19. At that point, it became evident that the spring sports seasons would be curtailed. Coaches across the country did everything in their power to find ways to honor their seniors, if possible. Some schools ended sports abruptly, while Millsaps and others were able to fit games in a few days after the NCAA’s announcement. “We scrambled to find opponents to get seniors last games to play,” said Millsaps head softball coach Caroline DeLoach. “It didn’t feel real at first, and we thought the virus would eventually go away.” Softball was fortunately able to travel to Conway, Arkansas and play a final pair of games, where the efforts of the seniors from Millsaps College, Birmingham-Southern College and Hendrix College were all recognized on March 15. Millsaps baseball was hosting Berry College that week and was able to honor both sets of seniors. MILLSAPS.EDU
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“I had several Berry parents email us saying how classy that was of Millsaps to not just recognize Millsaps’ seniors but Berry’s as well,” said Millsaps baseball coach Jim Page. “We put in the work, and we had no idea how much that meant to other people.”
“I think the fact that [leadership] showed they cared, the players listened and there was respect coming from that,” said Page.
Coach Page garnered a unique perspective as both a coach and parent when his son’s senior baseball season ended at the same time. Still, adequate advice was hard to find.
The next question was, when would sports return for the upcoming fall semester? The answer arrived on July 16, 2020, when the Southern Athletic Association (SAA) Presidents’ Council approved the decision to move all fall sports entirely to the spring semester.
“None of us had been through [a pandemic],” said Page. “What words could I give the team? That was a big struggle for me as a coach, feeling I couldn’t find the right words or an experience to base something like that on.”
A modified schedule, featuring a condensed conference-only model was then approved on Oct. 12. All 18 Millsaps Athletics programs were officially slated to play at certain points between January and May.
Coaches across the country felt the same way, but the efforts of several top decision-makers, including Millsaps College President Dr. Robert Pearigen and Millsaps Director of Athletics Aaron Pelch, did not go unnoticed. The Millsaps leaders attempted to complete as much of that spring as possible and were able to give their seniors a tribute.
While in season, student-athletes were required to be tested for COVID-19 three times a week and wear masks during indoor activities, per SAA guidelines.
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The Millsaps Athletics and Millsaps College communities took it upon themselves to limit possible spreading activities with mitigation measures, which they continue to implement today.
“We definitely played that season with a lot more passion and emotion because we knew it was limited and this is what we get,” said Millsaps softball infielder Brooklyn Wascom. “We had to make the most out of it, especially for those seniors.”
“I have this excited perspective, as I did when I was a freshman,” said Wascom, entering her senior year. “It’s been so long since we had a full season, I just want to go in and get after it!”
Games could be rescheduled because of COVID-19, but this never occurred for the Majors. In total, only one athletic competition was canceled during the spring 2021 season — which was an away event.
Getting used to a complete schedule has actually been an adjustment for some upperclassmen who competed for the Majors in 2018 or 2019.
“In our heads, we just wanted to play and didn’t want to miss out on that much,” said Millsaps women’s soccer midfielder Mattie Marks. “We just worked hard to make sure that we knew all of the rules and that we knew what we were getting into. We were just thankful to get any minutes that we could.” Today, a feeling of gratitude shines through as sports return to their proper place on the calendar. Precautions and protocols continue to be taken to keep student-athletes and fans safe, but a sense of normality is returning to fields and courts across the country. In August 2021, fall sports returned to their usual format with fewer restrictions. Fans and students are returning to the stands while wearing masks indoors. Testing will continue for unvaccinated student-athletes for the foreseeable future. Though things may not be completely back to normal, teams could not be more ready for a return to a full slate of games.
“Yeah, it’s kind of weird because I almost kind of forgot what it was like,” said Marks. “It’s kind of like a whole new feeling; it’s like everything restarted. We’re all really glad though, especially with me being a senior.” All student-athletes who played or were scheduled to compete during the spring, fall and winter of 2020 were granted an extra year of eligibility by the NCAA. Several seniors during that period were unable to commit to another because they had career plans or graduate school options lined up thanks to their Millsaps degrees. A total of three Millsaps women’s soccer seniors are planning to return and use their extra season of eligibility while continuing their education at the college. “That’s also a great thing about a Millsaps education,” said Page. “Our guys were already prepared. Athletics teaches that life goes on, there are bumps in the road and you fight through, and some things are out of your control. I couldn’t be prouder of how our team handled it.”
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WINDGATE GRANT TO SUPPORT NEED-BASED SCHOLARSHIPS BY MYLES MELANCON
The opportunity for students to receive a life-changing education at Millsaps College will be possible for years to come, thanks to a more than $2.1 million gift for scholarships and art equipment from the Windgate Foundation, located in Little Rock, Arkansas. The majority of the award will be used to establish the Windgate Foundation Endowed Scholarship Fund, with $2 million going to create an endowment for need-based scholarships, making it one of the largest endowed scholarships in the history of the college. The remaining funds will support immediate scholarships and the purchase of new art equipment in the Windgate Visual Arts Center at Millsaps. This gift follows the Windgate Foundation’s 2015 challenge grant that paved the way for the construction of the Windgate Visual Arts Center, the creative heart of the Millsaps campus. Completed in 2019, the space is a catalyst for the arts at Millsaps and in the surrounding community. The new equipment afforded by this grant, including a rare
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Vandercook press to be used for printmaking and graphic design, will only help build upon this momentum. “Within the span of a few years, the Windgate Foundation has given nearly $5 million and, as a result, unequivocally altered the future of Millsaps,” said Dr. Robert Pearigen, president of Millsaps. “Their support has transformed the arts at the college, and their most recent grant promises to be equally as impactful to the college and the students who will benefit from it.” For many students in Mississippi, scholarships are essential and clear the path for career dreams to become career realities. Pearigen is confident the Windgate Foundation’s support puts the college in a better position to offer students the exceptional experiences that distinguish a Millsaps education. “This new grant will help erase potential financial barriers and position Millsaps to be a positive force for our students and community for years to come,” he said.
Fall events started to feel a bit more normal this year with Homecoming and Parent and Family events in October. The ongoing challenges of COVID-19 changed the regular look of Homecoming this year, as the college remained cautious about large indoor events. Alumni, families and friends were able to gather for a beautiful football game on Oct. 9, and the other key events of the weekend were shifted to the weekend of April 8–10, 2022. Go ahead and mark your calendar now for that weekend, and be on the lookout for more information and another opportunity to come home to Millsaps! Two weeks after Homecoming, Parent and Family Weekend kicked off as students and their families were reunited for their own special gathering. Picture-perfect weather was on hand all weekend as Majors enjoyed an evening of music on Friday and as first-year students showed their parents around campus while families gathered for a special tailgate by the Windgate Visual Arts Center.
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WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!
Please help keep the broader Millsaps College family informed about what’s happening in your own family. Let us know about a new child, a wedding, a new degree or award, job promotions and more. Don’t forget to share a high-resolution photograph along with your news. There are also times when you will want to let us know about the loss of a classmate or friend of the Millsaps family. Please submit those listings as well for our memorial section. All submissions can be made through www.mbench.org/MyNews. If you haven’t already registered on MBench, please sign up so we can stay in touch!
1967 James Golden has written a book titled “The View from Federal Twist: a New Way of Thinking about Gardens, Nature and Ourselves.” Golden is an internationally known gardener and maintains a blog about gardening at www.federaltwist.com.
1984 Ben Wynne is the author of new book, “Something in the Water: A History of Macon, Georgia, 1823–1980.” The book is part of the Music and the American South Series published by Mercer University Press.
1985 Julia Terry, MBA 1985, was recently announced as a partner in the law firm of Hinshaw &
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Culbertson in New Orleans, Louisiana. She focuses her practice on assisting banks and lenders with managing the legal risks and compliance issues related to technology service contracts, including due diligence, data security and privacy, and has extensive experience with real estate and lending transactional matters.
1990 Buster Doty received the 2020 Mississippi Economics Teacher of the Year award from the Mississippi Council on Economic Education, located at Millsaps College. Doty teaches gifted classes in Rankin County School District. Although he's not an economics teacher, he incorporates economics within the gifted curriculum for grades four and five. Doty has had multiple Stock Market Game winners in the region and four state winners for the InvestWrite National Writing Competition, with one state winner that placed ninth nationally.
1991 Parke Pepper is executive director of The Baddour Center, a 120-acre residential community located in northwest Mississippi. The center supports adults with intellectual disabilities and autism.
1992 Dr. Susan Averitt is the owner of Best Start Pediatric Clinic in northwest Arkansas, and she recently added a second clinic, Rainbow Pediatrics. Averitt has broken ground on a new medical facility to house her clinics along with other pediatric-related services. She currently serves as the chapter president for the Arkansas chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
1995 Jim Cheney has published his debut novel, “All is Set Anew.” In the novel, Cheney creates a fictional premise that propels his characters forward with traits and subsequent actions born of poverty, rage, neglect, abandonment and an insidious spiritual malevolence that pursues throughout the narrative. Set against the semi-fictional backdrop of the rural valley and mountainous terrains of Middle Tennessee, the book follows the path of two brothers who flee their home after their mother’s abandonment and their father’s murder.
1996 Cherie Chester Hohertz has been promoted to the position of associate provost for accreditation and strategic initiatives at the University of Dallas. She will be responsible for the university’s accreditation with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges and the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. Hohertz will also oversee all analysis and reporting of student achievement and success data as well as institutional strategic initiatives.
2003
support emotions around COVID-19, but to show how processing and talking about feelings work.
2005
Robika Modak Mylroie shared a photo of a group of Millsaps friends who have taken a trip together every year for 10 years. Pictured from L-R: Akram Ewturk (2003), Molly Ewturk and Sami; Brad Paulk (2004), Lauren Paulk, Darby, Anna and Soren; Erik Mylroie (2005), Robika Modak Mylroie (2003) and Lalita; Elizabeth Lutz (2003), Will and Ava; Brad Lokitz (2002), Rachel Falgout Lokitz (2002), Leah and Robert; Greg Wojcikewych, Devon Fletcher Wojcikewych (2003), Elsa, Audie and Harrison; Bottom: Prasad Vasamsetti (2001), Shannon Vasamsetti and Kaya. Robika Modak Mylroie and Anna Marsh Selby (class of 2005) are co-authors, along with Rachael Whitaker, Ph.D., of a series of books titled “Are You Masking?” The first book in the series is “Are You Masking? Feelings About COVID-19” and tells the story of Lala, who is feeling a lot of different emotions because of COVID-19. The authors use personification of emotions to encourage children to understand and process similar feelings they may be having. The book is designed not just to
Paige Barr Biglane (2005) and Ward Biglane welcomed a baby boy, Benjamin Barr, on July 19. He is ready to wear his big brother’s Millsaps hand-me-downs!
2013 Joel Mabry was awarded his blue belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at Crazy 88 in Baltimore, Maryland.
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IN MEMORIAM The following is a list of alumni and friends of Millsaps College who died in the past year. We remember them and their impact on Millsaps with gratitude and appreciation. ALUMNI Frederick M. Abraham, 1957 William Alex Adams, 2005 Bettye Smith Allen, 1953 Iris King Allen, 1971 George William Anderson, 1971 Rosemary McCoy Anderson, 1953 Ralph Criss Armstrong, 1960 Theresa Griffin Arnold, 1964 Betty Dement Bailess, 1951 Julia Parks Barkley, 1956 Pat Montgomery Barrett, 1964 Joseph Stephen Bennett, 1966 Henry C. Blount, 1950 Janice Davidson Blumenthal, 1961 Jerry Boykin, 1956 Audrey Landrum Burt, 1972 James B. Buskirk, 1955 Robert Yates Butts, 1955 Elizabeth “Betty Ann” Williams Carr, 1950
Anne Naomi Carsley, 1957 Ann Simpson Chenault, 1951 Edward “Eddie” Collins, Jr., 1953 * Magruder “Mac” Corban, 1954 Kenneth Irvin Cronin, 1970 Mary Ragsdale Cunningham, 1960 Alney “Dale” Danks, Jr., 1961 John “Harper” Davis, 1947 ** Paul Day, 1951 Richard George “Dick” Doyle, 1948 Oscar “Fred” Eaves, Jr., 1948 Sharon Ann Edwards, 1978 Jeanette Sanders Feltus, 1954 Harry C. Frye, 1947 William E. Gamble, 1968 Joan N. Geiger, 1973 William F. Goodman Jr., 1949 Robert Earl Gorday, 1952 John R. Hailman, 1965 Kenneth R. Hall, 1984 John William “Johnny” Hatten, 1963
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James Woodsen Hays, 1959 Alice McKee Henderson, 1955 Val D. Hickman, 1944 Mary Sanders Hopkins, 1946 William W. Horlock, 1959 Kathryn Applewhite Howard, 1945 Gretchen Mars Howerton, 1953 Mary Glassco Hubbard, 1971 Ann Dampeer Humphreys, 1952 John C. Hunsucker, 1960 Harold James, 1949 Cynthia Dubard Johnston, 1962 Lonnie B. Johnston, 1953 Kirk D. Jones, 1963 Jane Pepper Kees, 1960 Paul Charles Keller, 1964 Emmett “Lanny” King, 1972 Lawrence D. King, 1958 Johnnie “Marie” Lampkin, 1957 Audrey Landrin, 1972 Sarah “Sally” Heiskell Lassiter, 1969 Frances M. Lavelle, 1977 Mollye Watkins Lester, 1954 Earl T. Lewis, 1950 Elizabeth Ann “Liz” Lindsey, 1994 William Eugene Livesay, 1982 James Ivison Lundy, 1974
Marianne Thompson Neal, 1961 Frederick J. Newman, 1963 Richard Leigh “Dick" Newsome, 1965 William “Kent” Olsen, 1968 Leslie J. Page, Jr., 1954 Lynne Robertson Parker, 1967 Roy Acton Parker, 1955
Marguerita “Rita” Krestensen Lyda, 1959
Laura Elizabeth “Betty” Hewes Scott, 1946
Beatrice Williamson Martin, 1955 Marcia Brocato Maynard, 1960 Geraldine “Gerry” McAlpin, 1991 Robert E. McArthur, 1960 Patricia Chaney McGlennon, 1981 David A. McIntosh, 1949 William “Melton” McNeill, 1959 Gloria Marks Minor, 1973 James “Streety” Minor, 1965 T. Jerry Mitchell, 1965 Mary Desha Dye Montgomery, 1967 Margaret Riley Montgomery, 1963 James R. Mozingo, 1962
Harry H. Shattuck, 1967 Ike Fremont Smith, 1950 Lewis C. Smith, 1952 Barbara “Babs” Boswell Stauss, 1943 Caroline Wilson Tannehill, 1947 George Edward Thomas, 1945 Robert Lee Triplett, III, 2010 Julius C. Walker, 1960 Paula Purser Watkins, 1979 Janis Mitchell Weems, 1961 Latney “Conrad” Welker, Jr., 1950 Mary Anne Gowan Wells, 1947 Marilynn McDonald Whatley, 1968
Virginia “V. A.” Bookhart Patterson, 1960
Jacquelyn Carter Peden, 1957 John C. Philley, 1957 Clara Booth Pinkston, 1956 Ernest Ray Porter, 1956 Franz A. Posey, 1951 Frances Fitzhugh Powers, 1958 Fred Carlton Powers, 1954 John Richard Pratt, 1964 Peggy Bonner Prock, 1951 Ann Kelly Raley, 1960 Thomas Kalford Ratcliff, 2017 Daphne Ann Richardson, 1957 George Robert “Bob” Robinson, 1962 Helen Ricks Rogers, 1942 James “Eldridge” Rogers, 1962 Benjamin Allen Root, 1974 Donald Lloyd Rutland, 1968 Claire King Sargent, 1956 Ruth Stockton Schrumpf, 1952
Brian Palmer Whitfield, M2013*** Sam “Kelly” Williams, Jr., 1963 Charles Williams, Jr., 1955 Henry “Hank” Winstead, 1959 Edward Woodall, 1962 James “Rayford” Woodrick, 1957 Martha Wright, 1952 *Millsaps College President, 1970–1978 ** Millsaps College Head Football Coach, 1964–1989 *** Master’s graduate of the Else School of Management
FRIENDS Richard B. Baltz, Emeritus Faculty Henry C. Brevard, Jr. Murray T. Burch Jack Mason Carlisle Joan Cornell Ron Fender Roger M. Flynt Henry Frank Friedler Thomas E. Guillot, Sr. Kore Freis Hale Floreada M. Harmon, Emeritus Faculty Virginia Foote Ireys Diane W. Jacobs Madeleine Monica McMullan Katie Medlin
Zackary Wilson Miller Roger Mudd Iren Omo-Bare, Emeritus Faculty Armistead C. Powell Jason Isaac Rich Flavious Joseph Smith, Sr. Leland R. Speed Dan Surber Clifton Thaw Thomas C. Turner Deborah Wasson James N. Wasson Jerry D. Whitt, Emeritus Faculty Elise Winter William F. Winter Leila Clark Wynn
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COMING NEXT YEAR –
A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE! BY JOHN SEWELL
The first couple of weeks in August are already busy times on the Millsaps campus — athletes move in early to start practices for the fall, student life staff are busily preparing for first-year students, faculty are putting the finishing touches on their plans for the semester, and final repairs and renovations are being completed by the facilities team. Throw in a few days of filming a major motion picture on top of all that, and things can really start to get confusing. In August 2021, the parking lot behind the Gertrude C. Ford Academic Complex was a beehive of activity, full of trailers and box trucks. Crew members gathered each morning for COVID-19 testing and a rundown of the day’s plans. Locations were dressed, checked and adjusted. And then, at the appointed time in the day, the stars came out. The stars were Mississippi’s own Morgan Freeman and Cole Hauser. Freeman’s list of box office hits is miles long, including such acclaimed hits as “The Shawshank Redemption,” “Glory,” “Driving Miss Daisy,” “Million Dollar Baby” and “Street Smart.” Houser has recently built a loyal fan base for his character, Rip Wheeler, on the show “Yellowstone.” Hauser has also appeared in a number of well-known films,
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including “Dazed and Confused” and “Good Will Hunting.” The pair were on the Millsaps campus to film “Muti,” a thriller about a detective named Lucas Boyd (Hauser) who pairs up with a professor of African studies, Dr. Mackles (Freeman) to find a serial killer conducting the black magic practice of Muti. There will be plenty of familiar scenes to anyone familiar with campus. Several obvious locations will be seen in the film, including the Bowl, the Caf and the lecture hall in the Academic Complex (AC). The office used by Freeman’s character is actually the music lounge on the second floor of the AC and was painstakingly set up to reflect the academic role of Dr. Mackles. Dr. David Davis, retired associate professor of history, was a key resource for the set designers, and much of what is seen in Mackles’ office came directly from Davis. Davis was pleased with the final product and noted the attention to detail by the set designers. “It looks very authentic, down to the flagged papers and academic robe by the door,” he said. Grab the popcorn. “Muti” is scheduled for release in 2022.
MERRY CHRISTMAS HAPPY HOLIDAYS — AND —
FROM MILLSAPS COLLEGE!
DURING THIS SEASON OF GIVING, BE SURE TO INCLUDE MILLSAPS ON YOUR LIST! As the year comes to an end, a gift to the college’s Annual Fund provides support for student life programs, scholarships, faculty and campus projects. Your donation makes a lasting difference in the lives and futures of our students. The last day to make a tax-deductible donation for the calendar year is December 31, 2021. Give now at www.mbench.org/impact or scan this code:
THANK YOU FOR YOUR GENEROSITY AND CHEERS TO A BRIGHT NEW 2022! Questions? Email annualfund@millsaps.edu or call 601-974-1044 MILLSAPS.EDU
Millsaps Christmas tree located in the Yates Chapel of the Selby and Richard McRae Christian Center
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MILLSAPS: THE MAGAZINE OF MILLSAPS COLLEGE 1701 North State Street • Jackson, Mississippi 39210-0001 CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED
ON THE COVER:
Christmas in the Bowl 2020. Photo taken by Katie Sorey, M.Div., student life coordinator for inclusion and involvement.
