Commemorative Book
Alma Mater
Set like a gem amid the waters blue, Where palms and pines their fragrant incense brew;
O Alma Mater, as the swift year runs, Sing we thy praise, thy daughters and thy sons.
Sons who uphold thy fair unsullied fame, Daughters who love thine ancient honored name.
True to thy colors blazoned far on high, Gold of the sun and blue of bending sky.
Far from thy walls, wherever we may go, Still with a heart where loyal memories glow.
Still with a song for Rollins ringing clear, Guide of our youth, O Alma Mater, dear.
Class of 1973 50th Reunion
On behalf of the entire campus community, we are delighted to celebrate the class of 1973 for your 50th reunion. Reawaken your inner Rollins student as you turn through the pages of this special book and recall the experiences that wrote your Rollins story. Reminisce about days gone by and relive the joy of memories too good to be forgotten.
In Memoriam
*Indicates Hamilton Holt School graduate
Constance Dales Andrews ’83MA*
Kenneth Wayne Arthur*
Oliver Edwin Auchenpaugh*
Robert James Babcock*
Sharon Elizabeth Bateman ’78MSCJ*
Thomas Ross Bearden
Sherrill “Sherry” Oliver Berger
Valin Gene Best*
John Frederick Bonner*
Robert David Briel*
James “Reggie” Reginald Brock
Eugene F. Brooks ’75MBA*
Douglas Allen Brown
Herbert Lawrence Brown*
John Praytor Bruce*
James Alan Burnette ’74MBA
Fred Allen Burney*
Patricia “Patti” J. Burns ’98H
Leonard Preston Carruth*
Jacqueline T. Selters Cawley*
Margaret B. Coleman*
Dorothy “Doty” Rathbun Copley*
William C. Costantine*
Martha Volmar Crawford*
Jack Davis*
Hoke Dwaine Dorough*
Wanda Fafara Drury ’77MAT*
Elizabeth Geraldine Eliza Brookover Durbin*
James Howey Durrell
Peter Lawrence Dyson
Arthur T. Egendoerfer, Jr.*
Richard Kent Elmblad*
Daniel Edward Elsberry*
Per Fahlstrom*
Robert D. Fischer ’75MBA*
Corbett Michael Flannery*
Joni Nyberg Gawlikowski
James Goode*
Fiore “Joe” Grande ’79EDS*
James Robert Gustafson*
Elizabeth B. Halback*
Dorothy “Dottie” S. Hardenstein*
William Francis Harrison ’75MBA*
Winnifred A. Hendrickson*
Roy Edward Holland*
Royce Junior Howe*
Clyde Delaney Jackson*
Forrest B. Jamison, Jr.*
George T. Johnson ’76MAT*
Robert Eugene Jones*
Anita Pebble Jordan*
Grace G. Kimak*
Philip Clayton Kincaid*
Ronnie Marshall Kirin*
Theresa “Tess” Senne Knight*
Herbert Kranston*
David Edward Lee, III*
Jay Walter Leffert ’74MBA ’77MSCJ*
Frederick “Fred” Dee Lugar ’75MBA*
F. Larry Maddison
David F. Mamber, Jr.
Jimmie G. Marshall*
Robert D. Marshall*
Hugh Stephen Martin*
Richard L. Mastrobuono*
James William McCulloch*
Mora Rice McLaughlin*
Joe Anthony Mele*
Thomas Roy Meyer*
Garth L. Meyers*
Noel “Yogi” Gilbert Moore*
John Pierce Moughan*
James Earl Naramore*
Donald Edward Paden*
Jill Fletcher Pelaez ’76MAT*
Robert C. Pettigrew ’76MBA*
Jewell Weaver Phillips*
Robert Meade Pottenger
Mary Tanchuk Powell
Peter Relac Ret*
George “Cliffe” Radcliff Rice, III
Joseph Eugene Roder ’77MSCJ*
James Melton Russell*
Ruth B. Santomassino*
John Howard Slagle, Jr.
John Smik ’76MBA*
Billie James Smith ’76MAT*
Christopher Jon Smith ’74MBA
Harry Wayne Smith*
Norma “Lee” Ober Stanaland*
Junius Brutus Stevens*
Linda Buttrey Stewart
Arthur Brown VanBuskirk*
Jon N. Wesson*
MaryJo M. Whittington*
William “Bill” A. Wiedl, Jr. ’74MBA
Gera Lee Wilson*
The highest reward for man’s toil is not what he gets for it but what he becomes by it.
John Rusk
The Free Mind
I call that mind Free which is not passively framed by outward circumstances, which is not swept away by the torrent of events, which is not the creature of accidental impulse, but which bends events to its own, improvement and acts from an inward spring, from immutable principles which it has deliberately espoused.
William Ellery ChanningBurton Chase Adams ’75MBA*
Houston, TX
Charles Randall Adams*
Land O Lakes, FL
Joyce Leitch Allen ’74MBA Reston, VA
Arlinda Staley Amos
Valrico, FL
Nancy Wentsel Aspinwall Longwood, FL
Gloria Talley Atchley ’84MBA* Clermont, FL
Pamela Hobbs Atkinson Foxboro, MA
Pamela Sisson Atkinson Gas City, IN
Thomas “Tom” Vincent Austin ’76MED Fayetteville, NC
Bertram “Bert” Martin Banta, II* Jupiter, FL
Rebecca H. Baritot* Orchard Park, NY
James Ellsworth Barnes ’74MBA*
Ponte Vedra Beach, FL
Bruce Lindsay Barnhill Scottsdale, AZ
Robert Stephen Barry
Montverde, FL
Patricia Rossetter Barto
Ketchum, ID
Jennifer Kaplan Batallas Union City, NJ
Ben Joe Battles*
Tampa, FL
Peggy Low Bauer
Durham, NC
Thomas G. Beard*
Orlando, FL
Robert Dowell Beerman
Highland City, FL
Hermina Harich Bennett
Richard “Rick” Eastman Bethea
The Villages, FL
Ralph Gibson Billings ’76MSCJ* Jacksonville, FL
Roland G. Blake Jr. Norway, ME
David Blalock*
Lindy Wright Blanchfield* Stockbridge, GA
Martin S. Blankfield* Lighthouse Point, FL
Barbara Henning Bleakly Saint Simons Island, GA
Stephen Prescott Bonnell
Philadelphia, PA
John Gail Borden
Lakeville, CT
John “Jay” J. Bowman Jr.
Tampa, FL
Timothy “Tim” Kortright Boyle
’74MBA
Franklin, TN
Anne B. Briggs
Sebastian, FL
Patiste “Pat” George Bronos
Orlando, FL
Jeanelle Glover Bronson
Windermere, FL
Theotis Bronson
Windermere, FL
Ernest “Matt” Matthew Brown
Rehoboth Beach, DE
Joanne Oshins Budraitis
Beaufort, SC
Marilyn M. Burton
Oakfield, ME
Alexander “Alex” Dodge Calder
Orlando, FL
Cesar E. Calvet*
Orlando, FL
James Putnam Cathcart
Stuart, FL
Scott Hays Charlesworth
Saint Paul, MN
Sandra Lynn Dick Chase
Overland Park, KS
Dwight Hendrix Chastain
’76MSCJ*
Tallahassee, FL
James “Jim” M. Christopher
Eastham, MA
Raymond David Clift
Tampa, FL
Dennis R. Coffey
Longwood, FL
Archie Colbert
Jacksonville, FL
Robert Ernest Cole, Jr.*
Winter Garden, FL
Kenneth William Collins
Centreville, VA
Nancy Kaiser Connors
New Smyrna Beach, FL
William Mashburn Coolidge ’77MBA
Land O Lakes, FL
Ronald Glenn Cooper*
San Antonio, FL
Ellen Drake Corradini
Elmira, NY
Richard Oscar Cote* Orlando, FL
Jon Dwain Cottle*
Miriam Torres Cox*
Fanning Springs, FL
Fred Meredith Crawford* Lakemont, GA
Elton Morris Crisman, Jr.* Kannapolis, NC
Samuel “Sam” George Crosby
David William Cudlipp Kihei, HI
Janet Smith Curran
Mission Hills, KS
Boyd Dickinson Darling ’77MBA
Austin, TX
Goliath “Go” J. Davis, III Saint Petersburg, FL
Jack W. Davis, Jr.*
Saint Cloud, FL
Mary Jane Davis
New York, NY
Linda Celeste Day
North Fort Myers, FL
Richard “Dick” Vaughn Dayton
Fair Oaks, CA
George Edward DeJager*
The Villages, FL
Rebecca Burnette Dean*
Titusville, FL
Cynthia “Cindy” Zolnier Devendorf
Weston, CT
Deborah “Debbie” Barrett Dosen
Naples, FL
John Gaylord Edwards, Jr.*
Carol Pitt Eggleston Williamsburg, VA
Eleanor “Cis” Kibler Ellison
Columbia, SC
Caroline Kelley Ely Englewood, CO
Dwight C. Ely, Sr. Trumbull, CT
Patsy Goodrich Emmons*
Orlando, FL
Jose “Rick” Luis Esteves Carrion
Katy, TX
William John Ethier* Longwood, FL
Michael C. Evans*
Lexington, KY
Robert S. Fagan ’74MBA
Reno, NV
Holly Birtch Faillace
Boynton Beach, FL
Anne Ketcham Felder
Locust Grove, VA
Marc Joseph Flaherty
Mount Dora, FL
Michael “Mike” J. Ford
David Edward Fournier
’75MBA*
Longwood, FL
John F. Fuini, Jr.
San Antonio, TX
Mary Carr Gale
Worcester, MA
Scott Edward Galloway
Winter Park, FL
Marylou Sutton Gantner*
Orlando, FL
William Maurice Garwood, III
Asheville, NC
Juanita Moore Geathers*
Winter Haven, FL
Eugene Peter Gieda*
Hudson, FL
Patricia Gleason
Tallahassee, FL
John Schacht Gorman*
West Chester, OH
Brooke Indicott Goulder*
Beaver, PA
Linden H. Gray
Perris, CA
Martin Leslie Greenman
Brooklyn, NY
Bobby Beckham Gregory*
Elaine Pauly Grever
Naples, FL
Elizabeth Bryan Groves
Virginia “Ginny” Kendall Guerrant
Aiken, SC
Ellen “Cissie” Caldwell Gury Wynnewood, OK
Marti Wilroy Hall
Oldsmar, FL
Sherry Leigh Harper
North Myrtle Beach, SC
Leza “Lee” Harrison Chuluota, FL
Christopher P. Haskett Orlando, FL
Elizabeth Harvey Haughey Englewood, CO
Lawrence “Larry” Ian Hauser ’77MBA
Winter Springs, FL
Thomas A. Hawkins
Englewood, FL
John Francis Hegarty
Cary, NC
Barbara “Bobbie” Clements Heller ’75MED
Orlando, FL
G. Ray Helmuth*
Orlando, FL
Mark John Hendryx*
Marilyn Hogan Henry*
Seguin, TX
John Luther Hermans
Mount Pleasant, SC
Geoffrey “Geoff” O. Hills
Osterville, MA
Leo “David” D. Hochstetter, Jr.
Debra Lee Holmes
Conyers, GA
Henry James Hopkins*
Orlando, FL
James Phillip Hornock*
Windermere, FL
Richard “Lans” Lansing
Huffard
Santa Barbara, CA
Linda Obenchain Huffman*
Lake Wales, FL
Jonathan Adams Hunt
Newtown, PA
Robert J. Husband
Wesley Chapel, FL
Larry Eugene Ivey* Orlando, FL
TerryLee Griffin Ivy ’76MED*
Ocoee, FL
Krisita Anne Jackson
Orlando, FL
Karen Elizabeth Johnson
Walpole, MA
Timothy Joseph Johnson*
Winter Springs, FL
Larry Arthur Jones*
Thomas Edison Jordan, Jr.
Bloomfield Hills, MI
Martin Edward Joyce*
James Albert Kennedy, Jr.*
Joseph Henry Kessler*
Lebanon, CT
Steven Leslie Kiernan
Naples, NY
Eva Mae King*
Lake Alfred, FL
Linda Sue Kinzler
Melbourne, FL
Frank “Ash” Ashburn Kissel, Sr.
Hobe Sound, FL
Douglas “Doug” Kling Longwood, FL
David Emory Krause, Jr.*
Casselberry, FL
Edward “Ed” Frank Krehl
Hastings, MN
Alfred La Peter, Jr. ’75MBA*
Winter Park, FL
Robert Michael Labreck ’76MBA*
Asheville, NC
David Lafevers* Clermont, FL
Richard William Landa
Bridgeport, CT
James R. Lane Montclair, NJ
Tong Hoon Lee*
Laura Routh Leidigh*
Smyrna, GA
Laurie Crutchfield Leonard
Cincinnati, OH
Christy E. Leschen ’76MED
Tampa, FL
Thomas Howard Ley*
Sanford, FL
David Charles Logan
Leesburg, FL
John Farrell Lowman ’74MBA
New Canaan, CT
Andrea Boissy Lyon
George B. MacNamara*
Orlando, FL
Thomas “Tom” Stephen Mack* Leesburg, FL
Robert Swan Madara*
Belle Isle, FL
Richard B. Magner
Old Saybrook, CT
Michael Brady Mankins*
Orlando, FL
Jean Cory Marchetti ’78MA
Belle Isle, FL
Edward A. Marsh
Southport, CT
James “Jim” Mathew Martin Orlando, FL
Lyman C. Martin, III
Prospect, KY
Carlos Rodrigo Martinez
St. Pete Beach, FL
Jorge Martinez* Olympia Fields, IL
Jorge Luis Martinez-Fonts
Coral Gables, FL
Ann Morison Mays Venice, FL
Robert “Bob” G. McCabe ’78MED
Saint Johnsbury, VT
Elizabeth “Liz” Cheney McClancy
Laredo, TX
Charles W. McClelland, Jr.*
David “Dave” Mitchell McComb ’81MBA
Orlando, FL
Alfred “Curt” Curtiss McCoy, III ’77MBA*
Lake Mary, FL
Alice Louise McCraw*
Neil McDonald, III* Blue Ridge, GA
James F. McGraw, Jr.*
Bowie, MD
Frank L. McKinney, Jr.*
Allison Boyer McMath*
Little Rock, AR
Bruce Charles Melinn* Burnsville, NC
Deborah “Debby” Yard Mello-Orazem
Edgartown, MA
Gregory Sands Mercer Lindenhurst, NY
Francis Edward Merrick*
Oviedo, FL
Arthur Lawrence Miller*
Orlando, FL
George L. Miller, III
Savannah, GA
Mary Atwood Miner
Cedar Park, TX
Deborah Waud Moore
Lake Bluff, IL
Maurice Joseph Moore, III
Tinley Park, IL
Thomas Francis Moore* Orlando, FL
Deborah “Deb” Darrah Morrison
Kittery Point, ME
Paul Leonard Morton*
Troy, MT
Clare Marie Murphy
Houston, TX
Christopher “Chris” C. Murray
Westport, CT
Karin Kest Murray
Raleigh, NC
Nancy E. Nicholson
Evanston, IL
Sharon Lynn Nivens
Saint Cloud, FL
Jerome Norman Novick*
John Michael O’Boyle*
Joseph “Joe” B. Organ, Jr. River Forest, IL
Richard G. Overman, Jr. ’76MSCJ*
Edgewater, FL
Linda Walters Page
Lafayette Hill, PA
Stephen Frederick Page
Lafayette Hill, PA
Catherine Ensign Patterson
Orlando, FL
Christopher “Chris” John Peers
Henderson, NV
Charles “Charlie” Henry Perlo
Beverly, MA
Jesus N. Pernas-Giz*
Melbourne, FL
Albert “Al” Jay Perry ’76MBA*
Winter Springs, FL
Henry Pfingstag ’79MAT
Maitland, FL
Peter G. Phillips
Marina del Rey, CA
Bea J. Hughes Pond*
Sanford, FL
Marilyn Wister Porter*
Melbourne, FL
Rodney Morris Post*
Lakeland, FL
Ruth Locher Prather ’81MA
Cocoa, FL
Charles “Chuck” Paul
Rabaut, Jr. ’73 MBA*
Tallahassee, FL
Lina Abramson Raff
Tenafly, NJ
Elizabeth B. Ransome
Fort Myers, FL
Thomas “Tom” Hunter Ratliff ’74MBA
Fayetteville, GA
Clara E. Read ’76MED
Bristol, RI
Jerry C. Rhodes*
Altamonte Springs, FL
Courtenay Davis Robinson
Columbus, OH
Gretchen Long Robinson*
Orlando, FL
Howard Donald Rowe, Jr.*
Vernon, AL
David C. Royce
Delray Beach, FL
William “Bill” Ervin Russell
Gaithersburg, MD
Claudia Wray Sanders
Gaffney, SC
Karen Ann Schattner
Longwood, FL
Norman A. Schirmer*
Sparta, IL
Wendy Bartlett Serrell
Lorraine Ruth Shaker
West Columbia, SC
Karen Rathje Shaw
Fond du Lac, WI
Carol “Shell” Lee Shelly
Ocean City, NJ
Larry John Simo ’75MBA*
Winter Park, FL
Scott J. Sindelar
Orlando, FL
Susan “Susie” Meade Sindelar
Orlando, FL
James S. Singleton, III*
Saint Petersburg, FL
Jane Krudener Smit
Gaithersburg, MD
Miranda Holt Smith
Woodstock, CT
Sandra “Sandee” Hill Smith ’74MBA
Mission Hills, KS
Ronald “Ron” M. Soldo
Hilton Head Island, SC
Kenneth George Staples*
Loganville, GA
Donna Ann Stein
Falls Church, VA
Nathaniel Stephens, Jr.
’78MBA*
Orlando, FL
Peter J. Stephens
Venice, FL
Truman L. Stoneburner*
Melbourne, FL
Robert Strange*
Orlando, FL
Peter Remick Stroh
Grosse Pointe Park, MI
Neil “Neo” P. Sullivan
Santa Barbara, CA
Robert Otho Sutley ’75MBA*
Apopka, FL
Stanford Guy Sutton
Greenwich, CT
Richmond John Swartz
Longwood, FL
Judith “Judy” Grieder
Tamburro
Franklin Lakes, NJ
Diane Jones Taney*
Merritt Island, FL
Glen Ray Tanner*
Debary, FL
Melahn Murphy Taylor*
Winter Park, FL
Thomas Macy Taylor
Parish, NY
Charlotte F. Teisinger*
Winter Haven, FL
Elizabeth Lynn Terrell
Seminole, FL
Peter Addenbrooke Thomas, Jr.
Sedona, AZ
Philip “Dylan” Dylan Thomas
Winter Park, FL
Steven Thompson ’74MBA
Brooksville, FL
Gary W. Tillotson*
Henderson, NC
Terry Shank Tipton
Cincinnati, OH
Neal Edward Trautman*
James P. Trocchi
Dennis, MA
Kim Shannon Tuell
Orange Park, FL
Randall F. Tuttle Woodbury, CT
Floyd Jacques Umstead* Leesburg, FL
James Lee Vallandingham* Palm Bay, FL
Arden Dean Van De Mark, Jr.* Las Vegas, NV
Glyndon Lewis Van Woert* Amsterdam, NY
Albert A. Vander Haeghen* Winter Springs, FL
Jefferson “Jeff” Lord Vann Altamonte Springs, FL
James “Jim” Ernest Vastyan Ballwin, MO
Peter Bentley Viering Stonington, CT
Cara Kenny Von Geczy
Leesburg, VA
William E. Voyce, IV
Las Vegas, NV
Carolina Anita Walton*
Roger F. Wankel*
Blue Ridge, GA
Katherine “Kit” Ivey Ward
Charlotte, NC
Alfred “Al” Washington* Cocoa, FL
Antonia Hobart Weed*
Lake Mary, FL
Harry Emerson Wert*
Princeton, WV
Elon West, Jr.*
Joseph E. Wiedenmayer, III Doylestown, PA
Susan Nelson Wilcox
Chatham, MA
Frances Smith Williams Gibson Island, MD
James Peel Williams, III* Ocala, FL
Ruthie Mcneal Williams*
Orlando, FL
Sara Rice Williams
Naples, FL
Timothy Ames Williams Boca Raton, FL
Anita Carol Wilson ’79MED*
Ocklawaha, FL
Rand Egan Wilson Sea Girt, NJ
Gerald Lee Winterhalter* Ocala, FL
Ralph Gene Winterhoff* Belle Isle, FL
Martha Withers
William Albert Woehr* Menlo Park, CA
Edward Walter Wojcik ’95MBA
Winter Park, FL
John “Trevor” Trevor
Woodhams
Atlanta, GA
Christine Wopat
New York, NY
James “Jim” Simon Worthing
Minneapolis, MN
Stuart Milan Wright* Greeley, CO
Robert “Page” Page Wurts
Treasure Island, FL
Thomas “Tom” Hugh Wylie*
Debary, FL
Randy J. Xenakis
Bradenton, FL
Stephanie Kass Yeadaker
North Miami, FL
James William York*
Tallahassee, FL
Thomas Michael Yurchenco
Asheville, NC
Richard “Rick” D. Ziesing, Jr. Kennett Square, PA
Robert S. Zimmerman
Roslyn Heights, NY
Jacquelynn “Jackie”
Shuttleworth Zollo
Winter Park, FL
Victor “Vic” A. Zollo, Jr. Winter Park, FL
Carol Lightbourn Zuin
Nassau, Bahamas
Everett John van Gaasbeck*
Jane Manus von Richthofen
West Palm Beach, FL
Class of 1973
Senior Honoraries
WHO’S WHO IN AMERICAN COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES
Andrea Boissy Lyon
James Alan Burnette
Ellen Eagle Caldwell
Elizabeth Grant Cheney
Barbara Joan Clements
Laura Jane Crutchfield
James Auther Earhart
Patrica Riste Gleason
Barb Ellen Henning
Sandra Jade Hill
Jenifer Sara Kaplan
Eleanor Eqenia Kibbler
Gregory Sands Mercer
Charles Henry Perlo
Maruiedo Ketter Peterson
Ronald Michel Soldo
Arlinda Ann Staley
James Ernest Vastan
0.0.0.0.
John G. Borden
James Alan Burnette
Reginald Brock
John F. Lowman
Randy James Xenakis
LIBRA
Ellen Eagle Caldwell
Barbara Joan Clements
Laura J. Crutchfield
Patricia R. Gleason
Barb Henning
Jennifer Sara Kaplan
Claudia Decamp Wray
Sandra Jade Hill
Debra Lee Holmes
Doris E. Jinkins
Bruce Barnhill
Activities that kept you busy at Rollins: Varsity Soccer, TKE fraternity and intramural sports.
If you could choose your major today, what would it be? Physics
Favorite Class: Semester abroad in London.
Funniest Moment: Induction into TKE fraternity.
What went through your mind on your first day as a student? At first I was overwhelmed, but then I met the other members of my quad housing and settled in quickly.
Partner in crime and your favorite memory together: Bob Barry and having a stable roommate for 3 years.
Your biggest moment of triumph: Making the varsity soccer team my freshman year.
Lesson you learned as a student that you still value today: Perseverance will always be rewarded.
Person you met at Rollins who you will always respect: Bob Barry, my roommate, and Bob Maynard, my fraternity big brother.
Life Since Rollins: I spent 35 years with Northwest Airlines, living in six different countries and met my wife in Korea. We have been married for 36 years and after numerous international and domestic moves, ended up in Paradise Valley, Arizona. We have two daughters who, after what seems like a lifetime of schooling, have both settled back in Arizona where they practice medicine.
Mary Davis
Activities that kept you busy at Rollins: I fell in love with theatre the first time I set foot in the Annie Russell green room. And now I am a Tony-winning Broadway producer! That feeling of family and belonging and acceptance that I felt then is why theatre has remained at my very core. I’ve got 3 shows on Broadway now! Thanks to Rollins I found my heart’s true home. Bonus points if you recognize that quote!
If you could choose your major today, what would it be? Theatre
Favorite Class: History of Theatre
Funniest Moment: Laughing our heads off in the green room.
What went through your mind on your first day as a student? I’m gonna like it here!
Partner in crime and your favorite memory together: I was only there for freshman year. All my memories are of auditions and the makeup room and that glorious green room.
Your biggest moment of triumph: Getting a tiny role in a show.
Prank you can’t believe you got away with: Nope. I was a good girl…back then.
Lesson you learned as a student that you still value today: Get your work done first. Then play.
Life Since Rollins: I met my first husband there. He was down from Cornell with their baseball team. We fell in love. I transferred to Elmira. The marriage didn’t last, but I still think of Rollins as my college, not Elmira. Fast forward a few decades, and my daughter graduated from Rollins.
Alex Calder
Alex Calder (cont’d)
Goliath Davis
Activities that kept you busy at Rollins: The Black Student Union, studying, playing pool, and attending basketball games.
If you could choose your major today, what would it be? Behavioral ScienceSociology
Favorite Class: French
What went through your mind on your first day as a student? I cannot believe a poor boy from Methodist Town is here with all these rich white folk.
Partner in crime and your favorite memory together: Reggie Brock and the time we spent hanging out with David Cudlipp, James Worthing, Dickey Dayton, and Steve Blakemore.
Your biggest moment of triumph: Graduation
Lesson you learned as a student that you still value today: Hard work has its rewards.
Person you met at Rollins who you will always respect: Lucy Crane, Olive Koon, Ted Marsh, Elinor Miller and Pat Lancaster.
Life Since Rollins: The Rollins experience significantly changed my life. I met wonderful people, studied abroad (Martinique, France and the Bahamas), got a wonderful education, and engaged in many new experiences, e.g. the New York City Urban Fellowship program. I was the first in my family to attend and graduate college. As I walked across the stage to receive my
diploma, I looked into the audience and viewed the smiles on the faces of my mother and grandmother. They were so happy and so proud.
After graduation, I returned to St. Petersburg, FL and joined the City’s Public Safety Agency as a Public Safety Agent (Certified Police Officer and Firefighter). When the program was disbanded, I remained as a police officer. I subsequently married my college sweetheart, Theda James, also a Rollins Graduate in 1974. In 1975, I enrolled in the University of South Florida’s graduate program in criminology and earned a Masters Degree in 1977.
I was accepted into the doctoral program in 1977 and, subsequently, obtained a Ph.D. I returned to the St. Petersburg Police Department and received numerous promotions. I was appointed Chief of Police in 1997, retired on October 5, 2001, and became Deputy Mayor on October 8, 2001.
I worked as an adjunct professor at USF as well as a senior advisor to the chancellor of the St. Petersburg Campus and entered retirement full time in 2010.
My most important accomplishments are being a father and grandfather. My eldest daughter is an elementary school teacher and graduate of the University of South Florida. My second daughter is a graduate of Fayetteville State, Army MP, and is a manager of a dental office. The baby girl is a graduate of Greensboro College and has a Masters Degree from Duke University. She is currently a Director of Academic Success. The only boy attended Florida A&M University (BA and MA) and is currently a practicing attorney. He is a graduate of the University of Florida Law School.
All of my grandchildren are either high school juniors or seniors preparing for their college careers.
Leza Harrison
Favorite Class: Optics/atomic and nuclear
What went through your mind on your first day as a student? It was like a little city filled with kids my own age.
Partner in crime and your favorite memory together: Pam Watts. Tie dying sheets to hang on our walls.
Your biggest moment of triumph: Making the ski team after learning to waterski.
Prank you can’t believe you got away with: Sneaking into the boys dorm rolled up in a rug over someone’s shoulder.
Lesson you learned as a student that you still value today: Hard work pays off.
Person you met at Rollins who you will always respect: Richard Dayton
Life Since Rollins: After college, I remained in Central Florida so I could continue to waterski. I took a job with NASA as an electrical engineer and worked at Kennedy Space Center for 26 years, then took an “early out” retirement. I worked the last Apollo launch and most of the shuttle program. It was a very exciting career. The only thing missing was a flight into space!
I have one lovely daughter who graduated from Florida Southern College in Lakeland.
My true passion then and now is still water skiing. I competed all over the world and made the U.S. water ski teams representing the United States at many international competitions. Still at it today with only one hip replacement so far. 2022 was a good year with Regional, National, and World Titles in my age division under my belt. My goals are to improve the national records that I hold in slalom and tricks!
Debra Holmes
Activities that kept you busy at Rollins: I was in the Rollins Singers. We performed often on campus and for alumni. We took a trip to Washington, DC and to New York to perform on behalf of the school. I was also in the chapel choir. My happiest memories and best friends came from the music department and the Rollins Singers.
If you could choose your major today, what would it be? Education and music –the same as originally.
What went through your mind on your first day as a student? After my parents drove away, I realized that I was totally on my own for the first time. I could stay up all night, choose my friends, etc. It was very empowering.
Lesson you learned as a student that you still value today: True friends can last a lifetime. If you respect one another, different backgrounds don’t matter.
Person you met at Rollins who you will always respect: Pam Hobbs was my first roommate. She was such an excellent athlete. She spent her junior year abroad in Switzerland playing for their national team. My second roommate, Holly Rogers, was among the first of our generation to show respect and offer friendship to our gay classmates.
Life Since Rollins: I would have never been able to attend Rollins had it not been for my academic scholarship. I arrived with plans to get a degree in elementary education. When I auditioned for the chapel choir, Dr. Ward Woodbury encouraged me to become a vocal music performance student. He enabled me to obtain two degrees at once. The music department professors were very patient with me despite the fact that I had no prior formal training in music.
It changed my life. My greatest joy and personal growth came from my experiences in the music program, especially with the Rollins Singers.
I went on to obtain a specialist degree, and spent my career in public education as a teacher and administrator.
After graduating, I continued to enjoy musical theater, directed a small church choir, and sang in some excellent community choirs. As a teacher, I led a number of student choirs and directed musical theater productions at school to share my love of music with my students. Later in life, I became the guardian of a wonderful little boy, who is now a student at Lander University, and a member of their soccer team.
I still have a wonderful phone friendship with my former roommate Holly Rogers, who keeps me up to date with Rollins and our mutual friends. I am proud to be a Rollins alum. I received an excellent education at Rollins, met terrific people, and am proud to read of their many achievements.
Thomas Jordan
Life Since Rollins:
After Rollins, I took the road less traveled and it has made all the difference. I had escaped foreign language classes due to my SAT scores in French. After graduation I found myself in Paris at the Université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle. I subsequently matriculated into the Université Paul Sabatier Faculté de Médecine in Toulouse with 2,400 other native French speakers. I was successful in securing a spot in the second year by placing in the top 240. After five years in France and earning my first medical degree (Premier Cycle en Médecine), I transferred to the University of Florida for another three years and received an American M.D. degree in 1981.
While in Toulouse, Charlie Perlo visited and we went to the Côte d’Azur where we stayed at Enis Berker’s family condo in Menton. There I met Enis’s sister, Celia, and a romance bloomed, although it took 18 years for us to commit matrimony.
I continued with a post-doctoral internship in internal medicine and residency in Psychiatry at Brown University, a fellowship in child psychiatry at Harvard and Brown, and a teaching appointment at Brown. I earned a Master of Public Health degree at the University of Michigan. I was Chief of Clinical Affairs for Michigan state psychiatric hospitals for ten years. I then practiced in Florida until 2018 when I moved back to Michigan.
As Ratty said to Mole in The Wind and the Willows “there is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.” My high school classmate Roland Blake convinced me to join the rowing team my freshman year. While living in Europe, I shipped out on a German freighter, the “M.V. Hahnentor’’ from Rotterdam to Tampa one summer break, the second time that I had sailed across the Atlantic. The first time was aboard the “S.S. Constitution.” After Neil Sullivan gave me his old sunfish sailboat, I sailed the lakes of New Hampshire when I had a farmhouse on the Connecticut River just down the road from Charlie Brown’s Piermont Inn. When Charlie Perlo bought his Pierson Ensign in NYC, we sailed up the Intracoastal Waterway and I would crew with him in Marblehead races. I attended Oswego Maritime Institute, earned my U.S. Merchant Marine Master’s license and owned a charter fishing boat that I captained on weekends on Lake Ontario.
Charlie Perlo
Activities that kept you busy at Rollins: Student Center Board of Directors and Resident Advisor for TKE house.
If you could choose your major today, what would it be? History
Favorite Class: Jack Lane’s 8:00 a.m. History.
Funniest Moment: Asking Carlos Santana for his autograph at the Orlando Sports Stadium for a fraternity treasure hunt!
What went through your mind on your first day as a student? How will the food be?
Partner in crime and your favorite memory together: Delta Chi pledge class.
Your biggest moment of triumph: Being elected President of the Guild Fraternity.
Lesson you learned as a student that you still value today: Doing a little bit every day rather than everything at the last minute...
Person you met at Rollins who you will always respect: Freshman RA Randy Lyon (RIP) in New Hall.
Life Since Rollins: I had a 35-year career in supply chain management in several different industries including aerospace, semiconductor, and medical devices. I retired in 2009 at age 58. I have always done lots of music, sailing, gardening, and maintaining my 1908 Victorian cottage in Beverly, MA.
Neil Sullivan
Activities that kept you busy at Rollins: Science Lab.
Intramural sports.
Amazing friends at Guild Fraternity. Enjoying the music of the era intensely.
Friday/Saturday beach parties at the New Smyrna dunes.
Studying Sunday till Thursday night.
Reading Vonnegut and sci-fi novels in free time.
If you could choose your major today, what would it be? Chemistry
Favorite Class: Inorganic Chemistry
Funniest Moment: Spontaneous panty raid that imploded but harmless to all – I believe in ’70.
What went through your mind on your first day as a student? Sheer panic as I knew no one and had never visited the campus before showing up on that first day of orientation…
Partner in crime and your favorite memory together: Jordo, Perlo and Ziesing - where do I start?
Your biggest moment of triumph: Getting accepted to medical school at USF.
Prank you can’t believe you got away with: Told some Guildo Deadheads that the new Dead album was now out. They enthusiastically raced to the record store to find out I had pulled a prank.
Lesson you learned as a student that you still value today: Never study so hard that you don’t take time simultaneously to enjoy life.
Person you met at Rollins who you will always respect:
James Earhart
Charles Perlo
Patricia Lindsey
Thomas Jordan
Richard Ziesing
Dean Christensen
Life Since Rollins: Attended USF medical school in a difficult three-year program with no summers off. We completed the first two years of study in 12 months - very intense. After that, I completed a three-year residency in family medicine in Michigan. My new wife Joan and I then went to Maysville, NC where I worked in a rural community health clinic. Our final destination was Santa Barbara, California working initially in emergency rooms until I became the medical director and practicing physician for the Santa Barbara neighborhood clinics. 38 years later, I retired from those clinics. However, during Covid I was recruited to work in community clinics in Molokai and Honolulu. Presently, I am looking forward to volunteering in Cambodia for my 11th medical mission with an organization called Cambodian Health Practitioners Association of America.
Neil Sullivan (cont’d)
Married for over 43 years, my wife and I enjoy going to concerts, traveling, engaging in various sports, and having many other hobbies and passions. To this day, I tell everyone that the best four years of my life were spent at Rollins.
Dylan Thomas
Activities that kept you busy at Rollins: What kept me busy at Rollins? Self discovery. It was a long and winding road. I’d say mainstream activities that I cherished were related to student government; trying to lead a fraternity that was on a downslope for a while; and reading philosophy books.
If you could choose your major today, what would it be? I meandered from mathematics to history to philosophy and religion with a side of Charlie Rogers’s Speech. Today, I’d probably explore political science with a side of statistics.
Favorite Class: Philosophy courses.
Funniest Moment: Not necessarily funny, but there was the time I danced to music on a table in Beans during a meal at Halloween. Some might remember me wearing what might be considered a “scandalous” costume.
What went through your mind on your first day as a student? Who and where are the “cool” kids? I didn’t know a soul.
Partner in crime and your favorite memory together: So many. How about my tower roomie Bobby Leighton? We felt an obligation to put our stereo speakers in the tower balcony and give everyone out on the library lawn some good music to listen to.
Your biggest moment of triumph: After some hard campaigning in the sororities to win their votes, I was elected student government Vice President.
Prank you can’t believe you got away with: You’d have to ask for Capt. Cullifer’s (RIP) report files. Nothing got past him. Seriously, I don’t practice or condone pranking.
Lesson you learned as a student that you still value today: A smile, an engaging attitude, and a sense of humor go a long way. On a serious note, studying philosophy and religion redefined my attitude about religion after growing up as a “preacher’s kid” and attending a church boarding school.
Person you met at Rollins who you will always respect: Hal George
Life Since Rollins: With no plan after Rollins, I defaulted to a seminary in Berkeley, CA. That failed, so I came home to Orlando and followed advice from my pals, Bobby and Nancy (Kaiser) Leighton: do what excites you. So, I talked my way into a 7-year career as an assistant GM with the Orlando Twins. I began as the PA announcer for Minnesota’s spring training games and grew to learn a lot about sports administration and living on $500/month.
In my off hours, Tar grad, Patrice Shirer, introduced me to the girl of my dreams, Dana Schneider (’76), and she’s been the light of my life ever since we married in 1976 in the chapel. My dad officiated, with Arnold Wettstein and a Catholic priest assisting.
In the 70s, I worked Tangerine Bowl events during baseball off-seasons, which led me to a 2-year stint as an in-house event marketer for the City of Orlando’s facilities department. Around the same time, the bowl needed a sports guy who could do all the work I’d done with the Twins and city. So, in 1982, I began a 23-year run with the sports association as an associate director over ticketing, advertising, event coordination, marketing, network TV coordination, and facility management. I contributed heavily to three stadium improvement projects. We staged games for bowl teams, NFL teams, in-season college teams, a HS all-star game, half-marathon, 1994 World Cup, and 1996 Olympic Women’s Soccer.
During these sports years, Dana and I enhanced our lifestyles through her talents as a realtor (and so much more), buying and selling residences in the Orlando area, and raising two uniquely-different sons who we are infinitely proud of today. Both are Rollins grads. One married another Tar, has four children, and runs a last-mile delivery service in Orlando, doing business for Amazon. Our other son married a one-time Disney Cinderella who is a Michigan State grad. They live in Grand Rapids with two children. He’s in finance with Santander Bank.
In 2003, I was talked into running for Winter Park city commissioner by a good friend. That was a learning experience.
That same good friend also talked me into a 2004 breakfast meeting with the Orange County Public Schools superintendent. He hired me as PR director for the 200,000-student district. That 16-year career ended in July 2021 and was full of many successes and ordeals typical of a huge, people-centered enterprise.
Steve Thompson
What went through your mind on your first day as a student? What do you mean the dorms don’t have A/C?
Partner in crime and your favorite memory together: Cindi Parker. Sorry… same problem – Grandchildren.
Your biggest moment of triumph: Getting better than a C- in any class.
Prank you can’t believe you got away with: Sorry, but the Statute of Limits has not expired yet.
Activities that kept you busy at Rollins: Grove parties.
If you could choose your major today, what would it be? Marketing
Favorite Class: Space and Ocean.
Funniest Moment: No way! I have grandchildren!
Lesson you learned as a student that you still value today: If you don’t know the solution to a problem… somebody else does. Go ask!
Person you met at Rollins who you will always respect: I can’t remember his name but he ran the Rollins College Security Department, a one-man show. He was friendly, tough, always reprimanding me for doing things I shouldn’t have gotten caught doing and constantly remarking: “I don’t see what that Cotton girl sees in you.”