RHODES CONTENTS (ISSN #1075-3036) is published four times a year in winter, spring, summer and fall by Rhodes College, 2000 North Parkway, Memphis, TN 38112-1690. It is published as a service to all alumni, students, parents, faculty, staff and friends of the college. Spring 2001?Volume 8, Number 2. Periodical postage paid at Memphis, Tennessee, and additional mailing offices. EDITOR Martha Hunter Shepard '66 ART DIRECTOR Kevin Barre GRAPHIC DESIGNER Larry Ahokas ALUMNI EDITOR Sally Jones Heinz '81 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS John Kerr CONTRIBUTORS Justin Fox Burks, Tony Cenicola, Catherine Cuellar '96, Virginia McAfee Davis, Jill Herbers '82, Brad McMillan '68, Bill Sorrell, Dannielle West POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: RHODES, 2000 North Parkway, Memphis, TN 38112-1690. CLASS NOTES: Please send all Class Notes including marriages, births and obituaries to: Alumni Office, Rhodes College, 2000 N. Parkway, Memphis, TN 38112- 1690. Phone: (901) 843-3845 Fax: (901) 843-3474. E-mail: Lisa Meeder Turnbull, director of alumni: alumni@rhodes.edu LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Please address postal correspondence to: Martha H. Shepard, Editor, Rhodes Magazine, Rhodes College, 2000 N. Parkway, Memphis, TN 38112-1690. E-mail: magazine?rhodes.edu Phone: (901)843-3544 Fax: (901)843-3553. RHODES ADMISSIONS OFFICE: 1(800)844-5969 CHANGE OF ADDRESS: Please mail the completed form below and label from this issue of RHODES to: Alumni Office, Rhodes College, 2000 North Parkway, Memphis, TN 38112-1690. Name Street City State Zip Home Phone Business Phone E-mail Employer Title 23 28 31 Sideline Specialties Extracurricular activities take on new meaning Athletics Alumni News Features, Class Notes, For the Record The Magazine of Rhodes College Spring 2001 Volume 8 Number 2 Campus News News of Rhodes events, faculty, students and friends The Soul of a People McCoy and Memphis Black Rep put on a show Running the Show 11 Behind the scenes at Charlie Rose Summer Reading 17 Profs proffer picks On the Cover: Cast of The Soul of a People. Photo by Justin Fox Burks 2 5 RHODES Rhodes Trustees Committed To Making a Strong College Stronger any this year two national liberal arts colleges?Rhodes and Pomona?came together to dis- cuss the essentials of a liberal education at its very best. It was a new kind of board retreat for Rhodes trustees, a rare opportunity to engage in dialogue with officials of another outstanding liberal arts college, arguably one of the top five in the country. After sharing information freely through- out the retreat, one Rhodes trustee summarized the expe- rience for us all: "In two days at Pomona, I learned a great deal about Rhodes." The success of the Rhodes-Pomona collabora- tion was due in major part to the leadership and enthusias- tic participation of our California colleagues. We were led in deliberations by a star-studded faculty: Pomona president Peter Stanley; Pomona president emeritus, former Rhodes president and alumnus David Alexander; Pomona board chair Stewart Smith; former board chair Robert Tranquada; and an outstanding group of Pomona faculty and adminis- trators, all of whom gave up most of a beautiful weekend to share their expertise and experience with us. Oy President Witham E. Troutt Trustees and key administrators explored together four areas crucial to our advancing Rhodes' standing among liberal arts colleges. Presentations and discussion focused on: Understanding the Essence of a Liberal Arts Educational Program Recruiting, Retaining and Supporting the Best Faculty Recruiting, Retaining and Supporting the Best Students Reviewing the Essence of Trustee Leadership at a National Liberal Arts College Each session was provocative and informative on its own; however, when trustee participants were asked to give their own suggestions for retreat follow- up, four themes emerged that crossed all sessions to permeate the entire retreat experience. I. The Clarification of Institutional Mission and Distinctiveness "Our mission must be clear, concise and easily understood by our various constituencies." The clarification of insti- tutional mission and distinc- tiveness was a constantly recurring theme during the sessions. While Rhodes and Pomona have a lot in com- mon with regard to mission, all Pomona session leaders were strikingly clear and consistent in their sense of their institution's identity. Their comments on the lib- eral arts educational pro- gram, recruiting and retaining faculty and stu- dents, even the essence of trusteeship were punctuated *Observations made by Rhodes Trustees after the retreat seem to reflect a general consensus of all participants. SPRING 2001 I Smith Tower, Pomona by references to Pomona's mission. The impressive aspect of these references was not their frequency, however, but their consistency. Whether the comments came from the president, a board member, a faculty member or a staff member, the "story" was the same. II: The Place of the Faculty at the Heart of the College "The cost of not offering tenure when we recruit is greater than the cost of correct- ing a mistake later." The high bar that the Pomona board sets for acade- mic excellence was captured in these words: We want fac- ulty who are intellectual equals of their counterparts at Harvard, but who want to teach undergraduates. All policies and practices relative to faculty are committed to that aim. In addition to wanting to reconsider tenure as a power- ful tool for recruiting and retaining Rhodes faculty, trustees have suKested other incentives as well: financial support for faculty devel- opment, expansion of faculty-student research opportunities and mortgage sub- sidy benefits for faculty that could enhance the Rhodes neighborhood and facilitate faculty and student interaction. III. The Value of Trustee-Faculty Interaction "I believe that significant common understanding will occur if faculty and trustees interact more.' We first learned of Pomona's regular plan of faculty-trustee retreats from the college's president emeritus David Alexander. Initiated by a former board chair in 1951, Pomona's 13th retreat in the series was held in March 2000. The event in recent years has included all tenure-track faculty, administrative directors and spouses to come together for a weekend to talk about the com- mon interests of the institution. In David Alexander's assessment it "has had a very significant effect through the history of the college." While most all Rhodes trustees agree that the Pomona retreat format has tremendous appeal, they also encourage building closer relationships on campus in more immediate ways, bringing stu- dents as well as faculty together with trustees to develop a dialogue. W: The Importance of Endowment "If we want to go first class, we have to find more assets.' The importance of the endowment to achieve institutional ambitions proved to be an anthem not only for Pomona's presenters but also for Rhodes' board members. It is clear that endowment is the key to an institution's ability to live out its ambitions. Put more simply, endow- ment provides the fuel we run on to hire the best fac- ulty, recruit the best students, meet their financial need, increase diversity in all ways, provide needed facilities and maintain those we have to be the best we can be. Perhaps one trustee said it best, "...everything else is possible only if we have resources to fund our agenda." Conclusion: We're on Our Way "The contrasts ran from dramatic to sublime, yet the effort to compare made me realize how special Rhodes is." We left California with a keen appreciation for the clarity Pomona has about its mission, priorities, academic goals, for the commitment shared by trustees, fac- ulty and students to work together toward a common aim. We also came away proud of Rhodes' own academic strengths, our honor code, our value-based heritage, our college community's sense of service and our beautiful campus. Above all, we came away with a reas- surance that our initiatives for advanc- ing Rhodes and working together in common purpose can ensure that together we will build the even stronger college we envision. *Observations made by Rhodes Trustees after the retreat seem to reflect a general consensus of all participants. 2 SPRING 2001 RHODES CAMPUS NEWS Troutt Elected Secretary of ACE Board Rhodes President William E. Troutt was recently elected secretary of the 37- member board of directors of the Ameri- can Council on Education (ACE) at the organization's 83rd Annual Meeting in Washington, DC. ACE is a comprehensive association of the nation's colleges and universities dedicated to analysis of higher educa- tion issues and advocacy on behalf of quality higher education and adult edu- cation programs. Its membership includes about 1,600 accredited, degree-granting institutions from all sectors of higher education and nearly 200 national and regional higher educa- tion associations and organizations. ACE works to coordinate the inter- ests of all sectors of higher education into a single voice on issues of national policy. It operates a number of pro- grams designed to increase access to postsecondary education, promote equity, ensure quality education on the nation's campuses and train new gener- ations of higher education leaders. The board of directors is the govern- ing body of ACE, responsible for over- seeing the organization's management and setting its general policy directions. ACE represents higher education before Congress, federal agencies, the Supreme Court and the federal courts. Robert Llewellyn Named Dean of the College R obert R. Llewellyn, Rhodes philosophy professor who served as interim dean of academic affairs during the current academic year, has been named dean of the college. Rhodes Presi- dent William E. Troutt announced the selection of Llewellyn in March. Llewellyn's appointment came after a two-year national search by a committee selected from Rhodes faculty, staff and students. "So often in the search process, our standard for excellence was Bob Llewellyn," said Troutt. "The extent of the respect and admiration of our stu- dents, staff and faculty members for Dean Llewellyn's character and abilities led some to refer to candidates on the `Llewellyn Scale' of excellence. Rarely does an individual inspire such a high level of confidence and acceptance." Llewellyn, who has taught at Rhodes since 1969, has served on several major committees, held lead- ership roles in the college's Southern Association of Colleges and Schools' self-study processes for accreditation and chaired the philosophy depart- ment. A faculty-elected representative to the Board of Trustees, he received the Diehl Society Award for Faculty Service in 1993 in recognition of his contributions to the college. Llewellyn served for 14 years as associate dean of the college under several different administrations. During that time, he received the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award (1980) and the Administrator of the Year Award (1984). The new dean of the college holds M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in philosophy from Vanderbilt Univer- sity, where he was awarded a Woodrow Wilson National Fellow- ship and Woodrow Wilson National Dissertation Fellowship. He received a B.S. degree cum laude in mathe- matics from Davidson College. During this academic year Llewellyn "has proved himself to be a collaborative leader of the faculty who has worked diligently to strengthen Robert Llewellyn faculty governance," said Troutt. "He also has earned the deep respect of the administrative cabinet for his lead- ership skills as a strong advocate for the faculty and the academic program. He has proved himself to be an able and articulate spokesperson for Rhodes to external constituencies. I have worked closely with him this year and he has earned my full confi- dence and trust." RHODES SPRING 2001 3 William Rasberry Harry Phillips Lorna Reimers College Loses Three Longtime Trustees Three longtime Rhodes trustees died this winter: William C. "Razz" Rasberry '30 of Shreveport, LA, Dec. 7, 2000; Harry J. Phillips Sr. of Memphis, Jan. 12, 2001; and Lorna Anderson Reimers of Jackson, MS, Jan. 13, 2001. William Rasberry, who was 94, was elected to board in 1966 and named a life trustee in 1978. After college, he con- tinued his studies at the YMCA Graduate School at Vanderbilt University/Peabody College in Nashville. Afterward, he returned to Rhodes where he worked as physical education director and a coach. With numerous business interests, he dealt largely in timberland and investments. He was a civic leader in Shreveport and for six years, a mem- ber of the board Of the Chamber of Commerce of the U.S. He received the Community Service Award from the United Fund and Brotherhood Citation from the National Confer- ence of Christian and Jews. A member of First Presbyterian Church of Shreveport for more than 69 years, he was listed in several Who's Who publications, including Who's Who in the World. The widower of Helen Robinson Rasberry, he leaves a daughter, Gayden "Sissy" Rasberry Jones '59, a son, William C. Rasberry Jr., six grandchildren and four great- grandchildren. Lorna Reimers, 87, was a longtime Jackson civic leader. A graduate of Northwestern University, she and the late Warren Denkmann Reimers of Hammond, LA, were married in 1937 and moved to Jackson. There, she was active in First Pres- byterian Church and a life member of the Family Services Organization, Mississippi Art Association and Mississippi Historical Society. She served on the boards of numerous civic and cultural organizations, and volun- teered her time for countless others. In addition to her volunteer work, she had an avid interest in such groups as the Santa Fe Opera Association, New York Metropolitan Opera, Habitat for Humanity, Greater Jackson Foundation and Eudora Welty Foundation. She leaves two daughters, two sons, eight grandchildren, including Lorna Lyell Chain '87 and Louise Lyell Lampton '88, and four great-grandchildren. Harry Phillips, 70, was the retired chairman and CEO of Houston-based Browning-Ferris Industries Inc. (BFI). He founded Patterson Waste Control in 1954, which later expanded in the Southeast and Puerto Rico. His com- pany merged with BFI in 1970. Phillips was named CEO of BFI in 1977, and chairman in 1980. Appointed a Rhodes trustee in 1983, Phillips was an alumnus of the University of Mississippi. He also served on the boards of banks and industries as well as civic and reli- gious organizations. Members of the Benefactors' Circle, which includes the names of people who have made historic gifts to the college, Phillips and his wife, Louise "Weetie" Bondurant Phillips, were among the initial donors to the building of the $22.5 million Bryan Campus Life Center. He was a member of St. John's Episcopal Church. In addition to his wife, he leaves four sons and 10 grandchildren. 714 Mock Trial Takes #2 Spot The Rhodes mock trial team missed this year's national champi- onship by two points. Rhodes defeated the University of Dayton, Notre Dame, split with Macalester College and defeated Yale Univer- sity in round four. 4 SPRING 2001 RHODES By Dannielle West Photography by Justin Fox Burks Rhodes seniors Corliss Givens and Terrica Singleton Rhodes first-year student . - Sarah Margaret Bridwell ".` : ' 4,4 Ar "P:;fi i5 - performance piece for the 2002 Black History Month celebration. International Paper has shown interest in underwriting next year's production, which again could be , . held at McCoy. Creativity and understanding are means of personal and cultural growth, he says. "We can ali4iys celebrate newknowledge. As we com- mit to our station in life, we should each strive to open the eyes and minds of those around us. We should always be able to contribute to creativity in any way. It is our duty Director Harry Bryce (center) and company. Left to right: Cequita Monique, Thomas Jackson '97, Jorge Contreras, Tamra Patterson '01, Darius Johnson, Samantha Weaver '04, Sarah Margaret Bridwell '04 to celebrate our differences." FMS Dannielle West is a senior journalism student at the University of Memphis. To SPRING 2001 By Jill Herbers '82 Photography by Tony Cenicola H W "Abraham Lincoln knew who he was. And what is it? What is it that makes him so special? He's endlessly fascinating, because you feel the real human being, the real person there, and you can get close to him in a way that you can't with somebody like George Washington. He became for me less like a god, less like the man up on the Lincoln Memorial, and more like a man. RHODES SPRING 2001 II Shaun Townley '99 (left) and Shelley Hoffmann '96 outside Bloomberg studios on Park Avenue RUNNINGTHE This sounds like a quote that might come from a lec-ture at Rhodes, or at least deals with the kind of sub- ject matter and ideas that many peo- ple haven't thought of since college. But the words come from a television set, of all places. They come from the Charlie Rose show, where filmmaker David Grubin is discussing his docu- mentary on the Lincolns. And it is talk that is not at all un- usual here. For one hour, five nights a Shaun Townley '99 week on PBS, the show shines a light on figures and issues in politics, the arts, business, literature, technology, entertainment, sports, science and whatever else is going on in the world that seems interesting. The show's stunning diversity means that in-depth conversations with heavyweight fighter George Foreman and the mayor of Jerusalem a few nights apart, for example, are not un- usual, and that in an alphabetical list of guests who have appeared on the show, Gloria Steinem comes right before Martha Stewart, Henry Kissinger right after Kermit the Frog. So it should come as no surprise that in a place that embodies the liberal arts ideal of being curious about everything, of using both significant focus and flexibility of mind, two members of the small full- time staff are graduates of Rhodes. Shelley Hoffmann '96, a producer, and Shaun Townley '99, production coor- dinator, are in the middle of this daily endeavor of energy and expansiveness. t is 5:30 p.m. on a December evening and taping for the show is underway. As soon as one enters the glamorous Park Avenue offices that Bloomberg News provides for the show, which are decorated with television screens, sleek, colorful fish tanks and 15th- floor views of midtown Manhattan, one can feel the intensity of television?its drive, its clicking effi- ciency and the force of star power. Yesterday, Richard Gere was going out the doors of the studio. Today, writer Anna Quindlen comes in, together with her teenage daughter whom she's picked up from school. "That's Gordon Parks. He's an in- credible, incredible photographer," she tells her, pointing to the monitor in the green room that shows Rose's ongoing interview with Parks. Rose asks him if there's anything he wishes he'd done that he didn't do and Parks replies that there is nothing, he just wishes he'd done it better. "That's a great answer!" says Quindlen. The conversation ends and Quindlen immediately takes Parks' place at the round oak table to be in- terviewed about her new book, where she embarrasses her daughter with a flattering story about her. Actor Laura Linney, looking every bit the star she is rising to be, and some of the rest of the cast and the di- rector from the movie You Can Count on Me are beginning to gather for their group interview. There is a swirl of ac- tivity as the Quindlen segment ends and the group in the green room changes from one set of publicists to another. A couple of them tear up as a long, poignant clip from the movie is shown. The small room is so crowded that an intern resourcefully runs under a table that dominates the room to get from one side to the other quickly. 12 SPRING 200I RHODES according to Vega, there is a unique lack of a real hierarchy. "Whatever's going on, everybody knows," she says. "Charlie wants to hear what the staff thinks, and they don't have to like everything that's go- ing on with the show." Additionally, everyone is entitled to pitch story ideas. Hoffmann and Townley, for instance, are not of Rose's generation, but "part of the benefit of having younger people here is to keep his mind open to a different perspective," says Vega. What seems to tie it all together is a tremendous pride in and loyalty to the show. "They know they work for some- thing special," says Rose. "That's im- portant, I think, because it enhances their self-esteem about work." And in- volvement runs all through the team. "Every night, every single person on this staff has an integral role in putting an idea out to the audience. Every person can go home at night saying, 'Wow, I actually helped make that happen."' says Vega. In a recent interview with Jack Welch, the chairman and CEO of General Electric, Rose said, "That's the definition of smart?find the smartest people you can find and put them to work." It looks like Rose got what he wanted. Jill Herbers, a New York author, writes about music, architecture and the arts. She has published four books, the latest of which is TILE, and has written for numerous magazines, including The New Yorker, Forbes, Metropolis and pub- lications for American Express Publish- ing. Her syndicated column appears in more than 200 newspapers throughout the country. She is also a songwriter and is currently segueing into music full-time, producing CD compilations and composing film and television scores. 16 SPRING 2001 RHODES Illustration by Brad McMillan '68. Faculty images by Kevin Barre. Rhodes faculty s recommend the best in ummer Reading Jennifer Brady The Charles R. Glover Professor of English Studies In her essay "Los Angeles Notebook," Joan Didion writes: "Los Angeles weather is the weather of catastrophe, of apocalypse, and just as the reliable long and bitter win- ters of New England determine the way life is lived there, so the violence and the unpredictability of the Santa Ana affect the entire quality of life in Los Angeles, accentuate its impermanence, its unreliability. The wind shows us how close to the edge we are." I thought I might recommend several novels, modern and contemporary, that capture the extremes of climate and geog- raphy as they constrain the protagonists' lives, beginning with a New England novel, Affliction, by Russell Banks. Banks' 1989 novel, set in a stark mill town in New Hampshire, seems on one level a deliberate homage to Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome. Winter is the dominant season in Affliction: "What is normal is snow from early November well into May; normal is week after week of low zinc-gray skies; is ice that cracks and booms as, doser every night to the bottom of the lake, a new layer of water cools, contracts and freezes beneath the layer of old ice above it." Banks is of course also RHODES SPRING 200I 17 describing the psychological state of his protagonist, Wade Whitehouse, who implodes in violence. Winter also dominates an astonishing novella by William Gass, The Pedersen Kid, included in his collection of short fiction, In the Heart of the Heart of the Country. The Pedersen Kid works in much the same way as Henry James' The Turn of the Screw, with Gass layering his tale "with a frost of epistemological doubt:" has his adolescent protagonist Jorge murdered his fami- ly or is the "visitation of evil" the work of a stranger who arrives in the farming community during a Midwestern blizzard? One or two other recommendations: I was riveted by Norman Mailer's 1955 novel The Deer Park, set in Desert D'Or, a resort frequented by Hollywood exiles during the McCarthy era. Desert D'Dor is "a place where no trees bear leaves. The palms and the yuccas lifted a foliage of tufts and fans and fronds and shoots, but never leaves, and on some of the roads where tall palms lined the way, their dead fronds hung from the trunk like an os- trich's muff." Mailer's apoca- lyptic vision in this California novel, its depiction of lives lived on the edge brings us to Joan Didion's fiction and nonfiction about the Ameri- can West: Slouching Towards Bethlehem, The White Album, Run River, Play It as It Lays. None of these is exactly beach-reading. I sunburn, so I don't do much beach-read- ing, but the detective novels of Randy Wayne White set in the Florida Gulf Coast are good cottage fare. Eric Gottlieb Assistant Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science The Mother of Us All: A History of Queen Nanny by Karla Gottlieb. My sister's first book traces the history and mythology of Queen Nanny, leader of the Jamaican Windward Ma- roons during the first half of the 18th century. Queen Nanny led a small set- tlement of escaped slaves in their struggle against the well- equipped soldiers of the British Empire, acting on her people's behalf as both gen- eral and obeah woman. The provisions of a treaty between the Windward Ma- roons and the British contin- ue to be reflected in Jamaican society. When Genius Failed by Roger Lowenstein. John Meriwether is a famously reclusive Wall Street trader who succeeded by surround- ing himself with brilliant quantitative thinkers. He and his "quants," who included two future Nobel Prize win- ners, founded a hedge fund called Long-Term Capital Management. The fund collapsed in the wake of a Russian default but was bailed out by Wall Street investment houses under the leadership of the Fed- eral Reserve. Longitude by Dava Sobel. The de- termination of longitude while at sea without modern timekeeping instru- ments is a difficult problem, one that defied solution for centuries with cata- strophic consequences. A king's ransom was eventually offered for a practical solution. Galileo proposed a method using the eclipses of Jupiter's moons as a celestial timepiece, but his method was discarded as impractica- ble. John Harrison, an uneducated mechanical genius, eventually constructed a series of incredibly accu- rate and resilient clocks in pursuit of the fortune. The Constitution of the United States: An Introduction by Floyd G. Cullop. During and after the electoral turbulence of last November and December, I found myself consulting this guide to the Constitution with reg- ularity. It provides a terse explanation of the document and its intentions. 18 SPRING 2001 RHODES A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar. John Nash was a brash and brilliant young mathematician when he was brought down by schizophrenia. His debilitating illness spontaneously remit- ted after 30 years, and he was subsequently awarded the Nobel Prize in economics for the work in his 27- page dissertation. When asked how he could possibly have believed that aliens were sending messages to him through The New York Times, Nash responded that the thought came to him from the same place as his mathematical ideas, so he accepted it. He credits his hobby of computer programming with his re- mission, saying that it forced his think- ing to remain grounded in reality. The 85 Ways To Tie a Tie by Thomas Fink and Yong Mao. Two physicists tell all about ties and how to knot them. The book includes a histo- ry of ties, a mathematical analysis of the number of tie knots smaller than a specified size, an illustrated compendi- um of instructions for tying those knots, lots of photos of famous men (and one woman) in ties, a photo of one of Memphis' favorite sons without a tie, a very old-school Van Heusen ad- vertisement and more. Tough Guys er Dangerous Dames edited by Robert E. Weinberg, Stefan Dziemianowicz and Martin H. Greenberg. The short hard-boiled de- tective stories in this compilation ex- emplify an American genre. I enjoy reading the stories in bed after a long, tiring day. They would make great beach reading. In the same vein, I recommend any books from Sue Grafton's alphabet series. The Bhagavad Gita translated by Eknath Easwaran. This translation and explanation of the Hindu classic spoke to me authentically. I found Easwaran's substantial introduction to be of interest in its own right. The Seven Storey Mountain: An Autobiography of Faith by Thomas Merton. Merton describes the path that led him to take vows as a Trappist monk at the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky. Tao Te Ching and The Gospel According to Jesus by Stephen Mitchell. In college, I read a translation of the Tao and thought it was the most boring and opaque doc- ument I had ever encountered (with the possi- ble exception of The Ambas- sadors by Henry James). Mitchell's version, however, is pure poetry. His Gospel is a selective and human look at Jesus and what made him who he was. Ming Dong Gu Assistant Professor of Foreign Languages As someone who teaches Chinese language and litera- ture, I'd like to recommend two fascinating novels by two "Chinese" authors whose fictional works are available in English: The Other Shore by Gao Xingjian and Waiting by Ha Jin. Strictly speaking, the two authors are no longer Chinese writers though they were born, grew up and started their writing careers in China. Gao Xingjian still writes in Chinese, but Ha Jin now almost exclusively writes in English. Both have won international recognition: Gao Xiangjian won the 2000 Nobel Prize for Literature, and Ha Jin's Waiting won the American Book Award for Fiction in 1999. Gao Xingjian was born in Jiangxi Province, China in 1940. He went to Europe in a self-imposed exile in 1987. He is a novelist, playwright and literary critic. His novel that won the Nobel Prize is called "Lingshan," in Chinese, which means "Soul Mountain." It is a novel about a pilgrimage to a sacred mountain in Southwest China. Far from a religious pilgrimage, it is a spiritual search for a paradise of the soul, a Utopia where the protagonists hope to be free from the strife of this mundane world. The central action of the story line is based on the author's wanderings in the remote mountain regions of the southern and southwestern China, where age-old mysticism still exists, Robin Hood- style stories are passed from mouth to mouth and sages of Daoist wisdom are encountered now and then. Despite the ardent and obstinate search, the soul mountain is nowhere to be found. It is perhaps for this rea- son that the novel was translated into English as The Other Shore. RHODES SPRING 2001 19 Ha Jin's Waiting is a novel written in English. Born in Liaoning, China in 1956, Ha Jin, whose real name is Jin Xuefei, came to the U.S. to study American literature in 1985. As he did not start to write stories in English until a decade ago, it is a remarkable feat that his first novel won the National Book Award for fiction. Waiting is a compassionate tale of love and longing. It tells of a doctor in the Chinese army who submits to his parents' will and marries a woman he never loves from the very beginning. In the hospital where he works, he meets a nurse and falls in love with her. Then, every summer for 17 years, he makes a long journey back to his home village to ask his wife for a divorce, and every summer she agrees until she backs out before the judge at the last minute. While still married, even though the doctor has not slept in the same bed with his wife since conceiving their child, he is forbidden from even holding the nurse's hand, not to men- tion consummating their relationship. As the Chinese law allows di- vorce without consent on condition that couples are separated for 18 years, the doctor and nurse keep wait- ing expectantly for the arrival of the 18th year. Into this deceptively straightforward story, Ha Jin weaves subtle, complex themes and wry hu- mor, and allows the reader to have a profound glimpse into the inner lives of the doctor, the nurse and his wife in their separate and connected existence. There are also two short story collections by Ha Jin: Ocean of Words: Army Stories, which won the PEN/Hemingway Award, and Under the Red Flag, winner of the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction. Daniel G. Arce The Robert D. McCallum Distinguished Professor of Economics and Business Breakout: The Chosin Reservoir Campaign, Korea 1950 by Martin Russ. This is an eye-opening testimo- ny of the U.S. Armed Forces' "attack to the rear" at the Chosin River Reser- voir during the Korean conflict. An amazing account of heroism that I will never forget. Moral Calculations: Game Theory, Logic and Human Frailty by Lazio Mero. Game Theory is a method for looking at the implications of strategic interaction that has become part of virtually every economist's tool kit. It is also applied in fields as diverse as law, biology, sociology and interna- tional relations. This is a witty narra- tive on everyday life that will improve your strategy quotient in no time. Share it with your spouse at the risk of losing your advantage to think a step ahead! Mindfulness in Plain English by Venerable Henepola Gunaratana. If you have ever wondered about how to 20 SPRING 2001 RHODES take advantage of the benefits of med- itation, this nondenominational book is the best place to start. The Debt to Pleasure: A Novel by John Lanchester. If you are an epicure, then you will love the recipes in this book, which are organized by the sea- sons of the year. The book itself is something more sinister, with a mur- der mystery weaving through gourmet recipes that leaves you wondering what it was all about at the end. Guide to the Perfect Latin Ameri- can Idiot (translated by Michaela Ames) by Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza, Carlos Alberto Montaner and Alvaro Vargas Llosa. Want to know about the economic transformation in Latin America during the 1990s? This bit- ingly funny satirical expos? of populist socialism in Latin America was a best- seller in the region several years ago. A little too exuberant on the benefits of markets, but given the economic cata- strophes caused, in large part by ill-ad- vised socialist policies from 1950-90, the authors' enthusiasm for the change is understood. I read chapters from the original version with Rhodes students who are interested in business Spanish. Carol Ekstrom Instructor of Geology Noah's Flood: The New Scientific Discoveries about the Event That Changed History by William Ryan and Walter Pitman. A fasci- nating hypothesis gleaned from the ocean drilling pro- ject. The geologist-authors piece together a catastrophic event in the Black Sea area as the glaciers start to melt. Pillar of Sand Can the Irrigation Miracle Last? by Sandra Postel. A new and critical perspective on our natural resource, water. Annals of the Former World by John McPhee. A collection, in one volume, of all of my favorite books by McPhee, plus a new one titled Crossing the Craton. Whether you travel to the Appalachians, the Basin and Range, California, Wyoming or the plain old Midwest (my home turf), this collection will provide a de- lightful depth of understand- ing of the physical world that you have set out to see. Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing. A gripping, true-life adventure in Antarctica that emphasizes the resiliency of human life. A good read to put the concerns of one's own life in perspective. Composing a Lift, by Mary Catherine Bateson. Her message that life is an improvisational form of art needs to be read again and again, then passed on to friends. Luther Ivory Assistant Professor of Religious Studies Salvation and All About Love, two books by one of the most provocative writers on the scene today?bell hooks, an African-American woman and scholar who has written widely on issues of relevance to the human community through the window of particularity of black existence, and more pointedly, black woman's expe- rience. Hooks is also a committed Buddhist and weaves these spiritual principles through the whole of her corpus. She is adept at providing a platform for these two under-heard voices in the public square. The Book of Ruth by Jane Hamilton, a racy and explosive novel set in the context of a small southern town that addresses the human condi- tion of struggle to overcome alienation and personal nihilism and experience mercy and self-forgiveness. The text speaks to the need both to give and receive authentic love and compassion at the very deepest spiri- tual-existential levels. Games People Play. This is a clas- sic text by Eric Berne, M.D., the RHODES SPRING 2001 21 originator of transactional analysis (TA). Berne attempts to describe the correlation between human behavior and levels of emotional development. Of particular note is the way he de- scribes the lethal linkage between emotional deprivation and self- destructive patterns of behavior aimed at achieving healthy levels of intimacy. The text is highly suggestive and usable as a heuristic tool for discourse about personal and relational health and wholeness on a variety of levels. I recommend it not as a psychologist but as a religious scholar who finds it illuminative, de- spite its limitations, for assessing per- sonal and relational health. Reaching Beyond Race by Paul Sniderman and Edward Carmines. This is an accessible, highly readable book for all Americans who are interested in dealing with a subject that is largely avoided as a topic of honest conversation. The authors aim at revealing how white Americans feel about race. The book also deals with the politics of race and takes a look at public policies aimed at remedying racial discrimi- nation. A highly provocative chapter on affirmative action is alone worth the price of the book. I May Not Get There with You, the most recent text on the meaning and relevance of Martin Luther King Jr. by Michael Eric Dyson. Dyson primarily functions as a cultural critic in this book and uses King as a lens through which to ob- serve, and hence analyze, American culture. Of particular note is the way in which Dyson works to make a compelling case that the metaphor of "commemoration" may be, for our times, the most apt one for tapping into the essence of Kingian legacy. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, the quintessential humanist novel of all times. This book should be elevat- ed to the category of "must" reading and be required of all humans on the planet to have digested it by age 14. Then, every human should re-read it at least annually?it is that powerful. It is the story of a black man's search for identity and dignity as he swims in American cultural waters. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown. Written in 1970, it is a gripping, fully documented account of the destruction of Native American or American Indian com- munities during the second half of the 19th century. While there are many such accounts in this rising area of scholarly interest, I like to read and re-read Brown for a general ren- dering of this powerful narrative of oppression, struggle and hope. It serves as a bap- tismal immersion of sorts into a too- often-ignored reality. Mighty Like a River by Andrew Billingsley, the first comprehensive treatment of how the tradition of black religious thought has shaped American society. It provides a fascinating look into the rise and development of the black church as a social and political as well as moral- spiritual force in America. This text represents a badly-needed, in my view, corrective to the marginal status that the black religious experience has been customarily assigned. The Ice Opinion by Ice T, one of the original "gangstas" of the rap mu- sic and hip hop culture world. It is not for the squeamish. Ice T explores a host of topics that are fundamental to the world of hip hop. All people over the age of 30 should consider it a "must read." It behooves us all, I think, at least to examine the contours of this cultural phenome- non through the voice of one of its own prophets. M 22 SPRING 2001 Jennifer Morris '02 SIDELINE SPECIALTIES By Virginia McAfee Davis Photography by Justin Fox Burks Most everybody has a talent or a knack for doing something out of the ordinary that other people admire. Watching them or listening to them makes one think, "Wow, wish I could do that." We scouted around campus to find students who spend their precious lit- tle spare time following unusual pur- suits and discovered some, well, quite uncommon sideline specialties. Meet the balloon lady, the preacher, the piper, the roper and the comedians. The Balloon Lady A s a first-year student at Rhodes, Jennifer Morris answered an intriguing ad on a whim. "Balloonabilities seeking balloonologist. No experience necessary," it read. Morris was the first person in Memphis to respond to the ad and took the job once she established that she didn't have to dress like a clown or "blow up balloons manually with my own lungs." Now the junior English literature major from Lake Charles, LA, is an ac- complished balloon artist who can cre- ate about 40 different figures, including mermaids, ballerinas and butterflies? all designed to delight patrons of Memphis?area dining establishments. Started by a California college stu- dent, Balloonabilities has branches in several states with majority ownership based in Memphis, where it contracts its balloonologists to more than a dozen restaurants. "The concept is that you give people in the restaurant entertainment in between the time they order and their food arrives," Morris says. "I walk around the restaurant going from table to table. There's a lot of personal inter- action?that's my favorite part of the job. You get to meet a lot of interesting people and have some good conversa- tions. Work is so much fun." RHODES SPRING 2001 23 Chris Johnson '03 Morris had to train for a long time to gain the speed necessary to cover all the tables and people in a restaurant. In addition, she had to learn proper air pump technique and master flicking and twisting balloons to produce- voila!?a poodle or a motorcycle. "The motorcycle was difficult in the beginning, but with practice, it got easier," Morris says. The skill comes in knowing just how much air to inject into the long, thin balloons. "The number of pumps it takes to fill the balloon varies with the design, because the amount of space you need to leave at the end varies with the amount of twisting you have to do. That's the trick." The reaction Morris receives depends on the setting of the restaurant. She says Joe's Crab Shack is one of the best places to work because the people who go there anticipate a little noise and fun instead of a quiet, private dining experience. "Depending on where you are, there are definitely some people who aren't as happy to see you as others," she says. "Or if you're having an off night and you start popping balloons consistently, you may get some dirty looks. You just kind of laugh it off and move on. It's all part of the job. Plus, I have long nails so I pop a lot of balloons. But not as many as I used to." The Piper T he sight and sounds of a bag- piper piping is an irresistible attraction for many people, even when the piper doesn't mean to draw an audience. Drawing a crowd during practice means practice time is limited. "Most types of bagpipes are pretty loud, consistently loud," says Chris Johnson, a sophomore philosophy major from Tuscaloosa, AL. Johnson has played Highland bagpipes since he started taking lessons at age 15. He had already been playing guitar for three years. "Bagpipes are all one volume? not something that tends to get louder and softer. When people hear the bagpipes, they tend to think it's a performance. It's kind of hard to have a private practice time with such a loud instrument, because when you're playing it, it's loud and people think it's something that needs an audience." So when Johnson wants to practice, he pulls out his shuttle pipes, a quieter, more compact version of the Highland pipes. "With a quiet instrument you can go to a private area and play and not everybody's going to hear you. A lot of times practice doesn't sound so great," he says. Johnson started learning piping because of his family's heritage: They come from the Scottish Johnston clan. It took about a year working on a practice chanter to learn the fundamentals and develop lung capacity to play the Highland pipes properly. "You've got to be very ready to do it, because they're pricey and take a lot of physical energy to support," Johnson says. The main challenges of playing Highland pipes are learning to control breathing and how to squeeze the bag just enough with the elbow, he says. "The important thing is to keep the whole pitch of the instrument constant, because if you blow too hard, it's going to sharpen everything, all the notes. If you blow it too soft, the whole thing will deflate. You just want to keep it steady. Basically, it's just be- ing able to find that balance and play it naturally," Johnson says. "When it comes time, you incorpo- rate what you learned on the little practice chanter and start to play that on the full instrument, all the while keeping it sounding evenly toned, not like a goose, which tends to happen if you let go." The time did come for Johnson to start playing in public. Before coming to Rhodes, he played Celtic music with a traditional Irish group at a college bar in Tuscaloosa. Attending a bagpipe camp for three summers also enabled Johnson to polish his skills. He has played at parties, meetings of Celtic so- cieties and a wedding, but he has yet to play Amazing Grace at a funeral. Of late, Johnson has branched into playing other instruments. He's now learning the uilleann pipes, a bellows- blown Irish variety. They have more range and versatility than Highland pipes, Johnson says. "I like to get as good as I can on a single instrument, but there are so many out there that are interesting to me that 24 SPRING 2001 RHODES it's kind of hard to focus on one. I tend to want to pick up every one and give it chance, to see if it's for me." The Preacher A sophomore biochemistry ma- jor, Jonathan McGhee has known since childhood that he wanted to be a doctor, but when the "inkling of the calling to preach" came at the age of 14, he wasn't so sure about that. It happened during a Sunday school class at First Baptist Church Highland Park in Little Rock, AR. "The lesson was on praying to God about what he wanted us to do with our lives and trying to fulfill his will so we would live up to our full poten- tial," McGhee says. "I would think, `Maybe God wants me to be a preach- er, but I don't want to do that.' For a long time I was afraid to pray, because I was afraid to know." As time passed, McGhee did con- tinue to pray, but doubts kept coming. He told himself he was too young. He was afraid that no one would want to marry a preacher. He doubted that he would be able to be a doctor if he was a preacher. But eventually came accep- tance of the call to both vocations. "As I grew older, I knew God would take care of me," McGhee says. "If it's meant for me, then he'll bless me with it. So I decided to just go on and follow it." At age 18, McGhee preached his first sermon at the church he had at- tended all his life. It so happened that his father, a deacon, also preached his first sermon that night?one after the other, with the son going first. McGhee had expect- ed his father to go first. "The jitterbugs came up extra large that time," McGhee says. "I had planned to relax while my dad was preaching." McGhee's sermon came from Psalm 1, verse 2 in the Bible. He talked about the importance of reading the Bible consistently and how to be happy and prosper by following the Bible's word. "That was the longest sermon I've ever preached in my life," McGhee says. "I got up there and talked for about 40 minutes that night. I can't believe I had that much to talk about." After it was over, McGhee felt total relief, finally, that he had accepted his calling. Now, as a student at Rhodes, he has the occasional opportunity to preach when he visits home. He keeps prepared by leading weekly Bible study for the Rhodes gospel choir. His main message is to persevere in life. "I try to encourage listeners to perse- vere and not give up in their Christian walk. Tribulations and difficult times may come along, but the important thing is to press on," he says. The Roper T CC he steer is coming out of the chute. He weighs be- tween 500 and 800 pounds. Then we're out of the boxes. I'm heading the steer; the heeler is on the right side. He's making sure the steer is staying straight. We're working as a team from the time we leave the box. "I rope the steer around the horns, I pull my slack straight back, I dally. My horse is going to check a little bit and turn off to the right. That steer is going out and very gently his head is going to turn, his rear is going to swing around and that will give my brother a shot to rope his back two legs. He'll rope the back two legs, pull the slack, dally and stop. I'm watching, I stop and we're facing each other. Time stops. So it's a lot to do in a very short amount of time." It is a lot to do in 3.7 seconds. Brown Gill is describing the action in professional team roping. He's talk- Jonathan McGhee '03 ing fast, scarcely taking a breath as he explains the sport that has consumed him and his younger brother since they were youngsters. "It is the most passionate, most wonderful thing in my life," he says. Brown, a junior political science/pre-law major from Memphis, and his brother, York, completing his freshman year at Ole Miss, have been roping steers as a team for more than 10 years. Their love for the sport has taken them to competitions in almost every state. The Gills grew up playing polo and "riding English." When Brown was 10, they decided they wanted to be cowboys. It took a lot of talking, but they persuaded their parents, Raymond and Betha Hubbard Gill '71, that they really wanted to do this. The boys spent that summer at a camp on the Quarter Circle V Bar, a 40,000-acre cattle ranch in Arizona, where they started learning the basics RHODES SPRING 2001 25 of roping. During the following school year, they absorbed all that a veteran roper in Memphis could teach them. The brothers returned to Arizona for three summers to work for the ranch, but stayed less time each year as they spent more time traveling to roping events. During the school year, they hit the road every weekend. The Gills started selling the polo ponies and buying team-roping horses. Eventually Brown and York built their own arena near Germantown, TN. And they avidly studied the sport. "You watch every little detail," "But you might not win another $10,000 for six months. There are a lot of costs and variables associated with roping. That's what makes it ex- tremely hard to do. It's like golf, in that everything can change so quickly. "Some days you get the feeling out there that nothing is working. That's the time you've got to really step it up?cowboy up, we call it." The Gill brothers dreamed of mak- ing professional careers at team roping. They invested most of their winnings back into their passion. For Brown, the time came in high school to make a The Comedians ight around the time mid- terms loom, Rhodes students get a dose of stress-reliever in the form of Contents Under Pressure, the college's unofficial improvisational comedy troupe. Formed three years ago by Brian Harris '00, CUP always draws packed houses, usually in McCoy Theatre af- ter a play performance. Their presen- tations are a mixture of unrehearsed sketches and games, many of which are designed to involve the audience. "The audience is the bread and but- ter of the show," says John Ramsey, a junior economics and urban studies major from Houston and a founding member of the troupe. Ramsey often acts as the straight man emcee, taking suggestions of topics from the audience to incorporate into the act. "We've been lucky enough to pull in audiences who really want to be there and participate," says Bob Arnold, a junior English major from El Dorado, AR. "They're very lively and energetic, which feeds us." Other troupe "-Illlik' members are Brown Gill '02. below, and above, in the arena with brother York Brown says. "We'd study videos and we'd video ourselves. We would really try to break every motion down. It became a science to us." One of seven events in the world of rodeo, team roping is a popular sport and profession in its own right. The United States Team Roping Championship association has 94,000 members, with 37,000 of them active- ly participating in USTRC events, ac- cording to the association's Web site. "You can go to a roping and win $10,000 in one day," Brown says. 26 SPRING 2001 difficult choice about his future. He decided that he would not make his living from roping on the professional circuit. "I needed something to back me up in case I got injured," he says. "As I get older, I'm starting to balance my studying and my roping. I just had to decide where my priorities are?not which one is more im- portant, so much as where my priorities are." RHODES Kalman Bencsath, a senior from Mobile, AL, majoring in philosophy and biochemistry; Kyle Hatley, a sophomore theater major from Memphis; Brent Morgan, a junior psychology major from Kansas City, MO; Matt Reed, a junior theater major from Huntsville, AL; and John Whitfield, a junior biology major from Murfreesboro, TN. The group gets its ideas for games and skits from Web sites, watching improv groups on TV and just making things up. They hatch most of their best sketches just before the show be- gins, so the actual content of the scenes is made up on the spot, Arnold says. They never know if something will be funny or if it will bomb. "It's a good thing we attend a lib- eral arts college, because our education really takes hold during the shows," quips Bencsath. A favorite with audiences is the Party Quirks game: One person act- ing as host of a party leaves the room. The audience then tosses out suggestions for quirks that the party guests have to act out. When the host returns, the party guests start arriving, along with their quirks, and the host has to guess what the quirks are. Quirks have included a guest with his eyes on his hands, a guest who reads warning labels and a guest who's afraid of the floor. With all this quirkiness going on at the same time, the host is sometimes hard put to guess accurately, and the audience loves the wackiness of it. In Paper Chase, another favorite, the audience writes phrases or thoughts on notecards. Ramsey spreads all the cards on the stage, and then two actors start acting a scene. When Ramsey rings a bell, one of them has to pick up a card and read what's on it as if it were the next thing he was going to say, and then justify having said that. Quick imagi- nations come into play here. The dynamics of the group's onstage antics reflect the fact that each CUP member has a different kind of talent at humor, Morgan says. "We do have a lot of subtle differ- ences in our styles and that helps. You don't have the same kind of humor going on for every game; when you have different actors come up for each game, there are going to be different kinds of interaction." For now, Contents Under Pressure performs twice a semester on campus. Any chance they will take the show to other Memphis venues? Not much. "We don't have ambitions to become famous," Whitfield says. "We're just doing it for fun." X% Contents Under Pressure, left to right: Monica Lewis '01, manager, Kyle Hatley '04 (above), Matt Reed '02, John Whitfield '02, Bob Arnold '02 (below), John Ramsey '02, Kalman Bencsath '01, Brent Morgan '02 RHODES SPRING 2001 27 ATHLETICS By BM SnRRFT T Women Cagers Net Winning Record your hardest-working players. "Kerry improved her all-around game. She was a lot more aggressive. Hannah is a fighter. She wants to do her best at whatever she does. I did- n't get a chance to see what Hannah could do before she got hurt. I'm amazed at what she does. She faced another hurdle in the road = and jumped over it." = i Before Hannah Miller was off and running to second-team all-Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference honors this season, she had to beat the chal- lenge of walking with crutches. The step-by-step process began in December 1999 when she broke her ankle, arm and right wrist in an auto- Hannah Miller '01 mobile accident that totaled her car. Returning to Rhodes for a holiday basketball practice from her Decatur, GA, home, Miller lost control of her car on U.S. 78 near Anniston, AL. She hit a guardrail before smash- ing into a bridge. Teammate Rose- mary Boner of Stone Mountain, GA, was riding with her. Miller had surgery on her crushed foot the next day in Atlanta. For the next three months Miller walked with crutches, missing the rest of the 1999-2000 season. It wasn't the first time she had to maneuver with crutches. The summer before her freshman year at Rhodes, . she tore the left anterior cruciate liga- 28 SPRING 2001 ment playing soccer. A leg brace helped her put one foot in front of another. She was able to play in the season's final five games. Bouncing back, Miller was named honorable mention all-SCAC her sophomore season and the most valu- able player on Rhodes' team. She fin- Kerry Wingo '02 ished sixth in rebounding that year in the SCAC with a 7.6 average. This year, Miller, a senior post player/forward, and Kerry Wingo, a junior power forward who also played post, sparked the Lynx to their first winning record in six years. Rhodes finished 17-8, the most wins since the 1991-92 team went 17-9. Miller's 12.6 point average was 12th in the SCAC. Wingo, the team cap- tain, averaged 12 points, 14th in the SCAC. Rhodes' 12-6 conference record was two games behind tri-champions Centre, DePauw and Sewanee. "They set the foundation for suc- cess," said Rhodes coach Sara Chase. "It helps when your best players are RHODES Part of Miller's rehabilia- tion was mental. She had to cope with the anxiety of wondering if she would lose her shot along with her agility. She also worried how the 20 pounds she gained would affect her speed. "Once basketball hit, I didn't have time to think about being hurt. It was so intense," said Miller, who lost the weight and kept her quickness. Chase said that the Lynx' success resulted from "weapons inside and out- side. Defense was one of the tops in the conference. We believed that we were good. We knew we could beat teams." One of Miller's goals was to defeat teams Rhodes had never beaten. The Lynx beat Hendrix, which finished with a 13-5 league record, and DePauw for the first time. Wingo's versatility was a strength said Miller. "Put her outside, she can shoot. She moves really well in the post. She can dribble with the big dogs." Wingo, who began playing bas- ketball at age 6, played guard at Ves- tavia Hills. "I didn't like basketball when I was little. The more I grew, the more I stuck with it," she said. Wingo is 6-0. Wingo was moved to her inside position this season after previous stints at guard. "I saw a huge differ- ence from the beginning of the year. She was smarter about predicting peo- ple's moves," said Miller. "She stepped up into a leadership position. She was always contributing. She pushed everyone to work hard." It paid off. Said Miller, "We've always felt that we had a good team. We had never been able to prove it until this year." Henry Stays in Shape as a Two-Team Scholar Athlete There were no chads, court chal- lenges or recounts when William Henry was voted captain of Rhodes' track and field team this year. Henry was the first unanimous captain selection in coach Robert Shankman's 11 years at Rhodes. "I've had people get 27 out of 30 votes but he got 30 out of 30," Shankman said. "Over his four years, William has been truly outstanding in every regard, on and off the track." This season, Henry is counting on winning an event that has eluded him for three years. Although the senior from Murfreesboro, TN, has been a three-time all-Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference sprinter and Rhodes' top sprinter, he has yet to win the conference 100 meter dash. Mike Clary, Rhodes athletic direc- tor and assistant track coach, said, "William has the opportunity to be the top sprinter in the SCAC. That distinction comes with being the 100 meter champion." Henry's attention to details could propel him to place in the 100 meter dash and the other events he runs? the 200 meter dash and the 4x100 and 4x400 meter relays. "I try to work hard at all the little things. I don't think I'm faster than a lot of guys I beat. In a race it's not all about who's fastest. In the 100 meter, you can only hold your top speed for so long. You have to get good at com- ing out of the blocks explosively and you have to learn to maintain top speed once you get there," he said. Henry's best collegiate times are 10.93 seconds in the 100 meters, set his sophomore year, and 22.51 sec- i a William Henry '01 onds in the 200 meters his junior year. Two years ago, he was among Rhodes runners who competed against 20 NCAA Division I schools at the University of Alabama. The Lynx, the only Division III school at the meet, ran against such teams as Tennessee, LSU and Alabama. "Every time the sprinters ran, we would check the results to see if we had beaten the girls from the other schools," said Henry. "Their top girls are very fast. If you go down the line, there are guys you can compete with on a daily basis." Athletics at Rhodes has been on a daily basis for Henry, a business major who will graudate in May. He's one of the college's few dual athletes. He was a starter on the football team for four years, playing corner- back and strong safety. He was named to the second team all-SCAC this past season. He was also a SCAC player of the week. "Everybody on the football team thinks I'm crazy," said Henry. "It's very tough. You have no free time. Every- body values rest time. After the last game in November, I have two weeks off then I'm at track practice." In football, Henry is used to "going hard for four seconds then get- ting a 10-second break. You have to be in a different kind of shape for track. I wonder if I would be any bet- ter at one sport if I didn't train year- round." He maintains a separate focus for each sport. "From December through the end of May, I'm thinking track. The end of May through November, I'm thinking football." Rhodes football coach Joe White said that Henry's competitive nature and work ethic allow him to succeed in both. "William is one of those kids who does everything right. He has high expectations of himself and raises the bar for everybody around him." Before Todd Mooney, an assistant track coach who is also Henry's posi- tion coach in football, provides him a practice plan, "He's already at it before you get it out of your mouth. "He has a great understanding of what it takes to be successful in both sports. He works harder than anybody I've seen. He knows what he has to do to get better times in track. He is going to drive himself," said Mooney. RHODES SPRING 2001 29 Neal Power '01 30 SPRING 2001 Shankman said that playing both sports keeps Henry from losing his physical edge. Said Clary, "There are a lot of peo- ple around who could do two sports but who don't have the character of William. They don't have the com- mitment and discipline to dedicate themselves to two sports." Jenny Argo, a sprinter on Rhodes' women's team, said that Henry is "always there for people. He's the least self-centered person I know. This team would be very different without his leadership. He's not afraid to get in someone's face and constructively say, 'You need to work on this.' With- out that, I don't know how the team would be able to function." Henry's goal is for the men's team to win the SCAC championship and for the 4x100 meter relay team to go to nationals. "I like team victories. Winning the 100 meter dash would be nice. I'm not going to give it away if I get it. We haven't won the conference since I've been here," he said. Since Henry has been at Rhodes, Shankman has been careful not to take him for granted. "He's never been injured. He's never missed a practice. He requires so little from the coaching staff. I'll be lucky to find another William Henry in the next 25 years." Power Named Player of the Year Senior basketball forward Neal Power has been named Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Player of the Year for the 2000-01 season. Power, who was one of 10 finalists for Josten's NCAA Division III National Player of the Year, led the SCAC in scoring with an average of 21.1 points per game. He also led the league in scoring as a junior with an 18.4-point average. Power is the first Rhodes player to win conference Player of the Year since Mike Gonda '94 in 1991-92. Ten league coaches selected Power, despite the Lynx having experienced their first losing record in 23 years. 1 Rhodes finished 11-14, 7-11 in the league (sixth). "In years past, coaches picked players from teams that won the league," said Dwayne Hanberry, assis- tant SCAC commissioner. "That Neal was selected was a bigger compliment. The league respected him for what he did for the league for four years." Power finished as the second leading scorer in SCAC history with 1,647 points. He trailed the University of the South's Ryan Harrigan by 27 points. Harrigan played from 1994-98. Named first-team all- SCAC for three years, Power finished first in the league in all-time free throws made (421), third RHODES in rebounding (628 rebounds), ninth in all-time scoring average (16.8 points per game), sixth in field goal percentage (58.2) and second in field goals made (610). Power tied a school record for points in a single game. He scored 43 points against Millsaps on Feb. 18 in his last home game. Mike O'Keefe '81 scored 43 points, ironically against Millsaps, in 1979. Power (6-3, 225) was often triple- teamed. "He's one of the hardest-working young men I've coached in my 25 years at Rhodes," said Hilgeman, who was also impressed by Power's ability to finish a play as well as his strength around the basket. Despite the losing record, Hilge- man said it was a positive season, "from the standpoint that six seniors will graduate in May with a degree," he said. Power, from Mayfield, KY, could receive other awards this spring. He was nominated an All-American by the National Association of Basketball Coaches and the NCAA. First-year student Austin Lutz, whom Hilgeman called an "excellent defensive player" and who started the last 17 games, was named to the SCAC all-freshman team. 7clk ALUMNI NEWS Nominations Due for Faculty Portrait Series In the spring of 1986, Rhodes alumni were invited to nominate the professor who most influenced his or her life to be the subject of a portrait to inaugurate the college's Distinguished Faculty Portrait Series. The faculty member selected was W. Raymond Cooper, longtime professor of history. Since Dr. Cooper's portrait was unveiled Oct. 25, 1986, portraits of 14 additional faculty have been added to this series upon nomination from their former students. All portraits are displayed on the walls of West Hall and Neely Hall in the refectory where they remind us of our college's tradi- tion of "truth, loyalty and service" as embodied by these great teachers. Alumni are invited to submit nom- inations for faculty members whom they believe should be honored in this portrait series. The portrait of the 2001 honoree will be unveiled during opening ceremonies of Homecoming weekend Oct. 26-28. If you wish to nominate a faculty member for this honor, please access the Alumni Web site (www.alumni.rhodes.edu ), or prepare a statement that includes the follow- ing information: name of the nominee; your name, class year, address and daytime phone number; and a brief statement about the facul- ty member that would be helpful in the college's consideration of your nomination. Please fax your written nomination to the Alumni Office at 901-843-3474 or send it to: Rhodes College Alumni Office, 2000 North Parkway, Memphis, TN 38112. Sail Away to Costa Rica The Natural Treasures of Costa Rica and the Darien Jungle, plus the Panama Canal Dec. 9-17, 2001 aboard the 138-passenger Yorktown Clipper We're setting sail again! This time America and the Caribbean. (motorized dugout canoes) takes us to we'll explore Costa Rica and Panama, Throughout our nine-day the village of the Choco Indians, then transit the Panama Canal for a adventure, we'll view landscapes of whose lifestyle remains largely firsthand experience of the workings rushing waterfalls and sleepy lagoons, unaffected by modern times. of this manmade phenomenon?the unspoiled beaches and tropical rain In San Jose, ride an aerial tram six locks will lift our ship 85 feet at forests, where a virtual kaleidoscope of into the canopy of the rain forest, the Continental Divide and then put plants, birds and wildlife may be where you will enjoy an up-close view us back down to sea level. found. Costa Rica is a naturalist's par- of this unique ecosystem. Frank Mora, associate professor and adise that has remained largely For more information on this won- chair of international studies at Rhodes, immune to commercial development derful opportunity for Rhodes alumni, will join us on board to discuss the and is home to more than 12,000 family and friends, contact the Rhodes strategic, economic and political species of plants, 235 species of mam- Alumni Office at 800-264-5969 (843- importance of Central America and the mals, 845 species of birds and 360 3845 from Memphis) or write to us Panama Canal. Prof. Mora is an expert species of amphibians. at: Alumni Office, Rhodes College, on Latin American politics and society In the Darien Jungle, an excursion 2000 N. Parkway, Memphis, TN and has published several studies on up the Sambu River in "cayucos" 38112. Latin American political economy, civ- il-military relations and foreign policy. Mora, who joined the Rhodes faculty in several awards, grants and fellowships, can Studies Program. He has received 1994, helped establish the Latin Ameri- Help us keep your record current. Send us your news including the J.S. Seidman Research Please send news of yourself and your e-mail address to your class reporter or: Fellowship (1996-2001) and a Alumni Office, Rhodes College, 2000 N. Parkway, Memphis, TN 38112 Fulbright scholarship (1988) for study Phone: (901) 843-3845 Fax: (901) 843-3474 or: at the Central American Institute for International Affairs in Costa Rica. He alumni@rhodes.edu or: also serves as a consultant to the U.S. www.alumni.rhodes.edu/updateinfo.html government on issues related to U.S. se- curity and defense interests in Central RHODES SPRING 200r 31 CL AS SMITES By Jordan Badgett '03 Rhodes International Alumni Association President Liz Smith Parkhurst '80 Little Rock, AR 34 Retired music professor Louis "Nick" Nicholas of Nashville celebrated his 90th birthday Oct. 2, 2000. A month later he visited campus where he enjoyed lunch with former dean of the college Jameson Jones '36, Rhodes director of publica- tions Sally Jones Heinz '81, music professor Patricia Gray '69 and history professor Jim Lanier. He also saw President and Mrs. Troutt on his visit. 37 REPORTER: GWEN ROBINSONAWSUMB 4736 ALL SPICE DR. MEMPHIS, TN 38117 901-682-1478 GAWSUMB@BELLSOUTH.NET Retired Memphis psychiatrist Jim Wallace has donated his psychiatry li- brary to the John D. Williams Library at the University of Mississippi. 38 REPORTER: MCKAY BosWELL 4649 CHICKASAW RD. MEMPHIS, TN 38117 901-683-8315 40 Priscilla Shumaker Heard men- tors at local schools in the Belton, TX, area and also has worked with meals on wheels for the last 10 years. A pi- ano teacher, she serves as church organist and elder in the Presbyterian Church. Thomas and Doris Cullings Simpson '41 reside in Baltimore, MD. He is a physician at Johns Hop- kins University working in tropical medicine. He has been a Virginia State Health Department consultant for the last eight years and serves on the Shore Memorial Hospital board of trustees. She is a daylily hybridizer with her own business, Doris Simpson Daylilies. 41 60TH REUNION HOMECOMING: OCT. 26-28, 2001 REPORTER: ANN BELL 1763 EASTMORELAND AVE. MEMPHIS, TN 38104 HOME: 901-274-5617 OFFICE: 901-448-5798 The 60th reunion of the class of 1941 will be Oct. 27, 2001. We want to see you! Special events on that day include the Homecoming Academic Festival in the morning and our main event, the Picnic in the Rollow Avenue of Oaks at noon. Tickets for the picnic are $10 per person. Contact Baxter or Ruth Pouncey (901-755- 5582), Pat Davis (901-452-5998) or Ann Bell to make your reservations. We hope to include news from more of you in the summer issue. Please call Ann Bell with your news. 42 REPORTER: JET HOLLENBERG BIRGE 295 W. CENTRAL PARK ST., APT. 2 MEMPHIS, TN 38111 901-458-7606 Martha Small Deason, a retired teacher, is active in the Salem, IL, Presbyterian Church. She likes to travel, play duplicate bridge and enjoys her five grandchildren. 46 55TH REUNION HOMECOMING: OCT. 26-28, 2001 Florence Horton Leffler had the lead in the Theatre Memphis produc- tion of The Exact Center of the Universe earlier this year. Jim Wade of Atlanta recently wrote a short book, Reflections, a Memoir. 47 Nancy Alexander Wilds, Aiken, SC, is a professional artist with two M.A. degrees and one PhD. She has three grown children, all happily mar- ried. One is a sculptor, one an environmental planner and the third, a computer buff. 48 REPORTER: MARTHA CARROLL MCGUIRE 4395 CHICKASAW RD. MEMPHIS, TN 38117 Peggy Baker Cannada plans to move to Jackson, MS, from Edwards, MS. Her husband Ray died in 2000. Jack and Carolyn Cunningham Ivy celebrated their 50th wedding an- niversary Dec. 27, 2000. They have five children, three of whom graduat- ed from Rhodes: John Jr. '80, Alex '83 and Hunter '88. Their daughters, Mimi and Dale, graduated from Sewanee. Freeman and Nelda McClamrock Marr have three children, all of whom graduated from Rhodes: Virginia Marr Yeatman '81, Andy Marr '82 and John Marr '86. Martha Carroll McGuire and Denby Brandon '50 worked together at the Central-Tech High School Mil- lennium Reunion. More than 700 graduates attended the two-day cele- bration. 49 Jack and Peggy Marshall Crutcher of Ripley, TN, report that "all four of our daughters and their families now live in West Tennessee. Wonderful to be near them and our seven grandchildren." Horace Pierotti of Memphis last summer retired as judge of General Sessions Court after serving for 25 years. 32 SPRING 2001 RHODES Librarian Smith Dies Noreen Smith of Granby, OH, circulation librari- an at Rhodes from 1957-77, died Jan. 22, 2001, in Golden, CO. She was 88. The widow of late Rhodes biology professor Arlo I. Smith, she held degrees in botany and library science. An active hiker and "birder," she participated in the U.S. Game and Fish Commission's spring bird census for many years. She was also active in the Sierra Club and Audubon Society and was a past president of the Tennessee and Memphis Ornithological societies. She leaves two daughters, Lynn Smith '67 of Sewickley, PA, Pam Smith Cornet '69 of Golden, CO, a son, Gerald P. Smith '63 of Memphis, and five grandchildren. Noreen Smith 50 REPORTERS: ANN DEWAR BLECKEN 355 CARAWAY CV. MEMPHIS, TN 38117 901-683-4737. JIM WILLIAMSON 733 UNIVERSITY ST. MEMPHIS, TN 38107 901-276-3989 Jim Caldwell met his wife Linda at the cantaloupe counter of a grocery store. They married in 1996. He trav- els to China, Japan, Austria, Russia and retired in June 1997 from Trinity University in San Antonio after more than five years as director of planned giving. Painting in watercolor and working toward a bachelor's degree in fine arts from the Memphis College of Art is keeping Millen Daniell busy these days. He and his wife Lutie are getting a kick out of their two-year- old grandson Hank Comer. Mobile attorney Robert Edington says his most rewarding experience since college was public service as Al- abama state legislator and senator dur- ing the Civil Rights era of 1962-74. Travels to Korea kept Jim and Berta Radford Laney from attend- ing the recent class reunion. Jim was U.S. ambassador to Korea. They have also been involved with CARE and UNICEF and the Carlos Museum at Emory University, where Jim was president for 16 years. Cecil Oliver has moved to Diamond Head, Bay St. Louis, MS. Charles and Carol Heyer Smith '51 live in New Orleans. Charles has retired from practicing psychiatry. 50TH REUNION HOMECOMING: OCT. 26-28, 2001 REPORTER: FRANCES CROUCH PERKINS PO Box 66 SENATOBIA, MS 38668 662-562-6441 Gus and Norma Maddox Bell of Nashville are enjoying their hobby, ballroom dancing. Gus is a clinical psychologist. Bill Boyce, a retired professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, lives in Cropseyville, NY. Since retiring, Bill Brazelton of Fort Smith, AR, enjoys hunting and outdoor activities. Toby Bunn is an attorney in Columbia, MO. Buddy and Gale Reynolds Clark are enjoying retirement in La Quinta, CA, and their Idaho vacation home. Allene Ogden Collins is a retired English and mathematics teacher in Memphis, New Orleans and Valparaiso, FL, where she now lives. Herb Eber is president of Psycho- logical Resources in Atlanta. Jack Funkhouser has retired as a music professor at the University of Northern Florida in Jacksonville. Bill Giddens has retired from practicing medicine in Shreveport, LA. Alice Hall lives in Milton, FL, af- ter teaching for 30 years in Memphis City Schools. Ann O'Neill Kennedy has retired from grant management at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. The women of Second Presbyter- ian Church in Memphis named Helen Quindley McClure to receive The Outstanding Christian Service Award. Woody and Mary Ann Morriss of Staunton, VA, plan to attend the Oc- tober 2001 reunion. A retired Presby- terian minister, he frequently serves interim pastorates. Christy and Frances Nix Morgan live in Corinth, MS. Christy has retired from the Presbyterian min- istry and has been serving as interim pastor at LaGrange, TN. Frances works with hospital social services. Jim and Pat Tomlinson Nix live in Oilville, VA. Jim retired as CFO at the University of Tennessee College of Dentistry. Mike Quinn is assistant dean at the University of Texas, College of Com- merce, in Austin. Donald and Margaret Wiesman have enjoyed a trip to Antarctica. They plan to come to the reunion from their home in North Palm Beach, FL. Jack Wilber, a practicing attorney in Jacksonville, FL, plans to attend the October reunion. 54 Mary Beth Davidson of Martin, TN, says "I have been retired for six years and love it!" Director of publica- tions at the University of Tennessee, Martin for 23 years, she has two sisters in Memphis: Martha Ellen Davidson Maxwell '51 and Jerry Thomas '61. 55 In 1999 Memphis psychiatrist Bill RHODES SPRING 2001 33 Shipp Named School Group Head Jane Cook Shipp '62, head of Renbrook School in West Hartford, CT, has been elected president of the Elementary School Heads Asso- ciation, a national organization for independent schools that specialize in the first years of edu- cation. Renbrook is a coeducational day school for children three years old through ninth grade. Cook, who also holds a M.A. in English from Brown University, serves on the boards of sever- al other educational institutions. Jane Cook Ship '62 CLASS NOTES Godsey became a member of the American College of Forensic Exam- iners and a diplomate of the American Board of Forensic Medicine. 56 45TH REUNION HOMECOMING: OCT. 26-28, 2001 60 REPORTER: KIM BAXTER HENLEY 427 COLONIAL RD. MEMPHIS, TN 38117 901-761-1443 KH61913@CS.COM Susanne Files Flowers has been named to a three-year term as trustee of Brook Hill United Methodist Church in Frederick, MD. Virginia Roberson Mitchell is president of McDowell Technical Community College in Marion, NC. She is a member of the Rotary Club in Marion and has enjoyed traveling the world over the past few years. Her first grandchild was born last spring. Lynda Lipscomb Patton and Lewis Pope Wexler were married Jan. 6, 2001. They live in Johnson City, TN. 34 SPRING 2001 61 40TH REUNION HOMECOMING: OCT. 26-28, 2001 62 Charles and Martha Cooch Hogrefe live in Hattiesburg, MS. Charles retired from the University of Southern Mississippi last year. Martha teaches English at Presbyterian Christ- ian High School. 64 Dossett Foster, president of the Raleigh-Bartlett (Tennessee) Civitan Club, received an award from the Gavel Club naming him the civic/ser- vice club president of the year. Jo Matthews Harrison of Raymond, MS, has retired from teaching biology at Hinds Communi- ty College after 29 years. 65 REPORTER: TERI TIDWELL HORNBERGER 157 RAINBOW DR., PMB 5726 LIVINGSTON, TX 77399 JIMTERIHORN@POCKETMAIL.COM Terri Skinner Chadwick is a now a psychologist at the Mental Health RHODES Mental Retardation Authority of Harris County TX. She assesses chil- dren six months to six years who have recently been removed from home due to physical abuse and/or neglect. Seattle poet Harvey Goldner has published New Millennium Business, a 36-page chapbook of his poems with several illustrations. Tony Jobe practices aviation and maritime law in Madisonville, LA, and is raising two sons. Lib Shippen of Osceola, AR, was recently elected Mississippi County clerk. She was formerly deputy county clerk. Teri Tidwell Hornberger's son Wesley Sewell was the visual effects editor of the Oscar-winning movie Gladiator which won five Academy Awards, including the visual effects category. He was also the associate ed- itor for the film HannibaL 66 35TH REUNION HOMECOMING: OCT. 26-28, 2001 Kathy French Campbell teaches photography at Appalachian State University, Boone, NC. Ginny Smith Nearn's flower gar- den was one of four featured in the March 2001 issue of Memphis maga- zine. A picture of one of her garden sculptures, a cherub, graces the cover. Robert and Linda Boyd Pineo '68 retired from their business, Des Moines Business Forms, last fall. 67 Lynn Smith is studying for her master's degree in professional and technical writing at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Carole Gibbs Whitehead, retired Memphis City Schools Spanish teacher, works as a translator for an in- ternational airline catering company and plans to resume teaching Spanish to Memphis Police Department officers. Spygame on the Net Gayle Bartos-Pool '71 is the author of a spy novel published on the Inter- net at http://www.spygame.org/. A fic- tion based on fact, she says in her biography that the facts "are from books, magazines and newspaper arti- cles" along with her father's experiences as a U.S. Air Force officer and hers as a private investigator. "Some of the events really happened to my family," she says. "Sometimes you can't tell where truth ends and fiction begins." IYGA) BY .B.P0" tIE ODD man DIGUN' lip BONES ? I t.1 1 I tI 68 REPORTER: JANE BISHOP BRYSON 3366 HIGHLAND PARK PL. MEMPHIS, TN 38111 mlisHop@sioNATuREADvERnsING.com Lee Giles is now the David Reese Professor of Information Sciences and Technology, professor of computer science and associate director of research of the e-Business Center at Penn State University. Faithful reunion attendees Steve Cole and his wife Beverly have retired from teaching and built a house in Peachtree City, GA. They will cruise the Baltic in July. Steve Caldwell, associate dean of students at Vanderbilt University, re- ports that he also works with Rhodes alums F. Clark Williams '73, Tom Thomas '70 and Gay House Welch '70. Ron and Betty Atkinson Gibson became grandparents in December, compliments of Betty's daughter Kathryn. Younger daughter Annie is due to add to the family in May. Hav- ing retired from Kellogg, Ron is now a senior analyst at FedEx and the or- ganizer of the Memphis 5K Race for Grace. Jim Mitchell, superintendent of Shelby County (Tennessee) Schools, was recently featured in an advertising campaign promoting literacy. Recently your reporter was with husband Lee in the postoperative area at St. Francis Hospital in Memphis when I heard a familiar voice. It was Dr. Rich Ennis, giving jovial reassur- ance to his patient who was about to undergo knee surgery. Rich looked as happy and confident as he did when he was about to bound onto the Lynx basketball court?a few years ago. 69 Doug Goodman of Sudbury, MA, has written a book, Optics Demonstra- tions with the Overhead Projector, pub- lished by the Optical Society of America. He is a physicist with Polaroid Corp. Claudia Oakes was recently named vice chair-elect of the board of the American Association of Museums. She will take office at the association's annual meeting in May, held in St. Louis. She works as assis- tant director of operations at the Utah Museum of Natural History in Salt Lake City. John Richardson has published his first detective novel, SnakEyes, on mightybooks.com . Tom Teasley has been named the new director of the MidPeninsula Pathways Hospice Foundation in Menlo Park, CA. The foundation is the funding arm of the MidPeninsula Continuous Care organizations, which serve patients in hospice, home care and continuous care in the Bay Area. Tom was formerly with Project Inform, a national HIV/AIDS treatment information and advocacy organization. John Walters and My-Linh Thi Ta were married in April. 71 30TH REUNION HOMECOMING: Ocr. 26-28, 2001 REPORTER: BETHA HUBBARD GILL 1365 YORKSHIRE DR. MEMPHIS, TN 38119 901-685-6712 YORKFOREST@AOL.COM Jim Dick is the news director for WMTV-TV in Madison, WI. Memphis attorney Donna Fisher has been honored in the ninth edition of Best Lawyers in America under the publication's Labor and Employment section. She is a partner in Lewis Fisher Henderson & Claxton. Bill and Beverly Cole Hooker live in Cordova, TN. She is a guidance counselor at Colonial Mid- dle School in Memphis. Fifteen-year FedEx veteran Tom Morgan has joined the company's Leadership Institute as managing di- rector/preceptor. Knoxville, TN, attorney Harry Og- den recently represented Rhodes at inauguration ceremonies at Carson Newman College, Jefferson City, TN. John Rone, director of special programs at Rhodes, had a featured role in the recent production of Amy's View at Circuit Playhouse. 74 Carolyn Bigelow is an associate professor of medicine, Department of Hematology, at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Carolyn and husband John Zehr have three children. Larry Rice has been certified by the Tennessee Board of Specialization and the National Board of Trial Ad- vocacy in the area of family law trial advocacy. He is one of two attorneys in the state of Tennessee to receive this distinction. RHODES SPRING 2001 35 John Shanley recently opened Skibo Medical and Chiropractic Cen- ter in Fayetteville, NC. It is one of seven independent nurse practitioner offices in the state. 75 Merry Noel Miller has been appointed interim chair of the depart- ment of psychiatry and behavior sciences at East Tennessee State Uni- versity's James H. Quillen College of Medicine. A board-certified adolescent and adult psychiatrist, she has been a faculty member since 1995 specializ- ing in the treatment of eating disorders and issues related to women's mental health. Jeff Olson works as director of regulatory planning and strategy for Verizon in Dallas. 76 25TH REUNION HOMECOMING: Ocr. 26-28, 2001 REPORTER: VICKERS DEMETRIO JOHNSON 7117 WESTFORD DRIVE KNOXVILLE, TN 37919 865-691-6944 Jack Oliver has begun his 20th year at GE Lighting in Cleveland. He is now one of the company's global managers of e-commerce. He contin- ues to compete in tennis with his wife Marilyn and their son and daughter. Jane Wallace Pearson is presi- dent of the 2000-2001 auxiliary board and a member of the executive com- mittee of the board of trustees of Rye Country Day School in New York. Robin Rice of Brentwood, TN, does full-time ophthalmology on a charity basis. Rosie Rosell has been promoted to associate professor with tenure at the University of St. Thomas in Houston. 78 Virginia Penick Parra is a senior research associate of the National Health Policy Forum at George Wash- ington University, Washington, DC. 79 Jonathan Kaplan is with Kieswetter Wise Attorneys in Memphis. Kim Oliver and Mike Porter mar- ried Sept. 9, 2000. They live in Atlanta, where she works as an office manager for Roundarch. Margaret Read is now the associ- ate director of cellular and modular biology for Millennium Pharmaceuti- cals. She lives in Somerville, MA. Glyn and Anne Johnsen Bailey, Bronxville, NY, own Cruise Artists In- ternational, an entertainment agency for cruise lines. Laurie Barlett is an attorney with Camelot Technologies Group in Smyrna, GA. She currently volunteers as a refugee resettlement coordinator at Dunwoody Baptist Church and is a member of the Nashville Songwriters Association and the Georgia Music Industry Association. Also, she is in the U.S. Army Reserve (JAG Corps), is a member of the Tennessee Bar and was admitted to practice by the Supreme Court in 1992. Kats Smith Barry is a photojour- nalist and food photographer in Nashville. She and her husband Mark and son Joseph recently moved back to Nashville after living in Grand Rapids, MI, for almost five years. During the 1980s and 1990s she worked as a photojournalist for The Tennessean and USA Today, though she currently has the "perfect mom-at- home" job?a three-year contract with United Features Syndicate in New York to supply weekly food pho- to art for 54 subscribers. Liz McGeachy is publications manager for the Letcher County Ac- tion Team in Norris, TN. In her spare time she performs traditional Appalachian and other folk music with her husband, Tim. They have three recordings. Ellen Geiger Ryan is a conserva- tion educator for the city of Flagstaff; AZ. She is also a mediator for Mediat- ed Solutions, a new business she began to give people the opportunity to resolve conflicts as an alternative to litigation. She and her husband David have built a house in Mexico and en- joy traveling. Recently, they spent a month in Baja, several weeks in Mexico and are planning a trip to Guatemala. Bad Spencer of Menlo Park, CA, works for County of San Mateo's Of- fice of Emergency Services. 81 20TH REUNION HOMECOMING: OCT. 26-28, 2001 Beth Patton Allen lives in Greer, SC, where her husband Kyle is pastor of First Presbyterian Church. Steve Crabtree is the minister of First Church of Christ Congregational in New Britain, CT. He and his wife Anne Marie Meyerhoffer are the par- ents of a daughter, Sarah Anne Crabtree, born Sept. 18, 2000. Rebecca Lewis D'Anna is the owner of Milling Around Interior Fabrics in Shreveport,LA. Her business celebrated its 15th anniversary in February. Linda Smith lwanski recently ac- cepted a new position as director of business development with Claim Ser- vices Resource Group in Dallas. Bob Strong is the funeral director for Oakley's Funeral Service in Roanoke, VA. 82 Cecil Godman recently joined Highland Capital Management as a senior vice president of research. Highland Capitol is the investment advisory division of First Tennessee Corp., Memphis. Laurie Hurt has been granted tenure at Indiana University of Penn- sylvania, where she teaches French and prepares future kindergarten through 12th grade French teachers. Rob Threlkeld is an owner/part- ner of ORION Realty Advisors in Memphis, specializing in commercial real estate advisory services. CLASS NOTES 36 SPRING 2001 RHODES 83 Cindy Brown Bair is a free -lance writer in Apex, NC, whose credits in- clude National Public Radio commentaries, magazine articles and the lyrics to Lambuth University's new alma mater. She is director of sales and marketing for Scriptorium Publishing, a technical writing firm. In addition, she is a senior Mary Kay consultant and plays keyboards and sings in her church's praise band with her husband Kent. Thomas and Toni Sabella Barnes announce the birth of their son, Thomas Anthony Barnes, Jan. 3, 2001. Beth Mack, owner of RadioActive Advertising, was featured in the Mem- phis Business Journal last year. Moyers Elected Law Director Mike Moyers '83 is the new law di- rector for Knox County, TN. He was elected last summer with 73% of the vote. The law director handles all civil legal matters for the county. Moyers holds his J.D. degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law. He and his wife Stephanie have two children, Drew, 11, and Sarah, 5. 84 REPORTER: TRACY VEZINA PATTERSON 2680 MCVAY RD. MEMPHIS, TN 38119 901-624-6681 PATTERS2@MIDSOUTH.RR.COM 85 Nashville psychiatrist Beth Baxter won the 2000 Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. Mary Li Behun Creasy of Tampa is a partner in the Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick firm, where she practices la- bor and employment law. She also teaches employment law at the Stetson College of Law as adjunct professor. Sherard Edington currently writes a column for Presbyterian Voice, a publication of the Synod of Living Waters, Presbyterian Church (USA). He is designated pastor of the Old Hickory (Tennessee) Presbyterian Church. Jim Golden is a scientist in biotechnology for Pioneer Hi-Bred/ DuPont in Urbandale, IA. He is a co- founder of a biotechnology company, Gliex Diagnostics and Therapeutics, focused on the genetics of brain tumors. Katy Batey Johnston has her own recruiting business, Katherine Johnston & Associates, in Nashville. In addition, she and her company members conduct career counseling through the YWCA for welfare moth- ers and women just released from prison. Stan and Stacy Norton announce the birth of their son, William Jackson Norton, July 17, 2000 in Memphis. They live in Cordova. 86 15TH REUNION HOMECOMING: Ocr. 26-28, 2001 Michelle Henkel has been named a partner in the law firm of Alston & Bird, Atlanta. She focuses her practice on federal income taxation. Stasia McGehee now works as a tech writer for Pulse Entertainment in San Francisco, documenting 3D ani- mation software. She lives in San Jose. Christie Bates McKaskle and her husband Mike are folk/Americana singers who perform in the Memphis area. They have also been featured on WKNO-FM Memphis' Friday Live Lunch. Laurie Laughlin Neale, Memphis, recently became a part-time attorney with Shelby County Juvenile Court. She specializes in cases that deal with children in foster care. She previously worked for six years as a prosecutor for the district attorney general's office. Her husband, Geoff, has been a research scientist at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital for the last 15 years. They have two daughters. Richard Samuels is a private practice radiologist in Pensacola, FL. He and his wife D'Arsey enjoy sailing together. 87 REPORTER: BRIAN MOTT 1210 W 11TH AVE. COVINGTON, LA 70433 504-809-7426 BRIAN MOTT@AOL.COM Members of the class of 1987 sure seem busy lately with their future prospective students for Rhodes Col- lege. Here's the lowdown on new ar- rivals: Emily Baillio and Tim Murray have a new baby, Olivia Lea Murray, born Jan. 15, 2000. (Emily was, and always will be, in the class of 1987; she was mistakenly put in the class of '97 in a previous issue.) They live in Homewood, AL. Jim and Jean Ann Conley Beck- ley of Lafayette, CO, announce the birth of their daughter, Anna Noelle Beckley, Dec. 19, 2000. Other children are Mary Sullivan and Chris. Harold and Jennifer Dufour have a baby girl, Mallorie Quinn Dufour, born July 11, 2000. (I saw them not too long ago, and they've already taught little Mallorie to respond favorably to "Who Let The Dawgs Out?") They live in Hickory, NC. Alan and Carrie Harris of Hous- ton report the arrival of their son, Case Freeman Harris, April 4, 2000. Brian Hayhurst joins the Carlyle Group, a global private equity firm in Washington, DC, as principal. From 1996-2000 he was a vice president at Carlyle Venture Partners where he led several investments in the firm's U.S. venture capital fund. Regina Murphy is an adjunct em- ployee of Emporia State University, teaching two basic music courses and six voice students. In addition, she is the director of the newly formed ESU Academy of Music, where she teaches four voice students as well as classes in theory and history. Meg Beeson Wallace and her RHODES SPRING 2001 37 CLASS NOTES husband Jim report the safe and hap- py arrival of son John Kamer Wallace (aka Jack) last May. The Wallaces live in Ann Arbor, MI, where Meg works as an engineer for Toyota. On the marriage front, Mary Munn wed Joshua Laronge Nov. 11, 2000 in Hobe Sound, FL. They reside in Marlborough, MA. Members of the class of '87 keep achieving all sorts of great things. Here's a sampling of some accomplishments: Edie Vincent Swihart has been plenty busy, between the arrival of her third child?Laura Rose, born April 24, 2000?and the recent publication of her third novel, titled Never Preach Past Noon, in October 2000. Edie writes under the nom de plume Edie Claire. In her "spare time" she works as a senior life-science writer/editor for Fisher Scientific in Pittsburgh. Jane Amend Klefas reports that she's learning to handle the 60+ inch- es of snowfall in her new home in Jamestown NY, where she works as a forecast analyst for Bush Industries. Marianne Blackwell is in the thick of things in Nashville, where she's been promoted to director of medical center recruitment at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She says they will be doubling the size of the Children's Hospital, so please send qualified RN applicants her way. Mark Wells is now his own boss. He and two friends have started their own general practice law firm in Atlanta. The firm, Aragon, Wells and Aragon, is devoted to claimants' work, family law, estate planning and crimi- nal defense. Margaret Wood Atwood has turned her love of photography into quite a career. In addition to her job as a media resources specialist at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, she plies her photographic wares at her husband Eric's business, Atwood Framing Inc. She also tells of a recent photo-safari that she and Eric took to Rome, Naples, Spoleto and Pompeii. Nancye DiPaolo is "back in the pretty world of designers," working for Bloomingdale's and vacationing as much as possible, including a recent trip to London where she stayed with Jennifer Thomas-Starck, who lives there now with her husband Vincent and two-year-old daughter Abigail. Nancye and her husband Jonathan Walker live in Old Town Alexandria, VA. Davis Schedler recently received a promotion to assistant professor of chemistry, with tenure, at Birmingham Southern College. We're a little late in reporting David's 1998 marriage to his wife Amanda. Elizabeth Gibson Clogston is keeping busy working at International Paper, as well as serving as the merchant chairman for the Junior League of Little Rock's Holiday Mar- ket for 2001, a project that raises more than $200,000 for the Junior League's causes. Becky Huhta Duke works as a se- nior counsel for Holland and Knight in Washington, DC. There was a mini-reunion of sorts recently when Alice McCarthy Finn, Mimi Swords Fondren, Julie Rold and Lee Nimocks converged on the River City to revisit old haunts and generally terrorize the good people of Memphis. Folks, keep up he great work out there. Feel free to drop me a line any- time you have a news item you want our classmates to know about. Eric and Lisa Aft have a new baby, Claire Aft, born Sept. 7, 2000. David Carter and Marti Moore '91 live in Greenwood, MS, where David is director of the Joint Institute for Effective Teaching Practices at Mississippi Valley State University and Delta State University. Marti is an assistant professor of education at Mississippi Valley State University. Their son Benjamin is a kindergartner. Tom and Valerie Gray Jordan are the parents of a son, Thomas "Joey" Joseph Jordan V, born Jan. 3, 2001. Scott Kirkpatrick is now working as operations director at XMC Inc. in Memphis. He previously worked for Xerox. Sarah Wayland and her husband John Loukidelis have a daughter, Miriam Ruth Loukidelis, born May 27, 2000. Jim and Mary Jo Willard Schmalz announce the birth of their daughter, Claire Genevieve Schmalz, Jan. 12, 2000. Cynthia Strong Thompson and her husband Wayne moved to the Shreveport/Bossier City (LA) area last year and have gone into partnership with another couple "getting into the .com mania." The business is a productivity management tool for hospitals using the Internet to manage the accounts. 89 Jim and Kelley Sanders Cannon are parents of another son, Augustus Stanford "Ford" Cannon, born Sept. 12, 2000. Ford has a two-year-old brother, Isaac. Caren Creason and Jeff Dillard '90 married May 28, 2000 and had a seven-week honeymoon in South Africa. She is a CPA with The Marston Group in Memphis. Kara Babin Gee is doing corpo- rate interior architecture at Interior Designer Services in Nashville. She is active in ReDiscover East!, a commu- nity effort to revitalize East Nashville after the 1998 tornado. Ivy Lee has changed jobs: she is now an associate medical information scientist at Genentech Inc. in South San Francisco. Brad Olson recently moved from Los Angeles to Phoenix, where he is director of merchandising for Leslie's Swimming Pool Supplies. Jon and Laura Perry have a son, Tanner Houston, born Jan. 30, 2000. Anthony Pietrangelo has merged his law firm, Pietrangelo Cook, with Waring Cox Memphis. Russell Porter has returned to the U.S. Agency for International De- velopment (USAID), this time in the Office of Transition Initiatives. He is the team leader for Latin Amercia, de- signing and implementing foreign as- sistance programs in Colombia and Peru. Kim Ross graduated last spring from the University of Maryland 38 SPRING 2001 RHODES McMurray Steps In When the Young Black Achievers program in Winston-Salem, NC, found itself without a coordinator last fall, three women stepped in to help. One was Sharonda McMurray '92 and her co-workers, all brand marketing profes- sionals at R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. "Stepping in" included setting up the program for the year, organizing seminars, trips, workshops, special activities, business visits and speak- ers for the 250 teenagers who are participating in the program this year. The Winston Lake YMCA sponsors the program. The Black Achievers Program, de- veloped in 1971 by the Harlem Branch YMCA in New York, provides a forum that gives youth and adults an opportunity to work together to explore and evaluate career opportunities, discuss social issues with adults other than their par- ents and attend workshops on such topics as financial and time management and SAT preparedness. "I really believe in these kids," says McMurray. "I know that others believed in me when I was their age, and I think that support means so much as a teenager growing up." Sharonda McMurray '92, Shelley Malloy and Veronica Walton School of Public Affairs with a master of public policy degree with a special- ty in environmental policy. Charlotte McCrary Stacy has opened her own law practice, Hood & Stacy, in Fayetteville, AR. Charlotte and her husband Burton are parents of a son, Burton E. "Trey" Stacy III, born May 11, 2000. Scott and Susan Sorocak Swing announce the birth of their son, Joseph Cromwell Swing, Aug. 25, 2000. Cary Tynes Wahlheim was recently named a partner in the law firm Burr & Forman in Birmingham. Bryan and Karin Fielder Weaver have two children: Kathryn Nicole Weaver, born in December 1999 and Alexander Vann Weaver, born in May 2000. She has been promoted to exec- utive director of the Bright Horizons Foundation for Children in Nashville. 90 Maria Carl is currently director of 16 Air Force Public Affairs based at Aviano Air Base, Italy, which governs the media activities for U.S. warfight- ing wings in the Mediterranean. Casey Compton is a financial consultant for Salomon Smith Barney in Lakeland, FL. Kevin and Sherrill Cameron Garland live in Richmond, TX, with their two children. Kevin was recently promoted to managing director of En- ron Broadband Ventures, the venture capital arm of Enron Broadband Ser- vices. Sherrill enjoys playing tennis and volunteering at their church and the children's school. Blaik Mathews has been promot- ed to director of research and develop- ment at Harte-Hanks Communications in Orlando, FL. Stephen Montgomery practices forensic psychiatry south of Seattle. Lori Olcott married Army 1st Lt. William David Mitchell Sept. 9, 2000 in Memphis. They currently reside in Seoul, Korea. Chris and Robin Sanders are the parents of a daughter, Isabel Maeve Sanders, born July 15, 2000 in New Orleans. Chris is an emer- gency room physician. Martha Stracener married John Murray Rugemer July 29, 2000 in Juneau, AK. 91 10TH REUNION HOMECOMING: Ocr. 26-28, 2001 Robin Baldwin has joined the Crisp Law Firm in Little Rock. She handles medical malpractice cases. Jennifer Bishop married Scott Cahall in July 2000. Rick and Marjorie Thigpen Carter have a daughter, Clare Inez Carter, born Oct. 11, 1999. Andrew Chaney and his wife Christine recently moved to Hilton Head Island, SC, where Andrew serves as associate pastor of Providence Presbyterian Church. Kathy Coe received her master's degree in education (sports adminis- tration) from the University of Houston last spring. She is in her fifth year of teaching physical education at St. John's School in Houston. Kathy is the varsity girls' volleyball coach, as- sistant varsity and middle school girls' track coach, and is in her second sea- son as assistant varsity girls' soccer coach. The girls' track team won the SPC Championship last May for the second time in four years. Kristal Marlow Gibson, special assistant U.S. attorney for the North- ern District of Iowa, specializes in criminally prosecuting methampheta- mine manufacturing and distributing cases. Kate Goodrich is assistant profes- sor of medicine at George Washington University. She also sings with the Choral Arts Society in Washington, DC. Betsy Greiner was married Aug. 12, 2000 to Thomas Edward Kirby. She received her master's degree in ed- ucation from Christian Brothers Uni- versity and is now a teacher and coach for Memphis City Schools. Jim Griffiths and Jennifer Lynn RHODES SPRING 2001 39 A Woman of the New Century Amber Khan '93, director of communications for the Interfaith Alliance in Washington, DC, was featured in Newsweek magazine's "Women of the 21st Century" is- sue, Jan. 8, 2001. The magazine singled out Khan and 14 others from across the country "as the kind of women who will shape America's new century." According to its mission state- ment, the non-profit, faith-based Interfaith Alliance "promotes the positive and healing role of religion in public life through en- couraging civic participation, facil- itating community activism and challenging religious political extremism." Termed "an activist in her own right" by Newsweek, Kahn was one of the origi- nal members of Rhodes' Interfaith Circle, a group that shares religious perspectives, and with classmate Lina Parikh, founded the college's International Food Festival. Khan and her husband Vivek Chopra live in Maryland with their one-year-old son Noah. Amber Khan '93 CLASS NOTES Risher married Feb. 3, 2001 at First Baptist Church in Brandon, MS. They live in Atlanta, where Jim is CEO of Message Link Inc. Dan Harper and his family recent- ly moved to Lima, Peru, where he is professor of English at Colegio Trener de Monterrico. JoAnn Lynen is currently enrolled in the M.B.A. program at Goizueta Business School at Emory University. Jamie and Pressley Harris Peters announce the birth of their daughter, Julia Gray Peters, June 16, 2000. Steve Spinks is CFO of the Spinx Company in Greenville, SC. He holds a M.B.A. from Duke University. Gary and Leslie Levine Starzmann announce the birth of their son, Alexander William Starzmann, Sept. 27, 2000. She is an actuary at William M. Mercer Inc. in Atlanta, where she has been employed for 10 years. Liz Wade of Collierville, TN, works as OLAP project manager for Sedgwick CMS. Chris Zbinden is an international human resources specialist for Rolls- Royce North America in Reston, VA. He is working on his master's degree in human resources. Doug Zimmerman is a priest at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Clearwater, FL. 92 REPORTER: LANE SOUTHERN 943 RIVER BREEZE DR MEMPHIS, TN 38103 901-578-9318 LSOUTHERN(WYATTFIRM.COM LANESOUTHERN@YAHOO.COM Frank Cater works as a CPA for Claude Estes & Co. in Birmingham. His sister, Caroline Cater '95 lives in New York and has reported another sighting of his classmate, the "elusive and talented" actor Seth Herzog. Howard Cleveland and Cindy Pennington, former director of student activities at Rhodes, married Sept. 2, 2000. Howard works for Kiesewetter Wise attorneys in Mem- phis. Ashley Brian Coffield is a consul- tant for Partnership for Prevention in Washington, DC. Brad Dickerson completed his M.B.A. from the University of Alaba- ma at Birmingham this spring. He currently works for Mercedes-Benz U.S. International as a supplier devel- opment leader. Kelly Hartis is vice president, cor- porate affairs for Bank of America in Charlotte, NC. Mike Low and Vikki Holland have a new baby, Connor Perry Low, born Dec. 8, 2000. Brad and Paige Williams Jenk- ins '93 welcomed their son, Garrett Alan Jenkins, Sept. 16, 2000. Brad is a family medicine and part-time emer- gency physician in North Little Rock, AR. Paige recently "retired" from Arthur Andersen. Mike McQuillen married Heidi Weigel on April 26, 1997. They have one son, Paul Gerard McQuillen, born Sept. 15, 1999. Mike is current- ly chief resident of orthopedic surgery at Campbell Clinic in Memphis. Also a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, he will serve as an orthopedic surgeon for Naval Hospital Yokosuka in Japan for two years, beginning in August. Mark and Heather Dorris Miller '93 have a son, Harrison Robert, born Dec. 31, 1999. Jennifer Hamlett Moore has been asked to develop and supervise a new day treatment program for dually diagnosed adolescents, (developmen- tally disabled and mentally ill). She moved to Broomfield, CO, last year. Cassandra Morgan married Dar- rick Hawkins April 8, 2000. She received her M.D. degree from University of Tennessee College of Medicine last December and currently works as a clinical researcher at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis. She will begin her family medicine residency in July. Matt and Ashley Mickle Preston are the proud parents of twin daughters, Sarah and Emily, born Aug. 21, 2000. They have moved to Washington, DC, where Matt has been assigned to Presi- dent Bush's security detail. 40 SPRING 2001 RHODES And the Emmy Goes to... Andy Likes '94, the 6 p.m. news pro- ducer for KSDK-TV in St. Louis, received an Emmy Award for Best Live Event Tele- vision Special from the St. Louis-Mid- America Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Likes and his director won for their work on the St. Louis Rams World Championship Parade coverage. The station carried the parade live for more than three hours, using more than a dozen cameras, according to Likes. It was the first award for Likes, who has been a television producer for six years. He previously was with stations in Memphis, Chattanooga and Nashville be- fore moving to St. Louis in 1999. Andy Likes '94 Tracey Rancifer and Frank Henderson were married Dec. 30, 2000. Chris and Jennifer Jenkins Szedlak have a daughter, Carly Catherine, born Sep. 21, 2000. Jennifer is a research analyst for Hewlett-Packard Company in Corval- lis, OR. Robert Wright lives in Buenos Aires, where he is a tour guide for Rick Steve's Europe Through the Back Door. He received his master of arts degree in international studies from the University of Washington last year. 93 Doug Bacon is vice president of small business/area councils for the Charlotte, NC, Chamber of Commerce. Ashley Baker married John Richard Washmon Feb. 24, 2001 in South Padre Island, TX. Doug Brumley and Miriam Anne Thayer were married, Oct. 7, 2000. Doug is listings editor for City Press Publishing in Nashville. Leo and Jennifer Tacker Dillman have a daughter, Elizabeth Grace, born Aug. 28, 2000. Jennifer is a recruiter for A Technological Advantage Inc. in Louisville, KY. Chris and Amanda Ellison Buchanan '95 are the proud parents of Darby Elizabeth Buchanan, born Jan. 5, 2000. Andy and Irmtraud Cowell are the parents of a son, Samuel Ernest Logan Cowell, born Jan. 22, 2001. Melissa De Cellos is an education analyst in the national secu- rity division for SAIC in Arlington, VA. Melissa Ford is a senior training coordinator at Medtronic Sofamor Danek in Memphis. Silva Gitsas and Nicholas Pourliakas married in Greece on July 1998. They welcomed a daughter Jan- uary 11, 2000. Drew Henry received his seminary degree in Buenos Aires in December 2000. He plans to return to the U.S. this spring. Thais Davenport Kilday is execu- tive assistant at the Texas Department of Human Services, Austin. Ken and Marcy Milman announce the birth of their daughter, Mira Simone Milman, Nov. 22, 2000. Ken is finishing his final semester in the M.B.A. program at the University of Texas at Austin. He has accepted a position as product manager with FedEx.com marketing and will return to Memphis in June. Michael and Dionne Low-Nolan announce the birth of their baby, Connor Low-Nolan, July 19, 2000. Ellen Osoinach is currently in her second year of law school at Northwestern School of Law in Port- land, OR. She and Sally Sparks exchanged marriage vows June 24, 2000 at The Old Church in Portland. Scott Ostrow has been named an associate at the Memphis law firm of Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs. Jeremy Ramey is a manager of project sales for Cap Gemini Ernest & Young in Chicago. He is also a conductor for Light Opera Works and music director for New Tuners. Art and Tammy Record recently welcomed a son, Leland James Record. Art is an action officer with the U.S. Navy, Office of the Judge Advocate General in Washington, DC. Jenny Sapp Scheidt has completed her degree at University of Texas, San Antonio and is working as a full-time English instructor at Palo Alto Community College. Mindy Simon and Chris Schwab married Oct. 7, 2000 in Walland, TN. Tanja Thompson is with Kieswetter Wise attorneys in Memphis. David and Brooke Treadwell Ward '93 are the proud parents of a daughter, Molly Louise Ward, born Sept. 21, 2000. Brooke enjoys being at home with Molly and experiencing the challenges that motherhood brings. In their spare time, David plays soccer while Brooke plays tennis. They also have two basset hounds, Zoey and Charlie. Allison Wemmers and Glen Pellettieri were married May 6, 2000. RHODES SPRING 2001 41 Sing It! Jennifer Jenkins '95 and Susan Ashe '97 were featured with the performance artists of the club L.A. Beige in the fall 2000 issue of V magazine. Beige is like a modern-day Warhol Factory, says Jenkins. "We all support each oth- er and encourage each other to push the limits of art, finding new ways to intrigue and entertain." She got to be friends with several of the Beige group through her former job with Courtney Love and her circle of friends. "Susan and I both enjoy performing, but neither of us takes it too seriously? we don't actively pursue acting or singing," says Jenkins. "But we started performing with my friends at Beige and it surprisingly caught on. Jen & Suzy is really a comedy/singing act.We sing pop songs from the '80s and '90s over heavy "club" music (drum and bass, electronica). And we mix in a few "yo mama" jokes and dance routines, and wear lots of makeup, shiny outfits and BIG hair! We started getting paid, and have been asked to perform Vegas, where Beige is opening a new branch." Jen & Suzy?Jennifer Jenkins '95 and Susan Ashe '97 CLASS NOTES 94 REPORTER: JUDY BROWN 703-456-2888 BROWNJU@KENNECOTT.COM Kelly Petro Bridgeforth works in the commercial litigation department of the Butler, Snow, O'Mara, Stevens & Cannada law firm in Memphis. She passed the Mississippi and Tennessee bar exams last year. She holds her J.D. degree from the University of Mississippi Law School. Denise Ceule has joined the Nashville office of Baker, Donelson, Bearman & Caldwell as an associate. She concentrates her practice in the areas of corporate, securities, mergers and acquisitions and e*Business. She received her J.D. degree magna cum laude last year from the University of Memphis where she served as editor- in-chief of the University of Memphis Law Review. Dorian Jones Crawford works as a therapist at Health & Educational' Services in Danvers, MA. She and husband Bruce Crawford, who is a physicist at Massachusetts General Hospital, live in Salem. Scott and Lane Franklin are par- ents of a daughter, Ellie St. Clair Franklin, born April 4, 2000. Juli Milnor Gable is director of development at United Cerebral Palsy of Westchester in Rye Brook, NY. Aaron and Felicia Irby- Townsend of Memphis have two sons?Aaron and Avron. Andrew Jeter and Karen Williams were married Jan. 6, 2000. Champ and Elizabeth Lawson Lyons '93 announce the birth of their son, Champ Lyons IV, Sept. 25, 2000. Champ III is now with the Fer- guson, Frost & Dodson law firm in Birmingham. Jeni Marley and Scott Hollensworth '94 of Mobile were married April 3, 1999. Jeni works as a technical writer for Prism Systems Inc. She earned a master's degree in education from the University of South Alabama (USA) and taught English for three years at UMS- Wright Preparatory School. Scott holds a doctorate in structural and cel- lular biology from USA, where he is currently a first-year medical student. Sean McCrary recently joined Vi- sion Reinsurance Intermediaries Inc., a newly formed reinsurance broker headquartered in Dallas. He is a vice president of new business production. Jamie McDaniel is has taken a position as regional marketing coor- dinator at INVESCO in Atlanta. Lisa Mitchell has moved to Tulsa, OK, and is starting her own business as an independent management con- sultant, focusing on such areas as lead- ership training, team intervention and management coaching. Christina Ross is with the Mem- phis architectural firm of Looney Ricks Kiss. She holds a master's degree in architecture from the University of Miami. Alicia Swanson works on the col- legiate mobilization team for the International Mission Board in Rich- mond, VA. She previously served as a missionary in Quito, Ecuador. George Talbot is a reporter for the Mobile Register. Wendy Foster Talbot is director of marketing at Jefferson Regional Medical Center in Pine Bluff, AR. Jason Vest is a graduate student instructor in English composition at Washington University in St. Louis. He received his M.A. degree in Eng- lish last year, and is working toward his Ph.D. Jenny Johns Wilkes is and will always be a member of the class of 1994. She was listed in the class of 1990 in a previous issue of the maga- zine. Elizabeth Young is with Urban Media. She lives in Alpharetta, GA. Rob '95 and Carla Wilson Walker announce the birth of their daughter, Madison Cooper Walker, May 5, 2000 in St. Louis. Nancy Cotham has been working as the educational program coordina- tor at the Japanese Consulate in New York for the past year. As part of her job she oversees the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program for the 42 SPRING 2001 RHODES consulate's jurisdiction. She received her master's degree in international educational development from Columbia University last year. Prior to graduate school, she taught under the JET program in Japan for two years. Beth Rather lives in the Washington, DC, area where she works as the campaign manager for the Light the Night Walk, a national fund-raising walk for the DC chapter of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Soci- ety. This summer Beth will run with the society's team training program in the Anchorage Marathon in Alaska. 95 REPORTER: SARAH SEARS EGELI 703-971-9417 SARAHEGELI@HOTMAIL.COM The California sun seems to agree with Amy Asbury, who was recently promoted to departmental coordina- tor for ICM's book department. ICM represents bestselling and award-win- ning authors and journalists for film and television. Last year was a busy one for Tara Evans Beck. She completed her M.S. degree in biomolecular chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison last spring, and on Oct. 18, she and her husband Joe welcomed Caleb Alexander "Alex" Beck to the world. Tara is currently working on a higher education capstone teaching certificate and teaching part-time at the Madison Area Technical College and at Kaplan for an MCAT course. It doesn't look like she is slowing down in 2001! Greg Davis is a project manager for SAIC in New Orleans. Sarah Sears Egeli and her hus- band Hakan have moved from Birmingham to Washington, DC, where Sarah now works as assistant to the senior director of the new TeacherLine program at PBS. TeacherLine received a five-year grant from the U.S. Department of Educa- tion to develop an online teacher re- source with the purpose of educating teachers on how to teach math and technology in the classroom effective- ly. Despite the fact that she despised every math class she ever took, Sarah loves her new job. Elisabeth Estes works as a senior communications manager for EzGov Inc. in Atlanta. Jay Ezelle is an attorney with Starnes & Atchison in Birmingham. Brian Faughnan, Memphis, is an attorney with Armstrong Allen and an adjunct professor at the University of Memphis Law School. Thomas Gieselmann is a general partner with BV Capital in San Fran- cisco. Wesley Hall works as a content strategist for Macromedia Inc. in San Francisco. Bryan Holzwanger is with Peter A. Mayer Advertising in New Orleans. He is responsible for managing the Louisiana Office of Tourism's interna- tional marketing communications program. Judd Peak has joined the Nashville law firm of Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, where he practices labor and employ- ment law. Julie Wilkins Price recently joined Roper Starch Worldwide, an international marketing research firm, as a research director in the Nashville banking research group. Stiles and Ashley Hamilton Rougeou get a big round of applause for helping out with the class of '95 five-year reunion (Five?! Didn't we just graduate?!) at Homecoming 2000. Ashley is currently a senior web specialist in sales and marketing at FedEx, and Stiles was promoted to vice president in charge of Western Tennessee for Insurors Bank of Tennessee. Christopher and Erica Emig White announce the birth of their son, Jackson Avery White, Jan. 26, 2001 in Minneapolis. Natasha Westrich Wood contin- ues to put smiles on the faces of sick children in St. Louis as an art therapist. Her work was presented to pediatric oncology patients at the Na- tional Art Therapy Conference last fall and featured at the Cancer and Art Therapy exhibit at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. As if she weren't busy enough, she was also the coordinator for the annual Therapeu- tic Youth Arts Exhibition, which incorporates children's artwork from a dozen therapeutic agencies in the St. Louis metro area. 5TH REUNION HOMECOMING: OCT. 26-28, 2001 Joy Al-Jazrawi is now an attorney with the Harry Gee & Asso- ciates law firm in Houston, where she practices immigration law. Brandi Barnes and Zack Kellis married Dec. 30, 2000 in Cartersville, GA. She is a second-year law student at the University of Georgia. Kemp Conrad, Memphis, works as director of strategic alliances at Accuship.com and is working toward his M.B.A. part-time at Vanderbilt University's Owen School of Management. Amy Dollarhide published an arti- cle in HEC Forum, the journal of the Healthcare Ethics Committee Forum, titled, "The Triple-Play: Compliance, Ethics, and Service (A Winning Com- bination for a Successful Culture of Care)." Amy is director of corporate compliance at Shore Health System, Easton, MD. Doug Duncan is a vice president at First Tennessee Securities Corp. in Memphis. Derek Eaton has been accepted to a four-year residency program in oral and maxillofacial surgery at the Med- ical College of Wisconsin. David Eubanks is pursuing his Ph.D. at the University of Maryland's Department of English, where he is also a teaching assistant. He holds a master's degree in English from Mary- land. Ryan and Nikki Holzhauer Feeney live in Rochester, NY, where Ryan is a civil litigator with the Holtzberg law firm, and Nikki is com- pleting the first year of her internal medicine/pediatrics residency at the University of Rochester. Allison Fones works in special events and development at Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center in Memphis. RHODES SPRING 2001 43 Carter Gets Role of a Lifetime Cy Carter '98 has landed what many actors would consider the part of a lifetime. For Carter, it's just the next step in his promising career. The film, Anatomy of A Hate Crime, produced by MN, tells the story of Matthew Shepard, a gay, HIV-positive college student senselessly beaten to death in Wyoming. The narrator, in the tra- dition of films like Sunset Boule- vard and more recently, American Beauty, is the victim himself, ana- lyzing his own death. Cy Carter is Matthew Shepard. It's an auspicious debut for Carter, who attended Rhodes on a theater scholar- ship, though he majored in international studies. His scholarship didn't require him to continue acting, "but I felt an obligation in my heart, probably because that's what I loved," he says. MN produced the film to kick off a yearlong campaign, "Fight for Your Rights: Take a Stand Against Discrimination." It will air throughout 2001. The broadcast premiere in January was followed by a commercial-free half day, during which time MTV scrolled the names of hate crime victims. Coincidentally, victims' names were compiled for the network by another Rhodes alumnus, Mark Perriello '99 of The Human Rights Campaign in Washington, DC. Before it even aired, stories and full-color photos of Carter were splashed across the pages of national magazines like Out, and Rolling Stone claimed, "At worst, Anatomy is a laudable and balanced account of an unthinkable act. At best, it may in fact help shed enough light to create some of that much-needed connec- tive tissue." Though the film was designed to be an after school special for viewers 15 to 25 years old, it has found a much broader audience. Lately, Carter has been recognized on the street. Compliments have come from an urban youth at the YMCA where he works out, a young mother who crossed paths with him in a popu- lar hiking area, and an old gay man in a neighborhood park, who wanted to give him a hug. But Carter is most proud of the praise his role received from his grand- father, who told him, "You've changed an 80-year-old man's prejudices." ?Catherine Cuellar '96 CLASS NOTES Anna Hurayt and Matthew Hul- lum married Aug. 26, 2000 in Atlanta. She holds a J.D. degree from Georgia State University College of Law and was admitted to the Georgia bar last year. Amber Isom is an associate attor- ney with Kiesewetter Wise et al in Memphis. She holds a J.D. degree from the University of Iowa. Jennifer Lee of Annandale, VA, works as an intelligence officer for the U.S. government. Jason McFarland is editor and graphic designer of This Week, a pub- lication of Park Cities Presbyterian Church, Dallas. Hallie McNeill teaches seventh grade honors social studies at White Station Middle School in Memphis. She also coaches the boys' and girls' soccer teams. Dan Millner and Angie Golden married Nov. 11, 2000. They live in Dallas. Joe Montminy works as a prose- cuting attorney in the Dade County District Attorney's Office in Miami. John Rodriguez is an attorney with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in Washington, DC. Abbie Cohan Sanders of Durham, NC, has completed her J.D. degree and plans to pursue a master's degree in taxation this year. Christy Skelton has been promoted to associate librarian with the Memphis/Shelby County Public Library and Information Center. Erick and Sarah Wolford Stavely have a daughter, Amber Lin Stavely, born May 13, 2000. 97 Julie Bhattacharya serves as the judicial law clerk to the Hon. William C. Koch Jr. on the Tennessee Court of Appeals in Nashville. Sarah Curtis of Chicago won the Rolling Stone Annual College Journal- ism Contest in the Essay and Criticism Division for an essay she wrote while a journalism graduate stu- dent at Boston University, titled "Daddy's Little Girls." The award is for $2,500 and her name and award appeared on page 71 of the magazine's March 15, 2001 issue. Jennifer Davis sang in John Rutter's Requiem at Carnegie Hall last year. Under the direction of Lee Kjelson, choirs from various states made up the 250-voice choir. Jennifer also sings with the Civic Chorale of Greater Miami. Kemp Conrad is director of strate- gic alliances at Accuship in Memphis. Currently enrolled in Vanderbilt Uni- versity's Owen School of Management, he serves on the board of directors of Phoenix Club and Hope House. Jimmie Glorioso is a technical re- cruiter for KingSearch Solutions in Dal- las. He and his wife Mandi have twins who will be two years old in June. 44 SPRING 2001 RHODES Sanderson Taking It to Broadway Brad Sanderson '99 has opened The Stage on Broadway, a live coun- try and western/bluegrass music club in the heart of downtown Nashville. Sanderson, who had been designing Web pages for the past few years, says he "got tired of looking at the computer screen" and decided to take a risk and open a club. He plans to have live music daily "from 11 a.m., when we open, till 3 a.m. when we close." Ben Gohman has resigned his commission as a U.S. Army officer and taken a position as a business consultant for Arthur Andersen in Atlanta. Marshall Henry is with National Commerce Bancorp in Durham, NC. Barbara Bear Kennedy recently began a new job at Big Brothers Big Sisters in Memphis. She matches community volunteer mentors with children of single-parent households. Mathew Kraus and Laura Waters married Aug. 1, 1998. Both will receive M.D. degrees from the University of Tennessee, Memphis in June. Julia Lang is a graduate research assistant at Georgia Tech Research In- stitute in Atlanta. She also attends the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs and will receive her master's degree in December. Michael Long was recently chosen to perform as Moses in Brown University's production of Old Testa- ment Follies. He chose the part because of his "interest in biblical his- tory and old men." Michael is a grad- uate student at Brown. Christopher Marlowe is working at Miami/Dade state attorney's office while in his second year of law school at the University of Miami. Tony Martin is a principal of The Martin Group in Savannah, GA. Maria Massie and Carr Hagan married Nov. 18, 2000 in Charleston, SC. Maria was recently promoted to project lead, enterprise learning man- agement systems at Buckman Labora- tories International in Memphis. Rob Marus has won a full scholar- ship to pursue a master of arts in reli- gious studies at Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, KS. He began classes in January, yet remains employed full-time as director of Mainstream Missouri Baptists in Jefferson City, MO. Elizabeth McFadden and Kevin Shea Medlin married Jan. 20, 2001 in Memphis. Elizabeth is a financial planner with First Tennessee Bank, and Kevin is a lending officer with Bank of America. Brendan and Margaret Ann Tay- lor Minihan '98 live in New Orleans where Brendan teaches and coaches at Metairie Park Country Day School and Margaret is a software programmer for Orthodontics Centers of America. Brendan placed fourth in the Mardi Gras Marathon this year with a time of 2:37:21. Danielle Montana works as a products consultant for INVESCO in Atlanta. Chris Palazzolo is pursuing a Ph.D. at Emory University, where he is co-teaching an introductory comparative politics course. He stud- ied statistics at the University of Essex last summer, and presented a paper at the beginning of the semester at the 2000 APSA meeting in Washington, DC. Kara Benton Plenge and John Smart married Jan. 6, 2001 in Shepherdsville, KY. The couple lives in Memphis, where Kara teaches ele- mentary school. Joy Richmond is a vice president at First Tennessee Housing Corp. in Memphis. Ellen Shuler is pursuing her mas- ter's degree in library and information sciences at the University of South Carolina. When she finishes, she plans to work with alternative funding pro- grams for libraries. Ben Strauser works in human re- sources at the University of Texas in Austin. He holds a master's degree in educational psychology from Texas Tech. Nichole Williams Walker is a RN at Methodist Hospital North in Memphis. John Weeden, who recently returned from art history post-gradu- ate studies in London, curated an ex- hibition of new British and Italian video art titled and then there was bad weather... (originally curated by LWF projects) at David Lusk Gallery in Memphis. Emily Karen Wiggins and Robert Little married March 3, 2001. She is an assistant attorney general in the Missouri attorney general's office in Jefferson City. 98 REPORTER: AMANDA TAMBURRINO 1430 CARR AVE. MEMPHIS, TN 38104 901-526-4616 ATAMBURR@MIDSOUTH . RR. COM Taylor Armstrong, Washington, DC, works as an analyst for General Electric Global Exchange Systems. Phil Bittel is an associate relation- ship manager at Wells Fargo Bank in Atlanta. Heather Caldwell and Jeb Stricklin married May 27, 2000. She is a first lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force. They live at Robins Air Force Base in Georgia. Laurene Cranford will receive a master's degree in speech-language pathology from the University of Memphis in August. Leslie Curry works in fundraising for the National Federation of Independent Business in Washington, DC. Karl Dzelzkalns lives in Pennington, NJ, where he works as a project manager for Innovative Soft- ware AG of Frankfurt, Germany. Lara Harkins and Jacob Pickerel married Nov. 18, 2000. She works as a consultant for Accenture in Atlanta. Laura Goza Kutcher now works as staffing supervisor/recruiter at Kelly Services Inc. in Jackson, MS. Former- ly, she worked as director of theater and as an English teacher at St. Andrews Episcopal School in Jackson. Sally Landham, an associate port- RHODES SPRING 2001 45 folio manager at TD Capital Manage- ment in Memphis, will receive a M.B.A. degree from University of Memphis this summer. Amanda Pecko is a first-year M.B.A. student at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. Kristen Richards is a Naval avia- tor stationed at NAS Jacksonville in Florida. She resides in Orange Park. Stephanie Shackelford recently moved to Washington, DC, to begin a two-year master's degree program at George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Manage- ment. She works full-time as assistant to the chief of staff/assistant scheduler for U.S. Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee. Sunni Thompson works as com- munity publications coordinator for the Dallas Morning News. 99 Brandon Barr is in the Ph.D. pro- gram in English literature at the Uni- versity of Rochester. Kate Bishop has received a two- year fellowship as a post-graduate ad- ministrative fellow at Johns Hopkins Health System, where she will work directly under the chief operating offi- cer of Johns Hopkins Hospital. She is currently finishing her M.B.A. and master's degree in health administra- tion at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and working as a marketing analyst at Baptist Health System Inc. Jack Coleman teaches seventh grade math in Tampa, FL. Tillman Finley is pursuing a law degree and a master of public policy degree at Duke University. Adele Hines, an assistant accoun- tant for KPMG in Memphis, will graduate from Rhodes with a master's degree in accountancy this year. Monty Montgomery recently co- starred in the play Amy's View at Cir- cuit Playhouse. He works as an account manager for Archer/Malmo advertising in Memphis. Jane Nigra, a sales assistant for Salomon Smith Barney in Atlanta, looks forward to this fall, when she will travel to Florence, Italy, to attend culinary school for a year. Trieu Pham works for Chingari Inc. in Palo Alto, CA. He lives in Sunnyvale. John Quigley and Kimberly Yatteau married Feb. 3, 2001. He is a software engineer with ProTech Sys- tems Group, and she is finishing her last year of medical school in Memphis. In June, they will move ei- ther to Philadelphia or Syracuse, NY, where she will begin a three-year pedi- atrics residency. Albert Tat works as a systems ana- lyst for Kingston Technology Co. in Fountain Valley, CA. 00 REPORTER: RICHARD Lum P.O. Box 21560 WASHINGTON, DC 20009 RICHARD_ LUM@HOTMAIL.COM PHONE: 202-251-5503. FAX: 520-395-7251 Teal Baker is executive assistant for the Motion Picture Association of America's state legislative affairs department in Washington, DC. Jon Breth is a financial analyst with Consulting Services Group in Memphis. Tyler Buckner has been admitted to the University of North Carolina Medical School, where he will begin classes in August. He currently works as a research assistant at Duke University. Edy Burns is a human resources assistant at Earthlink Inc. in Atlanta. Kevin Carlucci plans to study Spanish at a school in Antigua, Guatemala from June through Octo- ber, and will move to Austin, TX, in late fall. Brice Dodson and Christina Scaharer married Dec. 30, 2000. He works in Army military intelli- gence in San Antonio, TX. Witney Elliott has moved to Brighton, MA where she works as a sales assistant for Forrester Research. Christine Fall works as a public policy assistant at Volunteers of Amer- ica in Alexandria, VA. Brynn Fisher works in human re- sources for Intel in Portland, OR. Jim Flowers works for the foreign service of the U.S. State Department in Washington, D.C. He is training for a position in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Richard Lum is assistant to Gene Sperling at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC. Previously, he served as special assistant to the national economic adviser at the White House and chief speechwriter to the director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Trent Lutz is a legislative services assistant for the Oregon School Board Association in Salem, OR. Pete Marudas is an account exec- utive for SBC in Atlanta. Morgan McMillan works as a staff assistant for Rep. Wes Watkins (R- OI() in Washington, DC. Wes Meador is a media coordina- tor at Archer/Malmo advertising in Memphis. He recently assistant direct- ed the play Amy's View at Circuit Playhouse with Cookie Ewing, Rhodes assistant professor of theater. Frank Brown '04 co-starred in the production. Will Murchison has moved to Washington, DC, where he works in the office of Texas Congressman Pete Sessions. Abby Nipper lives in London, where she works as a clerk for Blandfords Law Group. Joshua Solomon is a financial consultant for Merrill Lynch in Atlanta. Courtney Umberger currently works for Harvard economics professor and Brookings Institution senior fellow Michael Kremer. She is his staff assistant in the economic studies department at Brookings and has a short-term appointment with him at the World Bank. Also, she does work for Jack Triplett, a visiting fellow in the econom- ic studies department at Brookings. Val Witte is a quality assurance specialist in the electronic publishing department at Mosby Inc. in St. Louis. Bush Wrighton is a customer support consultant at Aspect Communications in Nashville. CLASS NOTES 46 SPRING 2001 RHODES N MEMORIAM '22 Mabel Meacham of Hermitage, TN, Dec. 3, 1997. She was a retired dean of women at Austin Peay State University. '30 R. McGhee Moore of Memphis, Aug. 24, 2000. A retired cottonseed products broker, he was a member of Second Presbyterian Church, Memphis Board of Trade and Kiwanis Club. A World War II veter- an, he was the widower of Margaret T. Moore. '31 Ruth Niven Oliver of Huntington Beach, CA, Nov. 22, 1999. She leaves two daughters and a son. '34 Dorothy Jane Kerr Emerson of Memphis, Feb. 1, 2001. She was a member of Mullins United Methodist Church, the Daughters of the Ameri- can Revolution, Terrace Garden Club and the Story-Tellers of Memphis. She was past president of the Officers Wives Club of Ludswizburg, Germany and Fort Sheridan, IL, and the Univer- sity of Memphis Wives Club. The widow of Col. Maxwell Emerson, she leaves a daughter, a stepson, six grand- children and 11 great-grandchildren. '34 Paul Herbert Pierce Jr. of Dallas and Bayse, VA, Jan. 17, 2001. He worked for the Small Business Ad- ministration for 20 years before retir- ing in 1972 as procurement director. A member of Mount Vernon Place Unit- ed Methodist Church in Washington, DC, he also served in the U.S. Navy in the South Pacific during World War II and in Washington during the Korean War. He leaves his wife, Phyllis Pou Pierce, two daughters, a son, two stepchildren, 11 grandchildren and a great-grandson. '34 Charlese Pepper St. John of Austin, TX, Feb. 10, 2000. An active participant in Bible study groups and lay witness missions, she was the wid- ow of George W. Tharp and Robert T. St. John. She leaves three daughters, a son, a stepson, seven grandchildren, five great-grandchildren and a brother, John R. Pepper II '37. '35 Peggy "Birdie" Ellis Aste of Memphis, Feb. 13, 2001. A retired employee of National Bank of Commerce, she was the widow of Frank J. Aste. A member of Lindenwood Christian Church, she leaves a brother. '35 Rodney Baine of Athens, GA, June 25, 2000. Retired Franklin Pro- fessor of English at the University of Georgia, he leaves five children. '40 Robert Ackerman of Memphis, Jan. 14, 2001. A physician, he leaves his wife, Mary Reviere Ackerman, a daughter, three sons, three stepdaughters, a stepson and eight grandchildren. '40 O.H. "Buddy" Miller Jr. of Memphis, Feb. 28, 2001. Retired chairman of the board of Choctaw Inc., he leaves his wife, Margaret B. Miller, six daughters, 13 grandchildren and a sister, Ann Clark Miller Quinlen '38. '43 Louise Howry McRae of Memphis, Dec. 15, 2000. The first fe- male member of the Memphis and Shelby County Planning Commision, she was also a community volunteer board member of the Episcopal Church Women for the Diocese of Tennessee. She leaves her husband of 58 years, Senior U.S. District Judge Robert M. McRae, a daughter, three sons and four grandchildren. '43 Eugene A. Vaccaro of Memphis, Jan. 21, 2001. A retired ophthalmologist and surgeon, he helped found Baptist Memorial Hospi- tal's department of ophthalmology as well as Methodist Hospital's contact lens department. He was also an asso- ciate professor in the ophthalmology department at Univeristy of Tennessee, Memphis. A member of St. Louis Catholic Church, he leaves his wife of 54 years, Mary T. Vaccaro, and a daughter. '47 Norma Estes Young of Sapulpa, OK, Dec. 17, 2000. She had been the organist and pianist at First Baptist Church in Sapulpa for more than 20 years. She held a master's de- gree in music from the University of Michigan and played for many civic clubs. She leaves her husband, David Young, a son, a granddaughter and a sister, Madelyn Estes Earles '46. '50 Mildred Wilkerson Ayres of Memphis, Dec. 28, 2000. A member of St. Mary's Episcopal School Alumni Board, she was also involved in many other community activities including St. John's Episcopal Pennepacker Guild and Grandview Garden Club. She was a past member of the Women's Exchange of Memphis, the Altar Guild of the Church of Holy Communion and St. John's Episcopal Church. The widow of William McNeill Ayres, she leaves two sons, two brothers and five grandchildren. '50 Oneida Pruett() Carpenter of Blowing Rock, NC, Dec. 4, 2000. The wife of Thomas G. Carpenter, retired president of Memphis State University (now University of Memphis), she was involved in several civic and professional organizations in Memphis and Florida. She founded a public broadcasting television station in Pen- sacola and in 1965 was one of three women station managers in the U.S. She taught in schools in Memphis and Gainesville, FL, and at Palm Beach Ju- nior College. She leaves her husband, a daughter, a son, her mother, a sister, a brother and six grandchildren. '52 William R. Pridgen of Memphis, Jan. 28, 2001. A surgeon, he was a member of Lindenwood Christian Church and active in the Memphis Surgical Society, Memphis and Shelby County Medical Society, American Medical Association, the Mid-South and University Medical Journal Club and the William Scott Society of Vanderbilt University. He leaves his wife, Jane Pridgen; two daughters, Sherrill Oellerich and Allison Varner '86; a son, William "Skipper" Pridgen '82; a sister, Ann Pridgen Bailey '47; a brother, Steven Pridgen '46; and seven grandchildren. '61 W. Calvin Hurst of San Pedro, CA, 1987. He leaves his wife, Wanda Hurst. '64 George S. Edwards of Memphis, Jan. 15, 2000. A Vietnam War Marine veteran, he leaves a broth- er, Benjamin Edwards Jr. of Big Pine Key, FL. '66 P. Ray Baker of Germantown, TN, April 1997. He leaves his wife, Liz Baker, and four children. '70 Emily Scarbrough Crandall of Palm City, FL, Nov. 6, 2000. An attorney for Guardian Life Insurance Co., she leaves her husband, Bill Crandall, two stepdaughters, a stepson, her father and a brother. RHODES SPRING 2001 47 Adding to Rhodes' Anniversary Walk Becomes an Annual Tradition Alumni, students, par-ents and friends are invited to "cement" their places in the life of Rhodes by purchasing their own engraved stones in the Anniversary Walk. Dedicated at Homecoming '98 as part of our Sesquicentennial cele- bration, the Anniversary Walk will now be extended each year to include personalized stones of additional members of the Rhodes family. Stones are the same grey granite as used extensively on campus and are available in two sizes: Smaller stones measure 4" x 8" x 2" and may be per- sonalized with two lines of copy, each line up to 16 char- acters maximum. (Character count includes spaces, peri- ods etc.) Cost: $150 each. Larger stones measure 8" x 8" x 2" and may be per- sonalized with five lines of copy, each line up to 16 characters maximum. (As noted, character count includes spaces, periods etc.) Cost: $300 each. Stones purchased by July 1 of this year will be added to Rhodes Anniversary Walk over the summer months. To reserve your place, clip the order form below and mail today. r Yes, I would like to be included in Rhodes' Anniversary Walk! Please reserve one 4" x 8" x 2" 150th Anniversary stone for me at $150 each. Inscribe as follows: (remember to include punctuation and spaces in your character count): 0000 a75a75a75a75a75a75a75a75a75a75a75 00000D11000000DD0 Please reserve one 8" x 8" x 2" 150th Anniversary stone for me at $300 each. Inscribe as follows: (remember to include punctuation and spaces in your character count): 000000E00==D= D0D000DDDEIDDEEDD D0=0000=0=000 00001111110000000000 DEIDD00D00000001110 (For additional stones, please copy this form or send on a separate sheet of paper.) Payment Information Your name Your address Your daytime telephone #( ) a75 Check enclosed for $ (payable to "Rhodes Anniversary Walk") a75 Visa a75 MasterCard a75 American Express Acct. No. Exp. Date Signature Mail with payment to: Anniversary Walk, Rhodes College, 2000 N. Parkway, Memphis, TN 38112 L 48 SPRING 2001 RHODES ilearni,nekowt-ofkiAtweltatlkocle4ktubeena qoatfothuicaLonfornAlcareeranclbasi,nest. 16 ?E. Denby Brandon '50 For years, Denby Brandon, his wife, the former Helen Deupree '51 and their children have worked together in two family-run, Memphis- based businesses, Brandon Investments Inc. and Brandon Financial Planning Inc. Denby and Helen met at Southwestern and were married in 1953 by religion professor Dr. Laurence E Kinney, for whom the Rhodes service program is named. Though Denby did graduate work at Yale and Duke, when it was time to do something special for one of his alma maters, he and Helen chose Rhodes. To celebrate their 50th class reunions, they established the Helen and Denby Brandon Scholarship Fund with an outright gift, which they're paying over five years. By the end of 2001, their contribution will total 60% of the fund's endowment. The rest will be deferred in the form of a life insurance policy. "Rhodes teaches students how to think, and learning Denby and Helen Deupree Brandon at a college how to think well has been a good foundation for my Dance 1951. Helen was President of AOPi sorority. career and business," says Denby. "As a financial planner I help others make gifts all the time, and I develop strategies that help people give more effectively. With Rhodes' fine planned giving department to make it even easier, it's a joy for Helen and me to be part of the college's future." From wills to annuities and trusts, there are many planned giving techniques that will allow you to make a difference at Rhodes while meeting your other financial goals. FOR MORE INFORMATION on ways to find the wealth in giving and the joy of supporting Rhodes, please contact Roberta Bartow Matthews, J.D., Director of Planned Giving, Rhodes College, 2000 North Parkway, Memphis, TN 38112 Phone: (901) 843-3919, 1-800-264-5969. Fax: (901) 843-3093. E-mail: matthews@rhodes.edu HODES 2000 North Park Memphis, Tennesse From the Annual Student Exhibition held this spring in Clough-Hanson Gallery. Detail from The Pursuit of Happiness by Elizabeth Tyson '02. The concept was: "Every day record the time you rise and the time you go to sleep. Make: 100 circles." Photo by Kevin Barre