32
NEWSMAKERS ......................................... 2 CAMPUS NEWS ....................................... 7 FEATURES Jailhouse Rock .................................. 12 A Glimpse of the Past .................... 13 Children’s Love to Learn ............... 14 Education ........................................... 15 Barry McGriff .................................... 16 SPORTS NOTES ...................................... 18 ALUM NOTES ......................................... 20 SPECIAL DEVELOPMENT SECTION INSIDE Dear Alumni and Friends, Proration is a long-time problem in Ala- bama. What can we do about it? In early February, Alabama’s public col- leges and universities were hit with a 6.2 percent budget cut due to losing $266 million from this year’s expected revenue from the education trust fund. Responding to the crisis, Jacksonville State University cut $1.8 million from its operating budget. While we’re commit- ted to maintaining excellence in the classroom during the crisis, we’re hoping for a lasting solution. Although it’s true that unexpectedly low sales tax revenues account for this latest problem, the larger issue is the outdated Alabama Constitution and a need for tax reform to ensure dependable funding dur- ing uncertain times. A Message from the President EDITOR: Connie Edge COPY: Al Harris Jamie Eubanks Jennifer Ledbetter DESIGN: Mary Smith PHOTOGRAPHY: Steve Latham Copyright © 2001, Jacksonville State University C O N T E N T S Visit our web site at www.jsu.edu Editor’s e-mail address: [email protected] The JSU administration is thankful for the support of our local legislative del- egation. However, it is up to all of us to address the fragile nature of education funding in Alabama or crises like this will continue to exist. What can you do? Let your representatives know you favor the creation of a stable education trust fund that will stop chronic proration and ensure a safety net during a bad economy. The absence of such stability is eroding higher education’s ability to give your children the education they deserve. Politicians listen to voters. Let them know how you feel. Sincerely, William A. Meehan, President ON THE COVER: Compared to Ayers Hall and its dilapidated laboratories, McGee Center is an outstanding addition to Jacksonville State University’s beautiful campus. The renovated Martin Hall and the new McGee Hall combine to create the McGee Science Center. ABOUT THIS PUBLICATION: Gem of the Hills is published semiannually by the Division of Institutional Advancement, Jacksonville State University, 700 Pelham Road North, Jacksonville, Alabama 36265-1602, and distributed free to our alumni. Volume 8, Number 1

A Message from the President - Jacksonville State … Message from the President EDITOR: Connie Edge COPY: Al Harris Jamie Eubanks Jennifer Ledbetter DESIGN: Mary Smith ... structor

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

Page 1: A Message from the President - Jacksonville State … Message from the President EDITOR: Connie Edge COPY: Al Harris Jamie Eubanks Jennifer Ledbetter DESIGN: Mary Smith ... structor

NEWSMAKERS ......................................... 2CAMPUS NEWS ....................................... 7FEATURES

Jailhouse Rock .................................. 12A Glimpse of the Past .................... 13Children’s Love to Learn ............... 14Education ........................................... 15Barry McGriff .................................... 16

SPORTS NOTES ...................................... 18ALUM NOTES ......................................... 20SPECIAL DEVELOPMENT SECTIONINSIDE

Dear Alumni and Friends,

Proration is a long-time problem in Ala-bama. What can we do about it?

In early February, Alabama’s public col-leges and universities were hit with a 6.2percent budget cut due to losing $266million from this year’s expected revenuefrom the education trust fund.

Responding to the crisis, JacksonvilleState University cut $1.8 million from itsoperating budget. While we’re commit-ted to maintaining excellence in theclassroom during the crisis, we’re hopingfor a lasting solution.

Although it’s true that unexpectedly lowsales tax revenues account for this latestproblem, the larger issue is the outdatedAlabama Constitution and a need for taxreform to ensure dependable funding dur-ing uncertain times.

A Messagefrom thePresident

EDITOR:Connie Edge

COPY:Al HarrisJamie EubanksJennifer Ledbetter

DESIGN:Mary Smith

PHOTOGRAPHY:Steve Latham

Copyright © 2001,Jacksonville State University

C • O • N • T • E • N • T • S

Visit our web site at www.jsu.eduEditor’s e-mail address: [email protected]

The JSU administration is thankful forthe support of our local legislative del-egation. However, it is up to all of us toaddress the fragile nature of educationfunding in Alabama or crises like this willcontinue to exist.

What can you do?

Let your representatives know you favorthe creation of a stable education trustfund that will stop chronic proration andensure a safety net during a bad economy.The absence of such stability is erodinghigher education’s ability to give yourchildren the education they deserve.

Politicians listen to voters. Let themknow how you feel.

Sincerely,

William A. Meehan, President

ON THE COVER:Compared to AyersHall and its dilapidatedlaboratories, McGeeCenter is an outstandingaddition to JacksonvilleState University’sbeautiful campus.

The renovated MartinHall and the newMcGee Hall combine tocreate the McGeeScience Center.

ABOUT THIS PUBLICATION:

Gem of the Hills is publishedsemiannually by the Division ofInstitutional Advancement,Jacksonville State University,700 Pelham Road North,Jacksonville, Alabama 36265-1602,and distributed free to our alumni.Volume 8, Number 1

Page 2: A Message from the President - Jacksonville State … Message from the President EDITOR: Connie Edge COPY: Al Harris Jamie Eubanks Jennifer Ledbetter DESIGN: Mary Smith ... structor

2

Museum’s Personnel ConsistsPrimarily of JSU Grads

he Anniston Museumis a landmark in

Calhoun County, and if youlook past the sculptured wallsand ornate exhibits, you’ll finda staff full of Jacksonville StateUniversity alumni. In fact,about two-thirds of the person-nel consist of JSU grads.Many of them found theirniche at either the AnnistonMuseum of Natural History orthe Berman Museum of WorldHistory. These alumni havemade lasting impressions onthe museums and the peoplewho visit them.

When the two museumsformed one complex in No-vember of 1998, Cheryl Braggand Susan Robertson had ahand in the action. Susan, a1985 graduate of JSU, servesas the marketing manager forthe complex. “We are strivingto improve the museumthrough marketing and make

the facilities more efficient,”stated Susan. “At the sametime, we want to be account-able and get as much mileageout of the buildings and exhib-its as possible.”

Starting out as a computer sci-ence major, Cheryl Bragg soonrealized how much she enjoyedmath and statistics, as well asthe business classes at JSU.She graduated in 1981 with adegree in business administra-tion. Cheryl soon worked herway up to the assistantdirector’s position, and whenthe two museums combined in1998 she became its director.“I’m very proud of the mu-seum and the role I am able toplay in its success,” Cherylcommented. “The not-for-profit world is so different fromany other. We could all getjobs where we could excel fi-nancially, but the museum’s at-mosphere compels us to stay.”

Cheryl and Susan couldn’thave done it alone. The mu-seum and Jacksonville StateUniversity have a thriving rela-tionship that is far from one-sided. The two work closely toeducate, inform and inspire.This relationship has grownwith the combination of the fa-cilities. Many of JSU’s profes-sors help identify exhibits anddo some of the research in-volved.

There is also a host of JSUalumni assisting them in everyendeavor. Stephen Faughn,Tim Moon, Robert Lindley,and Rachel Smart are just afew. Steve handles the wildanimal presentations at

schools, while Tim gives tours.Robert loves the research anduses JSU’s Houston Cole Li-brary often. Rachel paintedone of the murals that is dis-played at the museum.

Other alumni include: AdamCleveland, 1994; Joey Crews,1999; Sylvia LivingstonBrooks, 1987; Renee Morrison,1989; Rachel Smart, 1999; An-gela Morgan, 1993; StephenFaughn, 1997; Robert Lindley,1996; Carol Ogles, 1986; TimMoon, 1986; Dan Spaulding,1995; Kathy Colburn is work-ing on her Master’s degree atJacksonville State University.

–JAMIE M. EUBANKS

These are just a few of JSU’s alumni who are making a lastingimpression on the Anniston Museum of Natural History. Bydoing this, they are making a lasting impression on the lives ofmany.

Hawkins Named Vice Presidentof Marketing for ALFA

Wayne Hawkins, a 1961Jacksonville State Univer-sity graduate was recentlynamed executive vice presi-dent of marketing for ALFAInsurance Group.

Hawkins, 63, held the in-terim post beginning in Oc-tober when the former ex-ecutive vice president re-signed. Hawkins alsoserved as senior vice presi-dent of marketing for NorthAlabama for 11 years, wasdistrict manager for 15years and was an agent fornine years. He also serves

on the JSU Alumni Boardof Governors.

“We are fortunate to have aperson of Wayne’s abilityand experience to take overthese duties,” ALFA Presi-dent Jerry Newby said.“Wayne has done a tremen-dous job for our companyin North Alabama, and I’mconfident that he will besuccessful in leading ourentire sales force as execu-tive vice president of mar-keting.”

Hawkins describes his man-agement style as open andhonest.

“I believe in giving peoplethe responsibility to dotheir job and holding themaccountable,” he said. “Ithink the more you letpeople do on their own,namely decision making,the better they will do.”

T

Page 3: A Message from the President - Jacksonville State … Message from the President EDITOR: Connie Edge COPY: Al Harris Jamie Eubanks Jennifer Ledbetter DESIGN: Mary Smith ... structor

3SPRING 2001

Therapist Persistent to Reach Goal

Jacksonville StateUniversity alumna,

whose college career was in-terrupted three times by near-death experiences, receivedher Ph.D. in English this pastDecember from the Universityof Otago in New Zealand.

Dale Christine Benson, daugh-ter of JSU criminal justice in-structor Bob Benson, gradu-ated from JSU in 1979 with adouble major in French andEnglish — and a minor inSpanish — with distinctionand honors in both majors.

In 1978, Dale, the first studentpresident of the InternationalHouse, was diagnosed withepilepsy, which she overcamewhile holding a perfect gradepoint average.

Fluent in German, French,Spanish and Maori, she wenton to teach language at a pri-

vate school in New Zealandand began working toward amaster’s degree. But then Dalesuffered a serious head injuryin a near-fatal motorcycle ac-cident. She spent the follow-ing three years learning toread, write and walk again.She continued her master’sprogram and graduated in1990.

The following year, she beganher doctoral program. But in1994, her academic pursuitwas again called to a halt byanother near-fatal tragedy:breast cancer. Dale underwenta radical surgical procedure,recovered, and continued herstudies.

In 1998, just before she com-pleted the program, she col-lapsed. Thinking she had theflu, she went to a doctor.Blood tests confirmed she had

leukemia. Dale was given aweek to live.

Her father, Bob, and heryoungest sister, Elizabeth,flew to New Zealand to betested as possible bone mar-row donors. Elizabeth provedto be a perfect match, andDale made a full recovery,with her middle sister, Susan,spending three months assist-ing her.

After getting the transplantfrom Elizabeth, who is notallergic to grass, Dale found

that her own allergy had dis-appeared.

“It’s a hell of a way to get ridof an allergy, but I love grassnow,” she says.

With graduation and thehealth trials behind her, Dalesays she is “choosing to behappy.” Graduation day wasspecial — it marked the endof a long road for Dale; andher husband, Brendan Murray,also received an MBA.

“If there’s one thing I’velearned, it’s that nothingstands still. If I’m unhappyone day, I know that tomorrowthings will be better. If I’mhappy the next day, I know aweek later I could have leuke-mia and die, so every momentcounts.”

JSU Alumna Encounters Three Near-Death Experiences on Way to Ph.D.

–AL HARRIS

Ben Carden had alwaysdreamed of working in thefitness therapy field. In1992 he received his degreefrom JSU in exercise sci-ence, despite his hearingdisability.

Carden sent applications allover the nation, but he hadno luck in his job search.“I think people got frus-trated trying to talk to meover the phone, because theTTY phones take a littletime to translate,” Cardensaid.

For a couple of yearsCarden worked at fitnessstudios learning from the

owners, but this did not helphim establish his career theway he wanted. “People saidthey would help me get startedor help me find clients, but itnever seemed to work,”Carden said. “I had to dowhat I could by myself.”

Carden is now in the processof opening his own business.Under the name BPC Fitnessand Rehabilitation, he is rent-ing space from a local club inTuscaloosa and working withfive clients.

Carden is also a certified per-sonal trainer, but his main fo-cus is fitness therapy. He isworking to rehabilitate people

who have recently suffered aninjury or illness but no longerhave enough insurance to con-tinue receiving physicaltherapy.

“Due to the intolerable influ-ence imposed on health careproviders by the insurance in-dustry, patients are forced todiscontinue therapy long be-fore they are removed, be-cause the insurance will payfor only a ridiculously inad-equate number of treatments,”Carden said. “When the in-surance runs out, most of themcan’t afford the exorbitant costof post-rehab treatments.”

Due to the simplicity ofCarden’s program, he is ableto keep the cost down. He

offers package prices thatcan be shared by two people.

Jan Faucett, 58, ofTuscaloosa was diagnosedwith osteoporosis, and herdoctor recommended she seea trainer. She has been withCarden for about a year. “Ireally do think he’s wonder-ful,” said Faucett. “I feel awhole lot better when I exer-cise, as anyone does, but thethings he has us do makesme a whole lot more flex-ible. Plus, I’ve even built upsome muscles.”

Carden’s ultimate goal is tosee BPC Fitness and Reha-bilitation in Tuscaloosa,Huntsville and Birmingham.

–JENNIFER LEDBETTER

A

Page 4: A Message from the President - Jacksonville State … Message from the President EDITOR: Connie Edge COPY: Al Harris Jamie Eubanks Jennifer Ledbetter DESIGN: Mary Smith ... structor

4

our outstanding alumniwere honored during the

annual Alumni of the Yearawards presentation this pastHomecoming. Selected for thetop honors were:

Alumna of the Year: LouiseFranklin Marbut, a 1964/80graduate who is currently VicePresident of The DonohoSchool in Anniston, Alabama.

Alumnus of the Year: DavidHale, a 1970 graduate. Cur-rently President and C.E.O. ofCancervax, Inc., a biotechnol-ogy company in California.

Young Alumnus of the Year:Suman Silwal, a 1993 gradu-ate who is currently teachingmathematics at Marion Mili-tary Institute in Alabama.

Military Alumnus of theYear: U.S. Army ReserveBrigadier General Carlos D.“Butch” Pair, a 1970 gradu-ate who is currently Chief ofStaff, Headquarters U.S.Transportation Command,Scott Air Force Base, Illinois.

Each year the Alumni Asso-ciation selects a JSU facultymember to receive the Out-standing Faculty Award. Thisyear’s recipient is Dr. ClaudiaMcDade, the Head of the De-partment of Learning Servicesin the College of Arts and Sci-ences.

Marbut is a member of theAlabama High School SportsHall of Fame. Selected for herlong tenure as a volleyball

coming successful in theiracademic endeavors. Dr.McDade has been at Jackson-ville State University fortwenty-six years.

coach, she coached five statechampions and six runner-upteams in Alabama. Her overallcoaching record is 600 winsand only 195 losses. She wasnamed All-State Coach of theYear two times and receivedthe Governor’s Award of Rec-ognition in 1991.

Hale, who majored in biologyand chemistry, foundedCancervax, Inc., a biotechnol-ogy company involved in re-search, development, manu-facturing, and marketing ofimmunotherapy products fortreatment of cancer. He hasreceived many awards for hiswork in the biotechnologyfield.

Silwal has been on the facultyat Marion Military Institutesince 1995. An expert in com-puter programming languageand web applications, heserves Marion Institute in thiscapacity as well as teachingpart-time at Judson College.

Pair, in his present position, isresponsible for coordination ofstaff activities and heads upthe reserve component forcesrelating to the command’smission. He has held a varietyof staff positions, both state-side and abroad, during hiscareer.

McDade, according to manyletters of recommendation, isknown for encouraging andsupporting her students, espe-cially those with poor aca-demic backgrounds, into be-

Ms. Louise Marbut Mr. Suman Silwal

Mr. David Hale

Dr. Claudia McDade

Mr. Carlos D. “Butch” Pair

F

A big pat on the back goes to the Cherokee County Chapterof the National Alumni Association. Since the reorganiza-tion of this chapter in 1995, they have awarded sixteenscholarships for $500 each to entering JSU freshmen fromtheir county. Cathy Wallace Davis (’90, ’95) serves aspresident of the chapter.

Page 5: A Message from the President - Jacksonville State … Message from the President EDITOR: Connie Edge COPY: Al Harris Jamie Eubanks Jennifer Ledbetter DESIGN: Mary Smith ... structor

5SPRING 2001

Why JSU Needs Your Involvement in Education Funding• Currently, the

public universities inAlabama utilize tuitionfor 31 percent of their

operating budgets when the southeast-ern average is 26 percent. Raising thetuition is the same thing as taxing thestudents and their families. If universi-ties are forced to keep raising tuition,

the losers will be the citizens of Alabama.• Alabama is only at 60.2% of the Southern Regional

Education Board regional standard in state appropriations.• Alabama’s faculty salaries for 4-year schools rank 44th

in the nation while faculty salaries for Alabama’s K-12rank 23rd.

• Deferred maintenance needed for Alabama’s colleges anduniversities amounts to almost 900 million dollars.

• Higher Education makes sense. Last year a college graduatein Alabama earned $43,782 compared to $23,594 by a highschool graduate.

• Our public school teachers are products of our own highereducation institutions. Ninety percent of our K-12 teachersare educated in Alabama’s public colleges and universities.

• While Alabama faculty salaries rank 44th in the nation and11th of 12 southeasten states in average faculty salaries, it isthe hard work of our college and university faculties thattrains the teachers and administrators of Alabama’s publicschools.

• 1994 to 1999. Funding for higher education in Alabamaincreased 1.3%. By comparison, Florida increased 10.4%,Mississippi by 8.2% and Georgia by 6.8%.

Former JSU student Jer-emy K. Stubbs can be seenin the film “Remember theTitans,” which was re-leased last fall.

Stubbs Performs in Popular FilmThe film is the story of a Vir-ginia football team duringthe early ’70s and starsDenzel Washington.

Stubbs has been seen perform-ing in several community the-aters in Anniston and Gadsdenand many JSU drama produc-tions, under the direction ofDr. Wayne Claeren, professorof drama and Susan McCain,assistant professor of drama.

Stubbs is the son of Jackson-ville resident and student,Connie J. Sandlin, and LeeStubbs of Atlanta, Georgia.

Jeremy K. Stubbs

ue Jones, retired teacher from the Jack-sonville City Schools wasrecently selected as recipi-ent of the JSU Departmentof Health, Physical Educa-tion and Recreation 2000-2001 Outstanding AlumniAward. Recognized asone of the leading healtheducators in Alabama,Mrs. Jones has receivedthe Alabama Health Edu-cation of the Year Award

and was elected as Vice President for Health by her peers in theAlabama Professional Association. During her 25 years at Jack-sonville High School, she was instrumental in initiating numer-ous health programs. Mrs. Jones currently serves on the City ofJacksonville Board of Education.

SU graduate, BarryBottoms ’72 was presented

with the 2000 Council forLeaders in Alabama Schools(CLAS) Leadership Awardduring the association’s annualconvention this past June.

The CLAS Leadership Awardwas started in 1980 to recog-nize outstanding educational

Bottoms Presented with Leadership Awardleadership and service toCLAS. It is the highest awardgiven by the association to oneof its members. The AlabamaAssociation of ElementarySchool Administrators(AAESA) nominated Barry forthe award.

Known for his motto, “Chil-dren don’t care how much we

know until they know howmuch we care,” he is regardedby his colleagues as an exem-plary leader. He is known forinspiring others with his hardwork and his dedication todoing what is right and whatis necessary to get the jobdone.

He has worn many hats in theeducation field, such as a

teacher at John Jones Elemen-tary School 72-76, assistantprincipal of Southside HighSchool 76-77 and principal ofHokes Bluff Elementary School96-2000. Currently he is em-ployed by the Etowah CountyBoard of Education as FederalPrograms Coordinator and El-ementary/Middle Schools Cur-riculum Coordinator.

Sue Jones Receives Outstanding Award

Mac Gillam, (left) Director ofJSU’s HPER Department presentsSue Jones with award.

S

J

Page 6: A Message from the President - Jacksonville State … Message from the President EDITOR: Connie Edge COPY: Al Harris Jamie Eubanks Jennifer Ledbetter DESIGN: Mary Smith ... structor

6

hen Jim Loftingraduated from Jack-

sonville State University in1976, he had no idea howdeep (in the earth) he wouldtruly become.

Loftin received his bachelor’sdegree in studio arts fromJSU, and set out for Albu-querque, New Mexico shortlyafter graduating. He tooksome graduate and under-graduate courses while work-ing for JSU’s art department.

Then a friend from schooltalked him into coming backto Alabama to build a cave.“They needed an artist whocould weld, so I moved backand started research to buildthe cave,” comments Loftin.

Marilyn Monroe and King Tut are only a couple of the subjectsthat you will find in the works of visual artist Terry Lynch.

How? With video cameras, 35mm cameras, a personal com-puter and a wild imagination.

Lynch uses forms of nature-geysers, plants and animals–thenwith digital technology he twists and distorts those images tomake them completely new, sometimes unrecognizable. Whathe wants, he says, is to present everyday, ordinary images as ifseen for the first time.

He travels the world taking 35mm snapshots at every stop.These pictures are often the starting points of his artwork.

Case in point: on a recent trip to Yellowstone National Park, aphoto taken of flowers against a bluesky, gradually became “The MonaLisa Sunflowers,” a digital work ofart that places the Mona Lisa’s facein the center of each flower.

This cave would be the onefeatured in the Anniston Mu-seum of Natural History.

So Loftin set out on his jour-ney with The Gadsden Grotto,a chapter of the National Spe-leological Society. Duringthis time of research, Loftincame to love the sport of cav-ing. He also took some in-credible pictures that laterwon awards at national con-ventions.

“The ultimate goal of a caveris to find a virgin cave,” hesays. “I’ve personally discov-ered some horizontal and ver-tical virgin caves. I was thefirst person to go through.Where else can you go whereno person has been?”

Countless numbers have ex-plored the cave he helped con-struct in the Anniston Museumof Natural History in the early1980’s. They have also seenmany of the exhibits at themuseum that he helped to de-sign and build.

Now, Loftin serves as the cu-rator for the Gadsden Museumof Art. “An art museum is re-ally more down my line,” hesaid. “I’m an artist. Ulti-mately, I would love to be asuccessful painter, although

I’m not working hard on itright now.”

Loftin has high hopes ofdeveloping the GadsdenMuseum of Art into a classmuseum and regionalattraction.

“There is a lot of history inthis town, and a lot of peopleare interested in that history,”comments Loftin. “But thereare still some people whodon’t even know about us.”

–BY JAMIE M. EUBANKS

Digital Technology Adds New Twists to PhotographsTo generate the effect, he first scanned the photo, then digitallyinserted her face in each flower. After blowing the picture up,he goes through pixel by pixel to make sure the images aresmooth and seamless. Finally, Lynch “plays with it” until heachieves the image he likes.

“I keep working on the image until I get something I like,” hesays. “Then I know when to stop.”

Before he began creating his digital works, Lynch was a com-mercial and studio artist, creating maps and print ad art. Lynchhas recently made his works available online for viewing andpurchasing. The web link is http://members.aol.com/terrylynch/artlinks.html. Also, some of his works were re-cently featured in a Mini Works Art Exhibit at JSU, where hereceived his visual art degree in 1978.

With the technology of digital artchanging every day, you can expectto see Lynch’s artwork expand andcontinue its individuality.

–BY JENNIFER LEDBETTER

W

Page 7: A Message from the President - Jacksonville State … Message from the President EDITOR: Connie Edge COPY: Al Harris Jamie Eubanks Jennifer Ledbetter DESIGN: Mary Smith ... structor

7SPRING 2001

CAMPUS NEWS

So you thought you knew allthere is to know about JSUfootball. . . huh?

Well, ever heard of the StateNormal School of AlabamaInformals? The AlabamaState Teachers CollegeStatesman, or the Jackson-ville State Teacher CollegeEagle Owls? Just wait untilyou’ve read “From The Goalto The Final Glory,” the de-finitive history of football atJacksonville State Univer-sity from 1903 - 1999.

After that, just about everyquestion that’s ever poppedup in your mind should beanswered regarding footballon the “Friendliest Campusin the South.” The manu-script is scheduled to roll offthe press in early Augustand all proceeds go to theJSU football program.

The book is filled with over120 interviews, 200 pic-tures, some dating back tothe mid-20s; a listing of ev-erybody who ever lettered infootball; a listing of everygame score by season, post-season and Homecomingday, and a special sectiondetailing other unforgettablemoments.

Copies are on sale. The spe-cial edition hardbound (only100 copies) is $50 presale-before August 1, $60 afterAugust 1. The regular edi-tion is $20 presale-beforeAugust 1 and $25 after Au-gust 1. Shipping and han-dling is $6.95.

Make your checks payable

Dr. John Ketterer be-came the new Di-rector of the Inter-national House atJacksonville StateUniversity inJuly 2000. Hefilled this positionafter Mr. GrindleyCurren retired. Atthe same time, Dr.Adrian Aveni, Director ofInternational Programs andServices, decided to return tofull-time teaching in the Soci-ology Department. Dr.Ketterer also accepted this po-sition. Now, Dr. Kettererwears all these hats, and he’swell prepared for them.

Dr. Ketterer spent seventeenyears in Latin American coun-tries. There he served as su-perintendent of internationalschools.

JSU is home to over 200 inter-national students, each withhis/her own culture and ownideas. “These internationalstudents at JSU are bright, cu-rious, multilingual, and adven-turous,” stated Dr. Ketterer.“This is why I’m so excitedabout working with them.”

One of Dr. Ketterer’s main

Ketterer Named Director ofInternational Programs at JSU

goals as director isto see that morepeople from thestudent body,faculty andcommunity re-alize what theInternational

House and itsprograms are all

about. “It’s allabout cultural under-

standing,” stated Dr. Ketterer.

On the other side of the coin,the international students takethe positive image of JSUback to their native lands andshare it with their friends,family and leaders. Also, in-ternational businesses arelooking at Alabama as a placeto establish their businesses.The international programs atJSU provide a “Window onthe World” to students and thecommunity.

“We have a jewel within thecommunity here at JSU,” com-mented Dr. Ketterer. “Ourgoal in International Servicesis to allow these internationalstudents to take this extraordi-nary experience back to theirhomes, and for us as Ameri-cans to develop a global un-derstanding.”

to Gamecock Club/J Club.Mail to Jacksonville StateUniversity, 700 PelhamRoad North, Jacksonville,Alabama, attention: BethGallagher. Also be sure towrite the word “book” onthe notation line (if pos-sible).

Follow the sport as theschool changes its namefive times; its team winsone NCAA Division II na-tional championship(1992); makes three otherappearances in the NCAAII playoffs (’77, ’89 and’91); goes undefeated anduntied (’70) and finishesranked No. 2 in the Na-tional Athletic Intercolle-giate Association (NAIA)rankings; beats the Univer-sity of Rhode Island 12-10in the ’55 RefrigeratorBowl; appears in 28 totalpost-season bowl dates; en-joys two other undefeatedseasons (9-0-1 in ’71 and 9-0 in ’47); wins countlessconference titles; produces33 All-Americans and 422total victories.

“From The Goal to The Fi-nal Glory” was written byHal Hayes (Class of ’62),once a student sports infor-mation director at Jax State,now a free-lance writer liv-ing in Hoover. He also isplanning books on the his-tory of basketball, baseballand The Southerners andthe Marching Ballerinas.All proceeds from theseworks will go to the respec-tive sports and the band.

H a y e s A u t h o r s B o o k

JSU FRESHMAN ORIENTATION DATES FOR THIS SUMMER ARE:

FRES

HM

AN

OR

IEN

TATI

ON

DAT

ES

Session D - August 2-3Session E - August 6-7Make-up Session - August 27

Orientation provides information and assistance tonew students and their families so they may succeed.New students are encouraged at orientation to utilizetheir peer counselors who can share their own experi-ences as a source of support and information.

Session A - July 23-24Session B - July 26-27Session C - July 30-31Transfer Session - July 31

Page 8: A Message from the President - Jacksonville State … Message from the President EDITOR: Connie Edge COPY: Al Harris Jamie Eubanks Jennifer Ledbetter DESIGN: Mary Smith ... structor

8

CAMPUS NEWS

It’s October 2001 and a satel-lite covered with 856 tiny mir-rors is whirling around Earth’sorbit. It looks like a giantdisco ball.

What makes it special? El-ementary school children fromall over the globe helped toconstruct it, and JacksonvilleState University provided thematerials.

Jacksonville State Universityis completing the first steps ofthe Project Starshine II, a stu-dent space education experi-ment designed to study thesun’s activities. “These stepsare crucial,” said TimHuddleston, executive directorof JSU’s Alabama AerospaceTeachers’ Association & Aero-space Development Center.

JSU recruited 800 schoolsfrom the United States,Canada, Australia, Israel andRussia, to name a few. Thisincludes over 28,000 students.Then, the mirror polishing kitswere sent to the schools. Thekits included an unpolishedaluminum mirror of one inchin diameter, diamond polish-ing compounds, syringes,sandpaper, polishing cloth,optical tissue, inspection flats,plate glass for a smooth sur-face, lubrication, instructionalvideo tapes and shipping sup-plies.

“By participating in ProjectStarshine, students learned thefundamentals of scientificwork,” commentedHuddleston. The mirrors mustbe properly polished to get theright amount of light deflec-tion. If not, the data sent fromthe satellite will be incorrect.

Once polished, the mirrors aresent back to Jacksonville StateUniversity for a final inspec-tion. If they pass inspection,they are sent to the Naval Re-search Laboratory in Washing-ton, D.C. where they areplaced on the satellite.

The students’ work does notend there. The satellite’s loca-tion will be followed via theInternet. Students will deter-mine when the satellite can beseen from their hometown. Atdawn or dusk, students willuse a tracking device, whichwill show their precise loca-tion. At the exact moment thesatellite crosses a specificpoint, the students will recordthe time. These results willthen be posted on theStarshine website.

Shining Into the Future with JSU

“These observations willbecome a model, becausethere will be so many ofthem all around the world,”says Huddleston. “It willhelp predict what coursessatellites will take and whenthey will de-orbit. So thesestudents have participated inreal active science.”

–JAMIE EUBANKS

FREE

The Jacksonville StateUniversity Alumni Affairs

Office has annuals from pastyears (1965-2000) availableto you at no charge. If you

are interested in obtaining oneof these yearbooks, please

contact the Alumni Office at256-782-5404 or 1-800-231-

5291 ext. 5404. Email:[email protected]

Remember, these are free socall today to get your copy.

MimosasAvailable

At JSU we are dedicated toproviding educational and ad-venturous travel programs foractive adults 50 and over. Ourgoal is to structure travel ex-periences that provide oppor-tunities for cultural, intellec-tual or personal enrichment.

Enjoy listeningto our facultymembers whoare enthusiasticin sharing their

knowledge andexperience with

you. Our accommodations arein excellent facilities with allof the comforts of home. Allof your meals and fieldtripsare included in the programs.

For more information aboutthe Elderhostel programsavailable at JSU call 1-800-231-5291, extension 9 orregister on the web at www.seniortraveladventures.org.

Senior TravelAdventures Availablethrough Elderhostel

This little mirror may seem insignificant now, but wait ‘til itjoins 855 just like it. JSU is allowing children around theworld to have a part in this incredible space adventure. All856 mirrors were polished by elementary school aged childrenfrom the U.S., Canada, Australia, and other parts of the world.

Page 9: A Message from the President - Jacksonville State … Message from the President EDITOR: Connie Edge COPY: Al Harris Jamie Eubanks Jennifer Ledbetter DESIGN: Mary Smith ... structor

9SPRING 2001

CAMPUS NEWS

This comprehensive volume will include:• Current name (with maiden name cross-referencing)

• Class years and degrees from Jacksonville State University• Degrees earned from other institutions • Job title, business name, address, and telephone

• Residence address and telephone number • Spouse and children’s names• E-mail address

Jacksonville State University has contracted with Harris Publishing Company, Inc.to produce our directory. Harris will soon begin researching and compiling the

information to be printed in the directory by mailing a questionnaire to each alumna/us.(If you prefer not to be listed in the directory, please contact the

Alumni Office in writing as soon as possible.)

The new Jacksonville State University directory will soon make findingan alumna/us as easy as opening a book.

For more information about the directory give us a call at 256-782-5404.

Have you ever tried to get in touch with an old classmate,only to find that the last address you have in your telephone

directory is eight years old? Well, your troubles are over.Soon an impressive directory of our alumni will be available to

help you locate all your old friends.

The new Jacksonville State University AlumniDirectory, scheduled for release in December 2001,will be the most up-to-date and complete reference

of all JSU alumni ever compiled!

–JENNIFER LEDBETTER

The American Associationof Retirement Communities(AARC) recently relocatedits National Headquartersfrom Western Kentucky Uni-versity in Bowling Green toJSU.

“The Organization’s primarypurpose is to promote theeconomic enhancement ofcommunities through thepromotion of retiree attrac-tion as an economic devel-opment strategy. TheAssociation’s membership isdrawn from a broad base ofthe American economy, rep-resenting both the public andprivate sectors,” explains Mar-tin Darity, chairman of theAARC Board of Directors.

JSU is no stranger to the indus-try. The first statewide commu-nity retirement program begandue to the efforts of the Centerfor Economic Development atJSU. The research and study bythe Center staff, along withothers, including Dr. MarkFagan, was the initial step indeveloping the statewide pro-gram to attract retirees.

In 1990, the Center for Eco-nomic Development was therecipient of the Project of theYear award for special projectsgiven by the National Associa-tion of Management and Tech-nical Assistance Centers for theCenter’s initiative in develop-ing the program to attract retir-ees to Alabama.

“We are extremely proud to bethe host for the AARC and itsmembership,” says Pat W.Shaddix, Director of the Center

for Economic Development atJSU. “We have extended a lotof research and manpower indeveloping programs to help inthe attraction of retirees to Ala-bama. Now we can utilize thatexpertise in assisting the eco-nomic development efforts ofcommunities throughout thenation.”

“This is not only a great oppor-tunity for JSU and the Centerfor Economic Development,

but also a great reward for allthat the Center has accom-plished over the years,” saysJSU President Dr. William A.Meehan. The relationship be-tween AARC and JSU “givesJSU another opportunity tohave a positive impact on ourcommunity, our state and ournation.”

Both JSU and AARC officialsare looking forward to incorpo-rating new and expanded activi-

ties. These include workingmore closely with governors andtravel departments in each state.The saying “permanent tourism”applies to the retired segment ofthe nation’s population. Retireeshave the time, money energy anddesire to travel. It’s while travel-ing that many retirees are at-tracted to those communitiesmeeting their requirements for aplace to live.

AARCRelocates

Page 10: A Message from the President - Jacksonville State … Message from the President EDITOR: Connie Edge COPY: Al Harris Jamie Eubanks Jennifer Ledbetter DESIGN: Mary Smith ... structor

10

CAMPUS NEWS

This group of JSU Alumnienjoyed a week at sea in theCaribbean. The event was

organized for and by the “JaxState 60’s Group.” Those

attending were: Mike & BrendaKimberly; Wayne “Ears” &

Margaret Cummings; Clayton& Sara Jo Burt; Jim & Sandra

Coxwell; Doug & ManolaWheeler; Duck & Joella

Connell; Jim & Janis Romine;Jerry & Carolyn Carter; Gene& Linda Ford; Pete & Bobbie

Danford; Marie McNair &Herb Gerber; Marie Smith &Jim Gordon; Jackie Jackson;Hayes Jackson; Ted Boozer;

Rubye Kines; Pat Reed; CoonHightower; Nancy Turner;

Connie Edge

Millard Young Gives Back to JSU with Donation to International HouseEach year Mr. Millard Young holds acar show in Piedmont. He always in-cludes JSU’s international studentswho show up in their traditionaldress. Thousands of people from allover the state attend and pay admis-sion to the car show. This year Mr.Young gave back to the InternationalHouse with a donation of over$1600.00. Young made this donationat the United Nations Day Tea onSunday, October 29, 2000.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Shown (left to right) are:Dr. William Meehan, JSU president;Mr. Cleo Thomas; Jan Kolar,International House StudentPresident; Dr. John Ketterer, Interna-tional House Director; Mr. MillardYoung and Mrs. Ann Young

"""" "Rome AreaAlumniThe Rome Area Alumni Chap-ter is trying to reorganize andwith the help of the new chap-ter co-presidents, Carla ByramPatterson ’89/99 and LanaGarner ’99, they are off to agreat start. The chapter hasalready met for a dinner meet-ing on February 1st at TheLevee restaurant in Rome,Georgia and are planning fu-ture events for April and May.

If you or anyone you knowwould like to get involved,please contact Carla [email protected]

We would love to hear fromyou.

Page 11: A Message from the President - Jacksonville State … Message from the President EDITOR: Connie Edge COPY: Al Harris Jamie Eubanks Jennifer Ledbetter DESIGN: Mary Smith ... structor

11SPRING 2001

TOURNAMENT

Paving the Way...for Tomorrow’s Leaders“Paving the way...fortomorrow’s leaders” hasbecome the theme of ourJSU affinity tag program.Because of your support ofthe Scholarship program,over $3 million has beenmade available for our stu-dents. Due to recent fed-eral legislation, the Ala-bama Department of Rev-enue will no longer be ableto provide the names ofalumni, students andfriends who have purchasedor renewed tags to Jackson-ville State University. Thismeans that the mailing of

acknowledgement letterswill be discontinued. Weencourage you to retainyour tag receipts from theprobate office for your tax

records. We truly appreciateyour support of this program.We hope you will continue to“ride with pride” knowingyou are helping tomorrow’sleaders, today.

The third annual Atlanta alumni golf tournament was held last May at the City Club ofMarietta. Over 30 participants joined us for a great afternoon of golf and prizes.

This year’s tournament will also be held in May. If you would like to join in our fun, pleasecontact Kaci Beatty at 770-562-9917 or via e-mail at [email protected] is invited!

Shown above are participants from the 2000 Atlanta Alumni Golf Tournament.

Plans Underway for Atlanta Alumni Golf Tournament

CAMPUS NEWS

Alumni EducationalTravel ProgramEnjoy a travel experience thatprovides opportunities for cul-tural, intellectual or personalenrichment. Join JSU facultyas they share their knowledgeand experience with you onthe following topics:Archaelogy of the Caribbean,Caribbean Coastal Weatherand History of the BritishCaribbean.

This 7 day Caribbean StudyCruise Program is scheduledfor May 6-13, 2001. Pleasecontact the College of Artsand Sciences at 1-800-231-5291, ext. 9 for more informa-tion.

Page 12: A Message from the President - Jacksonville State … Message from the President EDITOR: Connie Edge COPY: Al Harris Jamie Eubanks Jennifer Ledbetter DESIGN: Mary Smith ... structor

12

greased hair that was combed back into a ducktail.

“He passed directly by me,” comments Church. “I said, ‘Hurryback, Elvis.’ He grinned and replied, ‘I got to get the hell out ofhere right now.’ By saying this I think he was just trying to live upto his rebel persona,” says Church.

This was the first and last time Church ever saw Elvis in person.But from that moment on, he decided he wanted to be like

Elvis. And by 1958 he was fulfilling that dream. Heentered local talent contests. Church had a natural

resemblance to Elvis and wore the same hairstyleand clothing as the “King.” This made him very

popular with the audience and judges.

“Country Boy Eddy” Burns just happenedto be a judge at one of those contests.Church went on to perform with Coun-try Boy Eddy in parts of Alabama, Geor-gia, Mississippi and Tennessee from1958 until 1961.

Church also dealt with the sameproblems Elvis faced. Some ofthese shows asked Church not tomove around much on stage. Even

though he felt his act (and Elvis’s)was not vulgar, he respected their re-

quests.

After graduating from high school,Church wanted to pursue a career as an en-

tertainer. But his mother had other plans.Through encouragement from his mother, he

received a bachelor’s degree in education from JSUand the following year graduated with a master’s de-gree in education.

Church taught for many years in the Alabama publicschool system, and later retired. He is now workingfor a security company in Birmingham.

Church can still be found making appearances as acountry music act or as an Elvis impersonator. Only now it’s the“Jailhouse Rock.”

BY

JAMIE

EUBANKS

Billy Church, age 17, performing on the CountryBoy Eddy show in Birmingham, AL.

FROM THE VERY FIRST TIME BILLY CHURCH SAW ELVIS, HE WANTED TO BE LIKE HIM.

He’s “Nothin’ But a Hound Dog,” and he’s also a graduate of Jack-sonville State University.

In 1965 William “Billy” Judson Church received his master’s de-gree in education from JSU. However, it was against his will. Hehad always dreamed of being an entertainer. But not just anyentertainer, he wanted to be an Elvis impersonator.

From an early age, Billy Church loved music. Hismother sang Kitty Wells tunes and performedwith her friends on a radio station inCampbellsville, Kentucky. Church’s uncletaught him to play the guitar, but he didn’tcare much for singing.

One day while practicing the guitar onhis grandmother’s front porch, shetold him he looked like ElvisPresley. “Who’s Elvis Presley?”Church asked. It wouldn’t belong before he would see whoElvis was in person.

The summer of 1956 held a spe-cial surprise for Church and hisfamily. They were on their wayto the Roxie Theatre for amovie. On the way, they passedPower’s Café. A man came outof the restaurant and claimedElvis was inside. Church, hismother and two sisters drovearound the block and spottedElvis’s pink Cadillac.

“Elvis had drawn a good crowd bythe time we went in,” says Church. “He was sitting ina booth with three guys at the back of the restaurant.My mother and two sisters stood close to the front door,but I made my way to the counter and sat down on abarstool to get closer to Elvis. People were crowdingaround him while he was trying to eat.”

After eating, Elvis stood up to leave. Church was amazed at Elvis’sappearance. He stood over six feet tall and had a head full of

Page 13: A Message from the President - Jacksonville State … Message from the President EDITOR: Connie Edge COPY: Al Harris Jamie Eubanks Jennifer Ledbetter DESIGN: Mary Smith ... structor

13SPRING 2001

A glimpse of thepast…. That is what Ms.Mary Frances Geer Freemanhas given us. She, with thehelp of her son, has shown uswhat life at Jacksonville StateUniversity was like almost 70years ago.

Charles Freeman ofTuscaloosa, AL sat down withhis mother and recorded aninterview with her about herdays as a student at JSU. Thisis her story.

Some time after graduatingfrom high school, a manknocked on the Geer’s door inKennedy, AL looking for stu-dents who wanted to go to col-lege but didn’t have the finan-cial means to do so. This manwas Allen Clifton Shelton,director of extension for JSU.Shelton offered Ms. Freeman ajob to help pay for her expenses.

So Ms. Freeman embarked on

her journey by train toJSU. “It took all day,” sherecalls. “The distance wasabout 200 miles.”

But, what kind of studentworker jobs were availablethen? Ms. Freeman was anaccomplished pianist. Shewas hired as pianist for physi-cal education classes andother events. She evenplayed the piano for her owngraduation ceremony.

At this time, Dr. C.W.Daugette was president ofJSU, and chapel serviceswere observed every morningbefore classes. Often, Ms.Freeman would be asked toplay for the processional.

She had very fond memoriesof Dr. Daugette. “His officedoor was always open for

anyone who had questionsabout something,” said Ms.Freeman.

During the course of the in-terview, Ms. Freeman re-called the names of many ofher professors whom she re-membered fondly.

Sororities and fraternities re-ally didn’t exist during thistime. There were two societ-ies: Morgan and Calhoun.Each year, the societies held“Stunt Night” or “CollegeNight.”

“We had dances and pro-grams,” recalls Ms. Freeman.

a

Glimpse of the

Past

a

Glimpse of the

Past–J A M I E M. E U B A N K S

“I won first prize with a mu-sical skit.”

Ms. Freeman also worked as ahall monitor. “The lights wentoff at 10:00,” she comments.“I just sat there and I had toturn the lights off at the righttime.”

She also met her future hus-band, A.C. Freeman, while astudent at JSU.

Ms. Freeman received herteaching certificate and wenton to teach in elementaryschools. She also gave bothpublic and private piano les-sons and was well known asan accomplished musician.She served as librarian for theTown of Kennedy Library.

On December 14, at the age of87, Ms. Freeman died at herresidence in Estes Glen HavenNursing Center in Northportbefore her story could be pub-lished.

Page 14: A Message from the President - Jacksonville State … Message from the President EDITOR: Connie Edge COPY: Al Harris Jamie Eubanks Jennifer Ledbetter DESIGN: Mary Smith ... structor

14

o one detested the teachingprofession more than Jacksonville

State University graduate and CalhounCounty native Millie Bowers Harris. Butnow she would have it no other way.She’s a teacher, but not just any teacher.She was recently named Department ofDefense Education Activity (DoDEA)Teacher of the Year for 2001.

Harris’ parents were both “professionalstudents.” They both spent their summerbreaks from teaching attending college.During this time, Harris recalls using herbabysitting money to help buy groceriesand wearing shoes that were extremelytight because they couldn’t afford a newpair.

“The library, historical sights, museumsand zoos became my source of recreationbecause they were free and interesting,”comments Harris. These places also be-came points of education for her.Through these experiences and her par-ents’ love for learning, she developed agreat hunger for what they loved.

Yet, she flatly refused to allow herself tochose education as her path. But fate hadits own way of guiding Harris.

Throughout elementary and high school,she was an underachiever. She also car-ried a very low self-esteem. Harris con-tinued her education with this same atti-tude when she became a freshman at JSUin 1968.

A year later, she married Braxton Harris

and dropped out of school. “It wasnot until I got married and didmundane clerical work in the realwork world that I realized what Ihad thrown away,” stated Harris.

In 1978 Harris received herbachelor’s degree in special educa-tion from Jacksonville StateUniversity after having two chil-dren and working as a secretary.She then went on to receive amaster’s degree from UAB in 1981and an Ed. S. from the University

of Alabama in 1995.

Her motto remains, “It’s never too late.”

Since then she has taught the talented andgifted program at Fort McClellan El-ementary School until it closed over ayear ago. She took a job at Fort Benning,Georgia, where she now teaches a similarenrichment/talented and gifted program atStowers Elementary.

Harris has also been a part of JSU’s Writ-ing Project Fellows, the Women’s Politi-cal Caucus, President of the CalhounCounty Council for Exceptional Children,President of the Fort McClellan Educa-tion Association, State of Alabama GiftedEducation Advisory Board and severalother organizations.

On the weekends, in what little spare timethey have, she and her husband run abusiness in Anniston.

Harris received the DoDEA award due to

BY JAMIE M. EUBANKS

her teaching philosophies, accomplish-ments and activities.

“I work to make school more exciting andpertinent to students’ lives than my expe-rience,” comments Harris. “My greatestfeeling of accomplishment has come fromnurturing children’s love for learning,teaching them social survival skills, af-firming their individuality, and expectingonly their best. I teach my students howto think, rather than what to think.”

Harris will be relieved of her teachingduties at Fort Benning for half a year totravel to various speaking engagements atmilitary bases all over the world, includ-ing Europe, Japan, Puerto Rico and theU.S. She will speak on the importance ofwhat teachers do, teachers’ mission andidentifying gifted students.

N

“My greatest feeling ofaccomplishment hascome from nurturing

children’s love forlearning, teaching them

social survival skills,affirming their

individuality, andexpecting only

their best.”

Page 15: A Message from the President - Jacksonville State … Message from the President EDITOR: Connie Edge COPY: Al Harris Jamie Eubanks Jennifer Ledbetter DESIGN: Mary Smith ... structor

15SPRING 2001

ow have Deep Step,Georgia; Denver, Colorado;

and Indianapolis, Indiana heardabout how great Jacksonville StateUniversity really is?

One man has spread a humor-ous yet meaningful message aboutself-esteem, hometown pride and rela-tionships by using his experiences at JSU.The programs he presents are almost alwaystitled: Education, The Difference of a Life-time.

His name is Franklin McGee ’74 BS in PSC,who now resides here in Jacksonville.

McGee speaks professionally to just about any groupthat invites him. He has spoken to doctors, lawyers and boardsof directors in over 20 states in the last fifteen years.

However, he didn’t begin as a very outgoing person. McGeegrew up in severe poverty and his parents were uneducated. Therewas still a lot of love in the family, nonetheless.

“My family has always told stories,” says McGee. He re-calls sitting around the house at night telling stories with hismom and dad in Palestine, Alabama.

“They always seemed to find something humorous in ev-erything. But they always taught me not to laugh at people, butto laugh with people.”

“My father made his money by the ‘shine of the moon’,” hecomments. In other words, his father made moonshine and wasimprisoned for it. McGee recalls his father’s story of being inprison with the notorious Al Capone.

Capone was in a holding cell in Atlanta before he went totrial. It was McGee’s father who was given the job of cleaningCapone’s cell while he was out playing tennis. Capone wouldtell him what he could and could not touch.

With his father in jail and the extreme poverty surroundinghim, McGee performed poorly in high school. He graduated

with a very low self-esteem. Hefound a job with the local funeralservice, and at the age of twenty-five he was accepted to Jackson-ville State University.

On his day off from the funeralhome, he worked a second job to help

pay his way through school. McGeequickly gained his confidence when he

learned he could succeed in his classes.Thus, he accredits his good self-esteem to

JSU.“All of my professors played an integral part in

my success,” McGee notes. “They didn’t know mybackground, and none of that seemed to matter to them.”

In 1978 McGee completed his Master’s Degree in Politi-cal Science.

He became vice president of the funeral service, and startedspeaking for community gatherings. But after hearing LewisGrizzard speak, he realized he could do the same thing. He hasspoken to over 1200 audiences in the last 15 years.

McGee spoke for JSU’s opening Faculty-Staff Meeting inAugust.

“At the meeting, President Bill Meehan epitomized what JSUmeans to me when he recognized a lady who was about to gradu-ate from JSU,” commented McGee. “The plant where she workedwas about to be shut down, but instead of allowing opportunity topass her by, she went back to school. Now she will make a betterliving for herself and her family.”

Now, McGee still travels to speaking engagements, but lessfrequently. His favorite work of all is reading and sharing storieswith elementary students at Walter Wellborn Elementary. McGeevisits the school once or twice a week, but he’s not the only story-teller present. He allows the children to tell their stories, too. Heeven takes the time to work with those students who went throughsome of the same problems he did.

TheDifference of

a LifetimeBY JAMIE M. EUBANKS

H

Page 16: A Message from the President - Jacksonville State … Message from the President EDITOR: Connie Edge COPY: Al Harris Jamie Eubanks Jennifer Ledbetter DESIGN: Mary Smith ... structor

16

“The customer deserves the best servicethey can possibly get…period.”

This is the motto of 1974 JSU alumnus andAlabama Trucking Association ChairmanBarry McGriff.

McGriff is the son of Cullman, Alabamatire magnate Bert McGriff, and he wasraised with this motto. It has propelledMcGriff Industries to become one of the topretread tire manufacturers in the country.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF ALABAMA TRUCKING ASSOCIATION

BARRY MCGRIFF

ALABAMA TRUCKING ASSOCIATION

CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

Page 17: A Message from the President - Jacksonville State … Message from the President EDITOR: Connie Edge COPY: Al Harris Jamie Eubanks Jennifer Ledbetter DESIGN: Mary Smith ... structor

17SPRING 2001

Their company comes from a long tradition of qualityservice and community involvement which, McGriffsays, will play a vital role in the survival and successof Alabama’s trucking industry in the future.

It all began in 1948 with $1,000.00 in borrowedmoney and $35.00 in cash for the register. BertMcGriff opened a Shell station in Cullman. He beganattracting customers from larger chain stores becauseof his superb service.

During World War II, Bert found another opportunityto expand. There was a shortage of new tires.McGriff began retreading used tires for both passen-ger cars and heavy trucks. And by 1955 he closed thegas station to concentrate fully on tires.

Today, McGriff Industries’ largest tire dealership sitson the same lot where it all began in 1948. And, underthe watchful eye of the new McGriff generation, it hascontinued to focus on growth through providing thebest customer service possible.

Under Barry’s leadership, McGriff Industries now en-compasses two retail tire dealerships, eight commer-cial truck tire centers, four truck tire retreading plants,and a transportation company with more than 160trucks and 200 employees.

“Our trucking company began because we couldn’tfind anyone who could give us reliable service,” com-ments McGriff. We had just gotten into the wholesaletire business and we needed a way to get productsfrom the manufacturers and out to our customers. Webegan with one tractor and would haul a load of chick-ens to Detroit so we could bring a load of tires back.And we grew from there.”

But until 12 years ago, McGriff Transportation con-sisted of about 10 trucks with no one person in chargeof all of them. Keeping the company in business hadbecome a nightmare, and it was at that point thatBarry McGriff knew something had to be done.

“I knew then that we either had to get into the truckingbusiness completely or get out of it altogether,” hesays. “So we made the decision to get in it and that iswhen things started taking off.”

Today, McGriff Transportation has more than 160 state-of-the-art trucks traveling the nation’s highways andhauling freight an estimated 16 million miles each year.The company provides dry van service for long-haul,short-haul and regional loads. McGriff currently hasthree terminals, in Cullman, Cincinnati, Ohio, and Jack-sonville, Florida, and plans are in the works to open afourth terminal in the Atlanta area in the near future.

Other services provided by McGriff Transportationinclude dedicated services, specialized hauling andfleet maintenance and repair. In the last three years,McGriff has increased its maintenance and repair busi-ness five-fold.

The McGriff Treading Company now operates fourretreading plants in Alabama and has even developedits own proprietary process, MSR (or McGriff Seg-mented Retreading), which is designed to make re-treaded tires look and perform like new.

To Barry McGriff, people are the most important partof business. He and his father realized that no oneman can do everything. Therefore, decisions atMcGriff Industries are made through a team effort.

“I’ve always felt more like a college football re-cruiter,” McGriff says. “We’ve tried to surround our-selves with good people, and worked to help themachieve their goals and, in doing so, we have been ableto achieve what we wanted.”

McGriff recently received the coveted 2001 EmmaMarie Eddleman Citizenship Award at the annualCullman County Chamber of Commerce banquet.McGriff merited this award due to his active role inbusiness and industry recruiting to Cullman Countyand his establishment of the Adopt-A-School program.

Company founder Bert McGriff remains active as chairman of the board, but has retired from the day to dayoperations. Barry McGriff (right) has been president of McGriff Industries for the last 10 years and continuesthe tradition of service establishd by his father 52 years ago.

Page 18: A Message from the President - Jacksonville State … Message from the President EDITOR: Connie Edge COPY: Al Harris Jamie Eubanks Jennifer Ledbetter DESIGN: Mary Smith ... structor

18

SPORTS NOTES

acksonville State headbaseball coach RudyAbbott picked up his

1,000th career victory in a 4-3come-from-behind win inextra innings over Belhaven inthe Pensacola Classic, March10 in Pensacola, Florida.

Abbott, who is in his 32ndseason at the helm of theGamecocks, is the all-timewinningest coach in Alabamacollegiate sports history. Hisrecord now stands at 1000-437-5 and he becomes just the29th coach in NCAA historyto reach the 1,000 win plateau.

“It was a special moment inmy life, because it was that forthe players,” Abbott said afterthe Gamecocks rallied to scoreone in the bottom of theeighth inning for the win.“The players genuinely en-joyed the moment. They tooka lot of pride in it. “It’s a trib-ute to our players, our baseballalumni and their parents, theJSU community and the greatfans,” Abbott said.

Abbott came to JacksonvilleState as the school’s firstSports Information Director,coming over from his job as awriter at the Anniston Star in1964. In 1970, Abbott tookover the baseball program af-ter head coach RayWedgeworth became ill. ButAbbott continued to serve asthe schools Sports InformationDirector for several more years.

Abbott picked up his first winin a 14-2 romp of Shorter Col-

lege during the 1970 season.Four years later, he picked uphis 100th win, three years laterhis 200th and he got win No.300 during the 1977 season.Win No. 400 came during the1983 season when JSU de-feated Delta State, 9-8, andAbbott’s 500th win came on a14-4 rout over Samford in 1986.

Former JSU pitcher CraigHolman handed Abbott his600th and 700th victories. His700th win came in the verylast game of the 1991 seasonand it gave Abbott his secondconsecutive NCAA NationalChampionship with a 20-4rout of Missouri Southern.

On April 21, 1994, JSU gaveAbbott his 800th career win ina 19-12 victory overMontevallo. His 900th wincame in dramatic fashion asJacksonville State claimed an8-6 come-from-behind winover Samford on March 28,1997. Abbott, a native ofAnniston, has sent over 75players to the professionalranks, including first-rounddraft selections Ted Barnicle(1975) and Todd Jones (1989),who became the Gamecocks’first Major League BaseballAll-Star selection last season.He has coached 28 All-Ameri-cans and 69 of his playershave earned All-Conferencehonors. Under his leadership,his Jacksonville State teamshave participated in sevenNCAA Division II World Se-

ries, made 13 appearances inthe NCAA playoffs..

Abbott has twice been namedthe National Coach-of-the-Year and has been selected byhis peers as both the Confer-ence and District Coach-of-the-Year seven times, includ-ing the 1997 Trans AmericaAthletic Conference Coach-of-the-Year.

J

When I was on second, I wasthinking about sliding in andbeing the winning run. And, Iwas thinking about how I wasabout to be part of history.”

“We’d been trying to get some-thing going the whole game,”said Crompton. “We had guysin position to score and theydid a good job of gettingaround the bases.”

“A lot of people talk about usjust wanting to get 1,000,” saidGamecock shortstop CarlosDelgado. “We just wanted towin. I’ve been waiting for thisday since I got here a year anda half ago. I’m glad I was apart of it.”

“Coach Abbott acted like itwas no big deal, but 1,000 winsis a big deal,” said thirdbaseman Brian Shupe. “Heacted like he didn’t care aboutit but after tonight... after see-ing his face...I could tell hereally cared about it.”

Almost lost in all the excite-ment was the terrific perfor-mance on the mound by Game-cock pitcher Joey Shiflett. Af-ter giving up a run in the firstinning, the junior right-handersettled down and kept his teamin the game. He started towear down in the seventh, giv-ing up two more runs but itmade the dramatics even larger.

“Before the season started, Ihoped I would pitch the1,000th win. It’s a great feel-ing. I’m happy for CoachAbbott. He deserves it becausehe’s a legend. I’m proud to sayI played for him,” said Shiflett.

On his pitching performance,Shiflett said he felt “prettygood” on the mound. He wasquick to point out that this wasa team win. “Every person onthis team showed a lot of guts.”

THE PLAYERSREMEMBER

The scenario: game tied atthree. Designated hitter BenPhillips walks to begin the in-ning. Second baseman RalphCouret sacrifices Phillips tosecond. Abbott takes Phillipsout for pinch runner JoelStapleton.

Right fielder Ben Padilla stepsto the plate and is intentionallywalked. Catcher BobbyCrompton grinds out a singleto left field and Stapleton getsthe green light. Charging likea race horse, Stapleton slideshead first into home and wascalled state...Gamecocks 4,Belhaven 3.

Then, the celebration. Team-mates mobbed Stapleton andAbbott had captured win num-ber 1,000 in his 32nd year headcoaching career.

“I knew it was about to hap-pen,” said Stapleton. “Whenhe (Abbott) put me in, I sawthat I was the winning run.

Page 19: A Message from the President - Jacksonville State … Message from the President EDITOR: Connie Edge COPY: Al Harris Jamie Eubanks Jennifer Ledbetter DESIGN: Mary Smith ... structor

19SPRING 2001

SPORTS NOTES

Hughley Selected to All-Star Classic

J

With Rudy Abbott spending some 31 years in coaching, it’s easyto figure he has had many special days on a baseball diamond.And even though Saturday, October 7, 2000, wasn’t a day whenAbbott’s Jacksonville State Gamecocks played a baseballgame or won another championship, it will no doubt rankright up there as one of his best day’s in coaching.That’s the day Jacksonville State Universityrecognized the winningest coach in Alabamacollegiate sports history by naming the baseballfield in his honor — RUDY ABBOTT FIELD.Over 800 former players, alumni, students and friends were onhand for the ceremony and reunion, which featured players orfamily members from as far back as the 1930’s.

acksonville StateUniversity defensiveback Delvin Hughley

was selected for the KellyTires Blue-Gray All-Star Clas-sic, which is played on Christ-mas Day each year.

Hughley, a senior fromAnniston, was a first-team All-Southland Football Leagueselection after finishing with65 tackles, two interceptionsand 16 pass breakups in help-ing the Gamecocks to a 4-6record.

“I’m very excited about theopportunity to play in thisgame,” Hughley said. “I knowthat it is quite an honor andI’m proud to represent Jack-

sonville State University.”Hughley became the fourthGamecock to participate in theBlue-Gray Classic, joining AlWoodham (1955), JimGlasgow (1959) and MarkWord (1998).

“Delvin is a class act and verydeserving to play in the Blue-Gray Classic,” said JSU headcoach Jack Crowe. “He is oneof the finest football playersthat I have ever coached and Iknow that he will represent theUniversity and our programwell.”

Hughley finished the gamewith five tackles and the gamewas carried live on ABC tele-vision.

Rudy Abbott: A True Diamond

acksonville State’s rifleteam finished third inAir Rifle at the NCAA

Championship, March 7-8.The Gamecocks racked up ascore of 1,544, placing justbelow Alaska-Fairbanks(1,573) and Nebraska(1,547).

Sophomore Kelly Dove(Comer, Georgia), whoplaced 11th in SmallboreRifle, was named All-Ameri-

can in both guns, whilefreshman Kevin Simons(Stratford, Connecticut) wasnamed All-American inSmallbore.

“This weekend was a verygood, productive trip,” saidhead coach Gary DeBoy. “Iam pleased with the way weperformed toward the end ofthe season.”

With the addition of Simonsto the list, DeBoy has

coached eight All-Ameri-cans, who have been selected23 times. This is Dove’s sec-ond consecutive year to benamed All-American in bothguns.

“This iswithout a

doubt the bestwe have

ever done.”–Coach DeBoy

Teams rounding out the topeight in Air Rifle were Kentucky,Xavier, Murray State, Tennes-see Tech and West Virginia.

Alaska-Fairbanks defended itstitle in winning its third con-secutive championship with anaggregate team score of 6,283.

It also marked the fourth titlefor the Nanooks. The squadhad a 4,710 mark in smallbore,finishing first in both guns.Kentucky finished second over-all at 6,175 and West Virginiawas third at 6,174.

Four Gamecocks were namedNCAA Rifle Scholars:Stephanie Litz (Spokane,Washington), Graham Hicks(Roy, Washington), RobinGoodwin (Fort Wayne, Indi-ana) and Tate Robbins(Bellingham, Washington).

This year marks the seventhconsecutive year JSU hascompeted in NCAA Rifle Na-tional Championship and it isthe highest single gun finishJax State has ever enjoyed.

“This is without a doubt thebest we have ever done,” saidDeBoy.

JSU’s Rifle Team Ends Seasonon Positive Note

J

Page 20: A Message from the President - Jacksonville State … Message from the President EDITOR: Connie Edge COPY: Al Harris Jamie Eubanks Jennifer Ledbetter DESIGN: Mary Smith ... structor

20

’50-57 Major General LARRY E.

LEE ’57 (retired) has been electedPresident of the ROTC Chapter of theJSU Alumni Association. He replacesformer President Colonel Joe Creel. ADistinguished JSU Military Graduate,he enlisted in the Alabama NationalGuard while still a student. He wascommissioned a Second Lieutenant inthe Regular Army. After 8 years’ ac-tive duty, with assignments spanningfrom Texas to Germany, he returned tothe Alabama National Guard where heretired in 1995. He is also retired fromRepublic Steel Corporation andGadsden State Community College.He and his wife have 3 children … allJSU graduates. They reside inOhatchee.

DEAN AKIN ’58 lives in Au-burn after retirement from VocationalRehabilitation Services in Montgom-ery, where he was employed as Direc-tor of Adult Rehabilitation Services.His wife, WANDA ROBERTS AKIN,is also a JSU graduate in 1960 and1973. They enjoy their 7 grandchil-dren, teach church Sunday school, andenjoy Auburn’s “sports” atmosphere.Dean was the first JSU football playerto be drafted by a pro football team,the Pittsburgh Steelers, in 1958.

JERRY SUE BRANNON ’58/61 was appointed in September, 2000to fill an open board position on the St.Clair County Board of Education. Shespent over 36 years at Ragland HighSchool, where she worked as a teacher/librarian. She also served briefly as ateacher at Iola Roberts ElementarySchool in Pell City. She is president ofthe St. Clair County Retired TeachersAssociation.

’60-69 WILLIAM MAX PAYNE ’61

was recently appointed area presidentfor Colonial Bank’s East Central Ala-bama area. He has been with Colonialfor more than 35 years. He works inthe main office in Anniston and isresponsible for the bank’s growth inCleburne, Calhoun, Blount, Clay, St.Clair, Randolph, Etowah and Talladegacounties.

NANCY CHITWOOD ROCH-ESTER ’62, a retired school counselormost recently serving at CherokeeCounty High, received an Achieve-

ALUM NOTES...We love to hear from you!

ment Award from the Beta Rho Chap-ter of the Delta Kappa Gamma SocietyInternational. She has been a DeltaKappa Gamma member for 15 yearsand has served as president and inseveral other offices.

COLONEL JOE C. CREEL’65, a retired 30-year career militaryofficer, was inducted into the PatriotsHall of Fame in November 2000, inGadsden. The event was sponsoredby the Gadsden-Etowah Patriots As-sociation and held in conjunctionwith Veteran’s Day. He served twoVietnam tours and command assign-ments in Germany, Korea and thePersian Gulf. He was awarded nu-merous medals, including the Legionof Merit, the Bronze Star, and theSilver Star. He and his wife, JANEGRAMLING CREEL ’66, reside inSouthside.

JIMMY LINDSEY ’65 hasserved as Circuit Clerk for the DekalbCounty Circuit Court for 24 years. Hesupervises 10 employees processingabout 10,000 cases a year. Last yearalone, he received and distributed over$5 million in fines, victim restitution,court costs, judgments, and child sup-port through his office. He and hiswife have 4 grown children.

LARRY BECK ’69 has enjoyeda successful career in Gospel music formore than 30 years, having sung bari-tone with The Gospelaires, GospelConnection, and The Southmen. Sincegraduation, he has served as musicminister in several large churches. Heis also a songwriter and is presentlywith the group, Uplifted, which hejoined 10 years ago. He wrote It’s theBlood That Makes The Difference,which was released, nationally forradio play. Larry can be reached atAcademy Promotions (205) 647-3632,if you would like performance infor-mation on Uplifted.

’70-79 KAY KING DAVIS ’70/95/00 is

a reading specialist with Cedar BluffSchool’s Alabama Reading Program.From 1991-2000, she taught kinder-garten and first grade at Cedar Bluff.Prior to that time, she taught at Saks.In 1988, she was elected as a memberof the Cherokee County Board of Edu-cation — the first woman to be electedto the post. She resigned in 1991 toaccept a teaching position at CedarBluff.

THERON HENDRIX ’70 is theassistant principal at Mellow Valley inClay County. He has taught in all fourClay County High Schools with 28years of service. He also has 20 yearsof administrative experience spanningkindergarten level through the centraloffice.

"!Brigadier General JERRYC. MCABEE ’70 is currently assignedas Chief of Staff of the U.S. SouthernCommand. He was commissioned aMarine Corps 2nd Lieutenant throughthe JSU Platoon Leaders Course upongraduation. He has served in variousstaff and command assignments. Hispersonal decorations include the Le-gion of Merit with Gold Star, BronzeStar Medal, Defense Meritorious Ser-vice Medal, Meritorious Service Medalwith Gold Star, and the Navy Achieve-ment Medal.

TONY R. SIMMONS ’70 hasbeen employed by the MarshallCounty Board of Education since April1981. He has been transportationsupervisor, coordinator of attendance,director of the Marshall AlternativeSchool and a fingerprinting specialist.Tony and his wife Sandra reside inDouglas. He served as President of theMarshall County Chapter of the JSUAlumni Association from 1992 to1998.

MICHAEL R. MCPHERSON‘72/73 is currently serving as an assis-tant principal in Delray Beach, FL. Hewas inducted into the local athletic hallof fame in February 1999, in LakeCity, FL. He began his coaching ca-reer 28 years ago and has coachedcross-country and track. His crosscountry teams have won 5 state cham-pionships, 2 state runner up, 14 re-gional championships, 25 districtchampionships and 28 conference

championships. His track teams havewon 1 state runner up, 23 districtchampionships and 25 conferencechampionships. He has coached 10individual state champions and 4 highschool All-Americans. He received theFACA Professional Service and LifeMembership Awards for his outstand-ing contribution to high school athlet-ics and the coaching profession.

NATHAN L. ESSEX ’73 wasselected in September 2000, as Ala-bama State University’s new President.He was serving as SW TennesseeCommunity College’s Interim presi-dent at the time of his selection. Heand his wife of 24 years, Lorene, have3 grown children.

DENNIS HARP ’73 is the infor-mation technology officer for Nabisco,Inc. in Atlanta. He was on hand No-vember 17 at the Wynfrey Hotel inBirmingham for the celebration pro-claiming it “Joe Namath Day” in Ala-bama. The award was given toNamath on behalf of Alabama Gover-nor Siegelman for his outstandingcommitment to arthritis sufferers.Dennis is a friend of Joe Namath andattended the event with him.

AMANDA R. DALTON LANE‘73/76, retired in June 2000, after 27years of teaching. She taught in Jack-sonville City Schools for 5 years be-fore moving to Norton, KS, where shetaught for 22 years. She lives inCherokee Village, AR, and loves it!

HELEN TINKER MCALPINE’74, a former administrator with theHuntsville City School System, cameout of retirement after only one year toserve as president of J.F. Drake StateTechnical College in Huntsville. Herfirst priorities are to fill key staff posi-tions and then to evaluate the collegefrom the campus, to its programs, to itsalliances with the community. Herhusband, DR. JOHNNY W.MCALPINE ’76, serves as presidentof Snead State Community College.

DALE MCKAY ‘74/84/86served 4 years in the Air Force duringVietnam, taught at Barfield MiddleSchool in Clay County, served 4 yearsas a superintendent and 22 years in theschool system. His wife, DONNABAILEY MCKAY, is a 1979 JSUgraduate.

LYNNE SWINDALL SMITH‘74/79 is serving in her first year asdirector of career technical educationat the Calhoun County Career Techni-cal Center in Jacksonville. She previ-

Page 21: A Message from the President - Jacksonville State … Message from the President EDITOR: Connie Edge COPY: Al Harris Jamie Eubanks Jennifer Ledbetter DESIGN: Mary Smith ... structor

21SPRING 2001

ALUM NOTES...We love to hear from you!

ously worked at the Anniston ArmyDepot and as a career technical coordi-nator at Anniston High School. Someof her responsibilities include goingout into the county high schools andworking with teachers who teach ca-reer technology in agriculture science,family and consumer science and busi-ness. She is only the second femalethe local center has ever had. She ismarried to Dr. Jerry L. Smith, Mayorof the City of Jacksonville, and a po-litical science instructor at JSU.

BILL DRINKARD ’75 has beenreappointed to the Alabama HistoricalCommission by Governor DonSiegelman. He is vice-president ofDrinkard Development, Inc. He hasserved 5 years in the State House ofRepresentatives and 7 in the Senate,where he served as majority leader andchairman on the Senate Rules Com-mittee. He resides in Cullman.

CHARLES WARREN ’75 isprincipal at Henagar School in DekalbCounty. He has 26 years’ experience,12 as an administrator. He has servedas principal at Henagar for the past 6years and has experience at the el-ementary, middle and high schoollevels as a teacher and administrator.He and his wife have 2 college-agechildren.

C. DIANE DAVIS ’76 is in her24th year of teaching kindergarten atAshville Elementary School. She andher husband Mike have 2 children.

RANDY E. JONES ‘76 ofGuntersville established his Nation-wide Insurance Agency in 1978. Hewas the youngest agent inducted intothe Nationwide President’s Hall ofFame in 1999. His agency has grownto include offices in Albertville, Arab,Huntsville, Gadsden and Anniston.Involved in various civic and commu-nity organizations, Randy was recog-nized at the White House by PresidentRonald Reagan for his work as chair-man of Project Independence, a wel-fare reform committee. Randy and hiswife Debra have one daughter. Randyis a life member of the JSU AlumniAssociation and served for many yearsas an at-large member of the alumniBoard of Governors representingMarshall County JSU alumni.

PAMELA SMITH MORGAN’76 was chosen October 2000, Teacherof the Month for the Attalla CitySchool System. She teaches seniorAmerican government and economicsat Etowah High School. She has 22

years’ experience in the Attalla system.Pam and her husband Sam reside inAttalla.

"!DAVID L. WILLIAMS ’76has joined Gulf States Paper Corpora-tion as internal audit manager for theFinance Division at the national head-quarters in Tuscaloosa. He previouslywas employed as an internal auditmanager with Commonwealth Indus-tries in Louisville, KY, and with Fruitof the Loom in Bowling Green, KY.

TERESA J. GARDNER ‘77/80/88 received her doctorate of philoso-phy in education degree from the Uni-versity of Alabama in May 2000. Shecompleted her studies in special educa-tion with a concentration in emotionaldisturbance. Teresa is employed bythe Gadsden City Board of Education.

RODNEY HOLMES ’78 hasbeen promoted to Tuscaloosa CountyPresident of Colonial Bank. He hasmore than 20 years’ experience inbanking. Rodney and his wife Marthahave 2 children and reside inTuscaloosa.

BARBARA A. LEWIS ’78 is acorrectional counselor with the SouthCarolina Department of Corrections.She works with youthful offenders andthe lockup unit. Barbara has been withthe department for 13 years. She hasone son and resides in Jonesville, SC.

RICHARD LINDSEY ’78 hasbeen appointed by Alabama HouseSpeaker Seth Hammett to chair a pow-erful budget committee - the Ways andMeans Committee. Richard is a five-term Cherokee County legislator. Thecommittee handles appropriationsfrom the $4.2 billion education fundand is one of only two House budgetcommittees. He is also part owner ofLindsey Brothers, Inc., a farming andagribusiness company. Richard and

his wife have 2 children and they re-side in Centre. He is a life member ofthe JSU Alumni Association.

MONICA NICHOLS ’78 hasjoined the faculty at the Berry CollegeElementary School in Mt. Berry, GA.She previously taught in Kentucky forseveral years. Prior to moving to Ken-tucky, Monica was a teacher at BerryElementary for 3 years where she cre-ated and facilitated a developmentallyappropriate, experiential, integratedcurriculum for primary school chil-dren. She also designed and imple-mented a volunteer program of naturestudy for primary students at theschool. Monica is currently pursuingher doctorate degree. She lives inRome with her husband and 3 daugh-ters.

"!STANLEY L. CARPENTER’79, project director for the U.S. ArmySimulation, Training & Instrumenta-tion Command (STRICOM) in Or-lando, FL, has been selected as the“Acquisition Person of the Year 2000”.This award is presented to an indi-vidual who has made significant con-tributions to the Army through theirprogram duties. His wife, JOCELYNCORDLE CARPENTER ’80, is a RNand teacher at the Academy of HealthCareers, Seminole County HighSchool in Sanford, FL. They reside inOviedo and have 2 daughters.

’80-89 NORMAN DEESE ’80, has

been named Vice-President of Com-mercial Accounts at Resource SupplyManagement, Inc., Mableton, GA. Hepreviously was employed at SouthwireCompany in Carrollton for 25 years inengineering and, most recently, as their

telecommunications manager. He waspart of Southwire’s Energy Manage-ment Team, which received nationalrecognition. As a result of his exper-tise in energy management, he gainedhis current position with ResourceSupply Management. He and his wifeBecky are the parents of 4 growndaughters. They reside in Carrollton,GA.

AL DENSON ’80 has beennamed executive director of the Bir-mingham Airport Authority from afield of 60 applicants. He also holdsdegrees from Stillman College andSamford University.

WENDELL B. MCLAIN ’80has been selected for promotion to therank of Colonel in the Air Force. Hehas commanded several units andserved in Operation Desert Shield/Storm. Colonel McLain has receivedmany awards and decorations includ-ing the Bronze Star, Meritorious Ser-vice Medal, Army CommendationMedal, Army Achievement Medal,Parachute Badge and Expert Infantry-man Badge.

DENISE HUNTER MILLER’80 and her husband Clark of Plano,TX, have ventured out on their ownwith a new business, Business &Sourcing Solutions, Inc., doing con-sulting work in metal stamping, metalfabricating, and ISO/QS. They are alsorecruiting for team members for avariety of companies in the metalstamping and metal spinning indus-tries. Their company serves such com-panies as Georgia Power, Steelcase,and at Precision Metalforming Asso-ciation (Cleveland, OH) where they areworking with a web-based company toset up an online buying service for themetalforming industry. Denise and herhusband have 3 daughters. Their old-est daughter’s godmother is JSU’s veryown Dr. Alice Cusimano.

MICHAEL K. JOHNSON ’81is an MBA and Certified Public Ac-countant. He is the regional auditmanager for Charter Communications,a national cable company. At JSU, hewas a member of Omega Psi Phi frater-nity. Mike has 2 children and residesin Birmingham.

ALAN D. LAQUAY ’81 is asystems analyst with UPMC in Pitts-burgh, PA. He and his wife reside inLower Burrell, PA.

ANGIE LEDBETTERMCPHERSON ‘82/85 was recentlyselected as the principal at Loyd El-

Page 22: A Message from the President - Jacksonville State … Message from the President EDITOR: Connie Edge COPY: Al Harris Jamie Eubanks Jennifer Ledbetter DESIGN: Mary Smith ... structor

22

ALUM NOTES...We love to hear from you!

ementary School, a DOD school lo-cated at Ft. Benning, GA. She previ-ously was an assistant principal at theFt. McClellan Elementary School.Angie has been married for more than26 years to DAVID MCPHERSON’74, who is a Lieutenant Colonel in theAlabama Army National Guard, serv-ing as the full-time manager of the Ft.McClellan Army National GuardTraining Center. Their daughter is arecent Auburn graduate. They residein Calhoun County.

IRVING THOMPSON ’82recently retired as principal at AshlandElementary School. He started histeaching career in 1971 at Millerville.In 1981 he became principal atAshland and stayed there to finish his30-year career.

TRICIA STRAWN HOPPER’83 teaches the multi-disabled class atGuntersville Elementary School and isthe half-day special education assistantat the high school. She is in her 18th

year of teaching special education. Athome, she’s an amateur interior deco-rator. She’s an avid Coca-Cola and“Gone With the Wind” memorabiliacollector and actually has a 6-footRhett Butler and Scarlett O’Hara dis-played in her living room! As a ten-sion reliever from her long hours atschool, she is a part-time shampooer at

a local beauty salon several days aweek. Not only does she have twostepsons, but she is also a foster parent.

JAY WAID ’83 has been in theintensive care heart transplant unit atthe University of Alabama-Birming-ham (UAB) since August 2000. Jayplayed baseball at JSU for CoachRudy Abbott. He and his wife, JANWATSON WAID ’83, and their 2 chil-dren reside in Birmingham. Pleasekeep Jay and his family in yourthoughts and prayers.

GLEN GRAHAM ’84 is headbasketball and volleyball coach atIsabella High School in Tuscaloosa.He and his wife Leah have a youngson and daughter. They reside inClanton.

BRENT NEEDHAM HEARD‘84/87 is employed by NASA as ascientist at Langley Research Center inHampton, VA. He was a member ofKappa Sigma fraternity at JSU. Brent,his wife Marian, and their 3 childrenreside in picturesque Williamsburg,VA. He says he’s living out his dreamof being a NASA scientist, thanks toseveral of his JSU professors.

GORDON R. MCKINNEY ’84,a financial consultant at A.G. Edwards& Sons, Inc. in Anniston, was recentlyawarded the title of trust specialist. Hehas 15 years’ experience in the broker-age industry. He joined A.G. Edwardsin 1985.

GENE MILLER ’84 is a socialstudies teacher at Lineville HighSchool and resides in Delta. He hastaught for 22 years, 11 of those in ClayCounty.

TRACY HAYES PENNEY ’84grew up in a family of educators. Shealways wanted to be a teacher but nowshe’s become a principal. She is thenew principal at Sloman PrimarySchool in Douglas. She spent 2 yearsas assistant principal at Blountsvillebefore taking the new job. She and herhusband John and son Jay reside inGuntersville.

THERESA MORRIS SMOOT‘84/87, has been hired as personneldirector for the Tallapoosa CountyBoard of Education. She previouslyworked for 13 years teaching socialstudies and science at Munford High inTalladega County. She and her hus-band James have one son Trey.

KENNETH J. DAUGHERTY‘85/88/93 is currently teaching Englishand Math at a school near Oxford, MS,and is working toward his doctorate atthe University of Mississippi. He pre-viously taught in Georgia and Ala-bama.

REDELLE EASLEY-HOWELL ’85 was recently inductedinto Xi Chapter of Kappa Delta Pi atthe University of Alabama inTuscaloosa. She is employed byStillman College in Tuscaloosa as acurriculum specialist.

KRIS JOHNSON LLOYD ‘85/00 is teaching kindergarten at HelenaElementary School. She is in her firstyear teaching.

ELLEN MAINS ROBBINS ’85has successfully completed all require-ments and has been certified in produc-tion and inventory management (CPIM)by APICS, the Educational Society forResource Management. She has joinedan exclusive group of individuals dedi-cated to improving the production andinventory management profession andmanufacturing as a whole.

GREGORY W. BRYANT ’86,Executive VP of Bay Cities Bank;VONDA BARBOUR WHITE ’88,President of Collegiate Risk Manage-ment, Inc. and former JSU SGA Presi-dent; and CHRISTOPHER CRUMP’89, VP of W. G. Mills Construction,Inc. and a former JSU tennis player,were among Tampa Bay’s (FL) “40Under 40”, a group recognized annu-ally for high professional achievementand strong community involvement.The only other schools to be repre-sented last November 2000, in Floridaby 3 alumni were the University ofFlorida and Florida State University, thetwo largest public universities in theState of Florida!

KIM STUBBLEFIELD MINTZ‘86/90/96 recently received her Ph.D.from the University of Alabama. She iscurrently the principal at Hokes BluffElementary School in Etowah Countyand an instructor for the University ofAlabama Gadsden Center. Kim and herhusband, BRIAN ‘85/91, live inSouthside with their 3 sons.

DENVER HUGH NOLIN ’86arrived for duty at Maxwell Air ForceBase in Montgomery in January 2001.An Air Force Reserve Captain, he is aninstructor pilot assigned to the 908th

Airlift Wing.KELVIN CUNNINGHAM ’87

currently serves as District 3 CountyCommissioner in Talladega County. Hewas an assistant principal at WinterboroSchool and a teacher at Talladega HighSchool. Kelvin and his wife have a son.

FELICIA RENAE PAIGEKITTLES ’87 is an Information Tech-nology Specialist for the federal gov-ernment, assigned to the HQ ForcesCommand at Ft. McPherson, GA. Shehas been a federal employee for 20years, working for the Army and Navyin both stateside and overseas assign-ments. Felicia resides in Douglasville,GA with her husband Attys and theirdaughter.

LOWELL SMITH ‘87/98 is inhis second year as principal at DouglasHigh School in Marshall County. Hehas been fascinated by “Custer’s LastStand” since he was a child. He owns alarge collection of memorabilia andartifacts, is a former chairman of theLittle Bighorn Association, and is closefriends with the Custer family today.He has testified as an expert before theU.S. Senate when the name of thebattlefield was changed and has donesome consulting work for TV. He andhis wife have 2 children. His son is asenior at JSU.

DEBBIE LUKER WALKER’87 is an accredited and certified legalsecretary in Birmingham.

ANTIONETTE WATLEY-FRAILS ’87 recently accepted a posi-tion as a Registered Nurse in Pediatricsat the Medical College of Georgia. Sheand her husband Larry have 2 childrenand live in Augusta, GA. Antionette is aformer Gamecock cheerleader.

ROY L. WILLIAMS ’87 hasbeen awarded a journalism fellowshipby the National Press Foundation. Royis a business reporter at The Birming-ham News. He received an all expensepaid trip to the Foundation’s Financialand Economic Seminar in Washington,

Woman’s JSU ring with green stone and ring guard.

We believe the ring was found in Chipley, FL,

possibly near the Washington County Vocational

School back in 1990. We are searching for someone

with the initials “BSG” with a BS in BY (biology)

in 1978. Please contact the JSU Alumni Office

(256)782-5404, 1-800-231-5291, ext. 5404 or

by fax at (256)782-5502, or e-mail at

[email protected] if you are the owner or possibly

remember someone in your science classes during that

time frame with those initials.

Page 23: A Message from the President - Jacksonville State … Message from the President EDITOR: Connie Edge COPY: Al Harris Jamie Eubanks Jennifer Ledbetter DESIGN: Mary Smith ... structor

23SPRING 2001

ALUM NOTES...We love to hear from you!

DC in October 2000. He was amongonly 15 finance reporters in the U.S. toreceive the fellowship. Roy and hiswife, PATRICE ODEN ’91, live inBirmingham with their daughter. Manyof you know Roy’s mom, PEARL K.WILLIAMS ‘77/82, former JSU policeofficer and current counselor with theJSU Career Development and Counsel-ing Services Center. Roy’s twinbrother, TROY LEE ’88, is a computeroperator for the U.S. Air Force Acad-emy in Colorado.

FRANCES A. BLACK ‘88/94has been employed with the DekalbCounty Board of Education for 13years and is presently an Englishteacher and a coach at Sylvania HighSchool. She recently coached her LadyRams volleyball team to the Class 3AState Championship!

STEPHANIE CLAY GOSSETT‘88/99 worked for 10 years in retail asthe clothing buyer for Wakefield’s andKitchin’s department stores inAnniston. A class in nutrition sparkedher interest so, while continuing towork part time as a buyer, she againenrolled at JSU to major in dietetics.

Alumni Association Life Members

In response to your many requests, we have added an additional benefit to our life membership.The recreational facilities at Stephenson Hall and Pete Mathews Coliseum are now available foran additional yearly fee. If you have questions, please call the Alumni Office for more details.

A New Addition to Life Membership

ALEXANDRA G. BAIRDJOHN FREEMAN BENTLEY ’73

KIMBERLY VANDERFORD CLINE ’87R. NELL COLEMAN ’86

DON W. CROFT ’66ROBERT G. DANFORD

JANA PENTECOST DOWNS ’73MAC DOWNS ’70

JAMES R. GARMON ’71SHENA KINNEY HILL ’85

CHARLES E. “SAM” HOUSTON ’62LEON M. HOWARD ’64

SUSAN B. HOWARD ’69/85JOHN HUGHES

MARY ANN HUGHES ’57BOBBY D. JOHNSON ’64

STEPHEN E. JONES ’83AMY BRAND MACHEN ’80

STEVEN BRIAN MACHEN ’80ERIC V. MUTH ’91/93

K. ASHLEY MUTH ’93/96JEAN B. ROGERS ’74/76/83RALPH W. ROGERS, JR. ’73

DAVID MARK SHAW ’83NANCY LETT SHAW ’92CHESTER B. SKATES ’57E. BERTON SPENCE ’83

TIMOTHY ALAN STREET ’90ANN O’NEILL SUMMERS ’87

GREGORY EUGENE SUMNER ’94/96DOUG E. WHEELER ’65

MANOLA H. WHEELER ’65

The following have become recent life members of the Alumni Association.(Since September, 2000)

Stephanie is now director of the childnutrition program at Kitty Stone El-ementary School in Jacksonville. She istrying to establish good healthy eatinghabits early in young children. She ismarried to JEFF GOSSETT ‘88/94,band director at Jacksonville HighSchool. Both are life members of theAlumni Association at JSU.

GREGORY W. HEARD ’88 hasbeen appointed group operations man-ager for Consolidated Freightways(CF), a leading transportation carrierspecializing in long-haul freightthroughout North America. He man-ages all operations and sales functionsat CF’s Portland (WA) facility. Theterminal is part of a division handlingmore than 1.2 billion pounds of freightannually. He began his career with CFin 1988 in Gadsden. Greg and his wifehave relocated to the Portland area.

LAURA JOHNSON ALLEN’89 was recently honored as the Distrib-uted Information Systems, Inc. Techni-cal Employee of the Year. She is a Se-nior Systems Analyst and supportsNASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center inHuntsville. Laura and her husband

Randall reside in Owens Cross Roads.She was a member of Alpha Xi Deltasorority at JSU.

W. TOMMY THWEATT ’89 isemployed by the Tallapoosa CountyBoard of Education in the accounts pay-able department.

’90-99 Three JSU grads and Talladega

County natives returned to work withthe Talladega County Department ofHuman Resources, which is launch-ing a new program to help “at risk”students. Both Talladega County andTalladega city school systems havecontracted with DHR to provide theprograms. OLA ROBERSONSCOTT ’90 and SONYA GEORGE’94 serve as county school interven-tionists. JENNIFER BURNSBRYANT ’98 will work with the cityschools. They were chosen from afield of 45 applicants. Ola most re-cently worked as a mental health thera-pist in Orangeburg, SC schools. Sonyaworked at Eastside Mental Health in

Pell City. Jennifer has worked atBradford in Pelham, and is working onher master’s degree at JSU.

GINA DARLENE WOMACK’90 is employed as promotion coordi-nator for ABC 33/40 in Birmingham.She received the 1999 Addy Award inthe TV promotion category from theTuscaloosa Advertising Federation.Gina was employed at WJSU-TV 40in Anniston. While at JSU, she was amember of Alpha Xi Delta sororityand president of the PanhellenicCouncil.

CHRISTOPHER WAYNEREAVES ‘91/96 is now Program Man-ager II at the University of Alabama-Birmingham’s (UAB) Center for UrbanAffairs. The CUA conducts the highestquality basic and applied research forthe federal, state and local governmentsand is committed to improved livingconditions in the City of Birminghamand the metropolitan area.

JACQUELINE WATLEY ’92has accepted a management positionas Human Resources Business Repre-sentative with the Southern Companyin Birmingham. She has over 6 years’experience in Human Resources Man-agement. Prior to the Southern Com-pany, she was an Area Human Re-sources Representative/Supervisor forUnited Parcel Service. She has onedaughter.

CHARLTON EUGENEGILES ’93/98 is an assistant princi-pal with the Gadsden City Board ofEducation. While at JSU, he was amember of the tennis team and AlphaTau Omega fraternity. He served asfraternity chapter advisor and presi-dent of its board of trustees for sev-eral years. He and his wife reside inGadsden.

Gadsden.

"!Captain STEPHEN CLAYGOFF ’93 assumed command of C

Page 24: A Message from the President - Jacksonville State … Message from the President EDITOR: Connie Edge COPY: Al Harris Jamie Eubanks Jennifer Ledbetter DESIGN: Mary Smith ... structor

24

ALUM NOTES...We love to hear from you!

Battery, 1st Battalion, 3 D Air DefenseArtillery Regiment at Ft. Stewart, GAon June 15, 2000. In attendance at theChange of Command ceremony werehis wife, JANET WALKER GOFF’92, and his father-in-law, TOMMYWALKER ‘72/76. Clay and Janet livein Savannah, GA, where Janet is akindergarten teacher.

TRACI LYNN SLATON ’93earned her law degree from SamfordUniversity on May 20, 2000. Sheholds a master’s degree from the Uni-versity of Alabama and is presentlyemployed by UAB teaching substanceabuse to adolescents. She is also em-ployed by Jefferson County FamilyCourt in its Electronic MonitoringProgram.

KEITH JONES ’94 is currentlyemployed as a credit card terminalspecialist at SouthTrust Bankcard Mer-chant Services in Birmingham. Hewas previously employed by ABC 33/40 as an audio operator for “GoodMorning Alabama.”

DIANE HURST MYERS ’94 isa physical education teacher atClaysville in Marshall County. Shehas been teaching for 14 years, first atDAR where she also coached girls’track and then at Claysville for the past11 years. She and her husband Johnlive in Guntersville. They have 3grown daughters who are also teach-ers. Diane remembers for at least a 10-year stretch, she and all her childrenwere in college together!

KEVIN LEE DAVIS ’95 is adatabase administrator with AndersenConsulting in Birmingham. He and hiswife Barbara reside in Birmingham.

HAROLD H. HILLIARD, JR.’95 is a teacher, head strength andconditioning coordinator and assistantathletic director at The Lovett Schoolin Atlanta, GA.

TIMOTHY PHILLIPS ’95 hadhis first book published in December2000. A dark crime noir set in a biggerand meaner Birmingham; Season ofthe Witch was published byFictionworks Publishing. He is cur-rently at work on a second book fea-turing many of the same characters.Each book in the series will take itstitle from a song. Tim has also pub-lished several short stories in a WestCoast literary magazine. Don’t forget,Tim and fellow JSU alum, DOUGLASMCDOWELL ’92, own and maintainwww.ohatchee.com, a site devotedabsolutely free to the community

where they both grew up. They inviteyou to visit them on their web site.

MIKE COLLINS ’96 was se-lected Teacher of the Month for De-cember 2000, at DAR High School inMarshall County. He is working onhis master’s degree in library science,

SHAWANDA L. GOODGAME’96 is coordinator of Turning Point, aprogram designed for families ofstrong-willed or out-of-control adoles-cent children in Talladega County. Itis a collaboration between the countyjuvenile court, the Cheaha MentalHealth Center and the Sylacauga Al-liance for Family Enhancement Fam-ily Services Center. The programteaches parents to identify, preventand intervene in bad adolescent be-haviors. It also allows students toidentify their destructive behaviors,assess personal strengths and setgoals in an action plan to preventbehavioral problems.

AMY WERGIN OGLE ’96graduated from the University of Ala-bama Surgical Physician AssistantProgram in August 2000. She is em-ployed with the Cardio-Thoracic andVascular Surgical Associates in Mo-bile. She and her husband, KEVINROYCE OGLE ’97, reside in Mo-bile.

CHARLES C. PREVATTE,JR. ’96 is a Captain in the U.S.Army. While at JSU, he was a mem-ber of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity.

JEFF ALLEN ’97, formerbranch manager of Northwest Finan-cial in Anniston, has been namedbranch manager of the main AmSouthbank office in Anniston.

JOSE JOAQUIN DUARTE ’97from Colombia, South America, iscurrently working as a programmeranalyst at Epos Corp in Auburn. Hewas married on December 30, 2000,in Colombia in a small town locatedin the Andes Mountains.

BRIAN MERRILL ’97 is in his4th year as an Alabama State Trooperand already has been identified as oneof the state’s top at arresting peopledriving under the influence. In 1999,he was first in the state with 135 ar-rests. Through August of 2000, healready had 83 arrests, which put himsecond in the state. Is he a “DUI Mag-net” or is there another reason hemakes so many arrests? He feels it hasto do with the good training he re-ceived. His training officer inTalladega County showed him certain

sections of the county to watch andtactics to use. Brian and his wife livenear Sylacauga.

KIMBERLY L. MITCHELL’97 was named Family and ConsumerScience New Teacher of the Year at theACTE Association’s conference inAugust 2000. She teaches at MunfordHigh School and is also the FCCLAadvisor. Prior to Munford, Kimberlytaught for 3 years at Eden Career Tech-nical Center in St. Clair County. She ispursuing her educational specialistdegree from the University of Alabamaand she is an adjunct faculty member atJSU.

LAURA SMITH EDEN ’98 is ateacher at Iola Roberts ElementarySchool in Pell City, where she hastaught for 2 years. In her previousposition, she taught at Alexandria HighSchool. She received a “Teacher of theWeek” award in November 2000.

MEGAN GREEN ’98 has beenadmitted to the professional programat Auburn University’s College ofVeterinary Medicine as a member ofthe Class of 2004.

KAY SMITH ’98 has been

named Gadsden State CommunityCollege’s public relations director. Shehas been the owner of Kay SmithSchool of Performing Arts for 30 years,choreographer of the JSU MarchingBallerinas for 28 years and choreogra-pher of the Gadsden State SouthernBelles for 22 years. She also judgesdance, baton twirling and pageant com-petitions throughout the South.

JASON ALLEN WALTERS’98, a second-year student atCumberland School of Law at SamfordUniversity in Birmingham, wonCumberland’s Fall 2000 James O.Haley Trial Competition. The compe-tition allows students to compete incourtroom procedure, exhibiting theirtrial advocacy skills before a panel ofjudges. The competition is named forJudge James O. Haley, the long-timecoach and instructor for Cumberland’strial program.

PHILLIP CARTER ’99 servesas an Alabama Cooperative ExtensionSystem agent in Houston County inthe Urban Program. He previouslyworked as a child support officer at theDepartment of Human Resources in

BUCKINGHAM/NICKS CONCERTS

STUFFI’m trying to locate concert

photos, negatives, posters, moviefilm, recordings, etc...regardingthe 1974-75 live concerts that

took place atJacksonville State University,

University of Alabama,and in Birmingham.

Call collect for George at512-912-7733 or email at

[email protected].

Page 25: A Message from the President - Jacksonville State … Message from the President EDITOR: Connie Edge COPY: Al Harris Jamie Eubanks Jennifer Ledbetter DESIGN: Mary Smith ... structor

25SPRING 2001

ALUM NOTES...We love to hear from you!

Anniston. He wants to open thepublic’s eyes at an early age to envi-ronmental issues. He is coordinatingproblem-solving initiatives for local“at-risk” youth, involving how to buy acar, rent an apartment, saving money,buying insurance, selecting an occupa-tion, and other every day, real-worldissues.

JAIME CHILDRESS ’99 is acourt referral officer for MarshallCounty. She accepted the position inJanuary 2000. Jaime resides inGuntersville.

JOEY CREWS ’99 held a one-man art exhibit back in August 2000,at the Center for Cultural Arts inGadsden. Applying etching inks ontoa plate and then running the plate withprintmaking paper through a presscreates the majority of his works.This creates an abstract image in thatthe image is not a re-creation of real-world objects, but is an expressionfrom the artistic soul.

AARON GARRETT ’99 ofCentre, AL, received first place in thestudent paper competition at the master’slevel during the Fall 2000 Associationfor Computing Machinery Mid-South-east Conference. He is a graduate re-search assistant in the Mathematical,Computing and Information SciencesDepartment at JSU.

APRIL ROTENBERRYHARRY ’99 has recently been pro-moted from staff accountant to SeniorAccountant with IPN in Birmingham.She has been with the company sincegraduation. April and her husband Mat-thew reside in Childersburg.

JEREMY “HOSE” HOSIER ’99has left the world of media for a new jobat Huntsville Hospital. He is in the Mar-keting and Public Relations Departmentas Marketing Coordinator. He has alsoagreed to serve as head soccer coach atAustin High School in Decatur. He alsoplans to enter graduate school.

2000 JAMI LYNN HIGDON ’00 has

begun studies at the West VirginiaSchool of Osteopathic Medicine. Shewill study basic sciences for two yearsbefore spending the final two years onclinical rotations at various hospitals,clinics and private practices. Jamiexpects to graduate in 2004. She was aFaculty Scholar at JSU, where shereceived several honor scholarships,made the Dean’s List, and served as

treasurer of the JSU chapter of BetaBeta Beta honor society.

BILLY J. JENKINS ’00 wasrecognized by Alfa Insurance as itsJanuary 2001, Teacher of the Month.He has been teaching at Ivalee El-ementary School in Etowah Countysince 1993. He was the 1998 DistrictVIII Alabama State Teacher of the Yearand, that same year, was namedTeacher of the Year for Ivalee Schooland Etowah County. He is a Habitatfor Humanity and Child AdvocacyCenter of Gadsden volunteer. Billyresides in Southside.

LEANNE MCELRATH ’00was recently presented the YoungCareerist Award by the AlbertvilleBusiness and Professional Women’sClub. She is the family self-suffi-ciency coordinator for the AlbertvilleHousing Authority, providing supportand assistance to applicants for rentalassistance, usually women with children,to help free them from government assis-tance.

PHAEDRA H. ROBERTS ’00 isemployed by Bartow County (GA)Schools as a Curriculum Coordinator atAdairsville Elementary School. Phaedraand her husband of 21 years, Mike, nowreside in White, GA, with their daughter,Katie.

JASON GRANT SELF ’00 is ateacher/coach with the Floyd County(GA) Board of Education. He resides inArmuchee.

BRANDON SIMMONS ’00 hasaccepted a job working with NASA atLockheed Martin Space Operations asan applications software engineer. Hewill help develop software that runs theInternational Space Station.

DELAINE SMITH STAFFORD’00, a magna cum laude nursing gradu-ate, is employed as an RN at CherokeeCounty Nursing Home in Centre.

ADAM WALLACE ’00 is in hisfirst year of teaching at Ragland HighSchool. He will also act as assistantvarsity football coach, the B-Team bas-ketball coach and the 8th grade sponsor.

WEDDINGS

’80-89 JOHN T. VAN CLEAVE, II

‘87/89 married Tanya McGinnis in

December 2000, in Jacksonville. Johnis employed as a math teacher andcoach at Jacksonville High School.

JEANNIE JOHNSON ’88 andROBERT ALAN COSBY ’92 weremarried June 3, 2000, in Ocho Rios,Jamaica. Jeannie teaches at JohnJones Elementary School in EtowahCounty. Alan is the new assistant prin-cipal at Rainbow Middle School inGadsden. He began his teaching ca-reer in 1993 at Westbrook ChristianSchool.

JAY PRATER ’88 and CynthiaDubose, August 26, 2000. Jay hasaccepted a position with The HotelGroup in Auburn. He is the new gen-eral manager of a Hilton Garden Innscheduled to open in Auburn in Sep-tember 2001.

SCOTT CROLEY ’89 and JillSanderson, September 2, 2000, inGadsden. He is a member of Alpha PsiOmega drama honorary society and isemployed by InterCDnet Inc. in SanRafael, CA.

’90-99 DAVID LOUIS MITCHELL

’90 and Melinda Shirley, November11, 2000, in Ohatchee. Melinda is asenior at JSU. David is employedwith the Ohatchee Police Department.

KAREN “BETH” JONES ’91and Alan Palmer, January 15, 2000.Beth formerly worked for the PauldingCounty (GA) board of education as aspecial education teacher. She is nowin school at the Georgia Medical Insti-tute for Medical Assisting and is em-ployed with Georgia Internal Medi-cine. They are in the process of adopt-ing a child.

RICHARD EDMONDSON,JR. ’92 and Denise Stanley, August12, 2000, in Gatlinburg, TN. He isemployed by Heights Finance Com-pany in Hixson, TN. They reside inCohutta, GA.

BRIAN WAYNE ELLYSON ’92and Robin DeAnn Croft, July 31,2000, in Pigeon Forge, TN. They re-side in Richmond, VA. Brian is aformer member of the MarchingSoutherners and is employed by Cir-cuit City Stores. He is a member ofPhi Mu Alpha music fraternity.

KAREN LOU LOMBARDI ’92and Jeffrey Alden Salinetti, October 6,2000, in Newington, CT. Karen isemployed by the Federal Deposit In-surance Corporation (FDIC).

TERRY EUGENE BARRON’93 and Ginger Michelle Brown, Octo-ber 7, 2000, in Gadsden. He is em-ployed by E & M Services in Gadsden.

ALAN CAREY NIESEN ’93and Aimee Diane Smith, September30, 2000, in Bay Minette. Alan is em-ployed as a pilot with Rotor Wing, Inc.of Mt. Olive.

ALICIA ANN NOWLAND ’93and Charles Ray Beal, October 7,2000, in Anniston. She is employedby Southeastern Cardiovascular Spe-cialists.

GREGORY GRIFF DENSON’94 and SUSANN NICOLE DUNN’94, September 9, 2000, in Huntsville.Susann is employed by SunCom Com-munications as an account executiveand Greg is president of Denson Net-works, Inc.

MONITA MARIE MASON ’94and Danny Lee Dutton, October 21,2000, in Anniston. She is employedby Flint Ink.

REGINA LEANN WILSON’94 and Michael Shannon Cooper,October 28, 2000, in Saks. Regina isemployed as credit manager forWakefield’s/Martin’s department storesin Anniston.

SCOTT EVAN CALHOUN ’95and Christie Michele Feazell, Septem-ber 16, 2000. He is employed by TheAnniston Star.

KENNETH ALLEN CARSON’95 and Denese Smith, September 9,2000, in Russellville. Ken is currentlypursuing an electronics degree fromITT Technical Institute. He is em-ployed with National Tire & Battery.

AMY ELIZABETH NELSON’95 and Joseph Brandon Smith, No-vember 11, 2000, in Gadsden. She isemployed by the Birmingham VAMedical Center/Home Base PrimaryCare.

TIM SUDDUTH ’95 and hiswife Micole were married on Septem-ber 23, 2000. Tim is a former JSUfootball player and works for the Cityof Atlanta. They reside in StoneMountain, GA.

SCARLET RENEE WALL ’95and David Eugene Macoy, September30, 2000, in Alexander City. She isemployed by the Coosa County Boardof Education where she teaches 5th

grade at Rockford School.JEFF FLOYD ’96 and Amanda

Ledbetter, December 16, 2000, inBoaz. He is currently employed by theAlabama Board of Pardons and Pa-

Page 26: A Message from the President - Jacksonville State … Message from the President EDITOR: Connie Edge COPY: Al Harris Jamie Eubanks Jennifer Ledbetter DESIGN: Mary Smith ... structor

26

ELECTRONICCOMMERCE

major available at

1-800-231-5291

Jacksonville State University is only thesecond university in the state to offer this

Internet-related business program.JSU’s College of Commerce and

Business Administration is accredited byAACSB - the International Association for

Management Education.

www.jsu.edu

ALUM NOTES...We love to hear from you!

roles and serves as a 2nd Lieutenant atthe 217th Military Police Command inPrattville.

ANGELIA ELANGJOHNSON ’96 and Robert WarrenGoler, October 21, 2000. She is em-ployed by Fersenius Medical Centerin Mobile.

JENNIFER MELISSAPATCH ’96 and William MichaelWright, September 16, 2000, inHuntsville. Jennifer is employed byParisian department stores as a humanresource manager. She was a memberof Alpha Xi Delta sorority at JSU.

MELISSA CARRIEHUGGINS ’97 and Robert AllenJones, September 23, 2000, inOneonta. She is employed at Medi-cal Center Blount in Oneonta.

EVE ANN HORTON ‘97/00and BRYAN SCOTT WALLACE

’00, December 16, 2000, in Oxford.Eve is employed by Regional MedicalCenter as a registered nurse. She was amember of Alpha Xi Delta sorority andthe Marching Southerners at JSU.Bryan is employed by West Point El-ementary School. He was a member ofKappa Alpha fraternity.

REBECCA BUTLER SHARP’97 and Joshua David Patten, October14, 2000, in Ft. Myers, FL. Rebecca isemployed by Retina Consultants. Shewas a member of Alpha Xi Delta soror-ity at JSU.

WENDI ELIZABETH TAVIS’97 and Brian Keith Rohrer, September23, 2000, at the JSU Alumni House.Wendi is employed as a teen nurturingfacilitator for the Family Support Coun-cil and the Outback Steakhouse inDalton, GA. Brian attended JSU. He isassistant director of Success by 6 at the

Family Support Council in Dalton, GAand as head coach of the River ParkSoccer Club U-13 premier A boys inCalhoun, GA.

KATHRYN DANIELLETHRASHER ’97 and David DeanBlount, September 23, 2000, in NorthCarolina.

GLENDA WHITMORE ‘97/99and Mark Morgan, October 14, 2000,in Collinsville.

TIJUANA NICOLECAMPBELL ’98 and David DuaneTaylor, September 23, 2000, inStockbridge, GA. She is currentlypursuing her master’s degree and isemployed by JSU. She was a memberof Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority at JSU.

SHELLY DIANE DOWNS ’98and Michael Adam Thomas, October21, 2000, in Snead. She is employedwith Bible Factory Outlet’s corporate

office in Albertville, where she is thehuman resource manager.

GAVIN HARRINGTON ’98and AMBER GONZALES ’00, Octo-ber 28, 2000, in Scottsboro. Amber isemployed with Coca-Cola Enterprisesas a sales trainee. She was a memberof Alpha Omicron Pi sorority at JSU.Gavin is employed by AssociatedPharmacies as an account executive.He was a member of Kappa Alphafraternity at JSU.

DENNIS SHERWOODJOHNSON II ’98 and TamathaArnette Browning, December 16,2000. Tamatha is currently pursuingher master’s degree at JSU. Both areemployed by Stringfellow MemorialHospital in Anniston. Dennis was amember of Pi Kappa Phi fraternity atJSU.

LINDSEY ELAINE TURNER’98 and Jimmy Wayne Douglas, Jr.,October 7, 2000. Lindsey is employedby Donald W. Causey and Associates.

JENNELL WILLCUTT ’98and Jeremy Dewayne Bussey, October7, 2000, Hueytown. A magna cumlaude JSU graduate, she is employedin Birmingham.

WILLIAM JUDGEALVERSON ’99 and Lindsey KayeWilson, December 9, 2000, in PellCity. He is employed with LibertyMortgage Corporation in Birminghamas a loan originator.

VIRGINIA CHER BUSE ’99and Terrell Wilson “TW” Dulaney,September 16, 2000, in Destin, FL.Cher is employed by Norwest Finan-cial.

ANGELA KAY BUSH ’99 andCharlie London Pearce, December 13,2000, in Gadsden. She is currentlypursuing a second bachelor’s degreeand is the assistant office manager atOffice Max in Anniston. Angela was amember of Zeta Tau Alpha sorority atJSU.

CORTNI COLVIN ’99 andRICHARD KELLEY ’99, February2000. They live in White House, TN.

NATHAN LEE HOLMES ’99and BRIGETT DELISA BUICE ’00,July 15, 2000, in DeArmanville.Brigett is employed at AOD CreditUnion and Nathan with Honeywell.

KIMBERLY ANN KELTON’99 and WILLIAM CLAYCONAWAY ’00, December 2, 2000.Kim is employed as business managerfor Lancôme cosmetics at Parisiandepartment store in Douglasville, GA.

Page 27: A Message from the President - Jacksonville State … Message from the President EDITOR: Connie Edge COPY: Al Harris Jamie Eubanks Jennifer Ledbetter DESIGN: Mary Smith ... structor

27SPRING 2001

ALUM NOTES...We love to hear from you!

She was a member of Zeta Tau Alphasorority at JSU. William is the facili-ties manager for InnoSource BusinessSolutions in Buckhead. He was amember of Kappa Alpha fraternity atJSU.

JONATHAN MICHAELNORDAN ’99 and ELIZABETHSELLERS ’00, October 14, 2000, inHueytown. Elizabeth was a memberof Phi Mu sorority at JSU. A memberof Kappa Sigma fraternity while atJSU, Jonathan is employed by GeorgiaPacific Corporation.

LESLIE MICHELLERAMSEY ’99 and Clint Wales, Sep-tember 2, 2000, Ardmore. A formermember of the JSU ladies basketballteam, Leslie is employed by the Lime-stone County Sheriff’s Office as acommunications officer.

JILL DELANE STEPHENS’99 and Barry James Worthy, Septem-ber 2, 2000, Alexander City. She was amember of Alpha Xi Delta sorority atJSU and is currently employed at ScottAccounting and Computer Services.

JOSHUA STEWARD ’99 andKelly Howell, September 9, 2000,Anniston. Joshua is employed byMedical Associates of North Georgiain Canton.

’00-01 ROBERT ELSWORTH

BANHOLZER ’00 and Heather RaeNorton, September 23, 2000,Meridianville. Heather is currentlypursuing a degree at JSU. Robert isemployed by Tyson Foods as a super-visor.

JENNIFER RENEECOLEMAN ’00 and Michael ShaneWhitton, December 23, 2000,Rainsville.

JESSICA CAROL CROW ’00and Paul David Kadle, Jr., December30, 2000, Saks. David is presentlypursuing a degree at JSU.

2ND LT. ERIC M. GADDIS ’00and KayTrinia L. Long, December 30,2000, Anniston.

SEAN GREGORY GAULDIN’00 and Keri Nicolle Robison, Decem-ber 2, 2000. Sean is employed byAOD Federal Credit Union.

JESSICA R. GILBERT ’00 andWESLEY R. SEAY ’00, October 7,2000. Jessica was a member of AlphaXi Delta sorority and the Show Choirat JSU. She is employed as an accountexecutive with WorthSouth Public

Relations in Rainsville. Wesley was amember of Sigma Phi Epsilon frater-nity. He is employed as a lineman withMarshall-Dekalb Electric Cooperativein Albertville. They reside inAlbertville.

JAMIE ELIZABETHHINTON ’00 and Kevin Shane Ander-son, December 29, 2000, Anniston.She is employed by the GeorgiaSchool for the Deaf. Kevin is a seniorat JSU. He is employed by radio sta-tion WJCK in Piedmont.

BRANDON TUCKER ’00 andRachel Brown, November 11, 2000,Boaz. He is employed by MacleanPower Systems of Trussville as a pro-cess engineer.

BIRTHS

’80-89 STEPHEN RIZZO ’87 and his

wife Kristi welcomed the birth of theirdaughter, Olivia Lynnea, February 22,2000. Stephen is now on the faculty atBevill State Community College,Walker Campus, in Sumiton. His posi-tion is Developmental Studies Instruc-tor, with additional responsibilities asan English and music instructor.

MICKEY RAY SHADRIX ’87and THERESA MASKEWSHADRIX ’96 welcomed the birth oftheir son, Simeon Ray, on October 19,2000. They say he arrived with a fullhead of jet-black hair! Simeon has anolder brother Solomon. They reside inAnniston.

JULIE RICKLES ANDERSON’88 and her husband Mike, announcethe birth of their daughter, SydneyRickles, on August 29, 2000. Julieworks for the Federal Deposit Insur-ance Corporation (FDIC) as a BankExaminer. They reside in Alabaster.

LISA GINN FRANKLIN ’88and her husband Robert announce thebirth of their daughter, Anna Grace, onJuly 28, 2000. She has a big sister,Marisa Joy, who is 3. Lisa is an obste-trician/gynecologist in Cullman.

SHERRY HILL '89, '99 andJASON JOHNSON '91, '00announce the birth of their daughterAnne Katherine "Kate" Johnson, onDecember 17, 2000 at JacksonvilleHospital. She weighed 6 lbs. 4 oz

and was 20 inches long. She waswelcomed by big brothers JordanRiggan and Jake Johnson.

ROBERT DARRYL SMITH’88 and ELAINE JONES SMITH ’92celebrated the birth of their secondchild, Cassidy Shea, on August 28,2000. They also have a 5-year-olddaughter, Courtney. Robert is ownerof Awards to Remember and Robert D.Smith and Co. in Ohatchee. Elainetaught high school math for 3 years butis now employed at Awards toRemember.

’90-99

KEELY

"!KEELY CRAWFORDBOOZER ’90 and TED ALANBOOZER ’91 announce the birth oftheir first child, Jodi Kayann, on Sep-tember 26, 2000. Keely is a home-maker. She was a member of Alpha XiDelta sorority at JSU. Ted is owner ofBoozer and Company. They reside inFranklin, TN.

YVONNE DEVOST ISOM ’91and her husband Orlando welcomedthe birth of their daughter, M’KailaDeNae’, on September 8, 2000.Yvonne was a member of Delta SigmaTheta sorority, the Panhellenic Coun-cil, and the African-American Associa-tion at JSU. She is employed by theFulton County Schools and resides inRex, GA.

KASSIE GIELLEMILLWOOD ‘91and her husbandShane announce the birth of their son,Brady Michael, on June 8, 2000. Hehas a proud big sister, MollyKatherine. The Millwoods reside inBoaz.

KAREN JONES ESTES ’92and her husband Burt welcomed the

birth of their son, Zackary Garrett, onMarch 23, 2000. They have an olderdaughter, Jordan, who is 10. Karen isemployed as an Office Coordinator/Personnel Manager at The NationalAuction Group, Inc. They reside inGadsden.

KRISTIN BRIGHT JOHNSON’92 and NEIL JOHNSON ’94 an-nounce the birth of their daughter,Lindsey Alyce, on June 26, 2000.Lindsey has an older sister, LaurenMichelle. The Johnsons reside inJacksonville.

JACKIE DERRICK LEHMAN’92 and her husband E.J. say, “IT’S ABOY!” They welcomed the birth oftheir son, Noah Robert, on September7, 2000. They reside in Acworth, GA.

DOUG ’92 and MICHELLECROWE MOONEYHAM ’94 an-nounce the birth of their second child,Rebecca Grace, on July 26, 2000.They have an older child, Jack Dou-glas. Michelle is currently a home-maker and Doug is employed by IPC-Aerospace in Anniston. They reside inAnniston.

"!DOUG SINGLETON ’92and his wife Becky of Memphis, TN,announce the birth of their son, ColeMichael-Douglas, on August 7, 2000.They are relocating to Dallas, TX, inJune to begin an orthodontic residencyat Baylor Hospital. Cole is the grand-son of Miyo Haynes of JSU’s Office ofthe Bursar.

PHILLIP WAYDESMITHERMAN ’92 and his wifeKelly announce the birth of theirdaughter, Hannah Grace, on August29, 2000. Hannah has an olderbrother, Colin Luke, who is 4. Phillipis a Senior Programmer Analyst withHealthPartners in Birmingham. Theyreside in Sylacauga.

KIM NALLY WRIGHT ’92

Page 28: A Message from the President - Jacksonville State … Message from the President EDITOR: Connie Edge COPY: Al Harris Jamie Eubanks Jennifer Ledbetter DESIGN: Mary Smith ... structor

28

ALUM NOTES...We love to hear from you!

and her husband Bryan welcomed thebirth of their first child, Jackson Dou-glas, on November 3, 2000. Theyreside in Marietta, GA.

AMY TEDDER BAKER ’94and JASON BAKER ’95 announcethe birth of their daughter, HollyCaroline, on December 19, 2000. TheBakers reside in Powder Springs, GA.

"!CHRIS T. ’96 and AMYPONDER NABORS ’96 proudlyannounce the arrival of their son,Samuel Halaway, February 8, 2000.They reside in Alexander City.

TAMMY HAYES CHANDLER’96 and her husband Ty announce thebirth of their daughter, Emily Tyler, onMarch 12, 1999. Tyler has a big sister,Cassidy. They reside in Centre.Tammy is currently working as a laborand delivery nurse at Floyd MedicalCenter in Rome, GA and at RiverviewRegional Medical Center in Gadsden.

JENNIFER DENNEYSCOGGINS ’97 and her husband Gor-don announce the birth of their seconddaughter, Mabrey Claire, on August 1,2000. They have a 5-year-old son,Mitchell Gordon, and a 2-year-olddaughter, Madison Carter. Jennifer isteaching special education in Rome,GA. They reside in Silver Creek, GA.

VICTORIA CHIRPE COW-ARD ’98 and her husband announcethe birth of their son, Jonathan Scott,on May 10, 2000. They reside inSuwanee, GA.

SUZANNE FARLEY HABYAN’98 and her husband Michael wel-comed the birth of twin boys, BlakeAndrew and Brock Martin, on Septem-ber 19, 2000. They reside in Gadsden.

OBITUARIES

’20-29

Former International HouseDirector Dies

Dr. John R. Stewart, 81, of Jacksonville, former directorof the JSU International House, died December 20, 2000.

“He was a thoroughly organized gentleman and wasable to pursue several careers, from being a superintendentof schools to director of Jacksonville State University’s In-ternational House,” says former JSU president Dr. TheronMontgomery. “He did a great deal in bringing foreign stu-dents and American students together.”

Survivors include his wife, Mary Gertrude “Trudy”Stewart of Jacksonville; a daughter, Judith Anne Cruz ofMiami; two sons, Randall Warren Stewart and John R.Stewart Jr., both of Fayetteville, GA; six grandchildren,April Stewart Bundy, John Stewart Cruz, Benjamin Stewart,Mariah Stewart, Megan Stewart and Laura Stewart and threegreat-grandchildren.

Pallbearers were Bill Meehan and Joe Grimes; formerInternational House members, Victor McCarley, Byron Yorkand Bill Norris; and nephews Paul Ray, Frank Stewart andJohnny Davis. Honorary pallbearers were Herbert Woolf,Ralph Porch, Jack Hopper, Bernard Hammett, GeneHammett, Theron Montgomery and Gene Burnham.

Dr. Stewart was born Jan. 5, 1919 in Cherokee Countyand reared in Piedmont. He attended Jacksonville StateTeachers College where he earned a BS degree in 1942. Heearned his master’s degree from the University of Alabamain 1951 and his doctor of law degree from Jacksonville StateUniversity in 1980.

He served in the U.S. Army Air Corps from September,1942 to June, 1945. He was a member of the 783rd BombSquadron, 15th Air Force and flew 50 combat missions as B-24Liberator pilot and received the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Dr. Stewart was a teacher/coach in Escambia, Butlerand Shelby counties from 1940-42 and 1945-46. He servedas principal of Moore Academy in Pine Apple from 1946-51and principal of Monroe County High School inMonroeville from 1952-54. He served as superintendent ofBrewton City Schools from 1954-63 and superintendent ofFort Payne City Schools from 1963-64.

Dr. Stewart was director of the International House atJSU from 1964-85. He was district governor of District686, Rotary International, from 1978-79 and a member ofthe Anniston Rotary Club. He was also a member of FirstPresbyterian Church where he served as Ruling Elder.

LEAH W. FULLER ’24 ofWilsonville. We were informed by thepostal service of her death during arecent mailing.

MAMIE LEE DUNNLANDERS ’25/60, of Anniston, No-vember 19, 1999. She was a retiredteacher in the Calhoun County SchoolSystem.

REBA ALLEN EUBANKS ’28of Fairhope, January 15, 2000.

’30-39 EDITH MELBA PUTMAN

BARTON ’31, October 25, 2000,Dora. She was a retired teacher withthe Walker County Board of Educationafter 45 years of service. She was 89.

DR. D. P. CULP ’34, October20, 2000, Johnson City, TN. He beganhis career in education as the principalof a one-teacher school, and moved upto become principal of a large cityhigh school in Greenville, from whichposition he was elected Superintendentof Schools in Chilton County. Dr.Culp was president emeritus of EastTennessee State University at the timeof his death at age 89.

ALMA MCWHORTERESSLINGER ’34, October 3, 2000,Gurley. Her daughter advised thecaller for the Phonathon of her death.

WILLIE S. HALL ’34, dateunknown, of Jacksonville. A familymember advised the Phonathon callerof the death. No further informationwas available.

LOUISE MASON AYRES ’35,date unknown, of Guntersville.Phonathon callers were advised of herdeath.

MARY FRANCES GEERFREEMAN ’35, December 14, 2000,Northport. (See additional story onMrs. Freeman in this issue)

CARL JACKSON BARTLETT’36, date unknown, of Roanoke.Phonathon callers were advised of hisdeath. He played basketball while atJSU.

PLUMA ANNIE PARKER ’39,November 4, 2000, Piedmont. Shewas a retired teacher, having taught for51 years at Old Goshen, New Goshenand Spring Garden. She was an activemember of the JSU Alumni Association.

VYLITTA PERKINS KIRBY‘39/53, September 4, 2000, Birming-ham. She taught in the Arab CitySchool System for more than 25 years.She was a professional artist who won

many prizes and awards with herpaintings in private collectionsthroughout the Southeast, New En-gland and Europe. We were notified byher daughter, Dee Smith, of her death.

’40-49 GRADY ARNOLD

BLACKWELL ’40, April 10, 2000,

Page 29: A Message from the President - Jacksonville State … Message from the President EDITOR: Connie Edge COPY: Al Harris Jamie Eubanks Jennifer Ledbetter DESIGN: Mary Smith ... structor

29SPRING 2001

ALUM NOTES...We love to hear from you!

Henagar. We were notified by hiswife, Bonnie, of his death.

GRIFFIN A. WILLINGHAMBOND ’42, March 21, 2000. Her hus-band informed us of her death. Shewas a retired reading consultant withthe Ingham Intermediate School Dis-trict in Mason, MI.

FRANCES YATES PERRY ’42,December 7, 2000, in Rome, GA. Sheresided in Anniston. No further infor-mation was available.

MAJORIE PYRON BERRY’43, December 31, 2000, Jacksonville.She taught in the Anniston City SchoolSystem, was a librarian at JohnstonElementary in Anniston, and volun-teered at the libraries at C.E. HannaElementary and JSU.

MARY LUKER BURKS ’43,May, 2000, Birmingham. Phonathoncallers were advised by her grandsonof her death.

KATHRYN KNIGHT “PITY”CHILDERS ’45, September 11, 2000,Union Hill. She was a retired teacher,having taught 39 years at MilltownSchool and 2 years at Shawmut. Shewas a life member of the JSU AlumniAssociation.

INEZ ROEBUCK ADAMS ’46,September 1, 1987. We were onlyrecently advised during the Phonathonof her death. Her husband, William, isalso a 1946 JSU graduate. She residedin Huntsville.

SIDNEY R. SHOTTS ’46, dateunknown, of Birmingham. The postalservice advised our office of his death.His wife, Willie Belle, is a 1935 JSUgraduate.

LUCILLE GRAHAM ’48, Oc-tober 26, 2000, Piedmont. She taughtfor 43 years and was retired from theCherokee County School System.AMELIA LONDON CAMP ’49,November 14, 2000, Petaluma, CA.Formerly of Montgomery, she was aretired teacher. She was 91.

ADDIE C. PEOPLES ’49, dateunknown, in Alachua, FL. She taughtat Eulaton Elementary for 30 years andtaught piano lessons for many years.She was 90.

JOHN W. WASHAM, JR., ’49,of Childersburg, died some time in2000. Phonathon callers were advisedof his death. He had been a qualitycontrol supervisor for Kimberly-ClarkCorporation in Childersburg.

’50-59

ATTENTION:MARCHING SOUTHERNERS AND BALLERINA ALUMNI & FANS

OF THE MARCHING SOUTHERNERS

Today’s modern technology has enabled me to take my family’s per-sonal collection of “old” Southerners vinyl records and cassette tapes

and digitally transfer them to compact discs. I am happy to makethese CD recordings available to you. The cost is $20.00 per CD

($30.00 for the Southerners’ History double CD), or $450.00 for thecomplete set of all CDs listed directly below (a savings of $100.00).

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of these CDs will be donateddirectly to the David L. Walters Scholarship Endowment at

Jacksonville State University.

RECORDINGS CURRENTLY AVAILABLE ON CDS ARE:1963, 1964, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975,1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986,

1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, and the Southerners’ History double CD

For ordering information, please contact:Scott Berry

P.O. Box 1561Albertville, AL 35950

(256) 878-2202 (home) (256) 878-8500 (office)(256) 878-8538 (fax) Email: [email protected]

or contact Connie Edge, Director of Alumni Affairs,or Dr. David L. Walters.

Your support of this compact disc project will be beneficialand sincerely appreciated. It is my hope that these CDs

will be both meaningful and enjoyable for all alumni and fans of theMarching Southerners and Ballerinas and will help ensure the future

potential of the David L. Walters Scholarship Endowment atJSU for many years to come!

ANNIE COLE BORDEN ’50,date unknown, of Piedmont.Phonathon callers were advised she isdeceased but no further informationwas provided.

PAULINE D. MCCULLEY ’50,date unknown, of Columbiana. Wewere provided with information con-cerning her death during the JSUPhonathon. She was a life member of

the JSU Alumni Association.CORENE TIDWELL HILL

’50, December 27, 1999,Guntersville. Her daughter-in-lawadvised Phonathon callers that she isdeceased.

ROBERT HYETT ’50, dateunknown, of Anniston. Family mem-bers advised Phonathon callers of hisdeath.

WILEY BENSON MONT-GOMERY ROBBINS ‘50/69, Octo-ber 20, 2000, Oneonta. He taughtand coached baseball, basketball andfootball for 28 years, leading theHayden Wildcat football team to astate championship in 1954. Active incivic affairs, he was American Legioncommander. He was also an activeCivitan for 29 years.

Page 30: A Message from the President - Jacksonville State … Message from the President EDITOR: Connie Edge COPY: Al Harris Jamie Eubanks Jennifer Ledbetter DESIGN: Mary Smith ... structor

30

ALUM NOTES...We love to hear from you!

ROBERT TERRELL SHORT’50, December 21, 2000, Auburn.He was superintendent of educationin Thomasville until he retired in1987.

JOSEPH WESLEY HARDY‘51/59, July 2000, of Sylacauga. Hiswife informed Phonathon callers ofhis death. He was a member of theJSU football team and active in theJSU Alumni Association as a lifemember and a member of thePresident’s Club.

SAMUEL HORSLEY ’51, dateunknown, of Huntsville. Phonathoncallers were advised by his daughterof his death.

RACHEL ABNEYFURGERSON ’52, September 28,2000, Chickamauga, GA. Her hus-band James advised Phonathon call-ers of her death. No other informa-tion was available.

JOHN WALTER HARMAN’52, September 2000, Milton, FL. Heowned a successful furniture businessin Milton for more than 30 years. Wewere notified of his death by anotherJSU graduate, Phil Gambrell ’72, abusiness associate of Mr. Harman.

GEORGE M. MCPHAIL, SR.’52, September 11, 2000, Lake City,FL. He was a World War II Navyveteran. He worked for the railroad inboth the U.S. and Africa. He taughtschool and was a head football coachin Florida. While at JSU, he was amember of the baseball team.

LLOYD G. RAINS ’52, Sep-tember 10, 2000, Mountain Brook.He was a World War II Navy veteranand worked with the Boy Scout orga-nization. While at JSU, he was on thebasketball team. He helped organizeCentral Bank (now Compass Bank)and later served as its president, retir-ing after 25 years of service. Heserved on the JSU Foundation Boardfor many years and was a life memberof the JSU Alumni Association.

KENNETH WALLACEESTES ’53, October 4, 2000,Anniston. No other information isavailable.

RUBY LEE GILMER ’53,November 3, 1999, Attalla.Phonathon callers were advised byher cousin that she is deceased.

BRANSFORD JAMESNORTON ’53, date unknown, ofNashville, TN. Phonathon callerswere recently notified of his death.

VERA LEE SHADDOX ’53,September 6, 2000, Gadsden. She

taught in the Gadsden City SchoolSystem for many years. She held thedistinction of being the oldest livingmember of First Baptist Church ofGadsden, having been a membersince 1932. She was 94.

EVELYN BARBER BROOKS’56, January 6, 2000, Watkinsville,GA. Her husband George advised thePhonathon callers of her death.

BILLY G. MILAM ’56, De-cember 22, 2000, of Gadsden. Hiswife advised us that at the time of hisdeath, he was visiting his son in At-lanta when he suffered a massiveheart attack.

GERALDINE C. MORGAN’56, November 3, 2000, Marietta, GA.She retired from the Anniston SchoolSystem, with a majority of her teach-ing spent at Pine Avenue School.Upon retirement, she was active in theRetired Senior Volunteer Program(RSVP) teaching adults how to read.

CLUSSIE OUTLAW BONDS’57, January 2, 2000, Rainbow City.Phonathon callers were advised byher grandson Kevin of her death.

JAMES FRANKLIN FORD’57, January 11, 1991, of Gadsden.Phonathon callers were only recentlyadvised by his wife that he passedaway in 1991. He was commissionedthrough the JSU ROTC program.

HUGH LEE MORRIS ’59,January 11, 2001, in Roanoke. Hewas a retired teacher and superinten-dent of the Roanoke City Board ofEducation. Hugh played baseball atJacksonville State.

’60-69 AUDREA CAROL BOHANON

’64 is deceased. During the JSUPhonathon, we were notified by herhusband, A. Richard Bohanon ’70, thatshe passed away. They resided inAttalla. Mrs. Bohanon taught with theGadsden City School System.

KENNETH ELTON PARNELL’64, October 22, 2000, Anniston.

CORNELIA SHEEHAN WASH-INGTON ’64, April 6, 2000, Ft. Myers,FL. Her daughter informed us of herdeath. She was a teacher at Florida Col-lege of Medical Careers in Tampa.

HUGH DIRL SPEARS '65, diedin December 2000, in Lexington, Ky. Hewas commissioned into the U.S. Armythrough JSU's ROTC program. Heworked at IBM in Huntsville for a num-ber of years and transferred to IBM in

Lexington, KY. This company later sepa-rated from IBM as Lexmark of Lexing-ton where he worked until his death. Heand his wife, Dianne, had 3 children.

LUCINDA CHISENHALLCARROLL ‘66/75. Her husband in-formed callers during the JSUPhonathon that she is deceased.

JIMMIE HAWKINSGILLESPIE ’66, April 5, 2000, of can-cer. She resided in Alexander City. In-formation was received during the JSUPhonathon.

FREDA FALLMANMCANENY ’66 is deceased. This in-formation was also received during therecent Phonathon.

S.W. “SNAG” ROPER ’66, De-cember 16, 2000, Gadsden. He was anemployee of Goodyear.

ILLENE JOHNSON WALKER’67, June 7, 2000, Warner Robins, GA.Information was received from her hus-band during the JSU Phonathon. Shewas Assistant Principal at CentervilleElementary School in Centerville, GA.

LESTER C. STEVENSON ’68,date unknown. Callers from the JSUPhonathon were advised of his death.He was a VP with First National Bank inFt. Walton Beach, FL. A life member ofthe JSU Alumni Association, he residedin Destin, FL.

’70-79 KATHERINE MANIER

JONES ’70, October 18,2000,Anniston. She taught English andFrench for many years at The DonohoSchool and other schools in this area,retiring from Donoho in 1979. Shewas a life member of the JSU AlumniAssociation.

JOHN HAGOOD ’71, May 8,2000, Evergreen. The Alumni Officewas informed by his wife, Janiece, ofhis death.

HELEN PATRICIA MCNEIL’71, date unknown, Indianapolis, IN.The postal service provided our officewith information that she is deceased.A teacher with the Indianapolis CityBoard of Education, she was a lifemember of the JSU Alumni Associa-tion.

CHERYL GAYLOR HARRISWHEELER ’71, May 22, 2000, Bir-mingham. Cheryl was employed bythe IRS before retiring in 1999.

PAUL WINSTON BELL ‘73passed away some time in 1995 ac-cording to his son who reported it to a

caller during the recent JSUPhonathon. He resided in Mobile.

JEFFERSON LEE FRAZIER’73, August 18, 1998, Duluth, GA. Hewas a member of Delta Chi fraternityat JSU.

GRACE ANN SIMS ’73, Sep-tember 1998, Talladega. Informationwas received during the Phonathon.

BLANCHE ENGLISH MOT-LEY WILSON ‘74/75, November 3,2000, Anniston. A retired educator,she was a member of Zeta Phi Betasorority at JSU.

CARSON WILLIAMMOBLEY ’75, date unknown, ofHephzibah, GA. His mother informedthe Phonathon caller of his death.

DR. WYATT HARLAN JACK-SON ’77, September 25, 2000,Roanoke. He was employed as a den-tist. A former JSU Marching South-erner, he was commissioned throughthe JSU ROTC program.

BENJAMIN ALVINJENNINGS ’77, date unknown, ofMadison. He was a crime preventionofficer with the Huntsville Police De-partment. We were informed of hisdeath during the Phonathon.

LIN EARL KETNER ’77, May,2000, Otsego, MI. His family advisedthe Phonathon caller of his death.

ELIZABETH MCCORKLEWADSWORTH ’77, date unknown,Gadsden. Her daughter advised thePhonathon caller of her mother’sdeath. No further information wasprovided.

JAMES LAMAR MCGRADY’78, April 16, 1990, Birmingham. Wewere only recently informed duringthe Phonathon of his death. No otherinformation is available.

THERMAN MOSLEY, JR. ’79,September 5, 2000, of Marietta, GA.A former JSU librarian, he was em-ployed by Merridian Management as aproperty manager, by Emory Univer-sity, and by General Service Adminis-tration as a building management spe-cialist. He was a former member ofthe JSU Marching Southerners.

’80-89 KATHLEEN MARIE

DONNELLY ’81, died June 3, 2000,in Sun City, AZ of cancer. The infor-mation was provided to us during theJSU Phonathon.

JAMES ANTHONYHAMBRICK ’81, date unknown, of

Page 31: A Message from the President - Jacksonville State … Message from the President EDITOR: Connie Edge COPY: Al Harris Jamie Eubanks Jennifer Ledbetter DESIGN: Mary Smith ... structor

31SPRING 2001

ALUM NOTES...We love to hear from you!

Scottsboro. His parents notified thePhonathon caller of his death.

VIRGINIA DARRELLDUTTON ’82, date unknown, ofDillon, SC. We were informed duringthe Phonathon of her death.

TONI FOX BRYANT ’83, Sep-tember 26, 2000, Birmingham. Shetaught in the Anniston school systemfor 15 years and for the JeffersonCounty Board of Education at the timeof her death. She resided in Quinton.

MEDFORD CARTER ‘84/94,date unknown, of Gadsden. Phonathoncallers were informed of his death. Noother information is available.

BENNIE FRANCIS MURRAY’85, January 10, 2001, in Talladega.She was an accountant and small busi-ness owner.

HARVEY DANIEL HALL ’87,date unknown, of Talladega. Familymembers advised Phonathon callersthat he is deceased. While at JSU, hewas a member of Alpha Tau Omegafraternity.

CHARLES RICHEYPHILLIPS ’87, date unknown, ofValley Head. Phonathon callers wereadvised of his death.

DAVID EARL WALKER ’88,date unknown, of Irving, TX.Phonathon callers were advised he isdeceased. No further information isavailable.

DAVID L. MAYSE ’89, Septem-ber 6, 2000, Jacksonville. He was aJSU Cheerleader while in school. Heserved in the Army and was employedby Parker-Hannifin Corp. of Jacksonville.

’90-99 CHERYL MATTHEWS

WILLINGHAM ’90, date unknown,of Rainsville. Phonathon callers werenotified of her death. She was em-ployed with the Dekalb County Boardof Education as a teacher.

SUSAN SPECTOR WISMINITI’91, December 11, 2000, in a house firein Jacksonville. Her mom, Esta Spector’77, a local Alfa agent, has served on theJSU Alumni Association Board of Gov-ernors for many years. Her brother,Warren, is a 1989 JSU graduate.

TERRI LAVETTA DOLLAR‘92/96, date unknown, of Cullman.Her mother notified Phonathon callersthat she is deceased. No other infor-mation is available.

CHARLES A. LEE ’93, Decem-ber 30, 1999, of Vernon. Phonathon

callers were advised of his death. He wasemployed with Chromalox in Vernon.

BENJAMIN JASONHEADRICK ’96, date unknown, ofMunford. Family members advisedthe Phonathon caller of his death.

JOE F. POWELL, JR. ’96, No-vember 27,2000. We were notified ofhis death by his sister. He was an activemember of the JSU Alumni Association.

ATTENDED ONLY orDATE OF GRADUATION

UNKNOWN:WOODROW ALBEA, Septem-

ber 9, 2000, in Anniston. He retired in1988 after serving 12 years as a districtjudge for Calhoun and Cleburne coun-ties. He served in the Alabama legisla-

ture representing Calhoun Countyfrom 1954 - 1970. He served threeterms in the House of Representativesand a term in the Senate. He practicedlaw in Anniston for 26 years and was aWorld War II Air Force veteran, havingserved in England and France.

BERTIE G. BAILEY, Novem-ber 29, 2000, in Jacksonville. She wasretired from JSU. She was 80.

CYRIL A. BAGGETT, date un-known, of Sheffield. A World War IIveteran with the rank of staff sergeant, hehad remained in the National Guard untilretiring. He coached sports and workedin the insurance business. He was 75.

GERALD CRUTCHFIELD,September 13, 2000, in Oldfort, TN.He was a former member of the JSUMarching Southerners.

CARLTON FAGAN, date un-known, of Jacksonville, FL. We re-ceived information from his son thathe is deceased. He was a former JSUCheerleader.

RAYMOND “MOUSE”HIGGINS, December 2000, in Mont-gomery. We were notified by familyfriends of his death. His wife, MaryNell, is a 1961 JSU graduate. He wasan active member of the JSU AlumniAssociation

WILLIE C. JOHNSON, dateunknown, of Rockford. The postalservice advised us of the death.

MICHAEL M. MCLAUGHLIN,September 1, 2000, of a heart attack. Heresided in Springville and was a memberof the Marching Southerners in 1981.

Katharine “Kitty” GunnStone, 88, for whomJacksonville’s elementaryschool is named, died at homethe day after celebratingChristmas with her family.

A leader in local publiceducation, Mrs. Stone left theimprint of more than 39 yearsof commitment to educationin Jacksonville.

Mrs. Stone, known as“Miss Kitty,” worked 30 yearsboth as a teacher and princi-pal of the elementary school,then called the JacksonvilleElementary LaboratorySchool. She retired in 1974.

In 1981, the Jacksonvilleschool board renamed the

Noted Educator Kitty Stone Diesschool in her honor.

During a time when fewelementary schools were ac-credited, Mrs. Stone helped theelementary school obtain ac-creditation from the SouthernAssociation of Colleges andSchools.

Among Mrs. Stone’s ma-jor efforts was raising funds forscholarship endowments forstudents in Alabama’s state-supported colleges and univer-sities. She was known as the“Scholarship Lady” in the Ala-bama Federation of Women’sClubs. The AFWC Kitty StoneGraduate Scholarship is namedin her honor.

Mrs. Stone’s husband, Dr.Ernest Stone, who died in1989, also lived a life dedi-cated to education. He wassuperintendent of educationand finally served as presidentof Jacksonville State Universityfrom 1971 until his retirementin 1981.

Mrs. Stone was involvedin dozens of community, stateand national organizations and

received numerous awardsand distinctions.

An Alabama native, Mrs.Stone was born in Hollins,Clay County and taught invarious counties throughoutthe state. She was a graduateof Jacksonville State TeachersCollege, which later becameJacksonville State University.She served as a professor ofeducation at the University ofAlabama in the summers of1942 and 1943, began teach-ing at the Jacksonville El-ementary Laboratory Schoolin the summer of 1944 andwas named director of theelementary school in 1948.

Throughout her career,she was also selected to serveon committees for the UnitedStates Department of Educa-tion.

Survivors include a sonand daughter-in-law, Lt. Col.(ret.) William “Bill” andSandra McCurdy Stone ofJacksonville, and three grand-children, Dr. Staci Lynn Stoneof Murray, KY, Steven ErnestStone of Jacksonville and Jef-frey Howard Stone of Florence.

Page 32: A Message from the President - Jacksonville State … Message from the President EDITOR: Connie Edge COPY: Al Harris Jamie Eubanks Jennifer Ledbetter DESIGN: Mary Smith ... structor

32

ALUM NOTES...We love to hear from you!

he ROTC AlumniChapter’s Homecoming

Banquet was held on Novem-ber 3, 2000, in conjunctionwith Homecoming. TheBanquet was a huge successenjoyed by one of the largestturnouts in several years.Chapter President Colonel(Ret) Joe Creel, ’65, intro-duced the Military Alumnusof the Year and banquetspeaker, Brigadier GeneralCarlos “Butch “ Pair, ’70.General Pair is the Chief ofStaff, Headquarters, UnitedStates Transportation Com-

ROTC Alumni Chapter Banquet a Huge Success mand, Scott Air Force Base,Illinois. Honored quests inattendance included JSUPresident and Mrs. BillMeehan, and past JSU Presi-dent and Mrs. Harold McGee.

This year’s event includedrecognition of JSU ROTCKorean War Veterans. Ledby event Co-chairs MG (Ret)Ivan R. Smith ’51 and Dr.Joe Hagan ’51, several of theveterans gave rivetingvignetts of their combat ex-periences. A number wererecognized as having re-ceived the Army’s third high-est decoration for bravery incombat, the Silver Star.

Joe Creel introduced thechapters newly elected Offic-ers and Directors for the year2001. They include; Presi-dent - MG (Ret) Larry E. Lee’57; 1st Vice President - LTC(Ret) Bruce Pickette ’68; 2ndVice President - MG (Ret)Ivan R. Smith ’51; Secretary/Treasurer - LTC (Ret) JoeServiss ’69. Directors: MG(Ret) Fred H. Casey ’57;COL (Ret) Joe Creel ’65;LTC (Ret) Bill Stone ’69; Dr.Joe Hagan ’51.

As the outgoing ChapterPresident, Joe Creel pre-sented an original pen andink print of a Gamecock toeach of the Officers and Di-rectors who had served withhim during his tenure aspresident. Incoming Presi-dent Larry Lee recognizedJoe as the founding memberand mainstay of the organi-zation and thanked him forhis leadership, organizationalskills and commitment inestablishing and developingan outstanding chapter.

Pictured are (left to right): Chapter President Colonel (Ret)Joe Creel, JSU President Dr. Bill Meehan, Guest Speaker andMilitary Alumnus of the Year, BG “Butch” Pair, and JSUProfessor of Military Science, LTC David Merris.

Been promoted? Honored? Awarded?Recently moved? Married? Had a baby?

What’s up with you and your family?We love to hear from you!

PERSONAL INFORMATION:Name________________________________

Street________________________________

City______________State______Zip______

Phone_____________SSN_______________

Class____ E-mail address________________

Campus Affiliations and Activities_________

_____________________________________

Personal News_________________________

_____________________________________

Employer_____________________________

Address______________________________

Position______________________________

If retired, former occupation and retirementdate_________________________________

FAMILY INFORMATION:Spouse’s Name________________________

Did spouse attend JSU? ____ Grad class____

Spouse’s employer_____________________

Address______________________________

Position______________________________

Children’s names and ages ______________

_____________________________________

_____________________________________

_____________________________________

Attended JSU?_________ Class __________

Please return to Alumni Office, JSU, 700Pelham Road North, Jacksonville, AL 36265,fax to 256-782- 5404 or email us [email protected].

We look forward to hearing from you!

F