1967 Classmate Updates
Thank you to all of the members of the Class of 1967 for sharing the story of their life’s journey since graduation. It’s fun to read about one another’s families, careers, passions, Wake Forest memories and future plans.
William Tyler Baldock
While I did not graduate from Wake Forest, I remember my time there to be special. I left Wake in 1965 and graduated from Ohio State University BS with a degree in dentistry. As with many of you, I joined the Air Force to serve in the Philippines. After exiting the military, I went home to teach at Ohio State University School of Dentistry in Oral Diagnosis. I soon realized that my passion was for the specialty of Periodontics and I applied and went to UNC School of Dentistry for my residency. I then moved to Tallahassee, Florida. I established my practice and was married with two daughters, Courtney and Ashby. Courtney is in television marketing and advertising and Ashby is a nurse in neonatology at Wake Med. Hospital in Raleigh. I have remarried and my wife Rhonda of 29 years and I have a 24 y/o son who is interviewing for a surgical residency at UNC Dept. of Periodontology (my new partner). We have four grandchildren ages 2 to 8. It’s amazing how Carolina calls and I wish all well.
Conrad Barrows
Fifty years – where did they go?
Following graduation and commissioning, I had immediate employment reporting to the US Army Infantry School at Ft. Benning, GA. Many in my Infantry School class deployed to Viet Nam and I was assigned to the Intelligence School at Baltimore, MD. I was married, left Active Duty in 1970, found employment in Baltimore and joined the US Army Reserves. A job change brought the Barrows family back to Wisconsin along with a promotion to Captain in the 84th Division – USAR.
During my career in Sales and Marketing in the Plastics Industry, we raised a family and I continued in the Army Reserve. Somehow I found time to pursue an MBA in the Graduate Program at Lakeland University. In 2000, with children Emily and Alan out of college, on my own, retired from the USAR as a Lieutenant Colonel and a brand new MBA, I took a chance.
I changed jobs to work in Development and assist in a Capital Campaign at Lakeland, asked Barbara, with five adult daughters, to marry me and build the lake house of our dreams. She said yes! Now we have seven children, five of which are married and 14 Grandchildren.
Life is good! I had a most enjoyable assignment with the WFU Alumni Council. We have traveled extensively to include two trips with the Wake Forest Alumni Travel Program. One trip was to Peru and the Amazon River and another to Israel and Jordan. We are looking forward to the 50th Reunion.
Sarah Wiggins Baumgardner
There is a reason I majored in math and became a software programmer. Writing is not one of my strong points. My introvert personality definitely comes out.
After graduation, I started working for U. S. Bureau of Census – Economic sector in late June. I began my career as a software programmer writing in machine language. In 2001, I retired as Assistant Division Chief of Economic Indicators Programs.
Husband of 32 years, Glen, and I moved from Camp Springs, MD to outside Raleigh, NC in 2007. I have 3 step-children, 6 grandchildren, and 4 great-granddaughters. Before moving to Raleigh, we took several cruises including one to Europe and a second one back.
We have been square dancing for almost 35 years. There are different levels in western square dancing. We dance C-3A. As a part of this activity, I was one of the editors of the international square dance magazine, Zip Code, for several years.
In addition, this non-athlete has become a regular gym rat. I can do 14+ unassisted underhanded pull-ups. When I am not at the gym, I enjoy gardening and baking, especially cookies at Christmas.
Richard Beavers
Following graduation, I entered the Navy and trained to be a naval flight officer in Pensacola, FL, Corpus Christi, TX, and Newport, RI. My final duty station was NAS Patuxent River, MD, where we were in the VQ-4 Squadron Flying in the C130Q Hercules aircraft over the North Atlantic.
In 1972, I enrolled at UNC-Greensboro to pursue a Masters Degree in Biology. After teaching at Guilford Technical Institute for a year, I entered dental school at UNC-Chapel Hill in 1975. In 1979-80, I pursued an internship in hospital dentistry at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA, followed by a residency in endodontics at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI.
In 1983, my wife, Shari, and I set up a solo private dental practice in endodontics in Greensboro, NC. I was, also, a part time professor at the UNC School of Dentistry for ten years. Over 32 years the dental practice grew to a four dentist endodontic practice. Participating in several medical/dental mission trips with First Baptist Church of Greensboro to Chile and Turkey has proven to be educationally and spiritually meaningful. After 33 years, I retired in 2016 to part time practice status.
Shari and I have three daughters, Debran (WF’93), Kristen, and Erin. We have been blessed with six active grandchildren ranging from 9 years to 5 weeks old.
Our family recreational activities started with tent camping, pop-up camper camping, log cabin lake house to currently enjoying a beach house at Bald Head Island, NC. Four weeks a year are spent vacationing with family and friends in Aspen, CO. Traveling, golfing and fishing are our main recreational activities now.
I am looking forward to our 50th reunion and feel so fortunate to be a part of the Wake Forest University family of ’67.
Nancy Bell Bowles
The mention of “Move In” day at Wake brought back a flood of memories, among them are my many ties to WFU. From the age of 8, I was brainwashed by the doctor next door who was a Wake graduate and a die-hard Deacon fan. He had studied and played baseball on the old Wake Forest campus, became a doctor and returned to his hometown to practice. He took me on my first trip to the old campus and from that point forward my parents and I attended Wake basketball and football games. For a brief time while our church was looking for a minister, Dr. Bell’s close friend, Bones McKinney, was our Minister. The stories he told at Sunday night services kept the sanctuary full. Many of those tales were experiences at Wake. When it was time to apply for college, this was the only place I wanted to attend. My mother pointed out to me that being accepted at Wake was not easy and especially for a female, but I was not deterred and applied.
Once I was accepted, I also qualified for a Hankins’ scholarship. I spent a wonderful weekend at Wake sharing the guest room at Bostwick Dormitory with Suzanne Bowles. We enjoyed our time together, learning about each other, our families, our boyfriends, and our dreams. At one point Suzanne told me her brother was a Junior at Wake but he wasn’t there this particular weekend. She promised to introduce us when we returned as Freshmen.
And that sets the stage for why “Move In” day is so special. My roommate, Marcia Black, and I were having lunch with our parents in The Pit before they left us to begin our freshman year. I looked across The Pit and saw Suzanne Bowles, her parents, and her big brother. She came straight to our table and introductions were made. I can still remember my mother saying (after the Bowles left our table), “You should date him.” He was a senior, so handsome, and I was sure he would never ask me out. But he did. After almost 49 years together, we have reached a consensus that we had 5 dates that fall. One was a movie date, two were Kappa Alpha parties, one was a Krispy Kreme donut run, and the most important one was his 21st birthday party with his family, and a KA dance afterwards. And that, classmates, was it!
Four years at Wake flew by. I loved my English major and the religion classes, especially those taught by Dr. Phyllis Tribble. Specifically, my English professors, Mr. Aycock (Art History), Dr. Folk (Shakespeare) and Dr. Wilson (Romantic Poets) made me yearn to travel to Europe and see the places we saw on slides, read about, and heard described in lectures. I secretly planned to save my money when I began my teaching career and see these far away places! And it actually happened.
My first teaching job was in Lexington, NC, where I taught 10th grade English, Drama, and Public Speaking. I had a remarkable, wonderful first year, other than catching every cold, etc. that my students had. The experienced teachers told me I just had to build up my immunity and I would be fine. I had extremely supportive colleagues and realized quickly that Wake Forest had prepared me well for a career that I loved. At Christmas that first year, I spoke on the phone with Suzanne who was teaching in Baltimore. We traded “first semester teaching stories”, and she commented that her brother Ed was stationed in Germany and would not be home for Christmas. This holiday is so special for my family that I assumed it was for hers, too. Just thinking about being away from my family for the holiday made me sad. I asked her to give me Ed’s address and I would send him a Christmas card. This card was the beginning of a random exchange of letters.
Around the first of the year (1968), I received a phone call from Arden Harris, a String Sister, who was currently a senior at Wake. She explained that her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Harris, both Wake graduates and now working in the Charlotte School System, were taking a group of students to Europe in the summer. There were four extra spots and Mrs. Harris had allowed Arden to select friends of hers to fill those spots. That way Arden would have college friends with whom to see Europe and would not have to hang out with high school students. She had phoned to see if I was interested. I had remained true to my plan, saving money each month for my trip to Europe. I signed up immediately.
In my random letters to Ed, I found out that he had taken very little time off while in Europe and was interested in seeing some of Europe with someone he knew from Wake. Ed spent one week with us on our three-week tour. He rode on the bus the first day with our group (due to the kindness of the Harris Family). The rest of the trip, he would sightsee with us, then take a train to the next city we would visit, while we were on the bus. The high school students loved the stories he had learned at Wake as a history major. We had a great week, getting to know each other, learning that we both loved reading, travel, music, and dancing. And then he returned to Germany and I continued my tour. There are some wonderful stories from this week, but I am saving these for my novel!
We wrote or exchanged audio tapes several times a week after I returned for my second year of teaching in Lexington. In October of 1968, Ed surprised me, but his family and my parents were all in on the secret trip. He flew home from Germany for a long weekend to propose. He was (and continues to be) quite the planner! We picked out our rings, talked about the wedding, and my returning to Germany with him after we wed to spend the remainder of his tour there and perhaps work in more travel. On Saturday evening before he left for Germany on Sunday, we went to a formal dance in Thomasville, where his father, who was President of the Dance Club, announced our engagement. It was a wonderful, magical evening, and enhanced by the fact the Wake Forest Dance Band played for the dance, led by Mr. Huber, who had been band director at Wake while I was a majorette.
Ed and I were married in Davis Chapel at Wake on December 28, 1968, by Eugene Burris, my high school history teacher, who was a WFU graduate and who had later completed divinity school and became an ordained minister. We spent a short honeymoon in Atlanta and a week later flew to Germany where were we lived in a German village and traveled every opportunity we had. Even there we discovered Wake connections. On a weekend trip when we went to Holland, Ed was attempting to get this perfect photo when a man kept walking into his composition. He suddenly realized that he knew the man. We hurried to catch up and talk to the gentleman who was Dr. Smiley, one of Ed’s professors at Wake. I taught GED classes at the Army Education Center and was a substitute teacher at the American High School in Wurzburg. I spent hours reading when Ed was in the field directing training exercises. We adopted a dog to keep me company while he was away. I loved living in another country and realized that our year there was really a year-long fairy tale. We enjoyed visiting and entertaining military friends and especially loved the dances at the Officer’s Club. I even got to spend a couple of weekends with my friend and second roommate Wake, Georgia Looney and her husband who were stationed about an hour away.
Upon returning home in December 1969, we settled in High Point, NC. Ed began work in his father’s business, then went to graduate school at UNC-G, studying psychology. I continued teaching high school English and loving my work. Later we lived for three years in Morgantown where Ed was the director of a unit at Broughton Hospital. Our first child, Heather, was born in March of 1978. In July of that year, we returned to Guilford County. I was hired by Steve Dalton, another Wake graduate, and Ed was a school psychologist for several years and then became a Producer. I taught high school English is Davidson County for several years, again running into Wake ties. My principal there was Phil Rapp, one of our classmates. Following this position, I switched to teaching middle school in Guilford County, wanting to be near our daughter’s pre-school. I loved the change. In 1987 our son, Brad was born. When he was 6, I returned to school, studying for my Master’s Degree at UNCG, focusing on reading. I enjoyed school so much and had so much encouragement from my professors, that I stayed on, working as an adjunct professor, and finally completed my Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction. I shared one of the classes I took with another of our classmates, Sam Gladding. Following these degrees, I was the Middle School Director for B’nai Shalom, a private school in Greensboro, and finally a Curriculum Facilitator for Guilford County Schools.
After 40+ years in education, I finally retired. Our children did not go to Wake, though our daughter did turn down an acceptance and a scholarship there. She went to Duke University, married a Duke grad and they live in Santa Monica, California, with our 2 1/2-year-old identical twins. If you say, “La La Land”, you saw about 10 seconds of one of our grandsons. He was the baby wrapped in a blue blanket, whom Emma Stone held near the end of the movie. Our son, Brad, went to NC State and is an entrepreneur in Raleigh. He and two college friends are the owners of 4 establishments in downtown Raleigh. He is engaged to a wonderful girl and they are to be married next fall.
Ed and I have been very involved in our Jamestown community since we moved here in l983. With church, boy scouts, girl scouts, the historical society, school committees, sports involvement (Heather was a cheerleader, class president, etc. and Brad played football, lacrosse, and was on the track team, etc.), we have stayed very busy. Now with an empty nest and retirement, we are spending more time in our second home in Linville, NC. We enjoy the changing seasons as we look out our windows at Grandfather Mountain. We still love to travel, read, and we NEVER miss an opportunity for a good ballroom dance.
Life has been very good to us. We are both healthy and active and will celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary on December 28, 2018!. Thanks to our classmate and Ed’s sister, Suzanne, for that introduction in “The Pit” on “Move In Day.” It took a few years to make that arrow stick, but she was a great Cupid!
Looking forward to seeing all of you at our 50th Reunion.
Barry Clendenin
I certainly agree with other 1967 class members who have already commented on the accomplishments and life contributions of our classmates. I remember our class as our first fall semester started in late September 1963. Like my classmates, I have an abundance of impressions/memories from our freshman year. Three of these memories from our freshman year included (1) being in the ZSR Library on the Friday afternoon of the President’s assassination studying for a Saturday morning chemistry class and hearing the chapel bell tolling for probably two hours before a classmate came by and commented, “isn’t it terrible about the President.” I thought for a moment he was referring to President Tribble [in the aftermath of his recent visit to the Baptist Convention]. (2) The second memory from February 1964 was listening to the first Beatles song that I had ever heard as I was walking from the Post Office past the PIKA House towards Kitchin dorm. (3) The third memory came from a number of us starting a practice of leaving windows unlocked in the library as we were leaving on a Saturday afternoon in case we wanted to enter the library on a Sunday morning before the regular opening.
My favorite quote from many Wake Forest class lectures — at least those notes I recall — came from Dr. David Smiley’s class on the History of the South. In one class, Dr. Smiley described the decade before the Civil War this way: “The Brains ran thin in the South during the 1850’s.” I occasionally referred to this quote in the years that I worked in Washington, DC for the Federal Government. [see below].
Following graduation day on June 5, 1967, I attended the Davis Chapel wedding of two classmates the next afternoon. The following morning, I drove to Lincoln, Nebraska to start a Master’s program in history at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln (UNL) on June 12, 1967. In part, I suspect I was focused somewhat on staying ahead of my local draft board. I enjoyed my time in Lincoln, although winter there was a bit of a challenge for someone with a southern wardrobe. I graduated from UNL in January 1969 and then enrolled in a History Ph.D. program at UNC Chapel Hill. As mentioned by another classmate, graduate school/law school draft deferments generally ended in 1968 in the aftermath of the Tet Offensive in Vietnam and the capture of the USS Pueblo by North Korea. Soon after starting classes at UNC, I received a notice from the Statesville, NC draft board to travel to Raleigh [with many others] for a draft physical. I later received a draft notice in April 1969, completed the spring semester at UNC and reported to Fort Bragg in June 1969 for basic training. There were quite a few former graduate and law students in basic training that summer at Fort Bragg. My Army career took me from Fort Bragg to infantry training at Fort McClellan, Officer Candidate School (OCS) at Fort Belvoir, Intelligence School at Fort Holabird and eventually to Vietnam in August 1970 assigned as an Intelligence Officer to Saigon Support Command [it was not in Saigon]. In between completing the assignment at Fort Holabird at the end of July 1970 and reporting to Vietnam, I attended a wedding in Connecticut of an OCS classmate. After the wedding, I met Margaret, a student at the University of Vermont. [see below]. After returning from Vietnam at the end of August 1971, I completed active duty at Fort Lee in January 1972 and enrolled again at UNC in February 1972. I later studied as a Fulbright Scholar at University College London in 1973-1974, primarily to complete research for a dissertation.
Margaret and I were married in the summer of 1974 in Connecticut, We returned to Chapel Hill where we finished the Ph.D. degree at UNC in May 1975. We have two daughters, Kathryn (KC) born in 1979 and Megan born in 1982. Megan’s daughter was born in 2016 and is our first grandchild. KC attended Wake Forest in 1997-1999 and passed away unexpectedly in the summer of 1999. Megan graduated from Wake Forest in 2004 and practices as a Veterinarian (Virginia Tech 2008) in Northern Virginia.
My work career did not really match to a great extent my graduate school career. On the other hand, my view for years has been that a history degree from Wake Forest prepares a student for many unexpected opportunities. After UNC, I worked between 1975 and 1977 for HEW (now HHS) in Washington, DC, primarily on higher education issues. In February 1977 at the beginning of the Carter Administration, I moved over to the Office of Management and Budget [OMB fits within the Executive Office of the President but almost all of OMB’s employees are civil servants] where I worked primarily on national health issues until September 2008, when I retired from Federal service. I served as the OMB Deputy Associate Director for the Health Division from 1994-2008.
After OMB, I taught health policy and financial policy classes between 2009 and 2016 as an adjunct faculty member at George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government and occasionally lectured on these topics at American University’s public policy school.
Like other classmates, I have witnessed what I view as some dramatic changes at Wake Forest since 1967 but have also observed a great deal of continuity, especially as I followed the experiences of my daughters as Wake Forest students. I enjoyed my time at UNL and UNC but believe I was fortunate to have found my way first to Wake Forest in 1963. I have likewise been fortunate to be able to visit the campus once or twice a year in most years since graduating in 1967. As a student, I spent a great deal of time each semester in the ZSR Library, I appreciated the opportunity to join the ZSR Council of Advocates in 2016.
I look forward to visiting with 1967 classmates, renewing friendships and being on campus at our 50th Reunion.
Bill Crothers
After graduation, I did a stint in the Air Force as a pilot and became addicted. Still flying formation/airshow work & will have 50 yrs under my belt next April. Still happily married to the same woman for 46 yrs. w/ a daughter and 2 grandchildren. Living in a Sun City community South of Charlotte where I fly, ride motorcycles, play tennis and grow daylilies. Strange combination, I know. See the Sigma Pi buddies & other local Deacs & look forward to seeing more at the reunion. Very glad to be retired & done with the 9-5 routine. Life is Good.
Mary Sampson Dodge
In the last 50 years, I have lived in 10 different states (North, South, East & West). I have followed 4 different career paths (Lab Assistant, Research Histologist, Physician Assistant, & perennial volunteer), returning to college twice for certification and achieving the Masters level of education.
My husband Frank and I have been married 33+ years. We have 2 daughters 47 & 50 (soon), both have full-time careers in the retail business and educational sales after graduating University of AZ. Our eldest daughter has 2 girls and 1 boy. Eldest granddaughter, Mackenzie, has just entered Georgetown Law School. Grandson Jack is a sophomore at Univ. of AZ, and youngest granddaughter, Caroline just entered high school in Scottsdale, AZ.
My husband Frank is a registered pharmacist who worked in retail and 25 years with the US Public Health Service. He is a Florida Gator, but was raised in western MA. We met while both were working in a federal prison, Lexington, KY. I went on to work for the Univ. of KY in rehabilitation medicine (Brain & Spinal Cord Injury), while he worked on the Tohono O’Odam Indian Reservation just south of Tucson, AZ. We married in N. Key Largo, FL in the mid-eighties when he agreed to take on 2 teenage girls.
While our daughters have remained in AZ, we moved back East in 1990, first to Rockville, MD and then retiring close to Charlottesville, VA in 2001. While in DC area I volunteered at The White House for 7-1/2 years answering children’s mail. Since moving to VA, I have volunteered at The Martha Jefferson Hospital in Charlottesville for 15 years.
We have done extensive foreign and domestic travel including 4 trips with WFU. We have returned to WFU for 3 reunions, being an easy day’s drive from Winston-Salem. However, we love Central VA, despite all the recent bad press: a University town, lots of excellent music & culture, great medical care and history all around us.
We so look forward to reconnecting with Good Old Wake Forest & Class of 1967. Wake Forest was the best thing that ever happened to a transplanted Mid-Westerner who retains her curiosity and love of learning.
Jane Glenn Faircloth
After reading Sam Gladding’s bio, I feel a strong need to falsify mine….! Maybe just enhance a bit… airbrush… tweak …! The accomplishments in my bio seem incredibly small somehow. But here goes:
We graduated on June 5, 1967. I married the love of my life on June 17th. He had graduated June 3, 1967, from The Citadel. As you know, we were involved in a particularly nasty war at the time. Lee and I went together to his Air Force assignment to Eglin AFB, Florida in October 1967 – he as a Space Objects Identification Analyst in the new field of Space Defense; and I as a substitute teacher trying to get a permanent position. Fortunately, Lee was never sent to Vietnam, but he did have a year’s remote duty in eastern Turkey in 1969. He stayed with the Air Force and I tagged along for 7 years. After those 7 years, Lee went to graduate school, worked in forest management, and ended up purchasing my Dad’s property management business in Charlotte, which Lee then owned and operated for over 25 years. I did my best during those years to “manage”… raise… rear… rein in… 3 sons and 1 daughter who were 7 years apart. We celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary on June 17 this year.
During those 50 years we lived in 2 different countries (US and Italy), 6 different states (NC, FL, CO, VA, WV, and SC) plus temporary duty in 2 more (MS and NY). We had 4 children, sent them all to college, and now have 8 grandchildren ranging from 19 to 1 year of age. We have loved at least 5 dogs, 3 cats plus a couple of litters of kittens, 3 gerbils plus offspring, and a few assorted fish. Our first child was born in 1974 in Italy in an Italian hospital. Now that’s a story…! It’s been a very full life, full of much laughter and love and rather frequent messes of many kinds.
Prior to the arrival of the children, I taught Spanish and English in middle schools and elementary schools in Florida, North Carolina, and Colorado.
After the births of the children, and after being a stay-at-home mom for 12 years or so, I started a small stock photography agency in Charlotte, and I owned and operated it for over 25 years. I never became the National Geographic photographer that I aspired to be (nor a backup singer for either Merle Haggard or Ray Charles), but I did manage to take and sell photos in some gratifying ways (and I did manage to sing some lullabies to 4 children and 8 grands). I closed the agency in 2013, but I still passionately love looking through the lens and capturing a moment.
Lee and I live in Charlotte part time, but we moved to the SC coast 4 years ago. Yep, we’re Sandlappers, and we love it… Lowcountry loungers with sand between our toes. I believe we are instilling in the next two generations a similar passion for this gorgeous Lowcountry. Hopefully, we are inspiring in them a passion for life, laughter, love for others, and love of our country; and maybe also a passion for learning, for music, and for looking through the lens!
Beverly Freeman
Following graduation, Beverly embarked on a 33-year career in Human Resources thanks to a 3 x 5 index card posting in the Wake Forest Career Placement office for a position with Hanes Knitwear in Winston-Salem to validate the effectiveness of selection criteria for sewing machine operators. Prospects for career advancement prompted her move to Atlanta in 1971. She held increasingly responsible HR positions with Rollins, Days Inns of America, and Lockheed, before joining The Coca-Cola Company in 1982. Prior to her retirement In 2000 she served in various divisional and corporate roles including VP, Worldwide Organization Development for the McDonald’s account group, the company’s largest customer, and VP, HR for Coca-Cola North America.
Beverly was extremely honored to have the privilege of serving two terms on the Wake Forest Board of Visitors. She has also served on the boards of Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Young Audiences, and the Atlanta chapter of the Society for Human Resources Management. Since retiring to Georgetown, SC in 2002, she served 5 years as president of her homeowners’ association and continues to be actively involved in her community.
Beverly and Brian, her husband of 37 years, enjoy travel, particularly cruises, and have visited every continent, except Antarctica which is still on the bucket list. Trips to Australia and the UK to visit Brian’s relatives are always memorable. They are taking full advantage of the good life in the Low Country of South Carolina.
Katy Vargo Garman
My Professional Journey:
My paternal grandparents emigrated from Czechoslovakia and whenever I spent time with my family, my cousins spoke in their native tongue while I could only speak a few broken phrases. This began my fascination with other cultures and languages. Also, my career path was definitely influenced by my two high school Spanish teachers. The first one gave me a desire to continue with the language, and the second was a Greek native who was fluent in five languages. He introduced me to a broader world view than I had not known before and forced us to converse in the language. Therefore, when I came to Wake, there was no doubt that I was going to major in Spanish and minor in Political Science. I had the grandiose dream of working for the federal government in some aspect of foreign relations related to Central or South America. During my junior year at Wake, my mother suggested that I get my teaching accreditation for job security upon graduation. This was the first of several times that I began to learn that it was best not to say, “I will never…” I reluctantly agreed to her suggestion and added “but I will never” teach.
Upon graduation, I returned to West Virginia to wait until my high school sweetheart finished his degree. Of course, while I was waiting, I secured a teaching position. That year was a challenge on many levels. The high school where I was teaching was located in a very depressed coal mining area, and my high school sweetheart said “Adios and Hasta la Vista.”. I then left West Virginia and moved to Charlotte to live with Susan Hultin and Celeste Mason (Pittman) from Wake, and of course to teach and to rethink my plans. Plans do have a way of morphing into something totally different. I spent the next twenty years teaching Spanish in Middle School, the next fourteen teaching Spanish in Upper School at a private school, Providence Day School. Then, I decided to take a sabbatical after thirty-four years because I had told my mother “I will never” teach as long as she did which was thirty-six years. The next two years I worked with Glencoe-McGraw Hill as a textbook consultant. Finally, I realized that my true career passion was teaching Spanish, so I returned to the private school for another four years. Then my oldest daughter moved back to North Carolina with my two grandchildren and I decided that it was finally time to transition to part-time work. It was then that I became certified to teach ESL (English as a Second Language), and was assigned to an elementary school. I spent the next four years there. Suddenly, the North Carolina legislature mandated that a state retired teacher could not teach in a part time position. I had a decision to make. I could continue in the elementary school full-time or end my teaching career. After teaching forty-four years, I finally transitioned to other interests.
My Personal Journey and a Tribute to my College Roommate – Susan Hultin
While teaching at the middle school, I met my husband who was also teaching and coaching football. We have now been married for forty-five years and have two daughters and six wonderful grandchildren. His career path also changed in the early years and he continues to work as a financial advisor until this day. Our oldest daughter lives in Asheville and her four children are 13, 12, 7 and 6. Our other daughter and son-in-law live in Charlotte, and their children are 3 and 18 months. Today I spend most of my time as a full-time grandmother, traveling back and forth to Asheville, and keeping the two in Charlotte while their mom works part-time. Our lives have been full of challenges over the years, but we continue to feel fortunate for all that we have. My faith remains at the core of my life, and across my life there are events that I attribute to a “God” thing. This very significant event that follows is an example. My school assignment for the ESL teaching position happened to be the same school where my college roommate, Susan Hultin, was teaching. Susan Hultin had been a French major at Wake, but later changed her degree to Speech Pathology. She had been at this very elementary school for many years and was revered by all her colleagues. In addition to teaching, Susan had become an extremely talented potter. It was incredible that we found ourselves together again. As I mentioned before, I had to stop teaching due to a state mandate. That same summer Susan also had decided to teach one more year, transition to living in Sparta where her kiln was, and devote her time to her art. Plans do have a way of changing drastically. In August before starting her last teaching year, Susan was diagnosed with lung cancer. Jane Glenn Faircloth who also lived in Charlotte and I became her primary caregivers. Here we were together again just as we had been at Wake – inseparable and focused on supporting Susan. Susan tried every treatment which was available to her, but died the following February. Jane and I still miss her, and while attending the reunion we will be able to rejoice in the memories of having such a unique person in our lives.
J. Frederick Gatzke
The Decision:
My mother, a native Ohioan, loved the South despite only living there 5 years. My father, a Canadian, moved the family from northeast Ohio to Atlanta, Georgia in 1944 to open a drug store having just graduated from pharmacy school at Ohio Northern. Despite being number one in his class and an accomplished pianist, singer and entertainer, his business acumen was no equal and he was bankrupt by 1949. I was born at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta in 1945 but lost what little southern accent I had developed when the family moved back to Ohio. Ultimately, we settled in Columbus, Ohio, where my father worked in several pharmacies until retirement. My mother, a graduate of Ohio Northern as well, was active in a variety of organizations in Columbus. When it came time to choose a college, my mother wanted me to look south. We visited several schools including UVA, Duke, UNC, Washington and Lee, and Wake Forest. My favorite was UVA, but absent an acceptance, I chose Wake. Interestingly, two of my best friends from my high school in Upper Arlington, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus, also decided to attend Wake. My friend Allen Carden stayed only one year before returning to Ohio to attend Ohio State. My other friend, Tyler Baldock (see his posting above) and I left Wake after our second year and also enrolled at Ohio State.
The Wake Experience:
Early in that fall of 1963, we were frequently asked why we, as “Yankees”, would come to school in the south as they would never venture north to attend college. These inquiries subsided and I made many friends at Wake those two years and enjoyed academic success. Though not home sick, I did not find the male-to-female student ratio a compelling feature of social life at Wake. Other than reverting to local Winston-Salem high school seniors, I think I had three dates with Wake coeds. Things got so desperate, I once convinced a long distance operator to go out on a date. Summer back in Columbus convinced me a more robust social life awaited me at Ohio State. So, I made the transfer. I must say I have always felt that my time at Wake provided me a solid academic grounding, good study habits and exposure to several exceptional professors.
Life After Wake:
I graduated from Ohio State June 1967 and enrolled in Law School that fall just after marrying first wife Mimi that September. As described by several other male classmates, the draft deferment ended for law students in the fall of 1968. I determined that my best course was to enlist and become an officer. In March 1969, after an all day and all night bus ride, I found myself at Fort Leonard Wood, Kansas for basic training. Ultimately, I completed Officer Candidate School in Ft. Belvoir, Virginia in January 1970. Shortly before graduation, I convinced two fellow candidates to agree to sign on for an additional year of service in exchange for a 22-month stabilized tour before potentially deploying to Viet Nam thereafter. We were further promised our choice of specialty and location, though not necessarily both. We chose Germany and Club Management. The Army honored both and after further training at Ft. Lee, we each found ourselves in Germany at our respective Officers Clubs. I landed in Giessen, Germany with spouse Mimi in tow. Mimi did not find military life to her liking and we struggled as a couple in that setting. By late 1970, she returned to home to Ohio and our divorce was final in July 1971. Around that time, I hired a young American couple, John and Deborah as a bartender and waitress as they had run out of money on their wanderings of Europe. John was Irish with a temper to match and after two arguments with club members, my boss, the Lieutenant Colonel, said he had to go. John wanted to continue their adventure but Deborah wanted to stay settled a while. John left town and never returned. As time passed, we found more than friendship with our spouses gone. Deborah and I were married after my return to the States and remain so to this day.
Though I ultimately received orders to Viet Nam in the fall of 1971, they were quickly rescinded once the Army decided with Nixon’s Vietnamization of the war, they no longer required so many officers. So, as it turned out I only served 2 months of that additional year and was discharged in April 1972. However, I was not done with the military and served 28 more years in the Army Reserves primarily as a Judge Advocate with assignments in Columbus, Indianapolis, Phoenix, Long Beach and San Antonio retiring as a full Colonel in 2000.
This missive is getting long so I will try to wrap up. Ultimately, I received my law degree from Ohio State in December 1973 which launched a long diverse legal career as a prosecutor in Columbus (1973-1977), a trial attorney with the NLRB in Indianapolis (1977-1988), a labor law counsel with Motorola in Phoenix (1988-1992), and then an Administrative Law Judge with the Social Security Administration until retiring in 2010. Getting a little bored by 2012, I returned to as a Senior Judge with Social Security for several years and now hear Medicare cases for Health and Human Services (HHS).
Deborah and I raised a daughter, Cinnamon, and a son, Sage. Cinnamon achieved her Masters Degree in biology from Arizona State University. We lost our beautiful daughter at age 42 in August 2016 after a very courageous six-year battle with breast cancer. She and her husband gave us two wonderful granddaughters and we now have 3 great-grandchildren, Our son has recently married at age 39 and works in Seattle in the tech field developing software applications for all manner of things.
Regrettably, I have not returned to Wake since leaving in June 1965, though I have made many a trip to Myrtle Beach for golf over the years. I reviewed the list of those planning to attend this 50th reunion and sadly, I see only Willard Staples and Monty Hogewood as people I remember. I do know that classmate Tim Spina practices dentistry near Butler, PA. I do recall the names of other classmates like Steve Geigle, James Hobbs and John Barr, but do not know what happened to them. There were three classmates from New Jersey who I hung out with my sophomore year but can only recall the first name of one, Stuart. Incredibly, Stuart came in my Officers Club in Giessen, German in 1971 as he was stationed there briefly upon his return from Viet Nam.
I really look forward to meeting as many of you as I can this reunion and see the growth and change at Wake Forest. By the way, my beautiful bride Deborah and I have resided the Dallas-Fort Worth area since 1994. So I finally did return to my southern roots.
Sam Gladding
An old adage states: “People plan, God laughs.” After graduation in 1967, I planned to become a Baptist minister. Thus, I stayed at Wake an extra year to study religion since I had been a history major. Then it was on to Yale Divinity School where I realized I was not going to be a divine or a preacher. I finished YDS with a M.A. in religion and then took another M.A. in counseling at “The Forest.” From 1971 to 1981, I worked as a mental health counselor in rural North Carolina; taught psychology at a community college; served as a 1st Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps at Fort Lee, Virginia; and earned a Ph.D. (family studies) and post-doctorate (psychology) at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro.
From 1981 to 1990, I received my first academic appointments in higher education: assistant professor, Fairfield University (CT) and associate/full professor at the University of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB). While in Connecticut I checked out a cute middle school librarian, Claire, and took her out of circulation (i.e., married her). We have had three children (all boys, all joys) who are now grown. While at UAB I wrote my first book (45 of which would follow – counting revisions, of course).
A kind act of Providence (and President Thomas K. Hearn) brought me back to Wake Forest in 1990 where I have been since. For seven years I was Assistant to the President for Special Projects. Then for almost 10 years, I was Associate Provost. During this time, I also served as interim chair of the Department of Religion and established the Department of Counseling (2003) which I chaired for 11 years. In addition, I served terms as president of the American Counseling Association and as president of Leadership Winston-Salem. I gave up administrative duties in 2007 to go back to the faculty full time. Two highlights from the 1990 to 2007 period I look back on with strong emotions are:
• taking 12 Wake undergraduates to live in the slums of Calcutta and work in the homes of Mother Teresa;
• working with the Red Cross to provide psychological first aid in New York City to families whose relatives were killed in the 9/11 terrorists’ attack, and
From 2007 until now, I have had two Fulbright Specialists appointments (Turkey and China) and keynoted some neat mental health conferences in places such as Ireland, Australia, Singapore, Germany, and the Philippines. I have taken graduate students to study in Vienna Austria, also, and in 2014, I received the Hatch Prize to research humor and mental health at Oxford! Oh, in 2016 I finished volume 6 of The History of Wake Forest University. (It is in the bookstore and on Amazon). Please come by to see me whenever you are on campus: 218 Carswell Hall. It is funny how life works out in unexpected, unplanned ways.
Mary Anne Kirkpatrick Graham
Thank you everyone for your updates. I am looking forward to our 50th. I dug up our Howlers so I could see familiar faces, although I am sure no one has changed!
Because I decided that teaching French was not for me, I joined the Army and went to Officer Basic at Ft. McClellan, AL in January 1968. Upon graduating as a second lieutenant in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC), I spent one year at Ft. McClellan, then was assigned to the Judge Advocate General’s Office at the Pentagon.
While assigned to the Pentagon, I met my future husband, Tom. A possible assignment to Alaska sealed the deal; and Tom proposed marriage which ended my active duty career. When the WACs were disbanded, I joined the Quartermaster Corps. I never “got to see the world” except on vacations! I remained in the Army Reserves for a total of 28 years of service and retired as a lieutenant colonel.
I obtained a paralegal certificate which led to my most recent job as a compliance analyst with the Financial Industry Authority (FINRA) from which I retired in 2014.
Tom and I have one son who lives in VA Beach. He and his wife, have two children who are 9 and 6. Although we live in northern VA, we do not see them often enough.
Along with Susan Wright Skulskie, I attended the funeral for our fellow classmate, Barbara Gordon, in Towson, MD, several years ago.
Twenty plus years ago, I offered to serve on the Round Hill Town Council and have continued to this day. I have learned a lot about water and sewer as a result!
Looking forward to our renunion!
Mary Merrill Hansen
I am highly anticipating my first Wake Forest reunion. While actually graduating in August ’66 to get married and travel abroad, I consider the Class of ’67 as my class. Unfortunately, I lost touch with so many classmates. Thanks to Jane Glenn Faircloth for tracking down this “missing classmate” through my daughter. It has already been a pleasure reconnecting with Jane.
Most of my years since Wake Forest were spent in Princeton, Atlanta and Beaufort, NC. I enjoyed years of teaching private piano to students of all ages and levels in my own studio. I did maintain contact with my beloved piano teacher, Christoper Giles, at Wake Forest until his death. He was always an inspiring mentor whom I still miss.
Lucky for me, I moved back to my hometown of Beaufort, NC in 2004 after a divorce. My present husband, Larry Hansen, also moved there about the same time to take his last assignment at a NOAA lab as a marine biologist. It was fortuitous timing to find a new spouse at that age in a small town. But that we did!
In 2009 we both retired and my downhill skier husband “dragged” me to Bend, Oregon. It is a good fit for us and now we’re living the good life enjoying all that Central Oregon offers.
Kenneth Hauswald
I graduated from Bowman Gray in 1971 and then completed an internship and residency in general surgery at the Univ.of KY in 1976. After a 2 year stint in the USAF in sunny Minot, ND, I was in private practice in general and vascular surgery in Ashland, KY for 30 years. In 2004, I married my high school sweetheart and we moved to Raleigh in 2008, where I ran a wound and hyperbaric oxygen clinic, retiring in 2014. Pat and I have 6 children between us (3 each) and 10 grandchildren – and not one of them is in NC!! We now spend our retirement watching WF football and basketball and traveling to visit the 10 – my children say I just love to drive!!
Clay Hemric
Wake owns my past, present, and future. The best part of Wake for me was four years on the men’s varsity tennis team playing for Coach Jim Leighton. Definitely on the top of the First Five People I Want to see in Heaven list if I’m lucky enough. No question that he’ll be there. He spent decades in Purgatory with players like me. I saw a BMW driven by a beautiful blonde driver through Burlington in 1977. She had a Wake Forest decal. Blind date arranged by my handsome brother Mike led to months of begging for her hand. Married in 1977 to Nancy Carol Garlick, co-head Wake cheerleader in 1973 and is still Wakes biggest fan. I did a short stint as commissioned officer in Marine Corps Reserve. Went with Nancy in 1979 to see Wake beat UGA ” between the hedges”. Enjoyed 44 years as a Board Certified Specialist in Criminal law. Fifteen of which, I practiced with my wife Nancy. Served as Scoutmaster in my Catholic Church for 20 years with 50 Eagle Scouts. Several thousand miles on Appalachian Trail. Banjo lessons for the last nine years. Have enjoyed jamming with classmate Mark Galloway, district court judge in Roxboro and Yanceyville. Retired with Nancy on New River near North Wilkesboro with six banjos. Can’t get away from Wake. Don’t ever want to. Go Deacs.
Monty Hogewood
I married prior to my Sr. year and began working with Sears in Charlotte, NC. after only 9 days at Southern Seminary in the fall of 1967. From NC, Sears sent me to TN, Fl & AL. I have been in Birmingham, AL since 1978 and I remarried to Connie in 1983. We combined our families, my three children and her one, and have celebrated all four as contributing adults. My oldest son, Mark, is a 1990 Wake Alum and practices law in B’ham. 2nd son, Jay, has a Ph.D. & is a Methodist preacher at Rayne Memorial United Methodist Church in New Orleans. Our daughter, Lynn, is law professor at Cumberland School of Law at Samford University in B’ham. Youngest daughter, Amy, is a CRNA at Grandview Hospital in B’ham. These four have awarded Connie & me with 9 grandchildren…3 guys & 6 girls from 21-7 years old. Mark’s older daughter, Anna, will enter Wake as a freshman this fall. We have a Jr. at LA Monroe who begins Pharmacy School, a Soph at Vanderbilt in Bio-medical engineering, the Freshman at Wake & a Freshman at LA Lafayette, a Sr. in High School, a Freshman in HS, 1 in Middle School, 4th & 2nd graders. Connie completed two degrees at Samford following 20 years in HR and is now on the Nursing Faculty at the University of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB) and I retired from Samford University in 2016. I had the good fortune of joining Samford in 1992 and served as Director of Alumni Affairs and Development for 24 years. Professionally, my highest achievement was being awarded the Fundraising Executive of the Year by the Association of Fundraising Professionals in Alabama. Doing a little fundraising consulting and a good deal of carpooling in retirement. Thrilled to be returning to Wake for our 50th Reunion and hope to reconnect with many from 50 yrs. ago.
Johnnie M. Jackson, Jr.
50 years! Wow! How did THAT happen?
First thing to say is: “I’m glad to still be alive and kicking!”
I have only been back to Wake three times since graduation and my wife, Ellen, and I are excited and looking forward to this particular visit.
Remember when we graduated: in early June 1967 … the headlines that morning said, “War Breaks Out in Middle East – Johnson Sends 50,000 more Troops to Vietnam.” Guess the world has always been a bit crazy and it sure seemed like it was back then. It was pretty clear that I was going to be drafted (before the lottery), so I signed up for Officer Candidate School in the U.S. Coast Guard. Started OCS in Yorktown, VA on September 19, 1967 – the same date that flashed on the screen at the beginning of the movie, Platoon.
Turns out a third of my class went to Vietnam but I got assigned to a Merchant Marine Inspection Office in New Orleans – fun town – good people – not bad – not bad at all. Learned a lot about marine engineering and worked all over the NOLA waterfront, southern Louisiana bayous, Avondale Shipyard and on the offshore oil rigs. Even had a soft crash in a helicopter coming in from offshore one time – but, no worries, the chopper just floated down – swish, swish, swish and we landed in the flats – just got a little wet and we scarred a family of dolphins.
Back then, there was a “real GI Bill” plus education assistance programs for those while serving. I took advantage of both and got an MBA from Tulane and a JD from the University of Virginia Law School in Charlottesville.
First “real job” after finishing the military and grad school was with a New Haven, CT law firm – I was one of only two southerners (LOL) – was there for about 4 years doing mostly corporate work and was then recruited to join the Olin Corporation Law Department where I stayed for 24 years. Olin was a chemicals, metals, ammunition, defense, fine paper, housing and barge line conglomerate when I joined. I had assignments in all the divisions and lived in Stamford, CT; NJ; IL/St Louis, MO and Norwalk, CT. At one point, for about four years, I was commuting to Europe every other month or so on assignment. It was a great ride with a then $2.5 billion company! The last ten years at Olin, I was Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary and served on the Executive Management Committee living in Stamford where my wife of 29 years and I raised a son (born in St. Louis) and a daughter (born in Stamford). Both kids went out to the University of Colorado and never came back – they still live out there.
Took an early “retirement” from Olin in 2002 – worked for two smaller law firms in NYC – and provided Management Consulting and Management Coaching to a variety of clients. One of my clients hired me one day and I served as their General Counsel until two years ago when I retired (again) as a lawyer and moved to Aventura, FL full time.
Not sure I will ever completely retire and I now work from home part time as an Executive Office Business Advisor and Ellen and I travel as much as we can – while we still can!
As I think back on the last 50 years, the “little things” seem to be the most important and the things for which I am most grateful: how I felt when I married Ellen; being there when our two kids were born; watching the sun rise or set while at sea; old friends; hugging my Mom who is 96 and is feisty as ever; the excitement of catching a salmon on light tackle; nature; a good book; learning new things – you know what I mean!!!
Anyway, I am so happy we are going to see those of you who are “coming back” … I haven’t aged at all – I’m sure you have not either.
Bill Jeffries
As I have read a couple of these posts, I am impressed at what a terrific class we had. After finishing undergraduate at Wake, my late roommate from college, Alston Macon, and I tried Seminary at Union in Richmond. After 2 quarters, I left and returned to Wake Law. After one semester at Law, I realized that I needed a break from studying and having an ROTC commission needed to serve so put my notice in and believed Nixon that he was ending the war. I entered Army as Artillery Officer and in October 1969 I was in Vietnam and served my year there with 1st Air Cav in 2 slots and was able to return in October 1970 to US.
I returned to Law School in Fall of 1971 and graduated from Wake Law in 1973. Married my last year of Law School and moved back to Charlotte to practice law. After 4 or 5 years in law, I began to feel a call to go back to seminary, which I fought in many ways.
Finally in Fall 1980, I enrolled at Union Seminary in NY and finished in 1983, to be ordained in United Methodist Church and serving a church in NY. My marriage ended during that time and I found my way to NC and began serving a church in the mountains of NC. A blind date before I left NY, blossomed into a romance and Terri and I were married in 1988. We have served churches in Charlotte since 1993 and have been blessed with 3 sons who are living the dream. Oldest, Grant, played Lacrosse in high school and college and now lives in Jackson Hole, WY; Ross, also a great high school athlete, is in his senior year at the University of SC and plans to do something in Sports Management; and Sean is a rising Jr at East Carolina.
I plan to be at the 50th and hope that we recognize each other after all these years. My fondest memories are the close connection we made with each other in class and around campus. Campus politics changed a lot during our tenure at WFU and I think that I learned more from those experiences than from some of the subjects I took. Interesting tidbit. In my freshman year, I took Intro to Old Testament with a professor named Phyllis Tribble. When I went to seminary at Union in NY, Dr. Phyllis Tribble was the Old Testament professor who had become acclaimed in her field. Her class was the only one that I can remember in which the students gave her fairly regularly a standing ovation after the lecture. I do not remember that happening for any of our professors at Wake. Lots of fond memories and look forward to seeing many of you.
Jim Kelley
Go Deacs! I graduated in 1967, with a BA in History. I think many of the benefits of our Wake Forest education are intangible … read a book with a deeper appreciation, or know enough about macro economics to invest more wisely?
After graduation, I finished Navy OCS in Newport, then reported to a destroyer in Mayport FL. After 18 months in Mayport, I transferred to LST (amphibious) in Guam. I learned a few things about ship handling, mechanical engineering, and team effort. I was the chief engineer. My Navy detailer said, “history majors make good engineers”. I think he was kidding. We spent a third of our time in Vietnam rivers and ports, providing logistical support for gun boats. Morale on the ship was very high. We could look forward to a nice port visit after a few weeks in the rivers (e.g. Hong Kong, Acapulco, and ports in between).
After four years in the Navy, I worked for the federal government in Washington D.C. starting as a computer programmer and then working at U.S. Customs for 20 years as a contractor computer analyst. We supported the trade community (importers and exporters). The best project was a major upgrade of software used by Customs and trade community to transmit and receive data. We started the project with a feasibility study. Step by step, we moved forward (sometimes backward) to design, develop, test, train and deploy the new software.
I retired 8 years ago and moved to Whispering Pines NC, a good area for golf. I travel on occasion (e.g. cruise Baltic, golf in Scotland), and taught a non-credit course at our local community college (Movies and History). Some movies have an interesting historical background (e.g. Gallipoli and All the King’s Men). We have a lot of Big Ten alumni in the village. They talk about football. I have to remind them of Deacon success (Ladies field hockey, national debate champions etc). I am probably the only member of our class who never married? I have 2 brothers who went to Duke and stayed in the area.
I want to mark the passing of several of our 1967 classmates. Bill Donnelly, a good friend and roommate, who was terrific at miniature golf. Lynn “Skip” Callahan, a childhood neighbor, Ph.D. in microbiology, proud father of daughter Melissa. Dudley Payne, fraternity brother and friend, a lawyer and judge in his hometown Warrenton VA.
John Aaron Mann
Following a year in the initial class of the Graduate School (of the new WF University in 1968, I moved to Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary on the “Old Campus” of Wake Forest College in the town of Wake Forest , NC. I earned the M.Div degree from the Seminary, and the Master of Arts (M.A.) degree from WFU in 1970.
The first church I served after Seminary was in Richmond, VA, serving as Associate Pastor of the Broadus Memorial Baptist Church for two and one-half years. Then, I moved to the Washington, DC area (Northern VA), and served as pastor of a church in Woodbridge, VA for 12 years.
During this chapter of my life, I began to serve as Easter/Holy Week Chaplain on the ships of Norwegian Cruise Line. For over 30 years, I was able to lead interdenominational worship services for the passengers and crew of 16 different NCL ships, sailing in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.
After 18 years as a Pastor, I took a 15 year sabbatical from the Pastoral Ministry and served as a Global Human Resources Manager and Corporate Training Manager for an international Information Technology (IT) firm. With a focus on Project Management Training, I was able to provide the training in the U.K., Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, and Australia, in addition to many locations in the US. Fortunately, the company allowed employees to keep frequent traveler mileage for our personal use.
Following my retirement in 2005, Cynthia and I were able to visit my sister in Cairo, Egypt several times (She was the Elementary Principal of an English-speaking Egyptian school). Those trips took place prior to the Arab Spring of 2011.
Our son John Christopher Mann graduated from WFU in 1994. John A. and Cynthia Still Mann (WFU, 68) recently celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary on September 2, 2017.
Life has been good for this Demon Deacon, and now that we are Golden Deacs, it can only get better. Go Deacs!
Sue Elledge McGrady
Write about what I have done in the last fifty years? My first reaction was a reluctance to do so for, by some measures, I have done very little which is impressive or seems of great significance. On further thought, I came to realize that these years have been meaningful to me and I hope that I have contributed something of value to others.
My first job out of college was teaching at a high school in Raleigh. I had married soon after graduation while my husband John was still a student at NC State. I taught some combination of French, English, and U.S. History over those years. With the advent of our second daughter, I became a stay-at-home mom, then added school volunteer, and later substitute teacher to my resume. I also worked several years as a reading tutor.
I have always been involved in education in some way. I enjoyed the profession of teaching and the learning that goes with teaching. I had the joy of watching my daughters go through school and become great learners themselves. I still volunteer at an elementary school, giving attention to individual students who need extra help with reading skills.
I have been a part of a community of faith through these years. I am still learning and working out what I am to be and to do. I guess you might say I’m still working on the ideal of living Pro Humanitate! Yes, I have served on numerous committees and taught children and youth, but I’ve also had the opportunity to go into the community, whether it be to work on a Habitat House or to visit a 98 year old woman who can barely see or hear but who makes me feel wonderful just because I came to see her.
I’ve been fortunate to travel. I’ve seen the city of Paris from the top of the Eiffel Tower. I’ve explored the Alhambra. I’ve seen “Les Miserables” on the stage in London. I’ve experienced serenity on the Isle of Iona. I’ve marveled at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. I’ve seen glaciers calving in Alaska. I’ve seen the volcanoes spewing in Hawaii. I’ve hiked and looked in awe at the natural beauty in our National Parks. I’ve walked the old streets of Quebec.
Nothing, however, has brought more joy than my family: my wonderful husband who, although a Wolfpack fan, still supports Wake Forest and enjoys Wake Forest events; two daughters who are accomplished in so many ways and are truly good people too! Because of these two daughters, I have attended graduations at Princeton and Harvard (in addition to Davidson and Wake Forest). And, of course, my five grandchildren! But–I think it is time for me to stop…
Fifty years? No, it can’t have been!
Flora Hoffman Milans
It’s hard to summarize what’s happened since my days at Wake Forest, but I’ll give it a try.
After graduation, I worked for the federal government in Washington, DC for 30 years. I took my first “retirement” in 1997 and immediately went to work for a company as an internal auditor for their health care subsidiary. Unfortunately, that job ended after only 3 months due to the sale of their subsidiary. So after working for 30 years in a relatively secure environment, I was out on the streets! Fortunately, I had started taking accounting classes at night while working for the government and was very close to having the credits needed to sit for the CPA exam. I was able to take the exam and pass all four parts the first time in 1998. It was the toughest exam I’ve ever taken and I thought Wake was tough. This was 2 full days of multi-choice questions and essays. My 53-year-old brain was taxed to the max.
In 1998, I went to work for a CPA firm whose DC area offices specialize in audits and consulting engagements for the federal government. In 2005, I took my second retirement from the firm and started my own company, RoundUp Accounting. (Doesn’t life begin at 60?) On April 1, 2016, I hung up my shingle and retired the third time for good. Enough about work.
In 1973, Calvin Tarkington “Tark” Milans and I tied the knot, the best thing I ever did. We had two kids, Kevin and Kimberly in 1980 and 1982, respectively. Kevin is a tenured math professor at West Virginia University and has been married a year to Marcie, our favorite daughter-in-law. Kim graduated from UPenn and met her terrific husband, Ryan, while working for Google. Kim recently made a change from Google to Facebook. They have two kids, Cal (4) and Chloe (2). We are so proud of them all!
Now Tark and I are looking for a home on a lake to begin the next chapter of our lives together. Life has been good and in no small measure due to the excellent foundation laid in four years at Wake Forest. Looking forward to catching up with everyone at the reunion!
Ruth Bohn Kauffman
I have trouble believing it’s been 50 years since I arrived from Anchorage, Alaska to the moderate climate of North Carolina. I hope the reunion goes well — I plan to be there {being an English Literature Major} to hear Dr. Wilson give a few words. Go Deacs.
Lane Russell
After graduating from Wake Forest in June of 1967, I studied industrial engineering at Auburn University and toured different C&A plants. When school started back in the fall, I taught math and science at South Stanly High which is the high school that I graduated from in 1963. On December 24, 1967, I married the love of my life, Carolyn, who was a junior at Appalachian State University. I took graduate classes in guidance and counseling on Saturdays at Appalachian until finishing my first year teaching at South. In June, I became a full-time graduate student at Appalachian while Carolyn finished her undergraduate degree in elementary education. Both of us worked on campus while we were students at Appalachian. In June of 1969, Carolyn graduated with a BS in elementary education and I graduated with an MA in guidance and counseling. We came back to Stanly County where Carolyn taught over thirty years at Millingport School and received a Masters degree in Elementary Education from UNC Charlotte. Lane worked at West Stanly High as guidance counselor except when he was Director of Student Services and Testing for the Stanly County Schools completing over thirty years of service. Lane also did graduate work at
Lane worked at West Stanly High as a guidance counselor except when he was Director of Student Services and Testing for the Stanly County Schools completing over thirty years of service. Lane also did graduate work at UNC Charlotte and received additional certification as a school psychologist and Curriculum Supervisor. We have two children, a son and a daughter and four grandchildren. Our son has a daughter and a son. Our son is a teacher at Richfield Elementary School with a Masters Degree in Education from Pfeiffer University and has his National Board Certification and his wife is the assistant principal at South Stanly Middle School. Our daughter-in-law is working on her doctorate degree from Western Carolina University. Our daughter is a nurse at Trinity Place in Albemarle where her husband is a paramedic and is a supervisor with Stanly County EMS. He is also the Fire Chief at South Side Volunteer Fire Department. They have two sons. All of our family lives in Stanly County and we enjoy spending time with them, gardening and working on the farm. Carolyn has always helped me on the farm and we will be married fifty years in December of 2017. Life has been good and I am thankful for my experience at Wake Forest and the friends that I made while being there that I have kept up with all these years. God Bless all of you with good health and happiness!
Kaye Sergeant
My BBA in accounting 50 years ago from Wake has served me well. Since I married my college sweetheart, a law student at Wake, my first job was with the Defense Contract Audit Agency in Winston. That job gave me the chance to work on the Dept. of Defense budget in the Pentagon which was challenging and interesting. After that, I worked for a CPA firm in Winston, as the first woman they had hired. Then SURPRISE, I found out a baby was on the way. Long story short, I then had two more daughters and did taxes and bookkeeping from my home. Finally decided that I needed to be certified so took some refresher classes and passed the CPA exam fifteen years after graduating. I taught as an adjunct professor in accounting 101 for two semesters at Wake. When my youngest daughter was in high school I went to work as a Controller of a manufacturing company in Kernersville, then CCI in Winston. All three daughters graduated from college: UNC, Rochester Institute of Technology, and UCLA. All married and I now have eight grandchildren. I moved to California when my marriage ended, since my daughter was expecting twins and my sister lived there. In California, I found a job working as Controller of the California School of Culinary Arts, a part of Career Education Corporation. The school expanded from 140 students to close to 1,000 and the facilities went from one location to four during the three years I worked there. That experience convinced me that I did not want to work for a public company that cared more about keeping the stockholders happy than taking care of the students. My next adventure was Finance Director for the Pasadena Symphony, a dream job that let me attend concerts, meet the musicians, and help with music education programs for children. A past Symphony Board Director then asked me to consider working for The Frostig Center, a school for children with learning disabilities. That became my most loved job because of the people I worked with and working with the children and parents who so appreciated what the school did for their children. I retired in June of 2015 and am enjoying spending time with my grandkids, traveling, playing music, reading, and doing volunteer accounting work for schools and churches.
Sally Chiles Shelburne
I rarely turned in a paper on time at Wake, and thus, this little update is two weeks past homecoming. Many of you may remember since I transferred to Baylor University in the middle of our junior year. It was a Love journey. And it actually stuck. Tom and just celebrated our 50th anniversary in August. I have read the other on-time submissions and am delighted and sad at some of the news. I thought everyone else would always be young and well.
How I remember S.0.P.H.s sings and friends, the kindness of Dean Leake and Emily Wilson and the cocoon atmosphere of Wake Forest. It was a world that was staid and sane. Just before the great shocks. For me personally transferring to Baylor was a culture shock. I had to decide who I was and not whom an institution said I should be. I became quite the rebel! And ditched worry about what others thought into the Texas cactus, studied until my ears burned and ended up summa in history and political science. Me!
Tom and I married after graduation and he entered Vanderbilt Law School. I worked in different LBJ social programs and was most proud of setting up the Tennessee Arts Commission and the state National Endowment for the Arts. I was cheap but decent labor. After Tom’s graduation, we experienced what so many did: so you just think you know what you are going to do? See that draft. He miraculously survived; I had a son, Tom, Jr. We headed to Grand Rapids MI to Warner Norcross & Judd and fell into the kingdom of wads of money and ease of life. It just didn’t sit right. We had another child, Sarah, and decided it was time to camp four months all over the west and Alaska to find the perfect spot to live and throw easy money away.
We found it back home in Tennessee. (A long curvy candy land trek that gradually lost its sweetness. We bought a farm, had two more kids, Elizabeth and Will, and Tom had a “street practice “and I ended up doing Jr. Leaguer stuff, odd writing jobs, became a columnist for 450,000 circulation paper, and eventually Director of Publications at East Tennessee State University. In other words, I lucked into every job I had.
At our venerable age, I have managed to battle breast cancer 30 years ago, a second big C case lately, and a body creaking worse than the Tin Man.
We are moving to Boston to be near two daughters, seven grandchildren (and good medical care) and look forward to shorter visits with our sons’ seven children in Savannah and Myrtle Beach. Blessed??? Oh, my Lord, every day is a gift! I know. By the way, I tried very hard to get our children to WFU. Flat out rebelled. So we have Davidson, Vanderbilt, Amherst College and Presbyterian on washed out decals on our old cars. Please try to reach me if you wish. How I would love to catch up before we have to report to the Lord in earnest.
Helen McBee Shimp
My teaching career in the Dekalb County, Georgia school system began in the fall of 1967. Dekalb County was starting a synchronized swimming program and my participation in the Maritimers program at WF was one of the reasons I was hired.
The synchronized swimming program and my coaching career lasted 3 years but my teaching career with the school system lasted 34 years. 25 of those years were spent as Social Studies Department Chair. I taught U.S. History, Economics, World Geography, Citizenship and Sociology. My Latin classes at WF were even beneficial as I also taught Beginning Latin for a few years.
My students and fellow teachers greatly honored me with three yearbook dedications and two Teacher of the Year recognitions during my teaching career.
Since I had founded and coached the academic team at my high school, I was asked to serve on the Georgia Academic Team Association state board.
The accessibility of Georgia State University in the Atlanta area enabled me to complete an M.Ed. degree in 1975 and an Ed. S. degree in 1987. While completing these degrees, I wrote a teaching case study on the temporary services industry that received first place in the Georgia Economics Competition and later received honorable mention on the national level. Another economic case study on the Atlanta Braves that I co-developed was published by the Georgia Council on Economic Education and has been used in high schools throughout the state.
My dear friend and classmate, Beverly Freeman introduced me to Ron Shimp and we were married in 1984. After 8 wonderful years together, Ron passed away suddenly and unexpectedly. I have remained single since then.
After retiring from Dekalb County, I moved home to Marion, NC in 2005. I still have family here and wanted to get back to my beautiful Western NC mountains. Since then, I have tutored in the AVID program as well as tutored individual students in U.S. History at McDowell High School. In recognition of the tutoring, I received a Governor’s Award for Volunteer Service.
In addition, I have served a term on the McDowell Technical and Community College Foundation Board.
First Baptist Church of Marion is my church home and I participate on several committees there.
For pleasure, I enjoy needlework and flower/landscape gardening. Over the years, I have become an enthusiastic dog lover. Currently, I have a Lab/Great Pyrenees rescue affectionately named Reva the diva. We spend part of our early mornings walking in the neighborhoods and downtown area of Marion.
Ernie Simons
After graduating from Wake, I worked for a year, then started WFU Law School and graduated in 1971. I then moved to Raleigh for a 1-year clerkship for Justice I. Beverly Lake on the NC Supreme Court. Afterwards, I joined the Smith Anderson Law Firm in Sept. 1972 as the 7th lawyer. I am still working at Smith Anderson but now am one of about 140 lawyers.
Like one of our classmates who left a comment, I have a vivid memory of learning about the assassination of JFK on 11/22/1963. I was leaving Dr. Delgado’s Spanish class in the Humanities Building and walking with a friend on the way to the infirmary to visit a fraternity brother when I overheard someone talking about the President being shot. We rushed to the infirmary and began watching a small black & white T.V. I will never forget when Walter Cronkite removed his glasses and announced that the President had died. That was on a Friday and Wake was scheduled to play NC State that night in Raleigh…DO YOU REMEMBER THAT THE GAME WAS PLAYED AS SCHEDULED!!
I remember our football team had not won a single game through the first 9 games when we played South Carolina in the final game at Bowman Gray Stadium. Well, we won the game, rushed the field, tore down the goal posts afterward and acted like we had just completed an undefeated season.
The Kappa Sigma fraternity became the center of my social life, and I remember dating several girls from WFU and Salem (I won’t embarrass them by revealing their names.). Graham Denton became my best friend, a friendship that endured through our years at WFU and for 45 years thereafter. Unfortunately, Graham passed away in 2013.
I married Anne Miller in January 1983 and inherited two wonderful children…James who graduated from WFU in 1996 and Ashley who graduated from Salem. Anne & I have two children, Maggie who graduated from WFU in 2007 and played on the golf team, and Sarah (who later married a WFU grad) who finished Presbyterian College in 2008. Yes, I did thank her for providing the Deacs with our first win of this season.
I have so many fond memories of WFU but had better close for now. I look forward to seeing everyone this weekend
Sara Hendricks Sinal
After graduating from Wake Forest, I went to UNC Chapel Hill for medical school. I graduated there in 1971. I did a year of mixed Med/Peds internship in Chapel Hill. Paul Sinal and I married in 1969. At this point, he entered WFU School of Law and I completed my Pediatric residency at NC Baptist Hospital in Winston Salem in 1975. I was offered a faculty position in Pediatrics at Bowman Gray, now Wake Forest University School of Medicine. I thoroughly enjoyed the next 35 years seeing pediatric patients and teaching medical students and residents. I developed a sub-specialty in Child Abuse Pediatrics and saw many abused children and gave expert witness testimony in court.
After retirement in 2010, I became Medical Director and pediatrician at The Dragonfly House, a child advocacy center for assessment and treatment of abused and neglected children. I gave up that position after 4 years. I still do some consultant work and teaching for the Child Medical Evaluation Program, the NC state child abuse program.
Paul and I have 2 daughters and 3 grandchildren. All live on the east coast and we see them as often as possible. I’ll let Paul tell what he has been doing during our time since graduation.
Eddie Speas
Time flies for sure. Seems like just last week that Dean Carroll Weathers told me that he was admitting me to Law School, notwithstanding my mediocre grades! I have now been practicing law for 46 years. Most of those years were at the Office of the NC Attorney General, a couple with Governor Perdue as her lawyer and the last 12 at Poyner Spruill in Raleigh. My goal is to retire just before I screw up, a time that is fast approaching.
Debra Stewart and I married in 1981 and merged our families. Daughter Cynthia Stewart Francisco and her husband Noel are both lawyers in DC, and the proud parents of Caroline (16) and Maggie (9). Son Eddie, Class of ’93, married Polly Godfrey, also Class of ’93. They live in Wake Forest near the Old Campus and are the proud parents of Edwin (10) and Ann (15 months).
Debra was on the faculty and later in the administration at NCSU. In 2000 she was selected President of the Council of Graduate Schools in Washington and served in that post until 2015. She is now consulting with several educational organizations.
We both look forward to visiting on Friday.
Edward Tweedy
After graduation from Wake Forest College with a BS in mathematics, I took a job as a programmer/analyst with Burlington Industries in Greensboro. The year after graduation I spent lots of time on campus visiting Pat Foust (WFU’69) whom I had met my junior year and we were married in August 1968, forty-nine years ago. We lived in the Wake Forest student apartments our first married year while Pat finished her studies at WFU. In 1969 Pat and I moved to West Greensboro where we have lived all but five years since and currently reside.
During the next decade, my work at Burlington Industries changed from programming to technical support and training. Also, I completed a Master of Education degree at UNC-Greensboro, In addition, Pat and I had two sons, Phillip (1973) and Jonathan (1978).
In 1979, the chance of a lifetime came. Our family moved across the Atlantic to Ireland for five years with Burlington Industries in computer support and training at Burlington’s four Irish plants, and involving some work in Ireland, Italy, London and the US. This venture was a valuable experience in international business, international information systems, and international family living. We also had our third son Eamonn (1984) while living in Ireland.
After returning to the US I spent three more years with Burlington in training and support of end-user computing. Then my next job was in technical support and training at Miller Brewing Company in Eden for six years.
In 1994, I joined Rockingham Community College in Wentworth, NC as a full-time faculty member in the Microcomputer Systems Technology department. A major interest was computer literacy for the general population and use of technology in the classroom.
I also became very interested in global education for the community colleges and was a faculty leader for a number of college trips abroad, developing international exchanges and internships, and developing and leading international and global activities on campus.
My experiences with college and personal tours, international college activities, and travel abroad have taken me to Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, England, Wales, Austria, Belgium, Holland, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Ukraine, Poland, Canada and Mexico. I also have developed, planned and led over a dozen private group trips to Ireland and Northern Ireland over the last 20 years with Pat’s help.
Pat and I are now retired and enjoying “being paid not to work”. We are still developing and leading trips to Ireland and Northern Ireland. I am still doing some global education consulting work. We also enjoy some personal traveling in the US and abroad. And in addition to keeping and maintaining our home in Greensboro, we maintain my childhood farmhouse in Virginia as a vacation home and have two farms there. All that and participation in community activities in two communities and spending some time with our grown children keeps us busy enough.
I look forward to seeing and reconnecting with classmates from the WFU’67 class during Homecoming 2017 weekend as we become members of the Half-Century Club.
Donald VonCannon
I married Carol Sheets, a longtime sweetheart, the Saturday after I graduated in June of 1967. We started law school at Wake that fall, and I say we because Carol worked and put me through law school. After my second year, along with about half of my law school classmates, I had to drop out of law school because graduate school, military draft deferments were done away with. I joined the Marines and after my stint in the Marine Corp. returned to law school for my third year. After passing the North Carolina State Bar exam, I worked for two years as a law clerk to a federal judge in Greensboro, NC. Carol and I then returned to Winston-Salem where I began practicing law at my current firm. Our daughter, Michelle, lives in Raleigh with our two grandsons, Charlie age 10 and Carter age 8.
I would list my hobbies as reading, running (now walking more than running) and traveling. Carol also enjoys traveling. While Michelle was still at home, we traveled extensively in the United States, and since, have traveled with Michelle and our grandsons. In fact, we just returned in late May of this year from a trip to the southwest with Michelle and the boys.
We have traveled, usually on our own and without Michelle and the boys, on a number of trips to Europe, visiting the British Isles, France, Germany, Austria, Spain, Italy, Greece, the Netherlands, and Egypt. We have also made a number of trips to Peru and Mexico on medical mission trips with our church. You probably never would have guessed that I do brain surgery on the side! Actually, our team on these medical mission trips checked peoples’ vision and then fitted them with distance glasses or reading glasses, or usually both.
We were always in remote villages where doctors, medicine, and eye care of any kind was non-existent. We really enjoyed the mission trips for the comradery with our friends and getting to know so many kind and gentle people. We got a great deal of satisfaction in knowing that we helped people who had no access to medical care or even basic glasses.
Carol and I are really grateful for having had these last 50 years together and having had such a great time. We are looking forward to the next 50 years and becoming a member of the WFU Half Century Club.
Hazel Gordon Weisner
I came to Wake as a very late addition to the freshman class in September of 1963. I had enrolled at UNC-G and planned for an eventual degree in Journalism from UNC. Thank heavens God made better plans for me! On my registration day, I discovered that I had a room mate that requested me — a girl from my local high school that I had nothing in common with and were not even friends who requested to room with me on her application. I ask the Dean of Women why she had not contacted me since I did not choose her as my room mate. She informed me that there would be a $50 room change fee and the time to change was not immediate. I left campus without registering. I went to my local Dr. James Hampton to get my medical records since they had not been sent to UNC-G. He asked me what was wrong and I explained my predicament to him. He said to let him make a call and came back within minutes to see if I wanted to talk with his Wake College room mate and go to Wake as a Day Student. He gave me Ed Wilson’s name and explained that he was the Dean of Students. I went from his office to Dean Wilson’s office and found a friend for life who helped me within 1 hour get accepted into Wake and ready to sign up for classes starting within a couple of days. Dean Wilson was really apologetic that he could not get me into Johnson Dorm but said we could work on that after the first semester.
That fall we beat Duke at homecoming in the old Bowman Gray Stadium with John Macovic and Brian Piccolo. I was so excited. My high school sweetheart was my homecoming date and had already bought a diamond intending it as a Christmas present but gave it to me that night on the way to the homecoming dance. I was married to the love of my life in June at my local Baptist Church after my freshman year by Rev. Ed Christman (with Beulah Raynor as a guest). We celebrated our 53rd anniversary on June 27 of this year and credit Ed and his counseling for our long marriage.
I did not get to walk with the class in June of 1967 due to my father’s massive stroke that eventually took his life. I drove my Mother (who had no driver’s license) to the hospital for many days and helped take care of him at home. We were able to get him medical help in time so a Daddy’s girl had an additional 3 years with her hero. However, I had to drop my first 2 classes each day of my last semester which left me 6 hours short for graduation in June. Mrs. Beulah Raynor was my faculty advisor for all 4 years. As we evaluated the courses available for the quickest way to graduate, we discovered that I had 4 more hours of English credits than I could apply toward graduation. So I had to attend both sessions of summer school to take whatever was being offered to get the final 10 hours need. Most of those hours were in education and statistics which were not my favorite courses! (Mrs. Raynor was a life long friend who lived to be 100 and died in Vienna Village Senior Care facility. She planned quite a party for attendees after her service in Davis Chapel which was filled.)
In September 1967, I went across Reynolda Road to go to work for Western Electric in Document Development Organization as an editor of technical documents for the Sentinel/Safeguard Government Projects. After 3 years of working on top secret military assignments, I transferred across the building to Bell System Documentation to edited Engineering and Installation guides for the next 12 years. I then was promoted to write documentation for the Surveillance Systems developed by Bell Labs until 1982 when I was selected to join a newly formed forecasting group to project the impact of the Bell System divestiture on Western Electric Manufacturing. The group assessed the effects of divestiture on the manufacturing plants on the east coast. We forecasted the expected business equipment requirements for the 7 Regional Holding Companies, Long Lines, and AT&T for the short term (1982 thru 1985) and out 20 years to provide what effect divestiture would ultimately have on Western Electric manufacturing facilities. This was a mammoth assignment for an English major who had trouble balancing a checkbook. My Carolina boss constantly reminded me not to worry about the figures but to help members of the group with how equipment fit together from my years of editing and writing. We were forecasting all the pieces of equipment made by Western Electric and placed on bays of shelves in offices. I knew where the equipment was used and the maximum capacity on each bay and how many could fit into each size office. I helped the business majors with their configurations and they made sure my mega dollars were correct. (One of my forecasting friends enrolled & completed the Wake MBA program and is now the owner of Forsyth Seafood in W-S). After 2 years of forecasting, I joined the Public Relations Department at North Carolina Works to publish a newsletter to keep employees up to date on divestiture and its effect on the Bell System. Two years later the plant was closed and I went back to Reynolda Road to help consolidate all the employee plans (medical, benefits, salary, etc) for the remaining AT&T/Long Lines/Bell Labs/Western Electric units. This job was phased out after 2 years. I was offered a job in Chicago but declined and took early retirement @ age 50 with 25 years service. I bought Village Beverage in Clemmons to bridge the gap until I could draw Social Security. That turned out to be the hardest and most fun experience of my life. I worked with a majority of caterers to do wedding banquets and was the beverage vendor for the Crosby for all the years it was held at Bermuda Run. I sold the business in 1998 to spend time getting ready to move because the NCDOT was taking our 5 generation 50 acre farm on South Peace Haven Road to build the Northern Beltway– we thought that year. We are still awaiting payment after both the N.C. Appeals Court and Supreme Courts have ruled that NCDOT took our property in 1997. We have used our IRAs to purchase a home in St. Johns County (just south of Jacksonville) Florida to be close to our 2 grandsons and to help take care of them when our only son and his wife are on deployment as part of their Navy Careers. This is even more challenging than any thing we have done in our lives but is also the most rewarding assignment ever!
After living in Winston Salem for 70 years and being a part of all things Wake Forest, I am having withdrawal from not being able to attend all Wake Forest games and events on campus. I will have to relieve my many memories of Wake from 8 hours away. These very special memories include going to the Tangerine Bowl with my Mom and the Cinderella Deacs. The Orange Bowl where I arranged for 2 bus loads of tailgating friends and Wake family to do a 2 night/3 day trip. Don Angel, the owner of the Winston Salem Wingate, and I filled the Wingate Miramar (over 100 rooms) with only Deacons fans for the first major bowl bid in the revamped ACC lineup. Florida State thought they would earn the number 1 spot and invitation but we got to go with Coach Grobe. Our group sat in the end zone with the Band and Skip Prosser and the basketball team. I sat behind Phil Denfield who was our field goal kicker on the Tangerine Bowl team! (We had parked beside the Denfield family and tailgated with them in Orlando at the Tangerine Bowl.) Fans on the Orange Bowl trip included Sam Gladding and his family, Assistant Chaplain Rebecca Hartzog who would christen my youngest grandson in Davis Chapel (after his birth in September 2011). The Orange Bowl is the highlight of my Wake Football experiences. I also enjoyed taking many of the same folks plus my son and his family to the Military Bowl in Washington D.C. the next year. My son said he could not lose in this game against Navy but was extremely happy that Wake won! On the way home, we stopped at the motel where we had stayed to get cars for those who met us at the motel. The Ramada management surprised us with a victory snack bar set up to warm us up as it snowed and got very cold during the game.
There have been many basketball trips that are memorable, the NITs in New York, the NCAA in St. Louis when we retired Ray Meyer from DePaul, the Cable Car Classic in San Francisco that President Hearn went on as one of his first duties as President, the Christmas Jeep Aloha Bowl with Coach Caldwell and the Rainbow Classic with the basketball team and local freshman Josh Howard. It was a joy to spend 2 weeks in Hawaii. One of my favorite home games was against Maryland coached by Lefty Dressel when Muggsy Bogues shut down Len Bias record scoring games his senior year. After the game, Len came and hugged Muggsy and congratulated him with a big smile. Another favorite Memorial Coliseum memory is when Frank Johnson (1981) stole the ball and raced to our basket for a dunk but hit the rim and it landed in Coach Tacy’s hands on the bench — the looks on both their faces was priceless! My favorite all time basketball experience was the 1995 ACC Tournament with Randolph Childress, Ricky Peral, Scooter Banks, Tony Rutland, Rusty Larue, Jerry Braswell and Tim Duncan in Greensboro when we beat Duke (87-70), Virginia (77-68) and Carolina (82-80 in OT of the final game for the best victory in my memory — although I loved all the times that Coach Tacy beat the Dean in Chapel Where too!
I will always wonder what Randolph’s Mom said to him when Coach Odom called the first time out and He came to his Mom before going to the bench, She was sitting several rows in front of us just to the right of the bench and was very vocal and enthusiastic. Randolph just smiles when asked about it — wonder if he even remembered it after all these years! One of my favorite Wake items is the photo of the Shot Heard Round the ACC that was on the Greensboro News and Record front page on Monday!
I look forward to seeing everyone at our 50th but it will be a sad time for me since I will not have one of my best friends there. Anne Kennedy Morgan was looking forward to our 50th but was taken by cancer on January 4th of this year. She fought a courageous battle. The Class of ’67 held our 40th reunion at Anne and Ron’s house in Winston Salem. We enjoyed planning that event as much as the party itself. Our Black and Gold cakes were homemade by us. The black icing left a tell tale sign that you had been at Anne’s house! We were so embarrassed but laughed about it often over the last 10 years! I will miss vacations at Sunset Beach, the cruises, especially the inaugural cruise we took on the Crown Princess out of New York, vacation and shopping trips but most of all my favorite bridge partner who insisted that I take lessons at age 65 so I could be her partner. What a multitude of wonderful memories to console me each day.
The password for my life is Go DEACS!
Joseph D. Whisnant, M.D.
After Graduation from Wake Forest College, I was welcomed to Bowman Gray by Dr Walter Bo and the anatomy lab of the medical school. The following summer between my first and second years at BG, I married the love of my life, Betty Anne Saeman after she graduated from Wake Forest University. Next year will be “our” 50th. We left Bowman Gray in the summer of 1971with five other classmates traveling over the mountains to Lexington, Kentucky. Thanks to the Berry Plan, I was allowed two years of surgical residency followed by two years at Blytheville Air Force Base in Arkansas where I was the general surgeon for 6 months and then the orthopedist (another story) for the final 18 months of my tour. We then returned to Lexington and University of Kentucky to complete a residency in Urology with Bill McRoberts as chief.
North Carolina called us back in 1978 to Rocky Mount where I joined Bill Frohbose and Bob Macaulay in the practice of Urology. Rachel joined Jenny and Becky as our third daughter. I practiced Surgical Urology at Nash Health Care for 33 years. We still enjoy returning to Wake Forest University to cheer on the Deacons and marvel at the development of the Medical Center. Upon writing this, memories of basketball and football games, Saturday afternoons and evenings spent in the gym, studying in the “East Lounge” and walking to 8 o’clock classes in the rain come flooding back. These mix with memories of Anatomy lab with Dr. Bo and Charlie “mother” McCreight come fresh. Morning lectures with Dr. Prichard and Dr. Rapella are still there. The first operating room visit with Dr. Eben Alexander, climbing the stairs with him on clinical rounds and the amazing teaching skills of “Cash McCall” are indelible.
Susan Monroe Williams and Fred Williams
Susan and Fred were married in 1966 during their junior year at WFU. After graduation, Susan was employed by Integon Corporation as a programmer while Fred attended Law School at WFU. Fred graduated in 1969 and joined the U.S. Marine Corps. After six months in infantry school, Fred was sent to Naval Justice School in Newport, RI. For most of his service in the Marine Corps, they were stationed at Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, NC. After 3 years of service, they moved to Greensboro, NC and Fred started to practice law with a small firm while Susan cared for their two small children. Three years later, Fred was offered a job with a much larger firm in Nashville, TN and they moved to TN. Susan took a research position at Vanderbilt that led her to enroll in a Ph.D. program. Upon graduation in 1994, she was awarded a 2-year postdoctoral fellowship at Northwestern in University and later a faculty position at the University of Texas at Austin. After leaving Austin, she worked as a Senior Associate at a research firm in Culver City, CA and retired in 2010. In 1999, Fred left the practice of law and accepted a position of President of the development arm of a REIT that built Walmarts and Lowes. The REIT was sold to another larger developer and Fred started to develop condos, apartments and commercial shopping centers in the Nashville area. In 2008, Fred accepted a position with a retail company that was in dire straights. Fred was able to lead the staff to turn the financial position of the company around and it was sold in 2015 at a substantial profit. Currently, except for monitoring the performance of our commercial properties, Fred is retired. Susan and Fred travel internationally as much as possible and spend 3 to 4 months at their cottage at Ocean Isle Beach. They have 2 children, Laurie who lives just outside of Fort Worth and Brian, who lives in Nashville. They have 5 grandsons ranging in age from 6-25. Brian graduated from WFU in 1992 and earned an MFA in scenic design from UCLA. He has a contracting company in Nashville. Laurie has a BS in nursing from Vanderbilt and an MS from Texas Wesleyan. She is a nurse anesthetist. Susan and Fred are proud to have celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 2016.
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