Chronicle
1960s
Hoyt Canady (’65) has retired as the editorial page editor of The Knoxville News Sentinel. He and his wife Marilyn (’70) live in Knoxville, Tenn.
Jerry Garrard (’69) and Ruthie Hendrix celebrated their 43rd wedding anniversary August 12.
Donald Patterson (’66) concluded a successful 37-year career at the Medical College of Georgia and volunteered for the Veteran’s History Project of the Library of Congress. He participated in the interviewing of 400 veterans, including three from Statesboro. He writes, “I truly believe they are ‘the greatest generation.'”
Kenneth Robbins (’66) and Dorothy Dodge Robbins, co-edited a collection of works titled Christmas Stories from Ohio. The book includes writings by Nikki Giovanni, James Thurber, William Dean Howells, Kay Boyle, Langston Hughes, and many others. It is their fourth publication of its type, following Christmas Stories from Georgia, Christmas Stories from Louisiana, and Christmas on the Great Plains. Robbins serves at Louisiana Tech University as its director of the School of the Performing Arts.
Jim McLaughlin (’68) and Diane Cowan McLaughlin (’67) celebrated their 42nd wedding anniversary with a cruise to Alaska. Jim is a law professor and Diane is a “stay-at-home grandma.” They have two sons, Cole and Rhett, and six grandchildren.
William L. “Pete” Brannan (’69) is a retired naval air reservist. He concluded his full-time teaching career at Rockdale Career Academy last June and he assumed the one-year presidency of the Georgia Association for Career and Technical Education this summer. He and his wife, Noel, reside in McDonough, Ga. His Georgia Southern legacy includes two sons, three siblings, and at least nine other family members.
1970s
Richard Stratton (’73), associate professor of education in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences’ School of Education at Virginia Tech, has been conferred the title of professor emeritus by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors.
Bill H. Wallace, Jr. (’77) of Acworth, Ga., has been named to a three-year term on the state’s Board of Community Health. Wallace is past associate vice chancellor for human resources for the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia and past director of human resources at Kennesaw State University. He is a member of the Hewitt Associates University Pathfinder program and co-chaired the Commission for New Georgia’s task force that reviewed the State Health Benefit Plan and the task force that reviewed recruitment, retention, and retiree benefit strategies.
Johnnie Harrison Edge (’79) is now dean of student affairs at Sandersville Technical College. Her daughter, Meredith Edge (’09), is employed by the Preiss Company in Statesboro.
1980s
Edward D. Murphy (’80) is now a Certified GeoExchange Designer. He is a senior associate with the Atlanta consulting and engineering firm of Newcomb & Boyd. He is also a LEED Accredited Professional.
Georgene Bess Montgomery (’81) has published a book, The Spirit and the Word: A Theory of Spirituality for Africana Literary Criticism. It presents a theory of spirituality called the Ifa Paradigm, based upon the ancient African spiritual tradition/religion called Ifa, to assist in the decoding of Africana literary texts.
Sally Scherer (’82) and her sister, Susan Goscinski, recently vacationed at the Red Rocker Inn in Montreat, N.C., with their dad, Bob Scherer of Statesboro. Sally is lifestyles editor with the Lexington Herald Leader.
Twila Humphrey Preising (’83) has been named winner of the Excellence in Education Award for the Southwest Region from Alpha Delta Kappa International Honorary Sorority for Women Educators. Preising is a 27-year veteran teacher at Chaparral High School in Phoenix, Ariz.
1990s
Yolanda Wallace (’91) had her debut novel, In Medias Res, published by Bold Strokes Books in March. Her second book, Rum Spring, will be published in December by the same company.
Jim Dupree (’93) and Debra Harris Dupree (’93) recently celebrated their son Ryan Dupree’s first birthday on May 22.
Ted Williams (’93) of Vidalia, Ga., is a supervisory agriculture specialist with U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Tampa, Fla. As a manager of agriculture specialists, he protects America’s food supply from foreign pests and diseases. He can be reached at teddyslive@msn.com or on Facebook.
Michael P. Gilbert (’94) and his wife, Sabrina, celebrated the birth of their son, Ian Wayne, in January 2008 and that of a daughter, Tabitha Kathleen, in May 2009. The couple resides in Canton, Ga., and may be contacted at msgilbert1@excite.com.
Scott Jeffries (’94) has been named one of the top volunteers in the country and has had a $10,000 grant given to the Downs Syndrome Association of Atlanta on his behalf from the Northwestern Mutual Foundation. A Sharpsburg, Ga., resident, Jeffries is a representative with Goodwin, Wright in Atlanta.
Chip McGinley (’94), who played soccer and football at Clarke Central High School and both sports at Georgia Southern, was inducted into the Athens, Ga., Athletic Hall of Fame last spring.
Steve Brock (’95) and Robin Ponder Brock celebrated the birth of their son, Wesley Ponder Brock, on October 8, 2009. They reside in Americus, Ga.
Pearl K. Ford (’96) is editor of a newly released book, African Americans in Georgia: A Reflection of Politics and Policy in the New South. Ford is an assistant professor of political science and African-American studies at the University of Arkansas.
Lea Anne McBride Foster (’96) and her husband, Wes, proudly welcomed a baby girl, Layne Olivia Foster, on December 27, 2009.
2000s
Lisa Scarbrough (’01) received the WJCL/FOX 28/TheCoastalSource.com Community Advocate of the Year Award from the Small Business Chamber of Savannah. In May, her organization, Coastal Pet Rescue, received the Best Non-Profit award from Connect Savannah.
Jeffrey Brown (’02) of Upland, Calif. is an associate professor at The Collins College of Hospitality Management at California State Polytechnic University in Pomona. He was named the American Culinary Federation Inc. 2010 Chef Educator of the Year.
Iman Freeman (’02) has been accepted into American University’s Washington College of Law, and will be a proud member of the class of 2013. He sends “a special thanks to Dr. Ludowise in CLASS for her help and guidance throughout the application process. Go Eagles!”
Britt Richey (’02) and Dallas Copeland (’02) met at Georgia Southern in a business calculus class in the summer of 2000. Three years later he proposed to her in that same classroom, this time filled with their families. Britt works at Johnson Lighting, his family business, and Dallas manages a Northwestern Insurance Company agent’s office. They reside in Savannah with their two daughters, Carson and Camden.
Maggie Thurmond Dorsey, RN (’05), recently published another children’s book. The book, My Hero, My Dad, the Nurse Knocked Out Cancer is the latest in the My Hero, My Dad, The Nurse series. The colorful children’s book, available on Amazon.com, appropriately describes for a youthful and older audience how colon cancer was prevented when her dad had a colonoscopy. Dorsey’s other two books are My Hero, My Dad, The Nurse (2008) and My Hero, My Dad, the Nurse Played Football (2009). Dorsey is the interim dean of the School of Nursing at the University of South Carolina-Aiken. She can be reached at maggied@usca.edu.
Brett Adams (’07) was married to Callie Smith in October 2009 on Lake Rabun in Clayton, Ga. He works in construction management.
Mike Newton (’07) was named superintendent of Jasper County, Ga., schools in February. Newton, a native of Jasper County has served as a teacher and administrator in Jasper, Newton and Jones counties.
Shaheen Solomon (’07) and Reine (Jack) (’06) Solomon were married on December 6, 2008 and have welcomed Elijah Armaude, a bouncing 8.8 lb baby boy, into the world. They reside in Fairburn, Ga.
Jennifer Lauren Thompson (’07) and Justin Avery Banks (’08) are planning a July 22, 2011 wedding in Atlanta. Jennifer recently accepted a transfer position with her company, Scientific Research Corporation from Atlanta to Charleston, S.C. Justin works with the Georgia Department of Transportation as a bridge design engineer. The couple would enjoy receiving e-mails at jthompson47@gmail.com and jbengr2b@yahoo.com.
Rufus Scott (’09) was featured in a summer article of Minority Engineer. He is an outside plant engineer at Windstream Communications and lives in Leeds, Ala.
In Memoriam
Dean Origen J. James
Dr. Origen J. James, Jr. died February 8 in Statesboro. Dr. James served the University for 21 years as a professor of accounting, 12 of which were as dean of the College of Business.
The Eagle Pass, Texas, native spent most of his childhood in Chile, returning to the United States for his education. He interrupted his studies at Texas A&M University to serve in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, receiving a Silver Star, Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Korean Service Medal and a Combat Infantryman Badge. After his discharge, he lived in Chile for three years, then returned to the United States and completed his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Texas A&M and his Ph.D. at Texas Tech.
Dr. James was the accrediting dean for Georgia Southern’s undergraduate bachelor’s and master’s degrees.
He was a past president of the Southern Business Deans and a member of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. Dr. James was involved in several academic and honorary societies at Georgia Southern and served locally as a board member of Farmers and Merchants Bank and a member of the Rotary Club of Statesboro. He was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Statesboro, where he served as an elder. Two Georgia Southern Foundation endowments are named in his honor: the Ori James Beta Gamma Sigma Scholarship Fund and Ori James Beta Alpha Psi Endowment.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Origen James, Sr. and Mattie While James; two sisters, Ori Jean May and Frances Fitch, and nephew Richard Sayrs. Surviving are his wife of 57 years, retired English professor Eleanor Jones James of Statesboro, two daughters, one granddaughter, three great-grandchildren, a sister, and11 nieces and nephews.
Dr. George A. Rogers
Dr. George A. Rogers, 92, died August 14 in Savannah.
After earning a bachelor’s degree from Illinois College, Dr. Rogers taught at Gem City Business College in Quincy, Ill. During World War II, he served in the European Theater in the 1st Army, 542nd Anti-Aircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion, as a reconnaissance and communications officer.
In 1950, he completed his Ph.D. in history at the University of Illinois and joined the faculty of Georgia Southern where he taught history for 33 years.
Together with R. Frank Saunders, Jr., he co-authored Swamp Water and Wiregrass – Historical Sketches of Coastal Georgia in 1984. He also served as one of the 15 appointed members of the Heritage Trust Commission established in 1975 by Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter.
He was preceded in death by his wife of 46 years, Betty Adams Rogers. Survivors include his daughter, Vivian Rogers-Price and her husband, Michael Price of Rincon, Ga.; a son, George William Rogers and his wife, Mary Beth Halsey-Rogers of Milford, Va.; four grandchildren and one sister.
The family requests that memorial contributions be made to the George A. Rogers Scholarship Fund at Georgia Southern.
Alumni
Emily Akins Malecki, ’34
Faculty
Elvena Boliek, English & Philosophy