1951
Dr. John Roper sent a nice note from Charlotte, N.C., where he’s enjoying retirement. An orthopedic surgeon, Roper remembers working in the post office and as a server in the Wofford dining area to pay his way through college.
1955
Frank Goodale Jr. was honored in October with the dedication of a Leader’s Legacy bench at the public tennis courts in Camden, S.C. Goodale, a former Camden City Council member, lettered in tennis for three years at Wofford. A community leader and owner of F.D. Goodale Jewelers in Camden, he was a frequent competitor on the Camden courts.
1957
Dr. B.G. Stephens and several Wofford friends received the Peggy Thompson Gignilliat Preservation Award from the Spartanburg County Historical Association for their work in restoring the Glendale Shoals bridge in Glendale. Also honored were David Britt ’77, Jim Hipp ’73, Woody Willard ’74 and former Wofford parent Ron Kirby.
1959
Jerry Richardson and his wife, Rosalind, have donated $5 million to the International African American Museum, which is scheduled to be built in Charleston, S.C. The museum will celebrate the foundational role Africans played in the making of America.
Gary Roper was inducted into the Cambridge Academy (Greenwood, S.C.) Athletics Hall of Fame in October. He coached the Cambridge football team for five years and was a head coach in South Carolina for 28 years.
1960
Tom Ellison was the captain of the South Carolina state champion 65-older 3.0 tennis team. The tournament was held in October at Hilton Head Island, S.C.
1969
Brian Alan Cooper is retired and lives in Buford, Ga., with his wife, Pam.
William “Billy” Pearson III has been named to the board of directors of Perseus Holdings USA. Perseus is an immunotherapy company that develops technologies for the treatment of cancer.
1970
Dr. Thomas Smith has retired from the National Security Agency after 30 years as a mathematician. Smith also served as an air defense artillery officer in the U.S. Army and as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Navy. He retired from the Navy as a lieutenant commander. Smith has returned to Monroe, N.C., his hometown, after living in Maryland for 35 years.
1971
Jon Maxwell and his wife, Caroline, recently completed a 135-mile hike along the Thames Path in England. Jon is an attorney in Greensboro, N.C.
1972
Samuel Hook has been named executive director of the South Carolina School for the Deaf and the Blind Foundation. Hook most recently was vice president of development for the Palladian Group in Spartanburg. He also served for six years as executive director of the Spartanburg Community College Foundation.
1974
Stewart Mungo was inducted into the Irmo (S.C.) High School Hall of Fame Nov. 10. Mungo, a 1970 Irmo High graduate, is CEO of Columbia, S.C.-based Mungo Homes and a former Wofford trustee.
John A. White Jr. has established the John White Fund for Occupational Justice endowed scholarship to support occupational therapy students who have demonstrated work to promote social and occupational justice. A resident of Forest Grove, Ore., he teaches at Pacific University and plans to retire next year.
1975
Walter “Neel” Keenan Jr. received the President’s Award from Colliers International commercial real estate. He has worked with Colliers International since his graduation from Wofford.
1976
Bill Bannen is the senior supervisor of regulatory affairs for Nutra Manufacturing Inc. in Simpsonville, S.C. He also plays bass guitar in the band Solidifide.
1978
Tom Bolt was elected to the American Bar Association Board of Governors, where he serves as liaison to the Law Library of Congress. He also was recently elected to the Salvation Army National Advisory Board. He continues to practice law in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, as managing attorney at BoltNagi. The firm is opening an office in Greenville, S.C.
Brett DeYoung is a chaplain and bereavement coordinator for Comfort Care Hospice in Irmo, S.C.
1981
Norma Fant Higgins and Charles Nicholson III were married Dec. 20, 2018, in Charleston, S.C.
Harold Dean Thompson Jr., an English professor at Presbyterian College in Clinton, S.C., has been named an Honorary Alumnus by the college. He has been teaching at Presbyterian since 1988.
1982
Elizabeth Dashiell Wallace has been named to the All-Southern Conference Faculty and Staff Team.
John Wesley Mills III has been named a partner in the litigation and dispute resolution practice of the Taylor English Duma firm in Atlanta. Mills has more than 28 years of experience in litigation in state and federal courts of California, Georgia and New York. He has a law degree from Emory University.
1983
Craig Sparks is pastor of Zion United Church of Christ in Nottingham, Md. He is a graduate of Wesley Theological Seminary.
1984
Stephen Edwards has been named executive director of the Free Medical Clinic of Darlington County (S.C.). The clinic provides free medical care for area residents who do not have health insurance and who do not qualify for government health programs.
1985
Howard Coker has been named senior vice president for global paper/industrial converted products at Sonoco Products Co., based in Hartsville, S.C.
Bob Derrick has been named the chief credit officer for Synovus Financial Corp., a financial services company based in Columbus, Ga. He previously served as chief community credit officer.
Kenneth Owens is senior pastor of First United Methodist Church in Easley, S.C., where he also makes his home.
1986
Scott Turner has announced plans to retire as Spartanburg School District Five superintendent at the end of the 2018-19 school year. His career in education spans 32 years, including positions in Spartanburg District Two and Lexington (S.C.) District Five.
1987
Jim Ciesla is dean of the Bowling Green State University College of Health and Human Services. He and his wife, Marlyn, and their daughter, Rebecca Catherine, live in Naperville, Ill.
The Rev. David Oliver-Holder is pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Urbana, Ill. His wife, Jean, is a chaplain at Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana. They have three children.
1989
John Bauknight was selected as the first speaker in the Spartanburg Community College Professional Speaker Series. The series is designed to introduce students and area residents to local business professionals. Bauknight is president and co-founder of Longleaf Holdings, a Spartanburg-based investment firm.
1990
Susan Christos McKenney works as a family nurse practitioner at Pardee Internal Medicine Associates in Hendersonville, N.C. She and her husband, Neal, and children, Mitchell Augustus and Bryson Alexander, live in Hendersonville.
1992
Jamie Fulmer Jr. was sworn in to a seat on the Spartanburg City Council in November. Vice president for public affairs at Advance America in Spartanburg, Fulmer won the seat in the November election.
1993
Marty Pittman is a data and artificial intelligence solution architect at Microsoft in Weddington, N.C.
Chris Story began work as city manager of Spartanburg in October. He had been the city’s assistant manager and previously served as Spartanburg County assistant administrator.
1995
John Jewell has joined the commercial real estate team at Cora Bett Thomas Realty in Savannah, Ga. Jewell has more than 15 years of experience in the field.
1996
Dr. Mary Jett Camp has received a doctorate of education in curriculum and instruction from the University of South Carolina.
Carl Allard Young was recently promoted to colonel in the U.S. Army. He is the chief of the architecture and data division at Fort Belvoir, Va., where he lives with his wife, Angel, and daughter, Anne Hensley.
1997
James Scott is celebrating the release of a new book, “Rampage: MacArthur, Yamashita, and the Battle of Manila.” The book describes one of the most brutal campaigns in the Pacific theater during World War II. The book is already getting critical acclaim in the U.S. and the Philippines.
1999
Lisa Harris Schunter is a lecturer in art history at Sutton College in Banstead, England. She has two children, Abigail and Andrew.
2000
Darrick Gibbs is in his second season as women’s head basketball coach at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville. The team competes in the Atlantic Sun Conference.
2001
Jason Burr and his wife, Christina, welcomed daughter Iris Elizabeth Burr Jan. 3, 2019. Burr is associate vice president of facilities and capital projects at Wofford.
2002
Avery Greenlee is vice president of First National Bank of South Carolina in Summerville. He works in commercial lending.
2003
Jason Cale Lynch and his wife, Bonnie Allen Lynch ’05 welcomed daughter Elizabeth Bell Lynch Dec. 11, 2018.
Dr. Richard Webb is a general surgeon at Lexington (S.C.) Surgical Associates. He served two five-month tours in Afghanistan working with special forces units.
2006
Erin Leigh Higgenbotham is a counseling psychologist at the University of Georgia University Health Center in Athens, Ga. She works with students in individual therapy, group counseling and outreach. She also participates in supervision and training of graduate students and post-doctoral professionals.
2007
Bryan Blair is the senior associate athletics director for football and other sports at Washington State University. He formerly worked at Rice University.
Matt Giles has been named general manager of the Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis, Minn. Previously, Giles worked as associate producing director for Seattle Repertory Theatre and artistic producer of Public Works Seattle.
Duncan Lee Norton and Mariel Willenberg Norton ’08 welcomed son Dale Loring Norton Oct. 11, 2018. The family lives in Columbia, S.C.
2008
Perry Buckner IV has been named a partner in the Charleston, S.C., office of YCRLAW law firm. Buckner’s practice focuses on the representation of health care professionals, hospitals, lawyers, real estate workers and financial institutions.
Sterling Dye and has wife, Whitney, welcomed baby boy Devereaux Mitchell “Dev” Dye Oct. 31, 2018. The family lives in Columbia, S.C.
2009
Elizabeth Lamance Bakker has joined the board of directors of A Child’s Haven in Greenville, S.C. The organization treats children with developmental delays and provides support and education for children and their families. She is a construction attorney in the Greenville office of Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd.
2010
Meredith Ann Carter Krzyston has joined the Robinson Gray law firm in Columbia, S.C., as an associate. She is working in the area of workers’ compensation.
2011
Nate Harceg is a category manager for Chewy, an online retailer of pet products based in Dania Beach, Fla. He lives in Fort Lauderdale.
2012
Ruthie Oates Bailey and Vic Bailey IV welcomed baby girl Chapman Montgomery Bailey Nov. 5, 2018.
Brandon Michael Robinson and Amy Elizabeth Simpkins Robinson ’13 welcomed baby girl Blair Elizabeth Robinson Sept. 15, 2018.
2013
Margaret Deans Fawcett Grantz is the founder and director of development and marketing for Camp Cole, a new Columbia, S.C., camp for children and adults with illnesses, disabilities and other life challenges.
Ty Gregory was inducted into the Greer (S.C.) High School Athletics Hall of Fame in October. He was a three-year starter for Wofford’s football team and was a two-time all-Southern Conference selection.
Taylor McGuire Thomas recently was featured in an article in a national scouting magazine about his work expanding the reach of scouting for the Palmetto Council in South Carolina.
2015
Chris Underwood is a contestant in the new season of “Survivor,” the long-running CBS television show that pits players against each other in tests of physical and mental skills and survival. The competition, which is currently airing, took place in Fiji. Underwood, a resident of Greenville, S.C., played two seasons for the Wofford football team. He is a district sales manager with LGCY Power in Greenville.
2016
Hayden Breckenridge and Victoria Biggers ’17 were married July 14, 2018, at Edenton Street United Methodist Church in Raleigh, N.C. Hayden is studying for his doctorate in materials science and engineering at North Carolina State University, and Victoria works for Credit Suisse.
Wes Duckett is a marketing analyst at Insight Enterprises in Tempe, Ariz.
2017
Caroline Holt Dillon is assistant marketing manager for brand activation at Pure Fishing Inc. in Columbia, S.C. She graduated from the Wake Forest University School of Business with a master’s degree in management.
2018
Cameron Smith is a legislative correspondent for South Carolina Rep. William Timmons. She recently served as a staff assistant for the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
FACULTY/FRIENDS
Tom Rocks, director of the physical plant and a 28-year employee at Wofford, retired Jan. 2. Rocks played an important role in planning and directing construction, renovation and expansion at Wofford.
Dr. Aaron Garrett, assistant professor of computer science, is a co-author of a paper — “Feedback between Building Automation Systems, Building Energy Models, and Auto-Calibration” — that was presented last September at the Building Performance Analysis Conference and SimBuild in Chicago.
Dr. Courtney M. Dorroll, assistant professor of religion and Middle Eastern and North African Studies, is the editor and co-author of a new book, “Teaching Islamic Studies in the Age of ISIS, Islamophobia, and the Internet.” Published by Indiana University Press, the book also features Dr. Kimberly Hall, assistant professor of English, as a co-author of chapter 1, “On Teaching Islam Across Cultures: Virtual Exchange Pedagogy,” and Dr. Phil Dorroll, assistant professor of religion, who authored chapter 12, “The Five Questions About Islam Your Students Didn’t Know They Had: Teaching Islamic Studies to an American Audience.” Dr. Emily Witsell, research librarian and instruction coordinator, indexed the book and served as a freelance copy editor.