alumni books
1970s
Christie Canada Pieper (ABJ ’79) is a freelance training specialist (Customer Service Skills and Writer) in the metro Atlanta area. She resides in Woodstock. Sally Painter (ABJ ’78) owner of Sally Painter Photography, Portland, Ore., has over 20 years experience photographing the built environment in the Pacific Northwest and throughout the country. Her photography includes architecture, interiors, construction and landscapes and has been published in Sunset, Architectural Record, Fine Homebuilding and more. Ed Campbell (ABJ ’77) has been named senior vice president, HR & marketing, for Atlantic Southern Bank. The Atlanta native now resides in Macon, the headquarters for the bank. He oversees all human resource and advertising functions. Scott Hample (ABJ ’77) has joined McCormick & Company (spices and herbs manufacturer) as a marketing research manager in Baltimore. He is also a part-time marketing professor at Towson University, a unit of the University of Maryland system, and a part-time marketing professor with University of Phoenix. Carlton Roberts (ABJ ’77) recently joined the staff of Odyssey Marketing Group, a hybrid marketing/advertising firm as Account Director. He resides in Roswell. Barry Jones (MA ’76) has retired from the University of Georgia. He resides in Athens. Denise Schoerner Bunch (ABJ ’75) is a legal assistant at Gary Bunch, PC in Carrollton. Jane Vandiver Kidd (ABJ ’75) is chair of the Democratic Party of Georgia. She resides in Athens. Elected to a four-year term in January, 2007, she is traveling around the state to re-energize Democrats for the 2008 elections and beyond. Gerald W. (Jerry) Long (ABJ ’75) is currently serving as pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, Andalusia, Ala. He graduated in 2006 with a Master of Divinity from Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur. Phillip Scoggins (ABJ ’74) is an anchor at WRBL-TV, Columbus. Harriet Monroe Brown Gattis (ABJ ’71) is tourism manager for the Conyers Convention & Visitors Bureau. David Wilson (ABJ ’71) is executive vice president of the Tennessee Credit Union League, Chattanooga. He is the former editor-in-chief of Voice of the Tennessee Walking Horse magazine. Linda Matheson Cartwright (ABJ ’70) is vice president of Cartwright/Matheson Investments, Cumming. Laura Bennitt Wright (ABJ ’70) is a teacher at Eckerd Academy. She resides in Brooksville, Fla.
alumni news
Downhome: Dispatches from Dixie
Bob Dart (MA ’73) has published his first book after working for almost four decades as a newspaper reporter. Downhome: Dispatches from Dixie is a collection of true-life Southern yarns that he likes best. Some of the locales and names are familiar. Virginia Tech. Music Row. Junior Samples. Willie Nelson. A family reunion. But others concern places and events most folks have never heard about. A tiny island in the Chesapeake Bay that time forgot. A Moonpie Murder. The beach game of Halfrubber. The Santa Train. With often humorous, insightful prose, Dart’s pieces blur the boundary between journalism and literature. A national correspondent in the Washington bureau of Cox Newspapers, Dart lives in Vienna, Va. He covered the South for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution before moving to the Cox bureau in 1983. Since then, Dart has embedded with an infantry scout troop during the invasion of Iraq and has covered presidential campaigns, earthquakes, national political conventions, terrorist attacks, hurricanes and the Olympics—even carrying the torch. But his favorite stories have always come from the back roads and colorful characters of his native South.
The Romance Readers Book Club
Julie L. Cannon (ABJ ’85) has released her fourth Southern fiction novel. The Romance Readers Book Club was released last December by Penguin/Plume. The story revolves around Tammi Lynn Elco, a 15-year-old girl living a sheltered life in the religious southern town of Rigby, Ga. When Tammi gets her hands on a stack of forbidden romance novels, she forms a reading club with her two girlfriends and eccentric Aunt Minna. Then the town experiences a drought that local preachers claim has been caused by sin, and Tammi must come to terms with her guilt, her emotions and the strict expectations of her community. Cannon describes her new book as “a coming of age story about how powerful words and what we read can be.” Cannon lives in Watkinsville and is working on her fifth novel, Judas That I Was, which will be her first story set in Athens. Her first three books are part of a series called the “Homegrown” series. They are Truelove and Homegrown Tomatoes (2001), ‘Mater Biscuit (2004) and Those Pearly Gates (2005). For more information on Cannon and her books, visit her Web site at www.juliecannon.info
1960s
Dixon Haynes (MA ’69) has self-published his first book titled The Neocon Aberration, published by Trafford Publishing. The retired writer lives in Cataula. Dixie H. Kinard (ABJ ’68) Dalton, Ninth Congressional District Representative, was appointed to the Board of Early Care and Learning by Governor Sonny Perdue. Kinard is the relocation and marketing director for Coldwell Banker-Kinard Realty, Inc. She and her husband, Robert, have three grown children and five grandchildren. James Nowlen (ABJ ’62) is a minister for FREEintheLORD Ministries. He is presently living and working on the campus of The KEY Ministries in Euless, Texas where he conducts counseling, deliverance ministry, and music ministry and handles bookstore orders. Wesley “Pat” Pattillo (ABJ ’62), New York City, has been director of the communication division of the National Council of Churches USA since 2001. The council is an association of 35 Christian denominations representing 45 million members nationwide. Chris Clark (ABJ ’60) retired as lead news anchor on May 23, 2007 from Nashville’s WTVF Channel 5 News. Clark (real name Chris Botsaris) had been a consistent anchor at the station since 1966, but retired after 41 years, making him one of the longest-tenured anchors in television history.
Color Mastery
To say that Maria Peagler (ABJ ’87) has an eye for color would be an understatement. The Big Canoe resident has just authored Color Mastery: 10 Principles for Creating Stunning Quilts. Peagler created all 16 quilts in the book with fabrics only from her stash. She challenged herself to squeeze outstanding color out of everyday, ordinary fabrics. “The key to transforming fabrics you already have in your stash is to change the way you approach your quilts,” she said. Whether you’re a traditional quilter trapped in a color rut or an art quilter looking for a deeper understanding of color, this book offers a revolutionary way to approach color in quilts. Peagler has won awards for both her fine art quilts and her writing. Her background as a watercolor artist and an instructional designer for the nation’s top training company enables her to take a fresh approach to color coaching for quilters. Color Mastery is published by Willow Ridge Press and her blog has additional color lessons available at www.colormastery.com.
Looking for Alumni
WUOG 90.5 FM, the all-volunteer student voice of UGA, announces the formation of the WUOG Alumni Association. Coinciding with the station’s 35th anniversary, the Alumni Association was formally chartered on October 13, 2007. The mission of the WUOG Alumni Association is to create a culture of engagement among former station volunteers. Serving as a booster organization to existing station initiatives, the organization is dedicated to supplying the current student volunteers with a wide resource pool and an active alumni population. WUOG Alumni Association is open to all former UGA students with at least one semester (or quarter) of WUOG involvement and who left the station in good standing. If you or someone you know was involved with the station during your time at UGA, please email wuogalumni@gmail.com.
Thomas Boutwell (ABJ ’73) retired with 30 years’ experience in Georgia education. Most recently assistant principal of Stockbridge High School, Boutwell is opening Bright Star Apalachee Learning Center, a daycare center off Highway 316, in Winder. He recently married and resides with his wife in Monroe. David Levie (ABJ ’73) is managing partner of LEDO Investment Properties, LLC. He resides in Montezuma. Charles Johnston (ABJ ’72) is president/ publisher of Shelby Publishing Co., Inc. Diane Carver Sekeres (ABJ ’72) is an assistant professor in the College of Education at the University of Alabama. She resides in Tuscaloosa. Philip Lee Williams (ABJ ’72) was named winner of the Georgia Governor’s Award in the Humanities in spring 2007. Williams is the author of 12 published books and also won the Michael Shaara Award for his novel A Distant Flame (St. Martin’s, 2004). He is currently assistant dean for public information in UGA’s Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. James Daniel (ABJ ’71) is president/CEO of Daniel and Daniel Resources. He resides in Bishop.
Thank You Power
Deborah Norville (ABJ ’79) said she “didn’t set out to write a book” but that she was “just trying to prove a hunch.” Her idea that saying “thank you” could be beneficial to your health began as a personal quest. It resulted in a new book, titled Thank You Power, that she authored and published. “I felt my life was working better when I focused on the positive, but as a skeptic by function as a journalist I wanted to see if it worked,” the Inside Edition host said. Norville used her free time to research the literature. “Credible research looked into the notion of benefits from consciously living on the bright side,” she said. “But there was nothing to back them up, so I found something that started to scratch the surface of a new field in positive psychology.” “I pulled it together into a book, and it’s unbelievable the responses I get,” she said. Norville hopes to follow up Thank You Power with another book in the near future. “This experience really has been humbling,” she said. “I didn’t know where it would take me, and it’s validating to recognize that there are still new paths and ways to impact others.”
WWW.GRADY.UGA.EDU FALL 2008 GRADY NEWS 49
1950s
Mary Evelyn “Bootie” Gowen Wood (ABJ ’58) is a retired educator with the State of Georgia. She currently resides on St. Simons Island. Her favorite Grady memories include Louis Armstrong at Little Commencement and Kappa Alpha Theta Kite Day. Floyd Davis (ABJ ’53) is a doctor at the Fayette Eye Clinic, Alpharetta. He received his Grady degree in broadcast.
48 GRADY NEWS FALL 2008
WWW.GRADY.UGA.EDU