IN THIS ISSUE5

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IN THIS ISSUE₅Spring breakers serve in El Salvador

10 First lady discovers new adventures

14 Class of 2011 celebrates commencement

summer 2011 a magazine for alumni and friends

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COLUMNS^L^A^G^{R A N G E} ^CO L L E G E A Magazine for Alumni and Friends Vol. 15, No. 3

President Dan McAlexander

Vice President for Advancement Will Jones

Editor

Dean Hartman Assistant Editor Debby Durrence Development Writer Karen Clark Recruitment Writer Lee Davis

Alumni and Community Relations Editors Martha Pirkle, Susan Hancock

Webmaster David Beard ’01 Designer

Stacy Gorman Jackson ’00

LaGrange College (USPS 299-300), including Columns, its official publication for alumni and friends, and the Progress Report and Annual Donor Roll, is published quarterly by LaGrange College, 601 Broad Street, LaGrange, GA 30240-2999. Periodical class postage paid at LaGrange, GA, and additional mailing offices.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to LaGrange College, 601 Broad Street, LaGrange, GA 30240-2999.

Correspondence should be directed to the Com- munications and Marketing Office at the above address, e-mailed to [email protected], or faxed to (706) 880-8763.

Classnotes should be sent to the Alumni and Community Relations Office at the same address, e-mailed to [email protected], or faxed to (706) 880-8757.

Indicates additional material on the College’s Web site found at www.lagrange.edu

A four-year liberal arts and sciences college affiliated with the United Methodist Church, LaGrange College is consistently ranked in the top 10 and as a “best value” among Southern colleges by U.S.News & World Report. The college, an award winner in sustainability, is the oldest private institution of higher learning in Georgia and has an enrollment of more than 1,000 students.

from the president

Uncommon connection

A strong sense of community. That is one of the things I enjoy most about the experience at a smaller institution of higher learning. The bonds shared between faculty, staff and students create an energy unlike any other.

Whether in the dining hall, at sports con- tests or during other events, the conver- sations I enjoy with our undergraduates are constant reminders of the strong con-

nections that grow from living and learning in a small-college environment. Here at LaGrange, we believe that being part of such a community transforms lives, a transformation reflected in our actions.

After horrific tornadoes ripped through the South this spring, members of our campus community volunteered to travel to some of the ravaged areas and lend a hand. You can read about their experiences in our cover story.

Building our connections with the community of LaGrange has led to a new educational/travel program called 3D Journeys, which offered faculty lectures about Coastal Georgia and an educational trip to Sapelo Island. My wife, Celeste, has helped launch that effort, and you can read more about her and the role of first lady in the feature inside this issue.

Having spent our lives working in higher education, Celeste and I both believe the college years offer an extraordinary time for students to discover a true sense of vocation, con- necting their unique gifts with the world’s needs. And we believe LaGrange College is the kind of community where that connection happens.

Thank you for your role in our college community as we join together in the work of transforming lives.

Dan McAlexander President

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in this issue

Cheerful chorus

PAGE 14

Amid the whirring of cicadas and the heartfelt encouragement of speaker

Howard “Bo” Callaway, the Class of 2011

celebrated its commencement.

By Dean Hartman

2 Notebook Panther places in national golf tourney; president’s opinion piece appears in state newspapers; college helps in West Point Lake cleanup; more

4 Around Campus College joins new athletic conference; business and community leaders hosted at luncheon;

students take Alternative Spring Break trip to El Salvador; more

18 Alumni and Friends Daniel recognized for alumni service; Phil Wil- liamson retires after 42 years; Hunter receives Fuller E. Callaway Jr. Award;

more

23 Classnotes Homecoming to offer new Main Street Party; grads honored as Troup County outstanding teachers;

alumni share their moves and mile- stones; more

Cover

It didn’t take long for students, faculty and staff to re- spond after terrifying tornadoes devastated Tuscaloosa, Ala., and Rome. They organized and delivered supplies, as well as offered helping hands and caring hearts. PAGE 6 By Debby Durrence

Sculpture captures campus icons in sand.

PAGE 5.

A different journey

First lady Celeste Myall has spent her life as a musician and professor. However, her life changed dramatically two years ago when her husband, Dan McAlexander, was named presi- dent of LaGrange College. By Debby Durrence

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notebook

snapshot Lions, tigers and bears …

The sisters of Alpha Omicron Pi went on a scouting expedition during their May Day Step-Sing performance and encountered a few wild, but friendly, beasts along the way. Their spirited presentation won the large-group category honors during the annual event, which drew a large crowd to the Lewis Library Plaza.

Taking small-group honors was Pi Kappa Phi.

Golfer soars at nationals

Senior Hudson Keener finished third at the 2011 NCAA Division III Golf Championships at the Grandover Resort in Greensboro, N.C. With the third-place finish, Keener earned first-team PING All-American honors for the second straight year, the first LaGrange golfer to do so since the college joined the NCAA.

He was also selected to the PING Southeastern All-Region team and was the Great South Ath- letic Conference Player of the Year.

Keener won the GSAC and Reeder Cup individual championships.

President gets the word out

President Dan McAlexander’s guest editorials on the changes in the HOPE

scholarship were picked up and printed in newspapers around the state, including the Macon Telegraph, Columbus Ledger- Enquirer,

LaGrange Daily News and Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

He praised the governor and legislators for salvaging the scholarship, even with its reductions.

“We are grateful that the bill did not single out students at private colleges for harsher cuts than their peers at public institutions,”

he wrote. “We also are happy to see

… the continuation of the (Tu- ition Equalization Grant) award, which the governor had previously recommended in his budget and on which our students rely.”

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notebook

Volunteers help with lake cleanup

Almost 100 campus representatives combed the shores of West Point Lake in April for a mega lake cleanup day.

The event was held in conjunction with a community effort to spruce up the lake for the Bassmaster Elite Series Tournament in May.

The college was assigned a site on Linda Lane, and gloves, trash bags and bottled water were provided to all volunteers. Representatives from the LaGrange-Troup County Chamber of Commerce commended the helpers from the Hill for their labors.

Music chair named author of year

Dr. Toni Anderson, Chair of the Music Department, recently was named Georgia Author of the Year for best creative nonfiction history.

Her work, “‘Tell Them We Are Singing for Jesus’: The Original Fisk Jubilee Singers and Christian Recon- struction, 1871-1878,” garnered praise from judge Samuel Fred Roach.

“Clear, honest, perceptive and vivid character and institutional collages add to the human mosaic depicted by the work,” he wrote in his comments. “This volume presents the best combination of

research, vividness of style and mature analysis. ... The interplay of differing and sometimes conflicting personalities involved in the story is presented with fairness, sensitivity and insightfulness.”

Smith columns restored

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John have gotten a makeover. The famed columns of Smith Hall, named for the apostles by students many years ago, recently had some work done to protect them from the elements.

“It appeared that water had pen- etrated through the cap at the top and migrated its way behind the brick and plaster,” said Michael Coniglio, Direc- tor of Physical Plant. “This caused the plaster to break away during the colder months when the water would freeze.”

The college contacted a company that specialized in using a ceramic paint coating system, a product that is elastic in nature, which allows for contraction and expansion.

“The prep work for the columns was the most detailed part of the pro- cess because the existing flaking plaster had to be removed,” Coniglio said. “A wire mesh was then applied around the columns and re-skimmed with plaster to maintain the original integrity.”

Once that was completed, a primer and final coat of ceramic paint was applied. Also, new metal caps were installed at the top of the columns to prevent further water penetration and reduce the amount of annual preventive maintenance.

Team takes community spelling prize

Panthers Pounce on a Good Book, the college’s team for LaGrange’s annual Certified Literate Community Program spelling bee, emerged the victors during March’s tourney. Team members Sarah Neal, Arthur Robinson and Jennifer Wiggins out-spelled the team from LaGrange Academy in a thrilling spell-off.

The Panther team won by spelling six of the 10 words, acing “strabismus,”

“nugacity,” “fossorial,” “narcohypnia,”

“roborant” and “mugwumpery.”

Teaching awards presented

Four faculty members were recognized for teaching excellence at the college’s Honors Convocation at First United Methodist Church.

Dottie Joiner, Lovick Corn Profes- sor of Art History, received the John R.

Hines Jr. Undergraduate Research Fac- ulty Award for her promotion of student research; Melinda Pomeroy-Black, Associate Professor of Biology, won the Vulcan Materials Teaching Award for

“challenging the minds” of her students;

Alvin Lingenfelter, Assistant Professor of Religion, received the Sustainabil- ity Award for Faculty that recognizes environmentally friendly lifestyles and examples set among faculty members;

and Arthur Robinson, Assistant Pro- fessor and Public Services Librarian, received the United Methodist Church Teaching Award, given to the faculty member who “inspires the soul.”

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around campus

4 COLUMNS, Summer 2011

LaGrange College has accepted an invitation to join the USA South Athletic Conference, beginning competition in the 2012-13 academic year.

The move brings several benefits, according to President Dan McAlexander.

“We will be joining a prestigious conference with a track record of success in national tournaments,” he said. “Our student-athletes will have more opportunities to achieve excellence through post-season play, especially our men’s teams, who will be able to compete for automatic bids to their respective NCAA Division III national play-offs.”

The women’s teams will continue to vie for automatic bids, as they now do in the Great South Athletic Conference. The college is a founding member of the GSAC and will honor its commitments there through the 2011-12 academic year.

Panther athletic teams in almost all sports have competed against current USA South members. The college joined the conference as a women’s lacrosse-only

member in 2009.

The USA South sponsors championships in men’s and women’s cross country, men’s and women’s soccer, women’s

volleyball, football, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball, softball, men’s and women’s tennis, men’s golf and women’s lacrosse, for a total of 14 sports. LaGrange teams will continue to compete in the Appalachian Swimming and Diving Conference.

New Athletic Director Jennifer Claybrook said joining the USA South is a win-win situation.

“The conference move will allow us to establish and maintain long-term rival- ries,” she said. “And it will give our team sports two opportunities to receive a bid to the NCAA III national playoffs—an at-large bid and a conference bid.”

Now competing as an independent, the Panther football team will enjoy other benefits in the new conference.

“This will provide more of our student-athletes with the opportunity to compete for a number of all-conference awards, from player-of-the-week to all-conference to academic-all-conference,” Claybrook said. “Conference honors will make our players more competitive for national recognition.”

USA South includes Av- erett University, Va.; Chris- topher Newport University, Va.; Ferrum (Va.) College;

Greensboro (N.C.) College;

Mary Baldwin College, Va.;

Meredith College, N.C.;

Methodist University, N.C.;

North Carolina Wesleyan College; Peace College, N.C.; and Shenandoah University, Va.

LaGrange, Piedmont College and Maryville Col- lege will join the group in 2012.

Jennifer Claybrook, far right, new athletic director, speaks at a press conference announcing the college’s new association with the USA South Athletic Conference. She is joined by, from left, Rita Wiggs, USA South commissioner; Phil Williamson, retired athletic director; and Dan McAlexander, college president.

Panthers to join new conference

More than 200 LaGrange resi- dents gathered in April at Del’avant downtown for the inaugural Business and Community Leaders Luncheon, sponsored by the college.

President Dan McAlexander said the event was designed to celebrate the ties between the college and the community and to foster continued collaboration.

“We are very proud of the rela- tionship we have with LaGrange and Troup County,” he said. “LaGrange College is committed to being distinguished as a college that transforms the lives of its students and its communities.”

Guest speaker was Horst Schulze, co-founder of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co.

Schulze’s keynote address stressed the importance of serving customers with whatever they want, whenever they want it.

“Every employee (in my company), including the busboy, is empowered to make on-the-spot decisions worth up to $2,000 to make sure our customers are happy,” he said. “That gives everyone a sense of ownership in serving our customers.”

He said creating that compa- nywide culture requires one thing:

leadership. But that is a far thing from management, he stressed.

“Management forces things to happen. Leadership creates an environment where everyone wants to be excellent, where everyone wants to do exactly what the company wants them to do. It creates a clear mission and dream for a company.”

Luncheon brings leaders together

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around campus

It wasn’t a week at the beach or a chance to chill at home, but 15 students and three professors from the college had a spring break they will never forget.

The group traveled to Ahuachapan, El Salvador, where they provided a free health clinic, Vacation Bible School and extra construction workers for enhancements to a local Methodist church.

The Alternative Spring Break has a long history at the college, said Alvin Lingenfelter, Assistant Professor of Religion.

“We have been challenging students with them for the last 12 years, with both do-

mestic locations (Boston, Memphis and Los Angeles) and international (Prague, Costa Rica and El Salvador),” he says.

The college connected with its Methodist affiliation and the North Georgia Conference for the trip. The venture was part of the conference’s efforts to establish personal and service partnerships with the Methodist

churches of El Salvador, said the Rev.

Dr. Quincy Brown, Vice President for Spiritual Life and Church Relations.

“Alternative Spring Break trips help introduce our students to servant- leadership—a leadership philosophy that focuses on opportunities to lead, learn from and serve others in a cul- tural context that is different from their own,” he says.

Stephanie Fowler, a senior early childhood education major from LaGrange, says the group collected tons of supplies for the trip.

“We were able to offer a free health clinic with a nearly un- limited amount of generic medi- cines and vitamins available,”

she said. “We took a doctor, a nurse-midwife, an emergency medical technician, a certified nursing assistant and three LC nursing students.”

The clinic volunteers saw more than 300 people in a little more than three days.

Some volunteers helped at a construction site with local church members. But the friendships formed were more important than the bricks and mortar.

“The people of Ahuachapan showed me that the relationships are what matter most,” Stephanie said. “They were patient in teaching us their language, their customs and their way of life.

It was absolutely amazing, even life- changing, for all of us.”

Alternative Spring Break offers service opportunities

Students Krystal Clark, left, and Chrissy McClain and Coach Marc Mattioli help with the pharmacy at the free medical clinic.

Patrick Harsch with Team Sandtastic of Sarasota, Fla., works on a sand sculpture featuring many college icons. The sculpture was a popular addition to the Bassmaster Fishing Tournament at West Point Lake this May.

There they were: Smith Hall, Lewis Library and the Chapel, per- fectly rendered … in sand. The college icons were part of a massive sand sculpture that was featured as part of the Bassmaster Elite Series Pride of Georgia fishing tournament held at West Point Lake in May.

“Perched atop the hill at Pyne Road Park, the sand sculpture caught the eye of every passerby,” said LaGrange-Troup County tourism director Laura Jennings. “Visitors were fascinated with the precision of the sand sculptor and the resulting likeness of LaGrange College icons.

“We had almost 13,000 people at the Pride of Georgia tournament, and I bet every one of them spent some time marveling at the sculpture and taking photos.”

Created by Patrick Harsch of Florida’s Team Sandtastic and sponsored by the college, the sculpture required 30 tons of sand and took four days to complete.

The tourney was subsequently aired on ESPN and its partner TV sports channels.

Sculpture captures icons, attention

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by Debby Durrence

After the storm

Tornado relief offers hope to both volunteers and victims

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On a late April afternoon in Tuscaloosa, Ala., the clouds darkened and terror trailed from the sky. A monstrous tornado devastated every- thing in its path, leaving despair in its wake. But in the weeks to come, hope would replace the fear and rebuild the city.

Thousands of volunteers have streamed into the area to help wher- ever they are needed. Those workers included 14 students and

four staff members from LaGrange College. What they saw there will stay with them the rest of their lives.

A few seconds of hell The horror started in Tuscaloosa around 6 p.m. April 27 as an EF4

tornado roared through town, destroy- ing communities and lives. One victim described the twister as “looking into the mouth of hell” as it churned toward her home.

It only took a few minutes for the fast-moving storm to pass, but that was plenty of time for it to wipe entire neighborhoods off the face of the earth, and long enough to injure more than 1,000 people and kill 43.

Stunned survivors stumbled out of the wreckage, staring at piles of rubble where homes and businesses stood only a few minutes before. The scope of the devastation was breathtaking and heart- breaking. Once the shock and grief subsided, the reality of recovery hit.

The people of Tuscaloosa were going to need help.

A lot of help.

Neighbor to neighbor

The Rev. Dr. Quincy Brown, Vice President for Spiritual Life and Church Relations, had been watching the news reports and praying. Then he got a mes-

sage from the Methodist minister at the University of Alabama.

“He put out a plea for help, so we polled our students to see who would be interested in going, talked to the president and started making plans.”

Alvin Lingenfelter, Assistant Profes- sor of Religion and Church Leader- ship Program Director, says he wasn’t surprised by the response from the students.

“All the kids that I fully expected to

step up did so. A lot of them also went on the Alter-

native Spring Break to El Salvador, so I knew this would be something they’d want to do. It’s a natural response for these students to want to help. It’s what LaGrange College students do.”

The group joined Dr. Brown, Lin-

genfelter, Head Men’s Soccer Coach Jeff Geeter and President Dan McAl- exander as they boarded a bus early in the morning of May 17 and traveled to Tuscaloosa.

Scenes of devastation

Maranda Mitchem, a rising junior from Stone Mountain, says she volunteered for the trip because she likes to help whenever she can. But this one was tough.

“It can be hard seeing all the hurt and pain, but that is a part of mission work and, in this case, disaster relief,”

she says. “I think a lot of people could see the horror on the television, but it

wasn’t until we got there that we truly saw how helpless and hurting the people of Tuscaloosa are.”

She says the reality hit when they turned a corner and saw a destroyed Hobby Lobby, with crumpled vehicles littering the parking lot.

“We all gasped.”

Ben Crumbley ’11 made the trip just days before his graduation.

“I went to Tuscaloosa hoping to re- assure total strangers who are living in

At right, Daniel Garrett, a biology major and religion minor, carries part of a tree trunk to the street for disposal.

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a place shaken by uncontrollable events that they would never be alone in their suffering, and that help is never more than a call away,” he says.

Crumbley says what he saw in Tus- caloosa reminded him of his ASB trip to El Salvador.

“My heart immediately went back to Ahuachapan when I saw the first block in Tuscaloosa—historic buildings turned into bombed-out brick ruins;

entire roofs torn off houses and thrown into a neighbor’s house across the street;

a complete stretch of strip mall, res- taurants, department stores and houses totally shredded; and 100-year-old trees splintered, torn and thrown from an entire neighborhood,” he says.

Getting to work

The group’s initial stop was First United Methodist Church of Tuscaloosa, which has been coordinating a lot of the relief work. There, the volunteers met for orientation, filled out waivers and received directions to work sites, as well as release forms for the homeowners.

Their first assignment was clearing debris from the yard of an 80-year-old

woman; then they moved on to an area on the outskirts of the worst damage.

“The houses there were damaged but still standing,” says Dr. Brown. “We went to one house that had a couple of huge trees down in the backyard. We didn’t have any power tools, but we cleared what we could by hand.”

But their luck changed after lunch when they ran into well-outfitted volunteers from the Church of the Resurrec- tion in Leawood, Kansas.

“They had backhoes and large chainsaws, so we agreed that we’d help them with their projects if they’d help with ours,” Dr. Brown says. “They cut up the trees and we removed them from the sites. We worked together for about four hours. We were good and tired, but we felt like we had accom- plished a lot.”

President McAlexander was excited when he learned where the Kansans worship.

“We have wanted to invite Adam Hamilton, founding pastor of the Church of the Resurrection, to come to our campus to speak. Suddenly, there we were, working with members of his

The group was surprised to find a mangled storage shed at the bottom of a pile of debris. The building had been lifted from one neighbor’s yard and crushed into another’s.

Involving students in service is about to become an even more inten- tional part of the LaGrange experience.

On June 27, the college announced that it will bring its brightest students to live, learn and serve in downtown LaGrange.

Labeled the Servant Scholars Resi- dential Honors Program, the new effort will place students in the Broad Street Apartments, located midway between the Hill and the LaGrange square. The historic building will be renovated by Callaway Foundation, Inc., to house the juniors and seniors selected for the program, currently being developed by the faculty.

According to President Dan McAl- exander, the initiative “will foster active, creative learning both within and outside of the traditional classroom, encouraging and supporting students who have distinguished themselves as academically strong—and community oriented.”

In February, a committee of faculty members began working on the initiative.

“We found that it is coming together easier than we anticipated,” said chair- woman Dr. Melinda Pomeroy-Black.

“Students have expressed strong in- terest in an honors curriculum, and the service component will pair nicely with it. Participants will research a community need, how to meet that need, and the dynamics of meeting that need.”

Plans call for both the apartments and the program to be ready for students in the fall of 2012.

Servant Scholars to learn and serve

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congregation.”

Jerry O’Donnell, a member of the Kansas team, was full of praise for the LaGrange workers.

“This group really got it,” he says.

“They were a great crew to work with.”

Reaching out to Rome

Tuscaloosa was far from the only city affected by tornadoes that day. A twister roared through Floyd County, Ga., ear- lier in the morning, uprooting trees and damaging more than 200 homes.

Michael Coniglio and staff members from Campus Services joined Dr.

McAlexander, Dr. Brown and Vice President for Finance and Operations Marty Pirrman as they traveled to Rome and Cave Spring on May 9. Their mission was to help the Disaster Recov- ery Center with the clearing of debris and downed trees, as well as making minor home repairs.

“We were amazed at the total devastation of the twister path in Cave Spring,” Coniglio says. “One tree was uprooted, the next one was snapped in

two and another looked twisted and its bark was stripped.”

Closer to home, the college devoted a Saturday morning to working with the local Red Cross to unload, invento- ry and reload disaster relief trailers and a truck. Campus Services also helped with supplies for local tornado victims.

Helping others is important, Coniglio says.

“Whenever I have been able to participate in disaster relief, I get a sense of what God wants us to do for others who are suffering,” he says.

Faith and hope

Although it was hard to see the suffering of the tornado victims, the students say they were touched by all of the people who came to help.

“The response of people across the country coming to the aid of the town of Tuscaloosa was inspiring and absolutely amazing,” Mary says.

Ben says that although there was much to mourn, the spirit and hope of the people they met was unforgettable.

“I found that this community, in all of its suffering and brokenness, has unified not only in efforts to repair and restore homes, but also the lives of others. One could not find more grateful people than those who are keeping such faith in that place.” n

Above, large piles of rubble line the streets of Tuscaloosa. At right, students wait for a tree trunk to be cut up before they can carry the pieces to the street.

Students work to clear debris in a Tuscaloosa neighborhood damaged in the April 27 tornado.

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It was considered the biggest game of the Panther women’s basketball season, but one of the team’s most loyal fans couldn’t be there. So Celeste Myall, the college’s first lady, did the next best thing—she baked good-luck cookies for the players.

But she didn’t stop there.

“It seemed only fair to do the same thing for men’s basketball and baseball,”

Myall says. “I’m hoping to do it for all the teams by the end of next year. I make seasonal cookies, so it is a natural extension of that.”

Sophomore Katie Covington says they were touched by the gesture, as well as the encouragement they always receive from President Dan McAlexan- der and his wife.

“It’s an honor in itself just for them to come support us, but knowing that she took the time to make us cookies was awesome,” Katie says. “We all

loved them.”

It’s that sincere caring, as well as her passion for the college, that is helping Myall make her own mark in her job as first lady.

And it is a job—Myall’s schedule would put most executives to shame.

But that’s the way she likes it.

“I have a strong work ethic and I am not happy if I am not working,” she says. “It makes me nervous when I don’t have anything on my schedule.”

A sense of adventure

Myall grew up in Kansas City, Mo., but attended high school in Tulsa, Okla.

She studied music at the University of Kansas, where she met her future husband. After graduation, they married and moved to New York to further their education. She attended the Manhattan School of Music, while McAlexander studied at Juilliard before they both took teaching jobs at Hardin-Simmons Uni-

versity in Abilene, Texas, after graduation.

“We lived in Texas for 23 years, and both of our daughters were born there.”

During that time, the young family decided to do something a little unusual.

“For six summers, we taught at a performing arts camp in Fairbanks, Alaska,” she says. “I saw an ad for it and thought it would be fun.”

The couple loaded up their daugh-

A different journeyFirst lady discovers new adventures in latest role

Celeste Myall, left, discusses a future project with Martha Pirkle, Director of Alumni and Community Relations.

by Debby Durrence

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ters—Alice, 5, and Anne, 10—and took off to Alaska. Myall says she worked with an imposing group of musicians.

“We had a high-quality faculty with exceptional high school players from all over Alaska. It was very challenging and exhausting work because we had to put together performances in a very short period of time, but it was a lot of fun.”

On the weekends, when most of the staff was resting up from a hard week and looking ahead to the next group of campers, the family from Texas had other ideas.

“We traveled all around Alaska,”

Myall says. “We saw amazing things and had wonderful adventures. It was a very special time.”

In Nashville, Tenn., where McAl- exander served as provost of Belmont University, Myall taught violin, chamber music and several music classes at Belmont, performed with Belmont’s Camerata chamber music ensemble

and with the Nashville Chamber Orchestra. She also was very involved with musical theater.

“It has been a huge part of my life for a long time,” she says. “We did musical theater at the Alaska camp—in fact, that’s where my daughter Anne fell in love with it and decided to study theater and dance.”

In Abilene, she worked with high school, college and professional produc- tions, and in Nashville, served as pit conductor for the large musical theater program at Belmont.

Life was good, filled with music and academics. But in 2009, a big change was coming for Myall.

A new direction

Late that spring, Dan McAlexan- der was asked to be the new president of LaGrange College. As they have throughout their marriage, the two came to the decision together.

“We’re a team, and we have always worked together,” Myall says. “We’ve taught together, gone to school together and given recitals together. I wasn’t sure what to expect when we moved to LaGrange, but I knew we were in this adventure together.”

And she understood she was in for a period of adjustment.

“I was a professional violinist and college teacher for more than 30 years and always loved what I did,” she says.

“I enjoyed working with my colleagues on the faculty, as well as with great players in chamber music and orches- tras throughout the years.

“But most of all I loved working with college students—that age group fascinates me as they grow from kids to functional adults, and it is thrilling to

Myall, holding the family cat, greets students Carl Straumsheim and Rose Abando at the president’s home. Myall often hosts events at the house for students, faculty, staff, alums and community members.

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12 COLUMNS, Summer 2011 12 COLUMNS, Summer 2011

have a part in that transformation.”

Although she misses teaching, My- all has thrown herself into her new role as first lady.

“I’m used to doing things for myself, so you can imagine my surprise when we pulled up to the house on moving day and there were all those people, just waiting to help,” she says. “And it’s been that way ever since. There are so many people who help me so much.”

She says she knows how lucky she is.

“I’ve gone to conventions for presidents’ wives and heard all these complaints, and I sit there and count my blessings.”

The college’s house

Myall says they were overwhelmed with the welcome the couple received upon moving to LaGrange.

“There was so much gracious hospi- tality extended to us by the college and the community that first year,” she said.

“I am trying to give some of that back.

We also have such great supporters that it is easy for me to be hospitable.”

During their first year, the couple entertained almost constantly at the

president’s house. Faculty, staff, alumni and especially students were welcomed into the Vernon Street residence for receptions, dinners, teas, picnics and barbecues—all coordinated by Myall and her team.

“My mother was a great entertainer who would periodically have huge parties that everyone in the family contributed to, whether we wanted to or not,” she laughs. “So I like entertaining and using dishes and recipes from my family. I’ve especially enjoyed having the students over. We want them to feel special, because they are.”

This year the focus has been more on promoting the college within the local community. The first couple has hosted luncheons, dinners and receptions, often linked to campus events.

Tammy Rogers, Director of Special Events and Conferences, said opening the president’s house to the college and the community has been a priority.

“Celeste and Dan truly believe that the house belongs to the college;

they just get to live there,” she says.

“Since arriving on campus, Celeste has welcomed and sought opportunities to invite donors, community members, alumni and students to the house. We have hosted a variety of events from an afternoon tea featuring a napkin-fold- ing demonstration for women to a pre- Academy Awards party for students.”

Making outreach fun

Ask Myall which of her many projects she is most proud of, and most like- ly she will say “3D Journeys: Discover, Discuss, Develop through Lectures and Travel with LaGrange College.”

Created last fall, the program offers a series of free lectures by faculty members to the community once a month. The talks are tied to a general theme that changes each semester. At the end of the lectures, a trip to the area discussed is offered to participants.

Launched this spring, the series spotlighted the Georgia coast, with lectures on history, photography, ecol-

Below, Myall gives a private violin lesson to Chris- tine Yin, 13, daughter of math professors Drs.

William and Carol Yin. Far right, Ann Beason, left, and Judy Boggus, right, look through a scrapbook with Myall. The two community volunteers have helped spearhead the college’s new travel and learn program, 3D Journeys.

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ogy and literature. In April, the group traveled to Sapelo Island and the coast.

Myall says one of her smartest moves was recruiting community volunteers Ann Beason and Judy Boggus to help with the new program.

“I knew they were rotating off the symphony board, and I knew what hard workers they are,” she says. “I was thrilled when they agreed to help us.

They are two of the smartest and most professional people I’ve ever known.”

For their part, Beason and Bog- gus say working with Myall has been a dream.

“She and Dan have a great vision of opening the doors of the college to the community through the lecture series,” Beason says. “The response has been terrific. And she certainly has added sparkle to our lives. She is witty and charming and thoughtful and kind and generous and very bright.”

Boggus says Myall has been a tre- mendous asset.

“Celeste has so much energy and enthusiasm to spread throughout the community. She loves working on special projects and does so with great ease.”

Myall believes her work on college

projects has benefited from her years as a musician.

“I am a very detailed person. That comes from playing the violin where people act like you have killed them if your finger is ¹⁄₁₆ of an inch off,” she says, laughing. “I know that working out all the details is important in plan- ning any event.”

What’s next?

One of the things Myall says she misses the most is teaching, with its regular interaction with students. That will change in the fall when she will teach a freshman Cornerstone class.

“I’m really looking forward to that,”

she said. “I can’t wait to have that con- tact with students again.”

She also will be picking up her conductor’s baton once more to direct the orchestra for the Theatre Arts De- partment’s fall production of Stephen Sondheim’s musical “Sweeney Todd.”

“Dr. Toni Anderson (Chair of the Music Department), who usually conducts, will be on stage,” Myall says.

“It will be so much fun to be in the orchestra pit again. This is one of my favorite musicals, and it’s going to be a wonderful show.”

She also plans to continue working with her two young private violin students. One of these, Christine Yin, daughter of Drs. William and Carol Yin, Professors in the Mathematics Department, won the LaGrange Sym- phony Orchestra Scala competition in violin this year.

“Christine is an impressive kid. She is able to stand up to teaching that is in- tense without getting discouraged, and she has made incredible progress.”

“When the last Harry Potter movie came out, neither her father nor I could take Christine to the opening night because of our schedules,” Carol Yin says. “But Celeste called and asked if she could take her. Celeste has been wonderful with Christine, both as a teacher and a friend.”

Always a mom

Myall may be a musician, a conductor, a teacher and a first lady, but her favorite job is being a mom.

“I love keeping up with my daughters,” she says with a proud smile. Anne is a professional actor/singer/dancer/

choreographer who lives in New York with her husband, Alex, who is a com- poser. Alice is a political organizer who lives in Washington, D.C.

Myall has two sisters—Carolynne, who lives in Spokane, Wash., and Ca- mille, a retired teacher who moved to LaGrange to be near them.

“She is part of our family unit.”

However, Myall’s main professional focus is the college, and the work she shares with her husband.

“Dan and I love the special spirit of LaGrange,” she says. “We recognized that quality when we first drove into town. The faculty, staff and students—

it’s such a special place.”

Her role as first lady is one she relishes.

“My job is to help Dan,” she says.

“He knows an amazing amount about every aspect of higher education, and he is always thinking about what is best for everyone here, so it is fun and reward- ing to help him in any way I can.” n

Above, College Presi- dent Dan McAlexander and his wife pause for a photo on a glacier in Alaska in 1998. For six summers, they taught at a performing arts camp in Fairbanks. At right, the couple’s daughters Anne and Alice react after seeing their first whale in 1993.

Students Trevor Jones, Rose Obando and Carl Straumsheim join Myall in the kitchen for a snack.

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Chris Daniel, the Waights G. Henry Jr. Leadership Award winner, carries the banner as he leads the Class of 2011 in the commencement recessional.

by Dean Hartman

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Nature herself gave voice to the celebration on May 21 as LaGrange College marked its 180^th commencement.

Raised from the earth after their 13- year incubation period, a large crowd of red-eyed periodical cicadas provided its own distinctive chorus to the proceed- ings on the Residential Quad. On occasion, the happy insects even soared overhead before dive-bombing family, friends and graduates—delivering their own version of the end-of-ceremony mortarboard toss.

The mood was as light and bright as the late spring morning as 288 graduates crossed the stage and received their diplomas.

“Each and every one of you has a unique story to tell, and we are grateful that we have had the opportunity to help in shaping it during these last years,” said President Dan McAlexander in introducing the graduates.

The class represented hometowns from the hot plains of Texas to the frigid farmland of Wisconsin; ages from a tender 20 to a seasoned 60; and cul- tures varied enough to create a diversity

level of 25 percent.

Before being handed their diplomas, graduates were addressed by LaGrange native and Callaway Gardens Chairman Emeritus Bo

Callaway.

“LaGrange College is in my blood,” he told the audience, describ-

ing how he would walk past the college on his way to elementary

school as a young boy.

Intrigued by the young women across the street, he

would hop onto a low retaining wall to catch a better glimpse.

“I’m walking by when LaGrange College is waking up,” he recalled, “and I feel

that I’m a part of that school.”

Callaway went on from his hometown

At left, grad Shelley Cathcart’s next step is celebrated by her sister, Renee, and

friend Elvin Rolon. At right, from top, Kar- issa Mons applauds the beginning of the awarding of degrees.

Glenn Gantner presents President McAlexander with a record-breaking gift from

the Class of 2011 (see page 25 for more). Briaca Lane,

Children’s Healthcare award winner, receives her pin

from Nursing Chair Dr. Celia Hay during the Pinning Ceremony on the Thursday

before commencement.

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to military, political and business success. After serving in the military, he came home to help his father develop and run Callaway Gardens.

Then, in 1964, he was elected to the United States Congress, becoming Georgia’s first Republican Congressman since 1875. Later, he served as Secretary of the Army under Presidents Nixon and Ford, and he managed Ford’s presi- dential campaign in 1976.

In remarks both personal and pas- sionate, Callaway urged graduates to live with enthusiasm—and to think big.

“My dad, Cason Callaway, thought big when he built Callaway Gardens,”

he said. “He wanted to not only take eroded, worn-out cotton land and make it into something beautiful.

He said he wanted it to be the most beautiful garden until Gabriel blows his horn.

“It is now, to the best of my knowledge, the largest privately owned public

garden

At left, from top, Alyssa Boatwright Penrod waits her turn to cross the platform. Bo Callaway, a LaGrange native and Callaway Gardens Chair- man Emeritus, delivers the commencement address. Mary Duttweiler takes her place in line before the ceremony begins. Below, Cameron Williams smiles while visiting with friends after the baccalaureate service.

It all started with a question from an alum during a phonathon call.

“I have some papers that belonged to my great-grandmother,” said Julia Holbrooke Chatham ’71. “Do you think the college would be interested in them?”

The query made its way to Jacque Hornsby, Archives and Circulation As- sistant at Lewis Library.

“I wasn’t sure what she had, but I was definitely interested,” Hornsby says.

Soon, a small mailing box arrived and Hornsby carefully began to remove

its contents.

“There were several letters and a few mementoes,” she says. “But it was what was at the bottom of the box that made my heart stand still.”

There she found a small booklet of delicate paper, tied with a white ribbon, both yellowed with age. Written in a beautiful flowing hand on the front was “Twilight Col- lege Hill LaGrange, Georgia June 21, 1871 Jennie Barber.”

“The bow and the way the paper was put together told me it had been something that had been read to an audience. Because Jennie Barber was a member of the Class of 1871, it fol- lowed that this was her senior project that was presented during commencement observances.”

The collection also includes letters from two friends from her college days.

One correspondent was Mary Louise Cox, daughter of Albert Cox, longtime college trustee and architect of the Col- lege Home (later named Smith Hall).

“I find it remarkable that Jennie Barber preserved these mementos of her college days and connections,” Hornsby says. “It is even more remarkable and endearing that her family continued to preserve them after her death.”

A voice from the past

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in the world.

“When he started, all of my friends in Chipley, that’s now Pine Mountain, came up to me and said, ‘Don’t worry.

I’ll take care of your dad when he goes broke … .’

“And it’s still plugging along pretty good after 60 years.”

Callaway concluded by encouraging the graduates to live with integrity.

“Thinking big won’t be worth anything unless you have the one great thing that’s really important,” he said.

“And that is integrity.

“George Washington said this at the constitutional convention in 1787, with a little struggling country that nobody knew if it would make it: ‘Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair. The event is in the hands of God.’”

Callaway told the graduates that there would be many temptations to cut corners as they moved through

life, but that doing the right thing was always the best path.

He shared an incident from his days as a freshman congressman when he took an ethical stand

and managed to change a policy.

“What do you see today in politics, maybe in your school life? People … take a poll, they raise their finger (and check the wind) to see what the people want, and they try to give them what they want.

“No. You raise that standard, which is hard … . But you raise that standard as good as you know how, and let God take care of the event.

“It doesn’t matter what happens; it does matter what you do with your life.

“That is fundamental, and it works.

I promise you, it works.”

Also addressing the large crowd were the Rev. Dr. William Lawrence, dean and professor of American church history at Southern Methodist Univer- sity’s Perkins School of Theology, and graduate Chris Daniel.

Dr. Lawrence spoke at the baccalaureate ceremony the day before com-

mencement, and both he and Callaway were awarded honorary degrees during the ceremony.

Daniel was this year’s recipient of the Waights G. Henry Jr. Leadership Award, an honor given to the student who distinguished himself or herself through leadership skills, scholarship and service.

Citing the college’s mission, Daniel told the audience, “This place has truly transformed the lives of each and every graduate here today… . There is no better way to express what this college does for its students.”

And he urged them to continue the cycle.

“As we finish this chapter in our lives and begin the next … chal-

lenge the minds, inspire the souls, and transform the lives of those

around you.

“Be LaGrange College when you leave this place.”

And the resulting ap- plause was joined by the cheerful chirping of the

cicada gallery. n

Graduate George Lankford pauses with Vice President for Advancement William Jones, left, and Professor of Mathematics Dr. William Yin following the commencement ceremony.

The college’s Chamber Singers participate in the baccalaureate service on Friday evening.

Above, at top, LaGrange College at Albany graduate Lynette Dilbert greets President McAlexander after receiving her degree. Above, the Rev. Dr.

William Lawrence, dean of Southern Methodist University’s Perkins School of Theology and this year’s baccalaureate speaker, receives his doc- toral hood from Board Chairman Bill Hodges.