1. INSID RSKINEe Fall 2015 | www.erskine.eduFor Erskine Alumni, Friends, and Family
Knowledge, Truth, and Meaning
considering the value of an erskine education

2. CONTENTS The meaning of it all14
We explore the nature and value of
Christian liberal arts education.
Our Erskine4
New Advancement theme celebrates
unity and diversity.
Seminary within reach10
Erskine Theological Seminary
expands its reach to equip
ministry leaders.
Campus News
Athletics
Alumni Day
Class Notes
6
8
28
39
Inside Erskine
Fall 2015
Executive Editor
Cliff Smith
Editor
Joyce Guyette
Designer
Lori Ramey
Director of Photography
Brian Smith
Contributors
Brad Christie
Luke Christie
Paul Kooistra
Christine Schott
RachelTalbot ’15
Photographers
Sarah Baroody ’16
Erin Drago
Joyce Guyette
Shawn Knox
Katie Putnam ’14
Brian Smith
Steve Sniteman
Printing
R.R. Donnelley, Columbia, SC
Inside Erskine is published by the
Communications Office of Erskine
College & Theological Seminary.
Keep up with Erskine news, stories
and events at news.erskine.edu
Letters to the Editor
We welcome your feedback,
thoughts on our stories, or ideas
for stories. Submissions may be
edited for style, length or clarity.
Contact us at news@erskine.edu
Erskine marked the
end of the 2014-15
academic year with a
joint commencement
ceremony honoring
both college and
seminary graduates.
|32|

3. In an email sent to alumni and friends on July 1, President
Paul Kooistra expressed his thanks to all those who contributed
to the success of the 2014-15 Erskine Annual Fund. Here are
some highlights from his letter.
When I arrived at Erskine last August,
the 2014-15 fiscal year was just a few
weeks old. To say we started the year to-
gether with difficult challenges is certainly an
understatement.
Yet, as Sandi and I began our journey
as members of the Erskine family, we were
warmly welcomed and quickly came to
understand why so many are so passionate about Erskine, its
heritage, and its mission.
By God’s grace, the news as we close one fiscal year and
start another is promising and hopeful.
Through your generosity, God has allowed us not only to
meet our Erskine Annual Fund goal, but exceed it by more
than we could have thought possible. We saw an increase in
nearly every category of giving and types of donors.
I am thankful for the unity I have seen within the Erskine
community — even in the midst of tremendous diversity.
And I am thankful for the generosity you, our alumni and
friends, have shown.
Moving forward into 2015-16, I am praying for even
more unity and continued generosity. I have said many
times this past year, and will probably say it often this next
year: in order for Erskine to truly succeed, we must all pull
together in the same direction.
I look forward to working together with you to do that in
the year ahead.
ANNUAL FUND GIVING EXCEEDS GOAL,
TOPS $1.7 MILLION FOR 2014-15
Following the most successful year of
unrestricted annual giving in recent memory,
final calculations confirmed the amount
given to the Erskine Annual Fund was
$1,728,853.26.
This year’s $1.6 million goal was a key
part of President Kooistra’s two-year
financial stability plan. On behalf of
the Erskine faculty, staff and students,
we would like to thank our alumni,
friends, churches, foundations, and
organizations for all they have done to
help achieve this very important goal!
The Erskine Annual Fund underwrites
many institutional scholarships, thus
directly supporting our students.
David Earle
Vice President for Advancement
The Erskine Annual Fund is the unrestricted
giving category that goes directly toward
operations and represents approximately five
percent of Erskine’s annual budget.
INCREASED DONOR PARTICIPATION
For the first time in several years, the total
number of alumni giving increased by seven
percent.
Seminary giving quadrupled compared to the
previous year, with the number of seminary
alumni donors nearly doubling.
Several other categories saw significant
increases in total number of donors:
• Non-ARP churches (300%)
• ARP congregations (243%)
• Businesses (140%)
• Foundations (89%)
• Friends (27%)
Overall giving, including restricted gifts and
Flying Fleet, came in at $2.19 million for the
year.
Erskine has been honored this year
by exceptional support. The call for
giving has been answered in numbers
that exceeded the expectations of
many. Thanks to you all. You are
answers to prayer.
Buddy Ferguson
Director of Alumni Affairs
E
rskine’s core mission—to provide excellent Christ-centered liberal
arts and theological education that enables students to serve and
lead in their workplaces, churches, and communities—is worth that
kind of focus. While Erskine may mean many different things individually to
many different people, what unites us is greater than our differences.
This past year we’ve experienced a true gift. In the midst of multiple chal-
lenges, our alumni and friends, together with students, faculty, and staff,
joined in a common purpose: ensuring that Erskine can continue fulfilling
its mission.
OUR ERSKINE celebrates that unity of purpose. It highlights the indi-
vidual stories that make up our Erskine story — what we have in common.
As you see OUR ERSKINE unfold in the coming months, we hope you’ll see
the richness of diversity that makes up that unity.
Some things are worth the effort. We focus on what
is truly important and let go of what distracts us.
OUR
ERSKINE
OUR ERSKINE
OUR ERSKINE
gives back
“I’d like to find out how much financial aid I received so I can give it back.”
Six decades after graduating, Hank Staples ’54 presented this unusual request to
Dena Hodge, assistant to the president at Erskine.
David Earle, vice president for advancement, visited with Staples in Winston-
Salem, N.C., to learn more about this grateful graduate, who spent 10 years in the
Air Force and went on to a career as a commercial pilot.
Hank Staples came to Erskine to play football, learning about the school from
a high-school coach. He has fond memories of living in College Home, of his room-
mate (the late Bob Parrish) and other friends, and even of his math classes!
He hopes that by repaying his alma mater for the “wonderful opportunities”
afforded him by scholarship aid, he will help present-day students gain similar
opportunities. “Learning is so important,” he says.
steps up
gives anks
4| |54| |5

4. NEWSaround campus
and beyond ERSKINE
Kathleen Watkins ’15 of Greenwood attended
the 2014 National Conference for College Women
Student Leaders.This was the second consecutive
year an Erskine student was chosen to receive the
one state scholarship from the American Associa-
tion of University Women (AAUW) to attend and
represent South Carolina.
The Visual Art Society of Erskine (VASE) led Erskine’s
participation in the Empty Bowls Project. As the only fund-raiser
for Greenwood Soup Kitchen, the Empty Bowls Project combines
the work of Greenwood Area Studio Potters, Greenwood County
Medical Alliance, and Greenwood Soup Kitchen. VASE invited
members of the Erskine community to come and form the bowls,
thenVASE members dried, glazed, and fired them in time to be
sold at the Empty Bowls event. Erskine contributed some 80 bowls
to the Empty Bowls project.
Erskine Trustee Mary Rucker ’69 of Lake
Placid, Fla., ran in the Naples Daily News Half
Marathon in January, using her running hobby
to raise money for her alma mater. Serving on
the Erskine Board of Trustees is “a privilege and
an honor,” she said.“It’s time to move forward
for Erskine, for the glory of God and the good
of Erskine.”
Erskine celebrated Women’s History Month in
March with three Women’s Leadership Gatherings,
which featured three alumnae: Mary Alex Senn
Kopp ’11, tourism and events coordinator for the
city of Newberry; Lisa Robinson Senn ’81,
Newberry attorney and Erskine trustee; and Dr.
Beth Larkin Taylor ’78, Greenwood District
50 director for secondary education.
Professor Emerita of Biology Dr. Janice
Haldeman ’15 (Hon.) was recognized for
her contributions to undergraduate biology
education by the National Association of Biol-
ogy Teachers (NABT), receiving the Four-Year
College & University Section Biology Teaching
Award. Haldeman has served on the Erskine
College faculty since 1967, teaching and men-
toring hundreds of students, many of whom
have gone on to graduate school and careers
in scientific fields. One of those successful
students, NABT President-Elect Dr. Jane Ellis
’69, both nominated Haldeman for the award
and presided at the NABT honors luncheon.
Six Erskine College students, accompanied by
Professor of Music Dr. J. Brooks Kuykendall
’97, traveled to Chicago for the Alpha Chi National
Honor Society Convention in March. Derrick
Brown ’15 of Anderson, Kate Macsay of
Greenville, and Rachel Talbot ’15 of Rock Hill,
along with Christina Holbrooks of Mooresville,
N.C., Jennifer Jennings of Greenwood, and
Kate Keukelaar of Clarence, N.Y., attended. Five
students gave presentations and Kuykendall served
as a judge for the performing arts entrants. “This
is the third year in a row that we’ve gone to the
national convention, and this is the biggest group
we’ve sent,” said Kuykendall, who is Erskine’s Alpha
Chi sponsor.
Two outgoing Student Government Association
(SGA) officers—Pete Savarese, president, and
Ford Blanchard, treasurer— led efforts to make
campus improvements that were funded wholly
or in part by an accumulation of “rollover money”
from student organizations.“We wanted to do
capital projects that we could see today and that
would benefit students on campus,” Blanchard said.
The largest and most visible projects were upgrades
to the Galloway Fitness Center that produced
a cleaner, more open space for workouts, which
included the addition of new televisions, treadmill,
bike machines, and weights. Other projects funded
by the SGA included structural repair and renova-
tion of the Ellenburg Pavilion, improvements to the
Hangar, the creation of a study area in the campus
police station, a treadmill for the Bonner Hall
workout room, a fob reader for the Daniel-Moultrie
Science Center, and acquisition of technology items,
such as high-definition camcorders to film campus
events.
A new exhibit featuring the telescope made by
Henry Fitz for Erskine College in 1849 became
a prominent part of the South Carolina State
Museum’s new observatory, planetarium, and 4D
theater.The telescope is the oldest surviving
American-made observatory instrument.
Following the addition of a minor last year,
Erskine’s Social Entrepreneurship and
Innovation (SEI) Program hosted retreat ses-
sions for students as well as members of the faculty
and staff last fall. Speakers included Steve McDavid,
president of the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Founda-
tion, and Gary Gilmer, president of The Renaissance,
a local retirement community.
ErskineFest brought alumni, students, families, and friends together for
Erskine’s 175th anniversary celebration in October. The day’s festivities includ-
ed traditional Homecoming and Family Day events as well as special displays in
Reid Hall by Archivist Edith Brawley ’58; tours of the Erskine observatory
tower, a ghost walk; and a screening of DueWest of Ordinary, a documentary film
about Erskine’s 175-year history.
Music was provided by the Erskine Choraleers and Gospel Choir, Shane Snite-
man, and Sarah Elizabeth Adams.Three guest bands—Emerald Road, Sirius.B,
and the Fantastic Shakers—each offered music through the late afternoon and
evening, and entertainment was provided by TimTV and the Secret Cirkus.
Pictured here are Homecoming King and Queen Kevin Adams and
Chelsea Ball ’15.
South Carolina’s House Education Policy Review and Reform
Task Force met in Memorial Hall April 27, with Grady Patter-
son Professor of Politics Dr. Ashley Woodiwiss offering
opening remarks. Speaker of the House Rep. James H.“Jay”
Lucas of Hartsville established the task force after the South
Carolina Supreme Court’s ruling last November saying the
state had failed to provide children in certain rural districts
with a “minimally adequate” education.The panel of state lead-
ers heard from representatives of districts and organizations in
Abbeville, Laurens, and Saluda counties.
Young Professor of Chemistry Dr. Howard
Thomas was among the 20 professors from
member colleges honored at the South Carolina
Independent Colleges and Universities (SCICU) 10th
Annual Excellence in Teaching Awards Dinner April
14.Thomas has taught at Erskine since 1976 and has
served as chair of the Department of Chemistry and
Physics since 1984. He was named the Dr. and Mrs.
James RogersYoung Professor of Chemistry in 2006.
Yami Alebachew, a native of Ethiopia who re-
sides in Simpsonville, S.C., and Elizabeth Bishop
of Greenwood, S.C., are this year’s Erskine College
Presidential Scholarship winners.The Presidential
Scholarship covers tuition, room, board, and fees,
minus any state, federal, and outside scholarships or
grants. AnnaTaylor Hydrick of St. Matthews,
S.C., and Zachary Stephen Morgan of Green-
ville, S.C., were chosen to receive the Solomon
Scholarship, which covers tuition.
Gov. Nikki Haley has appointed two Erskine Theo-
logical Seminary graduates to serve on the Burton
Center Board for Disabilities and Special Needs.
Dr. Robert J. F. Elsner, who holds a Master of
Practical Ministry degree from Erskine, is profes-
sor and chair of psychology at Erskine College.
The Rev. Alvin L. Green, Sr. is pastor of Mt.
Pleasant Baptist Church in Abbeville and received
his M.Div. from Erskine.
A group of townspeople partnered with Erskine College to restore the
Due West Depot last spring.The building, now owned by the college,
served as the terminus of the four-mile line connecting Due West and
Donalds by rail from 1907 to 1939. Erskine provided paint and supplies.
Local donations paid other expenses. Due West residents Hillard Allen
’04 (Hon.), a retired engineer, and Lynde “Plug” Clements supervised lo-
cal volunteers, including Jeron Crawford ’15, Carolyn Allen ’57 and
Dr. Jo Ann Griffith ’56, in repairing and painting.
“The Dinky” (a nickname coined by Erskine students for the little engine
that pulled the passenger and freight cars) was South Carolina’s most
unique railroad.The line brought students to and from Erskine, started ath-
letic teams on trips, carried mail each day to and from the Due West Post
Office, connected Due West residents to the nation, and shipped goods by
Railway Express.
The full story is available at news.erskine.edu.
6| |7

5. The Red Myers Classic, a tribute
to the late coach, was hosted
by Erskine Jan. 31.This event is
funded in part by his former play-
ers, many of whom were on hand.
At halftime, Myers’ Hall of Fame
Citation was read and his widow,
Mac Myers, and former players
were honored.
In the picture are (from left to right):
Mike Jordan, Skip Norris, Richard
Oates, Sammy Oates, Dusty Oates,
Don Whitehead, Melvin Brewton,
Chris Bethea, Ken Whitehead,Tim
Whipple,Willie Rawl, Jim Bradford,
Mac Myers, Skip Goley, Bill Simpson,
Keith Brown, and former Erskine
PR and Sports Information Director
Richard Haldeman.
The Flying Fleet stormed the
court, course, and field with
strong showings in several
sports this year.
TOP 5
2014-15
Flying Fleet
1
2
5
3
4
Women’sVolleyball won their
Conference Carolinas Regular
Season and Tournament
Championships.
Marlee Rhodes ’15 won the
individual conference championship
in Cross Country and was named
Conference Carolinas Runner of the
Year with 1st Team All-Conference
and 1st Team All-Region honors.
Baseball Coach Kevin Nichols won
his 500th game on February 17 with
a 19-2 win over Anderson University
that featured six home runs.
Men’sVolleyball scored a major victory
(25-22, 25-22, 26-24) at home in Belk
Arena over Division I Indiana-Purdue
Fort Wayne on March 9.
Men’s Golf received a third straight
NCAA Regional Tournament invi-
tation, being ranked as high as 5th
nationally during the season.
Jake Todd Award
Erskine’s highest student-athlete honor, given for
sportsmanship, leadership, athletic ability, character,
and academic standing, was shared this year.
Marlee Rhodes, Cross Country
Williamston, SC, Palmetto High School
Marlee finished a distinguished career,
becoming the first Erskine Women’s Cross
Country runner ever to earn an invitation to
the NCAA National Cross Country Meet.
Andrew Settlemire, Soccer
Beaufort, SC, Beaufort High School
Andrew led the team in scoring for four straight
seasons and departs as the top scorer in recent
history with 42 career goals. In 2013 Settlemire helped
lead the Flying Fleet to their first-ever Conference
Carolinas Regular Season Conference Title and earned
Conference Carolinas Player of theYear honors.
Karen Bell Memorial Award
This award honors Christian commitment, team
loyalty, positive attitude, and high moral standards.
Megan Johnson, Volleyball
Little River, SC, Scholars Academy
Sonny Rehm Award
This award recognizes student-athlete excellence
in academics and service to others.
Ford Blanchard, Golf
Orangeburg, SC, Orangeburg Preparatory Schools
Gid Alston Award
This award recognizes Erskine faculty and staff
for outstanding work ethic, loyalty, and service.
Adam Weyer ’99
Associate Athletic Director for Sports Medicine
|98|
Fleet Feats

6. EDUCATIONWITHIN REACH
A SEMINARY
Wisdom takes the lead at ETS
Dr. Christopher H. Wisdom was appointed vice president
and professor of practical theology at Erskine Theological Semi-
nary in August 2014. Since then, Wisdom, who has served as a
campus minister, church planter, and pastor, in addition to his 28
years as a U.S. Army chaplain, has launched several key initiatives
designed to position the seminary for long-term stability.
These efforts included a thorough review and revision of the
seminary’s strategic plan in cooperation with President Dr. Paul
Kooistra and the Seminary Committee of the Board of Trustees.
Wisdom describes the seminary’s primary objective over the
next few years as building and maintaining greater trust with its
board, staff, and supporters. The main measures of success, he
says, will be higher student enrollment and donor confidence
expressed through individual, church, and presbytery gifts.
According to Wisdom, the seminary has made good
progress over the past year in pursuing these objectives. The
main steps have been efforts to expand its distance education and
online components and to build strategic relationships within
key student and donor constituencies.
“One of Erskine’s greatest and most distinctive strengths,”
Wisdom explains, “is that we are an Evangelical and Reformed
seminary that is also denominationally and culturally diverse.”
Wisdom wants to leverage that strength.
Expanding its online capabilities and extending geographic
diversity by partnering with more local congregations will
produce a more evenly ‘distributed education’ model, he says.
“We want to take education to where students live and minister,
rather than simply relying on students traveling to Due West or
Columbia.”
ErskineTheological Seminary
pursues new strategies
to equip ministry leaders
Wisdom received his undergraduate education at Nyack Col-
lege in New York and went on to complete the Master of Divinity
degree at Westminster Theological Seminary in 1980. He earned
an MBA at Syracuse University in 1993. He is also a graduate of
Erskine Seminary, where he was awarded a Doctor of Ministry
degree in 2004. He received the Master of Strategic Studies degree
from the U.S. Army War College in 2008.
“We are an Evangelical and Reformed seminary that
is also denominationally and culturally diverse.”
In 2015-16, a few new adjunct and part-time professors will be teaching
at the seminary. Several of these positions were made possible by repurposing
funds from unoccupied endowed chairs. According to Dr. Chris Wisdom, vice
president of the seminary, each of these appointments will enable Erskine to
train and serve students in key seminary student groups more thoughtfully and
effectively while building strategic relationships within those constituencies.
Dr. Michael Milton, former
president and chancellor of
Reformed Theological Seminary,
will take up his part-time duties
in October as director of strategic
initiatives, including faculty duties
as the James H. Ragsdale Professor
of Missions and Evangelism.
“We want to take education to where students live and minister, rather
than simply relying on students traveling to Due West or Columbia.”
Karen Ellis has performed,
spoken, and lectured in many
countries. She has a Master of
Arts in Religion from Westmin-
ster Seminary and a Master of
Fine Arts from the Yale School
of Drama. She will teach on
“Women and Islam in America”
during the January term.
Dr. Carl F. Ellis, Jr., associate
pastor for cultural apologetics
at New City Fellowship, also
serves as an adjunct faculty
member with the Center for
Urban Theological Studies. He
will teach during January term
on “The Changing Face of Islam
in America.”
Dr. Bryan Chappell, former
president of Covenant
Seminary and senior pastor of
Grace Presbyterian Church in
Peoria, Illinois, will be team
teaching the online distance
course “Basic Preaching” with
Dr. George Robertson.
Dr. Lawrence Gordon, who
serves as senior pastor of
Greater Macedonia African
Methodist Episcopal Church
in Charleston, will serve as
adjunct professor of AME
history, polity, and doctrine.
The Rev. Leon M. Brown, pastor
of Joy and Crown Presbyte-
rian Church (PCA) and a Ph.D.
candidate in Hebrew, will teach a
spring semester intensive exegeti-
cal course Feb. 1-5 on the Book
of Jonah.
Dr. Dariusz Brycko, an ARP
missionary, will serve as R.W.
Carson Professor for Christian
Mission. This arrangement will
assist him in planting a church and
developing a Reformation Study
Center in Warsaw, Poland.
Dr. Leslie Holmes, who has
served as an adjunct professor for
several years, will take on half-
time duties as John H. Leith
Professor of Reformed Theology
and Ministry. He is also Dean
of the Institute for Reformed
Worship.
10| |11

7. From left, Dr. Lawrence Gordon,
Hal Stevenson, and Dr. Christopher
Wisdom at the press conference
to announce the new Emanuel AME
Scholarship at ETS
Seminary receives gift to establish AME scholarship
A gift of $10,000 to establish a scholarship for
African Methodist Episcopal (AME) students in
honor of Mother Emanuel AME Church was pre-
sented to Erskine Theological Seminary July 7 by
IBelieve, the organization that sponsors the South
Carolina DMV license plate “IBelieve.”
At a news conference in the rotunda of the State-
house in Columbia, Hal Stevenson, a member of the
multiracial and multidenominational IBelieve board,
introduced representatives from AME churches,
IBelieve, and Erskine Seminary.
Prior to the news conference July 7, proceeds from
the sales of “IBelieve” specialty license plates had been
designated for evangelism and ministry work, but no
funds had been disbursed by the organization.
“Then came Emanuel,” Stevenson said, referring
to the June 17 shooting at Mother Emanuel AME
Church in Charleston, which took the lives of the
Rev. Clementa Pinckney and eight of his parishioners.
“The IBelieve board wanted to help train up new
Clementa Pinckneys by helping talented and finan-
cially challenged ministerial students,” he said.
Dr. Christopher Wisdom, vice president and
professor of practical theology, noted that July 2015
marks the 50th anniversary of the racial integration
of Erskine Seminary, and that the percentage of
African American students enrolled has increased
over the years.
“The largest group of black students by denomina-
tion are those from the African Methodist Episcopal
Church, and they number over one-fifth of our stu-
dents,” he said.
“In response, this year Erskine has strengthened
our relationship with the AME Church by hiring Dr.
Lawrence Gordon, senior pastor of Greater Macedo-
nia AME Church in Charleston, as adjunct professor
of AME history, polity, and doctrine.”
Gordon, who was also present at the news con-
ference, has played “a key
pastoral role in ministering to the
spiritual needs of the bereaved
families of the nine murder
victims of Emanuel AME
Church,” Wisdom said.
Wisdom expressed appre-
ciation to Stevenson and the
IBelieve organization for donat-
ing the funds. “With this gift,
Erskine Theological Seminary
will initiate the establishment of
a newly endowed scholarship for AME students, the
‘Emanuel AME Church Scholarship,’ in honor of the
martyred minister and members of Mother Emanuel
AME Church in Charleston,” he said.
The cause of racial reconciliation is advanced and
the unity of the Christian community is demon-
strated, Wisdom said, “by making known such acts
of Christian generosity that cross racial and denomi-
national lines in the interest of training future leaders
of Christian churches.”
D
uring a time when reports of
racial conflict have peppered the
national news, a recent men’s
retreat brought black and white Christians
together.
Men from Tabernacle Baptist Church,
a predominantly black congregation, met
with men from mostly white First Presby-
terian Church. The event marked another
expansion of fellowship between the two
Augusta, Georgia congregations, and Er-
skine Theological Seminary (ETS) has
played a role in that growing relationship.
First Presbyterian Church (whose
pastor, Dr. George Robertson, has served
as an adjunct professor at ETS) hosts Ers-
kine’s extension site in Augusta.
“Erskine has had a unifying presence in
our town as it equips pastors from different
backgrounds, denominations, and races,”
ETS graduate John Barrett said. “We are
looking forward to seeing how the Lord
will use these relationships and Erskine in
our community.”
Barrett, now associate pastor of
discipleship at First Presbyterian, became
friends early last year with Minister Toney
Cross of Tabernacle Baptist, who organized
the retreat. A current ETS student from
Tabernacle Baptist, the recently ordained
Dr. Terence Vandiver, invited Dr. Mark
Ross of ETS to deliver the closing address
at the event.
“I think the story begins in March 2014
when I first met Toney during a community-
wide work project,” Barrett said. “We all
gathered to eat lunch and I met Toney and
the men from Tabernacle Baptist there.
Later that year, we led another joint project
in the community.”
First Presbyterian had scheduled a small
men’s retreat for May 2014, and Barrett
invited Cross, who brought with him not
only a dozen men from Tabernacle Baptist
but also “a promise to invite us to their re-
treat in November.”
Ministry projects undertaken together
in the community paved the way for more
partnership between the congregations,
Vandiver explained. “Our leadership saw
an opportunity to make our retreat more
representative of ‘the’ church as opposed to
‘our’ church and to create an atmosphere
of unity, worship, and growth around our
common Savior.”
Cross described the November retreat
at Tabernacle Baptist, entitled “Fearless,” as
aimed at helping the men become fearless
concerning the enemy, fearless concern-
ing themselves and what they can achieve,
and fearless concerning race relations and
working together to effect change.
“I believe with the recent issues that
have been plaguing our community, work-
ing together now is most important,” Cross
said. “Dr. Ross did a phenomenal job gal-
vanizing all participating men with what I
think was a most thought-provoking word,
but also a challenge of self-examination,
both personally and racially.”
Vandiver, who also spoke at the retreat,
said Ross challenged the men “to be a
better, more fearless version of ourselves as
we seek to advance the kingdom of God
through the spread of the Gospel.”
In his own presentation, Vandiver said,
“I had the opportunity to encourage the
attendees to understand the difference
between fear that paralyzes and fear that
causes us to reverently pause to consider
Christ in critical moments of life.”
Ross sees the retreat as part of a series of
activities with significance for the two con-
gregations and beyond. “Given all that has
been in the news this year regarding events
in places like Ferguson and Charleston, it
is noteworthy that there are efforts going
on in Augusta to bridge the racial divide,
and that Erskine has a part to play in this
effort.”
Cross noted that the men’s ministry of
Tabernacle Church is called “the Bridge
Builders,” and he is enthusiastic about
plans he and Barrett are making. “This
recent retreat, I believe, has birthed that
bridge-building process,” he said.
“It shows our community that if local
churches, both white and black, can fel-
lowship, have a genuine understanding of
each other, and work together, then hon-
estly, our nation can learn from this effort
and do the same,” he said.
“The church should lead the way.”
Seminary provides ‘unifying
presence’ in Augusta
‘THE CHURCH
SHOULD LEAD
THE WAY’
Tabernacle Baptist Church,Augusta, Ga.
Erskine launches online
master’s degree this fall
In late June, seminary leadership learned that its accreditors
had approved plans to offer the Master of Arts in Theological Studies
(MATS) as an online degree.
To meet the 48-hour course requirements, the degree may be taken
entirely online or in combination with on-site courses as desired by
the student.
The online MATS degree was proposed in part because it allows
students to complete a degree in a shorter time and graduate with
less debt. The streamlined MATS may appeal to the growing number
of younger adults seeking theological education as well as to older
students who desire credentialing for ministry opportunities in local
congregations and parachurch organizations.
12| |13

8. The meaning
of it all.
The meaning
of it all.
|1514|
The dynamics of knowledge
and information have changed
dramatically in recent years.
Elementary students around
the globe have at their fingertips
information that a generation
ago was accessible only to a
privileged few.
When nearly any information
is almost immediately accessible
to anyone, the context of learning
becomes more critical than ever.
The motivations and objectives
of the community of learners and
their guides are critical factors in
shaping outcomes.
In the pages that follow, you
will see just a few examples of
how Erskine faculty, students,
and alumni make knowledge
meaningful in the classroom,
in the lab, on the job, and in
their communities.

9. O
ne Friday a month,
Erskine Professor of
Chemistry Dr. Joel
Boyd opens his chemistry lab in
Daniel•Moultrie Science Center to
South Carolina homeschoolers, offer-
ing them something they simply can’t
get at home: use of Erskine’s state-
of-the-art equipment and hands-on,
individualized instruction in how to
use it. But they aren’t learning from
Boyd—at least not exclusively. The
homeschoolers receive the bulk of
their learning assistance from Ers-
kine students, science majors who
are themselves learning not only how
to conduct research but also how to
impart their knowledge to others,
including those who don’t have the
technical vocabulary science majors
acquire at Erskine.
The ability to effectively communicate
scientific knowledge to various audiences,
Boyd believes, is paramount to good sci-
ence. He teaches his students that the need
to communicate must drive the entire sci-
entific process—from the formulation of a
research question to experiment design and
implementation.
“Science should be and must be com-
munications focused,” Boyd says. “It doesn’t
matter what we invent or what we discover
or what brilliant insights we have, if we
don’t communicate our knowledge to the
community of scientists—and beyond that
to society at large—then we haven’t really
accomplished anything.”
Boyd aims to cultivate his students’ com-
munication and teaching skills as much
as their depth of scientific knowledge and
technical know-how. Development of those
skills starts early and continues
throughout students’ time at Erskine.
The monthly homeschool lab pro-
gram, which last year was coordinated
by a freshman chemistry education
major, is just one opportunity stu-
dents have to build upon their liberal
arts foundation. Erskine chemistry
majors also design and conduct ac-
tivities in elementary and secondary
school science classrooms. As part of
their senior capstone experience, they
present their own research to open
audiences—not just to their science
colleagues. And they make regular
appearances at regional and national
conferences such as those hosted by
the American Chemical Society, from
which Erskine received two national
awards last year.
In 2014, the American Chemical Society recognized
Erskine’s ACS chapter with a Green Chemistry Award.
The awards celebrate and promote chemistry research
and application that protect and benefit human health
and the environment, something Erskine chemistry ma-
jors care deeply about. Said Dr. Joel Boyd, Professor of
Chemistry at Erskine: “Green Chemistry makes an obvi-
ous connection between our Christian commitment and
our calling as scientists, and that is environmental stew-
ardship. All Christians are called to be stewards of what
we are given, whether those gifts are financial resources or
the natural resources all around us. For that reason, Green
Chemistry is a field to which we at Erskine, being the
Christian chemists we are, feel especially called.”
M
ost people expect college to provide
an encounter with an unfamiliar
body of knowledge that leads to
greater knowledge and understanding of the
world. Yet, we want more from education than
simply information. We not only want to know
what exists, but why. How does this knowledge
make a difference in our lives?
From a biblical perspective, true knowledge
is not only learned, it’s integrated into our lives.
It changes us and changes our world. Scripture
teaches that glorifying God is the foundation
of real learning. Facts are only the beginning.
Wisdom understands how facts relate to the
meaning and purpose of our lives.
Erskine’s intentionally relational approach to
education provides a setting in which students
and faculty together examine the deeper ques-
tions of why and how in what they are learning.
Many believe that a Christian academic
context is narrow and restricted. In reality, the
opposite is true. We believe that all truth is God’s
truth. Erskine students are encouraged to exam-
ine difficult questions and to explore ideas from
different perspectives. This is productive because
at the center of all that exists is the personal God
of Scripture.
In many academic contexts, seeking spiri-
tual, supernatural, or theological perspectives is
dismissed out of hand by secularist dogma. The
only acceptable explanations are material or natu-
ral ones. At Erskine we are also able to discuss and
consider ideas, ethical dilemmas, and cultural and
societal trends within the unchanging context of
God’s Word – the Bible.
Christians may address any topic with confi-
dence rather than fear. Truth withstands scrutiny.
Our understanding of many things can change
based on a great many factors. God and His
Word remain unchanging. We don’t need to fear
knowledge or opinions that differ from ours. The
fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The
more our understanding aligns with Truth, the
wiser we will be.
While Erskine graduates receive a degree certi-
fying a certain level of knowledge and proficiency
in a particular field, at its core Erskine seeks to
equip students to be skillful in making meaning
that reflects Truth.
True Knowledgeby President Paul Kooistra
|1716|
of communication
The art science

10. The Core Curriculum, established by the college
faculty in 2014, unifies all undergraduate programs
at Erskine by seeking to develop students’intellect,
character, and faith. It encourages students not
only to find their own voice and discover their
talents but also to recognize their responsibili-
ties to others in community.
Students journey twice through seven
core competencies designed to pre-
pare them to be resourceful and
capable of responding wisely to op-
portunities throughout their lives.
“I’ll never use this again.”
Foundational Courses
introduce underclassmen
to the different disciplines
and prepare them for more
advanced learning.
Upperclassmen move through the core compe-
tencies again in Formational Courses, which posi-
tively challenge students’thinking about themselves,
the world, and God, while honing skills and expanding
knowledge.
This illustration offers examples of many
courses available to students in the Core. Not
all classes are listed here, and some core competen-
cies require more credit hours than others. The entire
plan for Erskine’s Core Curriculum is in the catalog (p. 67),
available at Erskine.edu.
THE CORE CURRICULUM
“I hate hearing those words. They simply
aren’t true. To begin with, you never know
when you might refer back to something
you learned in a general education course.
But even if after obtaining your degree you
don’t think you utilize much of the material
you learned while going through Erskine’s
core curriculum, you haven’t wasted your
time. Because the core curriculum isn’t just
a series of boxes every student must check.
It is a journey through which you learn how
to think, communicate, and solve problems,
skills far more valuable to professions like
athletic training than most people realize.
For example, being an effective athletic
trainer requires knowing more than just
anatomy. Athletic trainers must be relational.
They must understand that an injury takes
not only a physical toll but also an emotional,
mental, and sometimes even spiritual toll.
We teach our athletic training students to
see beyond a person’s injury, to consider how
an injury impacts not just the affected area of
the body but the whole person. Reaching this
kind of understanding requires exposure to a
range of philosophies and examples, not just
to the basic science of healthcare.”
–Scott DeCiantis,
Administrative Dean of the College
and Athletic Training Curriculum Coordinator
“The core curriculum
isn’t just a series of
boxes every student
must check. It is a
journey through which
you learn how to think,
communicate, and
solve problems.”
18| |19

11. English majors dread being asked what they will do with their
degree. Literature professors always say, “You can do anything with
an English degree,” and that’s true. But it leaves English majors
with no clear path into any one field.
This apparent disconnect between degree and career path applies to
almost all of the humanities majors—what do you do with a B.A.
in history, religion, or philosophy? This has led a practical-minded,
vocal sector of the public to question the value of the humanities
and even of the liberal arts in general. But as a literature professor,
I continue to believe that the humanities are not only still relevant
in today’s world but may be more important than ever.
Dr. Christine Schott, assistant profesor of English,
on the Isle of Skye in western Scotland this summer
by Dr. Christine Schott
CLEARLY
PRACTICAL
continued
20| |21

12. English majors, for example,
graduate with skills vital to
success in any number of
fields. They learn, most im-
portantly, to write cogently
and communicate clearly
both in speech and in print.
They learn to look beyond
surface rhetoric to analyze
motives, biases, and far-reach-
ing implications of what seem
at first to be simple situations.
They learn to synthesize infor-
mation, reconcile conflicting
viewpoints, and think outside
the box; in other words, they
become problem solvers.
Despite recent negative
press about the humanities,
both media and employers
are gradually coming forward
to point out that humanities
majors are desirable in a wide
variety of fields—especially in
leadership—because they have
these vital transferrable skills.
But humanities majors have
more to offer the world than
their services as employees. I
point out to my students that
studying literature makes them
better consumers (because
they learn to recognize bias
in advertisement), better citi-
zens (because they learn to cut
through political rhetoric), and
better human beings (because
they learn what it actually
means to be human). Find your-
self thinking the poor are just
lazy and ignorant? Read John
Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath.
Having a hard time understand-
ing why anybody would hold to
a system of beliefs different
from yours? Read Yann Mar-
tel’s Life of Pi. Think technology
alone has the potential to solve
the world’s problems? Read
just about anything by Orson
Scott Card or Ray Bradbury —
or for that matter, watch the
Terminator movies; film and lit-
erature are just different forms
of the same endeavor.
Reading literature changes
us: it might make us angry by
exposing injustices that we
had previously been able to
ignore, or it might make us
uncomfortable by challenging
our assumptions about right
and wrong, “us” and “them,”
but it makes it impossible for
us to stay the same. Once you
see the humanity of people
you had never thought about
before, it becomes a lot harder
to hate them. And when it
becomes harder to hate, then it
becomes easier to care. And if
there’s one thing this war-torn,
contentious world has too few
of, it is people who care for
others, even those they do not
know, simply because we are all
human.
I am not saying that
every student should be an
English or humanities major;
not everyone enjoys history or
literature (a fact that contin-
ues to mystify me, although I
may be a little biased). But for
those students whose souls
Jean Layne Fretwell Moody ’91 didn’t
set out to be an advocate for children with
learning disabilities. But nearly 25 years
after graduating, her Erskine experience as
an English major, another Erskine gradu-
ate’s inspiring story, and an unexpected
family challenge have led Jeannie along that
path.
After Jeannie and her husband Eric
Moody ’93 graduated from Erskine, they
started a family and moved around the
country as Eric pursued professional base-
ball, playing for the Texas Rangers and
other teams. Their happy family was thrown
a curveball when their son was diagnosed
with dyslexia at age eight. Eric and Jeannie
were concerned about how they could help
address his learning needs.
Jeannie recalled a convocation during
her time at Erskine in which Dana Black-
hurst ’83 shared his experiences with
dyslexia. “His story really resonated with
me,” she says.
Blackhurst faced serious challenges,
but when he came to Erskine, an assistant
professor of education, Katherine Chandler
(later named Professor Emerita of Educa-
tion), was leading a program focused on
students with learning disabilities, and she
became a cherished mentor to him.
Eventually, Blackhurst gradu-
ated, becoming an educator himself.
In 2012 he opened the Chandler
School, named for his mentor (who
died last year) and dedicated to
equipping children with language-
based learning differences to reach
their academic goals.
Dana Blackhurst’s story provided
some encouragement as the Moody
family worked to help their son keep
up with his studies. Jeannie noticed
and appreciated the extra help her
son received from an educational
therapist at the Discovery Program of
South Carolina. In fact, the assistance her
son received was so beneficial that Jeannie
resolved to offer help to other children with
similar needs.
She studied educational therapy
and completed an internship with the
National Institute for Learning Develop-
ment (NILD). The Discovery Program uses
NILD techniques that “encourage teachers
to take a multisensory approach, and focus
on clear thinking and Socratic question-
ing that will prepare students with a strong
educational core to create a basis for higher
learning.”
Jeannie has helped bring a branch of the
Discovery Program to Newberry, S.C., part-
nering with Newberry Academy to provide
educational therapy for its students.
“Having something like dyslexia
affects everything,” she explains. “The
children are very bright—they just have
issues with reading or written explanations.”
The Discovery Program helps develop
students’ cognitive reasoning skills to help
them understand material more fully.
Jeannie Moody honed her skills in order
to help children who, like her own son,
need a boost, and she is thankful. “God
orchestrated all the pieces,” she says. “I will
forever be an advocate for those kids.”
English
major to
the rescue
An alumna delves into
educational therapy to help
her son and her students.
Rachel Talbot ’15
contributed the
material for this
article and wrote
an initial draft. She
majored in English
andVisual Art,
graduating summa
cum laude.
are called out of their bodies by
beautiful words, for those who
forget to eat because they are
so deeply involved in a history
book, or for those who forego
sleep because they’re asking the
big questions that were raised in
their philosophy class, it would
be a shame to abandon what
they love simply because some-
one else has told them it isn’t
“relevant.” The truth is that a
humanities education is ben-
eficial in every life calling, from
stay-at-home parent to presi-
dent of the United States.
English majors do not need
to defend their course of study
to make it relevant; it already
is. And they do not need to
change their major to be em-
ployable; they only need to aug-
ment it.There is no fundamental
conflict between the humani-
ties and “practical” education. In
fact, in the coming generation, I
hope we will see the liberal arts
increasing in cultural and market
value as employers, educators,
and students alike recognize
how much the world still needs
the humanities.
“Clearly Practical,” continued
“If there’s one thing this war-torn, contentious world has too few of,
it is people who care for others, even those they do not know, simply
because we are all human.”
“No longer is rote memorization the main focus of education. Elementary and secondary schools
are turning to inquiry-based models of instruction, where students are taught to ask questions and
develop creative solutions to practical problems. Now more than ever, teachers trained in the liberal
arts benefit from the emphasis on research, creativity, and independent thinking. At the same time,
education majors acquire professional skills. So education majors get the best of both worlds.”
-Dale Smith, Assistant Professor of Education
Sarah DeVos ’14, Special Education
22| |23

13. In Mark’s Gospel, Christ tells his disciples that faith and fear are
antithetical to one another. If you have faith, then you should have no
fear. But are the faithful really without fear?
Students in Dr. Robert Elsner’s Statistics and Experimental
Psychology courses spent an entire academic year answering this
question.They started by asking themselves a series of related ques-
tions:What is faith? What are its defining characteristics? How do we
know we have it? Why do we believe the particular things we believe?
What is fear? What do we fear and why?
Through their collaborative brainstorming, the students
developed methods for defining and measuring faith and fear. They
probed the faith and fear question from every conceivable angle,
exploring it in a series of focus groups and designing experiments
to determine how faith and fear are activated and interact in the
brain.The result: scientific support for a theological proposition.The
students discovered that as an individual’s faith increases, his or her
fear decreases.
Interesting enough. But what did it mean for Elsner’s students?
What does it mean for us?
“At Erskine we ask our students to frame questions in theological
as well as scientific terms,” said Elsner, who encourages his students
not only to seek new knowledge but to use the knowledge they
attain to glorify God. At the end of their faith and fear project, Elsner’s
students left his classroom with more than just some fun trivia.They
left with a better understanding of what it means to be faithful. More
importantly,they left empowered to become more faithful themselves
and to help others do likewise.
Tests of faith
... and fear
He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?”
—Mark 4:40
EVERYONE THINKS ACCOUNTING IS BLACK AND WHITE, BUT IT’S NOT.
There’s a lot of gray. To succeed in business, you need to know about history, ethics,
economics. You need to know more than you learn in your business and accounting classes.
The liberal arts background helps students develop the critical thinking skills needed to
succeed in business and life.
–Karen Mattison, Assistant Professor of Business Administration
“While at Erskine I was given
the opportunity to pursue my
own research and present at a
conference, an opportunity that
the majority of my current peers
did not experience. I became
close friends with my professors,
who pushed me towards excel-
lence and helped me discover my
passions in psychology. It was
only after entering a doctoral
program that I realized just how
effectively Erskine prepared me
for graduate school and working
as a psychologist.”
–Tillary Blackman ’13,
Psy.D. candidate in Clinical
Psychology, Adler University,
Chicago, Illinois
24| |25

14. viewer/reader/listener in the act of making
meaning, finding relevance—not only
through analysis but by connecting emo-
tionally with the meaning that the work
helps us to make.
Hannah Arendt writes in The Life of the
Mind: “To lose the appetite for meaning
we call thinking and cease to ask unanswer-
able questions [would be to] lose not only
the ability to produce those thought-things
that we call works of art but also the capac-
ity to ask all the answerable questions upon
which every civilization is founded.”
I think of that researcher at Clemson,
a world-class scientist who operates ana-
lytically and logically at a very high level.
Yet in pursuing some of his work’s most
daunting questions, his thinking turns
to the imagination for a creative solu-
tion. In that way he becomes rather an
artist of the arteries, his lab something of
an artist’s studio. I’m not sure he would
appreciate that description. I want to be
fair to this brilliant man, but I suspect
that what drives him is what he consid-
ers a purely scientific motive. And, writes
Valois, “What makes art different from
science is that the scientific method relies
on proof and evidence.” Philosophers and
scientists seek to uncover the way things
are and how they work. Scientific efforts
aim for truth or knowledge. Liberal learn-
ing, the humanities in particular, privi-
lege meaning and meaning-making over
mere knowledge. And if Hannah Arendt
was right, that priority—what she called
the “appetite for meaning,” which is
uniquely human—makes not only art but
all human inquiry, including the scientific,
even possible.
Back at Mount Wachusett where Profes-
sor Valois teaches, as also at Clemson and
here at Erskine, faculty and administration
are being pressed to articulate outcomes and
to measure and quantify student learning as
never before. This pressure accounts for a
good bit of the scrutiny now brought to bear
on the liberal arts and sciences. Valois fears
that a learning outcome like “creating” will
be co-opted by things like “creative problem
solving” and “creative thinking,” skills more
akin to analysis than imagination—skills
that only engage part of the human being’s
creative capacity.
Frankly, this is precisely what I saw last
spring at the first meeting I attended: The
innovative approach aimed at transforming
South Carolina public education is all about
“creative thinking and problem solving.”
For example, in one middle school, every
sixth-grader has been given a laptop and a
personal dashboard to measure progress on
standards across all disciplines. High-stakes
MAP test scores have risen dramatically,
which bodes well for many of these stu-
dents’ futures. I must applaud such an effort
and its results. I want to be fair to it, too,
but there’s more to human creativity than
problem solving and logic. Valois explains
this with a poignant example from her own
life, one involving a group of profession-
als well versed in creative problem solving:
nurses.
Professor Valois knows something about
nurses. Four years ago she underwent
“brutal treatment for a highly treatable
cancer.” For a time she lost the ability to
talk, swallow, drink, and eat. She had dif-
ficulty communicating with her family, es-
pecially her 4-year-old twins. She received
plenty of support and encouragement, “But
the most profound gift [she] received came
from [her] college’s nurse,” who sent her
a 13th-century poem called “The Guest
House.” In translation, the poem begins,
“This being human is a guest house. / Every
morning a new arrival.” Valois explains:
A metaphor is, by its very nature, a lie.
Sometimes it’s a simple lie; sometimes not.
I am not a house. But during my illness, the
image of myself as a guest house was a lie that
told a truth I needed to hear, a lie that helped
me to endure pain and suffering by telling
me that along with suffering, the house that
I was would also be visited by other guests.
The poem instructed me to “welcome and
entertain them all! / Even if they’re a crowd
of sorrows / who violently sweep [my] house,
/ empty of its furniture.”
Radiation and chemotherapy did not just
sweep me clean; they stole much that
spring…The poem, though, insisted that
I “treat each guest honorably. / He may be
clearing [me] out / for some new delight.”
The nurse had prescribed just the right medi-
cine… [one] that my radiologist could not
administer. Would the poem have shrunk my
tumor? No. Did I not want a treatment plan
guided by the latest in modern medicine, the
result of careful study and years of research?
Of course. I’ve heard it said that the arts and
humanities are “nice to have” but not “need
to have.” Four years ago, I needed a doctor
who could treat my cancer with the most ef-
fective medical protocol available, but I also
needed someone who understood the emo-
tional aspects of healing.
Friends, that is why liberal learning will
survive. That is why the humanities will not
only survive but periodically flourish again.
Because we are human. And humankind
must have meaning, must make meaning.
We can’t help it. Being wired this way is part
of what it means to be made in God’s own
image. This aspect of being human, which
the humanities privilege even above mere
knowledge, is not only liberal learning’s
greatest value; it is a necessity and our great-
est responsibility—as image bearers, and as
teachers and learners.
The entire text of Dr. Christie’s speech is
available online at news.erskine.edu.
A
meeting I attended last spring
introduced me to an innovative
program designed to address
several problems with South Carolina
public education, including the need to
better prepare high school graduates for
positions requiring at least some post-
secondary education. Recent polling indi-
cates that a good job is the number one
social value for people
everywhere. It is the
value driving much of
the change and many of
the pressures we’re feel-
ing in higher education,
especially at liberal arts
institutions like Ers-
kine. It is not, though,
the highest value of
liberal learning. Perhaps
this is why many see
the liberal arts as being
in decline. But liberal
learning has always sur-
vived—indeed, at times
it has flourished—and
this will be the case for the future. Let me
tell you why.
At another meeting I attended, TEDx-
Greenville, one of the presenters, a re-
searcher at Clemson, spoke about elastin,
the protein that allows many tissues in the
body to resume their original shape after
stretching or contracting. His presenta-
tion culminated in a practical application
of some of this research. Elastin doesn’t
age well; this man’s lab had developed
therapies to help improve the protein’s re-
generative ability, but only at the cellular
level. To treat entire human structures like
arteries, muscles, or organs would be pro-
hibitively tedious and expensive.
So, he told us, he began to imagine:
What if we could somehow transport the
molecular building blocks of this protein
and concentrate them on diseased tissues
or areas at risk of degeneration? It sounded
like a science fiction scenario as he de-
scribed deploying nano robots 1/15th the
thickness of a sheet of paper to the tissue
walls of arteries in laboratory animals. But
it wasn’t fiction. It was a science problem
solved. And this solution has tremendous
implications for future human health. It
means something, potentially to a lot of
people. But I hope you noticed that it
began as an act of imagination. And that
is the point: that for humans, meaning-
making trumps knowledge. Imagination
is the highest value of liberal learning.
Works of imagination, of course, fall
under the purview of the liberal arts and
are the particular currency of the humani-
ties. Humans create such works (usually)
to convey meaning, which many people
associate with truth. But “A work of the
imagination is inherently an untruth, yet
it is one that reveals a truth.” This from
a recent post in The Chronicle of Higher
Education, an essay by Michelle Valois, an
English professor and chair of liberal arts
and sciences and general studies at Mount
Wachusett Community College. I will
quote or paraphrase professor Valois at
some length because she gets to the heart
of the matter:
A painting, a poem, or a dance is trying
to express something important about the
human condition, a truth that is revealed
through intuition and feeling. The creator
engages in logical and analytical thinking,
too, but the act of creation is fueled by our
capacity to intuit knowledge and beauty,
to imagine what is not and never has been
through a faculty different from reason.
The receiver of the work can analyze it—a
logical endeavor. But art also engages the
Meaning Matters
The highest value of liberal learning
This article is
based on a
speech by Dr. Brad
Christie, senior
vice president for
academic affairs.
There’s more to human
creativity than problem
solving and logic.
Imagination is
the highest value
of liberal learning.
26| |27

15. Got news or photos to share?
Email alumni@erskine.eduClass Notes
CLASS OF 2013
Todd Handell has moved
back to Spartanburg, his
hometown, and is youth
minister at his home church,
Bethel United Methodist.
Ashlee R. Newman is now
Young Farmer and Rancher
program coordinator at
the South Carolina Farm
Bureau Federation.
CLASS OF 2013 (SEMINARY)
The Rev. Brooks D. Willet
passed his ordination exams
in the Palmetto Presbytery
(Presbyterian Church in
America) and was ordained
at Rose Hill PCA, where he
is assistant pastor.
CLASS OF 2012
Sarah Elizabeth Brown is finishing her
second year at the Royal Veterinary College
(RVC), University of London, ranked as one
of the top veterinary schools in the world.
Aimee Dumouchel Gans directed Spartan-
burg Repertory’s 2014 production of Amahl
and the Night Visitors. She played Amahl’s
mother in Erskine’s 2012 production.
CLASS OF 2011
Brianna Prater Miller is an early inter-
ventionist with The Vision Institute (TVI)
of South Carolina, which assists visually
impaired and blind children and adults.
Joshua Scott Miller was a winner of the 2014
Apex Games. Contestants sprint between
stations where they perform deadlifts, push-
ups, weighted lunges, etc. He says getting into
shape is “a marathon, not a sprint.”
CLASS OF 2010
David Thomas Camak has joined
the University of New Mexico lab
of Thomas F. Turner for his Ph.D.,
studying genetics, evolution, and
ecology of fish communities. He
earned a master’s degree at South-
eastern Louisiana University and is
co-author of an article in Copeia.
CLASS OF 2009
Jessica F. Skinner, who formed “Prettier than
Matt” with Jeff Pitts, explained the band’s
name. Someone asked why Matt Biddle, bass-
ist for Pitts’ rock band, was not playing, and
was told Matt’s electric sound didn’t fit the
project. Someone said, “Well, she’s prettier
than Matt,” and the joke became a band name.
CLASS OF 2009 (SEMINARY)
Dean Lollis, a former journalist, is pastor
of Wightman United Methodist, Prosperity,
S.C., a “community of faith with a trajectory
pointed toward the Kingdom of God.” He and
his wife Denise have one daughter, Grace.
CLASS OF 2008
Jennifer Gennaoui Cartella, inducted into
her high school’s Sports Hall of Fame in Glass-
boro, N.J., in 2014, will be inducted into the
Flying Fleet Hall of Fame in October 2015.
Jaselyn Jennings was South
Carolina Ms. Heart in the Miss
Heart of the USA Pageant in
2014 and first runner-up in the
national pageant. Started as a
food drive for a rescue mission,
the program has distributed
millions of nonperishable food
items. Jaselyn directed a pageant
on the Erskine campus where
more than 1,600 food items
were collected.
Jada Phillips Vanderlip,
athletic trainer at Carvers
Bay High School, George-
town, S.C., became in-
terested in the field while
playing Erskine softball.
“I thought it would be re-
ally cool to help people get
back to doing what they love
after being injured,” she says.
She is married to James H.
Vanderlip III ’08.
Kristen Gracien Turner and James D.
(Jimmy) Turner report that Kristen is earn-
ing a master’s in educational leadership, and
Jimmy is a resident in anesthesiology at Wake
Forest Baptist Medical Center. Their children
are Grace (b. 2011), and Wesley (b. 2013).
CLASS OF 2007
Caleb D. McMahan earned his Ph.D. at the
University of Louisiana and is a collections
manager at The Field Museum in Chicago.
CLASS OF 2007 (SEMINARY)
Chaplain (Major) James McNeely II
retired from the United States Army after
23 years and is vicar of New Hope Anglican,
Waterbury, Conn. He and his wife Alisa have
four children and one granddaughter.
CLASS OF 2005
David W. Dangerfield reports he earned a
Ph.D. at the University of South Carolina in
2014. His dissertation: Hard Rows to Hoe: Free
Black Farmers in Antebellum South Carolina.
CLASS OF 2005 (SEMINARY)
Benjamin Musuhuke is Liaison Offi-
cer of UCLA-Rwanda, coordinating UCLA
programs in Rwanda. He received a master’s
in African Studies from UCLA, but is better
known at Erskine as founder of Reach the
Children of Rwanda International.
CLASS OF 2004
Dr. Peter Bechtel, a graduate of Florida State
University College of Medicine, has opened
his practice at AnMed Health Specialty Care
in Elberton, Ga. He completed a residency in
General Surgery at Lehigh Valley Hospital in
Allentown, Pa. (2013).
Erica Berg taught high school for six years
before pursuing music as a full-time career.
She formed the Erica Berg Collective and is a
singer and songwriter with the band. “Decid-
ing to play music full-time was the biggest leap
of faith I’ve ever taken in my life,” she says.
CLASS OF 2003
Banks Faulkner, who played baseball for the
Flying Fleet before surgery sidelined him, has
been a teacher and head baseball coach at
Summerville High School for the past year.
CLASS OF 2002
Matthew C. Dean has been named Lau-
rens Center Director of the University of
South Carolina Union. He and his wife, Lori
Gilstrap Dean ’02, live in the Due West area
and have three daughters and a son.
CLASS OF 2000
Tara Lowe Brice was one of the Anderson
Independent-Mail’s “20 Under 40” for 2014.
She has been principal at Belton and Wright
Elementary Schools and served on a South
Carolina Education Oversight Committee
task force. She and husband Joseph Douglas
Brice ’01 have two daughters.
Michael Todd Simpson, interviewed in Opera
Warhorses, said the late Professor Emeritus of
Music Dr. John Brawley told him, “... if you
really apply yourself, you have what it takes.
The sky is the limit!” Simpson, then 21, “de-
cided that as long as the doors keep opening,
I’ll continue to go through them.”
CLASS OF 2014
Sydney Battersby received National Asso-
ciation of Sports Medicine Certification as a
personal trainer in June.
Whitney A. Brown is head coach for the
Lower Richland High School Diamond
Hornets softball team—“I get to help these
girls and lead them with the passion I have,”
she says.
Katie Busbee is business advocacy manager
and Upstate Chamber Coalition government
relations manager with the Greenville Cham-
ber of Commerce. She interned in Congress
and at the Statehouse.
Jeremy Carrell earned the Master of Accoun-
tancy from the University of South Carolina.
He will join Cherry, Bekaert LLP in the fall.
Christine Dumouchel finds the Marriage and
Family Therapy graduate program at Converse
“a lot of reading, but very interesting, too!”
CLASS OF 2014 (SEMINARY)
Martha Gregory Hill, organist at St. Peter’s
Lutheran, Lexington, S.C., has been a church
musician for 45 years. She has a special inter-
est in family ministry and completed a practi-
cum at Connie Maxwell Children’s Home.
Morgan Allison ’13, above right, serves as chief
of staff for S.C. Rep. James Smith (District 72).
She reports that presidential candidate Hillary
Clinton paid a visit to Smith’s office in May.
Maria N.
Cinquemani
’12 graduated
from Clemson
University in
May 2014 with
a master’s
degree in
history.
continued on page 32
BLACK FRIDAY. CYBER MONDAY.
28|
Mark your calendar
to support Erskine
December 1, 2015
A day for giving back

16. Marriages
Listed by class year in descending order.
Angel N. Johnson-Shaver ’15 to
Robert Shaver II ’15, June 14, 2014.
Hannah Jane Bedwell ’14 to
Joshua Tyler Fields, June 14, 2014.
Tiffany Ruth Mills ’14 to
Kirby McClanahan Thompson ’13,
Dec. 20, 2014.
Larz Chabra ’13 to
Chas Anthony ’10, May 17, 2014.
Casey Craft ’13 to
Tyler Holbert, May 17, 2014.
Sarah Jane Sills Tate ’13 to
Andrew Robert Walker, April 18, 2015.
Aimee Michelle Dumouchel ’12 to
Stephen Gans, Jr., June 7, 2014.
Kassandra Kitney Cutler ’11 to
Andrew Tallarico, March 14, 2015.
Amanda Catherine Griffith ’10 to
Brandon Joseph Wright ’10, Nov. 15, 2014.
Hannah Webb ’07 to
Jason Franklin, Aug. 23, 2014.
Karen M. King ’06 to
John Clifton Long ’96, Oct. 12, 2014.
Jason Roach ’06 to
Kimberly Chu, Jan. 17, 2015.
Tracey M. Ammons ’05 to
Tommy Spires, April 13, 2014.
Melissa Irene Casey ’05 to
Kevin Hunter Jackson, June 21, 2014.
David W. Dangerfield ’05 to
Lauren L. Bailey, Dec. 20, 2014.
Tara Vardon Cox ’04 to
Carl Benjamin Setzler III, June 28, 2014.
Marla Lynn Nelson ’02 to
Christopher Thomas Duncan ’02,
June 28, 2014.
Sandra Elaine Flowers ’98 (Sem.) to
Lewis J. Bezjak, June 14, 2014
We would love to publish your wedding
announcement and photo.
Email your digital file to news@erskine.edu.
Photos work best if they’re at 300 dpi and at least
2 MB in size or larger.
Photo Credits:
Johnson/Shaver – Claire Diana Photography
Bedwell/Fields – Lisa Rowland
King/Long – Clay Austin Photography
Dangerfield/Bailey – Sweetgrass Photography & Graphics
Cox/Setzler – Lotus Creative Studios LLC
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17. Keep up with Erskine on Facebook,Twitter, and Flickr.
Connect from www.erskine.edu
Class Notes
CLASS OF 1996 (SEMINARY)
Russell Alexander Morris, pastor at Har-
vest Hills Church of God, Burlington, N.C.,
received a Doctor of Philosophy degree from
the Postgraduate School of the South African
Theological Seminary and is the author of two
books, Christian Ethics: Where Life and Faith
Meet and Truth Matters. He and wife Wanda
have one daughter and three granddaughters.
CLASS OF 1995
Sam Cotten received a master’s degree magna
cum laude in Old Testament from Gordon
Conwell Theological Seminary in May 2014.
CLASS OF 1994
Raphael M. Carr is
executive director of the
Georgetown County Alcohol
& Drug Abuse Commission.
He is also a board member
for “A Father’s Place,” which
offers education and services
for fathers rebuilding their
lives and families. He lives with his wife and
three children in the Burgess community.
CLASS OF 1992
Brian Madden has been named executive vice
president of operations at The Blood Connec-
tion, Inc. (TBC), where he previously served
as chief operations officer.
Tripp Boykin was inducted Feb. 12 into
Kappa Delta Pi International Honor Society
for Education.
CLASS OF 1991
John P. Gettys, Jr. of Morton & Gettys, a
law firm in Rock Hill, S.C., has joined the
advisory board of South State Bank. Members
are chosen on the basis of business, civic, and
community knowledge and involvement.
Brent Lee Pack is general manager of
Laurel Ridge Country Club, which boasts
a golf course, the only clay tennis courts in
western North Carolina, a pool, and a fitness
center he planned.
CLASS OF 1991 (SEMINARY)
Michael A. Jones, executive director of Out-
reach North America (ONA), an ARP Church
agency, has used music in outreach and church
planting as well as in worship. ONA Board
Chairman Wes Spring said Jones has recorded
music for TV and radio, “So, if you’ve ever
heard ‘you deserve a break today, so get up and
get away to McDonalds,’ you’ve heard Mike!”
CLASS OF 1990
Mary James Anderson
is chief officer of human
resources for Horry County
Schools. She was principal of
Kingston Elementary, Con-
way, S.C., for 14 years and
worked in human resources
for the past two years.
CLASS OF 1990 (SEMINARY 1996, 1998)
Wendy Herrmann Smith and her husband
have a teenaged son and adopted a daugh-
ter from China. One of her top priorities is
“protecting her kids from the media’s
harmful messages about beauty and the value
of women.” She is turning her blog, “Beauty
Battlefield,” into a Bible study, “Victory on
the Beauty Battlefield: God’s Truth vs. the
Culture’s Lies.”
CLASS OF 1987
Dr. Anna P. Brawley is dean of the Alabama
Iona Ministry School (AIMS), a school for
ministry training non-stipendiary and bi-
vocational clergy as well as laypeople. She is
rector of St. Bartholomew’s, Florence, Ala.
Raymond B. King is president and CEO of
Zoo Atlanta. Attendance has increased by 30
percent during his tenure, which has included
the zoo’s single largest fund-raising effort. He
was voted Atlanta’s Most Admired Nonprofit
CEO and listed in Atlanta Business Chronicle’s
“Most Influential Atlantans” in 2012.
William W. (Billy) Lesesne, Jr. is head coach
of women’s soccer at the University of Geor-
gia. He previously coached at Duke and at
Vanderbilt and was head coach of the men’s
and women’s soccer programs at Erskine. He
and wife Katie have two daughters and a son.
CLASS OF 1985
Glenis Redmond, Poet-in-Residence at
the Peace Center for the Performing Arts in
Greenville, served as Mentor Poet for the
National Student Poets Program in 2014.
CLASS OF 1983
Dr. Timothy P. Bradshaw has been named
president and CEO of NeuroNano Pharma,
Inc. His experience includes leadership in
research at GlaxoWellcome and Tenax Thera-
peutics (formerly Oxygen Biotherapeutics).
CLASS OF 2000 (SEMINARY)
The Rev. Clinton Edwards, Jr., pastor of
Friendship Baptist Church, Aiken, S.C., was
honored with a resolution by the S.C. House
of Representatives March 15, the 10th anni-
versary of his pastorate. He was praised for his
work as a pastor and with Concerned Minis-
ters Fellowship.
CLASS OF 1999
Joseph M. O’Farrell III is Secretary for the
2015 Executive Committee of the Florida
Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Associa-
tion. He grew up on the family farm, Ocala
Stud, and worked in the financial and bank-
ing industries before returning to manage the
farm, a leading commercial breeder in Florida.
Marianne Albert Yohannan, biology
instructor at Tri-County Technical Col-
lege, received the Presidential Medallion for
Instructional Excellence, the highest award
given to a faculty member.
CLASS OF 1998
Jason Edward Fort says his novel Misguided,
self-published through Amazon and Kindle,
is “the story of a misguided Christian who let
vengeance be his guide instead of God.”
CLASS OF 1997
Melanie Seel Coetsee is lead speech-language
pathologist at Sprout Pediatrics in Lexington,
S.C. A feeding specialist, she also works with
children with Down Syndrome and apraxia of
speech and says, “I love being a part of ‘firsts’
for so many children as they learn to speak
and communicate.” She and Rhyno Coetsee,
founder and CEO of Sprout, have three sons.
Donald L. Crowe was named to the Wood-
mont High School Athletic Hall of Fame in
2014. He led the Woodmont golf team to
conference, Upper State, and state champion-
ships in 1978 and 1979. He received a schol-
arship to play golf at Erskine.
Jeff Gephart is director of sales and marketing
in the rehabilitation division of Zimmer Med-
izin Systems, USA. A sports medicine major,
he earned an MBA from Columbia Southern
and was athletic trainer and clinical instructor
at Georgetown, Davidson, and other schools.
John Thomas Hellams, Jr. is vice president
for denominational relations and chief of
staff, Office of the President, Southern Bap-
tist Theological Seminary. President R. Albert
Mohler calls him “a man of rare gifts, deep
commitment and an incredibly warm heart.”
CLASS OF 1981
Deborah Lynn Osborne was inducted into
the York County Sports Hall of Fame. At
Fort Mill High she was all-time scorer in girls
basketball. She played basketball at Erskine,
became interim head women’s basketball
coach, and also coached women’s softball to
fifth place in the NAIA tournament.
CLASS OF 1978
Leisa W. Myers, associate professor of
nursing at Lander University, has been named
to the Burton Center Board of Visitors.
Trained as a forensic nurse examiner, she is a
certified psychiatric mental health nurse.
CLASS OF 1977
H. Douglas Hayes has been named director
of security at Richard M. Campbell Veterans
Home in Anderson, S.C. He has been active
for many years in emergency medical services,
fire services, and law enforcement.
CLASS OF 1975
Winnie W. Goree is the founder of Atlanta
Voice Lessons and Singer’s Resources. She has
been active as a performer and voice teacher
and says she is thankful for the foundation she
received from Erskine College.
Paul V. Pratt has been appointed community
superintendent for the West Learning Com-
munity by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.
He previously served as executive director.
Van Taylor, longtime men’s soccer coach at
Lander University, where the soccer stadium
was recently named for him, has stepped
down to become director of development. He
is married to Beth Taylor ’78.
CLASS OF 1972
A. Patrick Austin, air traffic control special-
ist at Lakeland Linder Regional Airport in
Florida for 35 years, says, “We get very, very
slow airplanes mixed in with very, very fast
airplanes along with helicopters, corporate
jets, et cetera.” He previously served as an air
traffic controller in the U.S. Air Force.
F. Michael Gaymon retired after 26 years
as chief of the Chamber of Commerce in
Columbus, Ga., which became the first five-
star chamber in Georgia under his leadership.
CLASS OF 1970
Eugene A. Weldon of East Coast Golf Man-
agement was named “Father of the Year” for
Family Golf Week, presented by PGA Tour
Superstore. “I have played many important
roles in my life…but none are more important
and give me more pleasure than being a dad,”
he says. He and wife Geri have three children.
CLASS OF 1967
Roddey E. Gettys III, former CEO of Bap-
tist Easley Hospital, received
the Order of the Palmetto,
South Carolina’s highest civilian
honor. Under his leadership
Baptist Easley was recognized
as a top rural healthcare facility.
Fred L. Lewis, Jr., a tour guide
at the Burt-Stark Mansion in
Abbeville, S.C., spoke at the
commemoration of the 250th
anniversary of the arrival of
Huguenots at New Bordeaux.
Descendants and others met at
John de la Howe School for the
event.
CLASS OF 1965
Dr. James G. Knox III has
been named to the Limestone
College Board of Trustees.
Principal of Lewisville High in
Richburg, he has also served
on the South Carolina Pal-
metto State E-cademy Board of
Trustees.
The Class of 1965 on Alumni Day 2015
continued on page 36
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18. BirthsListed by class year in descending order.
A son, Parker James, to Tiffany Driscoll
Dagenhart ’10 and Jamey A. Dagenhart ’08
(Sem. ’12), Feb. 24, 2015.
A son, Matthew William, to Megan Ferguson
Goodwin ’09 and Craig M. Goodwin ’09,
April 17, 2015.
A son, David Ansel, to Marissa Mankin
Morgan ’09 and Davey Morgan ’07, Sept. 13,
2014.
A daughter, Margaret Anne, to Noelle Garvin
Etheridge ’03 and Cliff Etheridge, Oct. 24,
2013.
A son, Joseph Elliott, to Mary Katherine
Gainey Frees ’02 and Patrick Frees, June 6,
2014.
A daughter, Rebecca Elizabeth, to William
McCloud Frampton IV ’03 and Sarah Eliza-
beth Dickman Frampton, Oct. 21, 2014.
A daughter, Josephine Grace, to Carolyn
Bursley Tompkins ’02 and Jason Brent
Tompkins ’02, Sept. 16, 2014.
A daughter, Julie Baughton, to Luci Teague
Vaughn ’02 and David Vaughn, Nov. 30,
2014.
A son, J. Alexander (“Xander”) Truett, to
Brenda King ’01, Jan. 17, 2013.
A son, Noah Allen, to Staci Weisner Sawtelle
’98 and Rob Sawtelle, June 29, 2014.
A daughter, Ellison Rebecca, to Marcia
Chasteen Yeargin ’97 and Chris Yeargin,
Sept. 18, 2013.
A son, Henry Patrick, born Sept. 26, 2012, and
a son, Benjamin William, born Aug. 7, 2014,
to Elizabeth Patrick Linderman ’90 and Bill
Linderman ’87.
FRIENDS
A son, Ross Pruitt, to Russ and Paige Gregg,
Jan. 9, 2014. Russ Gregg is the women’s
basketball coach at Erskine.
CORRECTION
In our last issue, we printed the wrong photo of
Neil Edward Bolen Kuykendall, son of Patricia
Bolen and J. Brooks Kuykendall ’97. Instead,
we published the photo of Joshua Caleb, son of
Patti Ward Davis ’05 and Clint H. Davis ’04
(Sem.) under the wrong name. We apologize
for the error. Here are both photos, correctly
identified.
Photo Credits:
Morgan - Helen Joy George ’07
Thompkins - Stacy Richardson Photography
Please share photos and birth announcements
with us! Photos work best if they’re at 300 dpi
and at least 2 MB in size or larger. Email your
digital file to news@erskine.edu.
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19. Got news or photos to share?
Email alumni@erskine.edu
If you would like additional information on
alumni listed here, please contact the Alumni
Office at 864-379-8881 or alumni@erskine.edu.
CLASS OF 1962
Dr. Robert L. Brawley is editor-in-chief of
a two-volume work, The Oxford Encyclopedia
of Bible and Ethics (2014), which contains
194 article-length entries. He is also author
of a commentary on Luke for the Fortress
Commentary on the Bible (2014).
Jean Ann Miller Suggs and husband
David celebrated their 50th anniversary with
a large family gathering at Villa Tronco Res-
taurant, site of their first date. They met in the
“Interdenominational Twenties” group at
First Presbyterian in Columbia, and have two
children and four granddaughters.
CLASS OF 1960
Pat Parker Mulligan retired from Anderson
University in 1999, then taught English and
did mission work in Russia as well as language
and cross-cultural training in Turkey. When
she retired a second time, her church, fam-
ily, and friends established a scholarship at
Anderson for international students and chil-
dren of missionaries.
CLASS OF 1959
Robert L. English, Jr., was inducted into the
Professional Baseball Scouts Hall of Fame last
year at the Charleston Riverdogs Stadium.
Julie Wharton Cushing and husband Ed have
moved to Carolina Village in Hendersonville,
Class Notes
N.C., and were interviewed
for the Carolina Village news-
letter.
CLASS OF 1956
Joseph J. Spears, Jr., was
inducted into the Gaston
County Sports Hall of Fame.
At Mount Holly High, he
led girls basketball to four
conference and two tourna-
ment championships.
CLASS OF 1954
(SEMINARY 1970)
Dr. Clyde T. McCants reports
he has retired from teaching at
Richard Winn Academy. “At
81, I decided I was almost old
enough to retire.” He preaches
at White Oak ARP and teaches
opera classes at the Shepherd’s
Center.
CLASS OF 1952
Dr. Rob Roy McGregor reports that Banner
of Truth Trust, Edinburgh, Scotland, has pub-
lished as an e-book his English translation of
John Calvin’s Sermons on Job: Chapters 1-14.
CLASS OF 1949
Dorothy Green Tribble and Dr. David E.
Tribble are enjoying Laurel Crest, a retirement
home built by First Presbyterian of Columbia
(ARP). “They allow small dogs. Our 10-lb.
dachshund is in my lap as I write,” Dorothy
says. David works for son Ben, a surgeon, and
does chores at their Lake Murray house.
CLASS OF 1930
Dr. Joseph M. Gettys marked his 108th
birthday April 23 with a celebration at the
Presbyterian Home in Clinton, S.C. Gettys
received an honorary doctorate at Erskine in
1984 and served
on the Erskine
Board of Trustees
from 1970-76. His
account of his life
as a teacher, writer,
administrator, and
interim pastor can
be found at news.
erskine.edu/joseph-
gettys
In Memoriam
Willyne Correll Sanders ’34,
Nov. 19, 2014.
Cecil Drake Gable ’35,
Nov. 19, 2014.
James Lindsay Carson ’38,
Nov. 19, 2014.
Sophie Dusenberry Meadors ’38,
Dec. 12, 2014.
Wade Baldwin MacDonald ’39,
Sept. 14, 2014.
Dorothy Simpson “Dot” Wise ’39,
June 26, 2015.
Albert G. Myers, Jr. ’40,
Sept. 14, 2014.
Sarah Alexander Pearce ’40,
April 30, 2015.
Hazel Elrod ’41,
Sept. 14, 2014.
Emily Washam Ferguson ’41,
Nov. 28, 2014.
Julian Moffatt Hemphill ’41,
July 20, 2014.
Mary Eloise Wylie Taylor ’41,
Feb. 8, 2015.
Annelle Plaxico White ’41,
Nov. 11, 2014.
William Barry Allison, Jr. ’42
Jan. 11, 2015.
Phyllis Patterson Cheshire ’42,
June 2, 2015.
Arthur Beaufort Littlejohn ’43,
March 24, 2015.
John Charles McGill ’43,
Nov. 11, 2014.
Mary Louise Ameen Monsen ’43,
May 22, 2015.
Oscar Malon Nickles, Jr. ’43,
March 17, 2015.
Mary Elizabeth Rainey “Lib”
Jenkins ’44, Sept. 1, 2014.
Statia Ansley Ketchin ’44,
April 1, 2015.
Elvira McCalla Powers ’44,
Oct. 28, 2014.
Dr. Roy E. Beckham ’53 (Sem. ’56) recently enjoyed a hot-air
balloon ride with daughter Ann Beckham Gainey ’72 as part of a Senior
Wishes project at the Renaissance Retirement Community in Due West.
Beckham, who called the ride “the highlight of my old age,” was an ARP
pastor for 40 years.
Eleanor Chesnut Richardson ’59 of Flat Rock, N.C., veteran Erskine volunteer and professional
fund-raiser, was “humbled, appreciative, and thrilled” to receive the honorary Doctorate of
Humane Letters. The Rev. David Ralph Johnston, Jr. of Gibsonia, Penn., longtime Associate
Reformed Presbyterian minister and mission developer, received the honorary Doctorate of
Divinity, saying. “All that I am, all that I own, all that I will ever be belongs to Jesus Christ.”
Henry C. ‘Dusty’ Oates, 88, died June
2, 2015. He was a veteran of World War II
and earned his Erskine degree in the Class of
1951. A longtime coach, teacher, and school
administrator, he spent several years at Ford
High School in Laurens, S.C., and the re-
mainder of his career at Dixie High School
in Due West, where the football stadium was
named in his honor in 1989. He was inducted
into the Erskine College Athletic Hall of
Fame in 1996. Fondly known as “Coach,” he
Dorothy ‘Dot’ Simpson Wise, 97, died June
26, 2015. A member of the Centennial Class
of 1939, she earned her Erskine degree in
home economics and pursued graduate work
in counseling. She taught high school home
economics and biology and also served as a
guidance counselor. Later, she created and
taught home economics for boys. An active
churchwoman and community volunteer, she
received the Alumni Distinguished Service
Award in 2002 and remained an engaged
alumna in her later years. She was featured
in the documentary film Due West of Ordi-
nary (2014) and delighted current students
when she spoke about her college experience
at a special convocation that year. Survivors
include four children; one sister, Rebecca
Simpson Stradley ’43; five grandchildren;
and seven great-grandchildren. She was pre-
deceased by her beloved husband, Bill Wise,
and two grandsons.
was a longtime member of the South Carolina
High School Coaches Association. He was in-
terviewed for the documentary film Due West
of Ordinary, which premiered in 2014 during
Erskine’s 175th anniversary celebration. He
is survived by his wife, Professor Emerita of
Education Zelda Gambrell Oates ’51; three
sons, Dusty Oates, Jr. ’77, Richard Oates
’80, and Sam Oates ’82; a sister, Margaret
Oates Somerville ’42; six grandchildren; and
three great-grandchildren.
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20. Anna Emmaline Griffith Porter
’60, Oct. 27, 2014.
Frances Hazel Crowe Rampey ’60,
Feb. 17, 2015.
Frankie Moore Snipes ’60
Feb. 17, 2015.
Donald L. Summers ’60,
Sept. 19, 2014.
Marion Elizabeth Blanks Weisner
’60, March 14, 2015.
John Cobeen Chisolm ’61,
May 17, 2015.
Mary Ruth Fleming Corriher ’61,
March 28, 2015.
Annie Laura “Lollie” Mills Karney
’63, Jan. 11, 2014.
Larry Dexter Gaillard ’63,
Dec. 11, 2013.
Linda Wolff Albert ’64,
May 4, 2015.
Terry Wayne Tyler ’64,
Oct. 8, 2014.
Gary Winfred Williams ’64,
Jan. 31, 2015
Frank Stephen Fortson III ’65,
Oct. 8, 2014.
Phylis Ann Falls VanEvery ’65,
Jan. 12, 2014.
Joy Seawright Golden ’66,
Dec. 15, 2014.
James Sadler Nelson ’66,
May 11, 2015.
William Stevenson “Steve” Weston
III ’66, Feb. 1, 2015.
H. Dave Whitener ’66,
Sept. 14, 2014.
JamesE.Ellenburg’66(Sem.),
Aug. 11, 2014.
James Allen “Doodle” Gambrell ’67,
May 11, 2015.
Lewis V. Howell, Sr. ’68,
March 19, 2015.
William Clayton Richardson
’69 (Sem.), June 21, 2014.
In Memoriam
Leota Falls Deaton ’51,
Feb. 26, 2015.
Patricia Neill Maness ’51,
June 11, 2015.
Henry C. “Dusty” Oates ’51,
June 2, 2015.
Rosa Young Shaw ’51,
May 18, 2015.
James Alvin Shaw ’52,
March 14, 2013.
Peggy Brawley Bristol ’53,
Dec. 4, 2014.
Daniel Payton Leach ’53,
July 20, 2014.
Murdoch McKelway Calhoun ’53,
April 3, 2015.
Walter Edward Hickman, Jr. ’53
(Sem. ’59), July 20, 2014.
Bobby J. Cooper ’54,
Jan. 15, 2015.
Mary Tucker McPhail ’54,
Jan. 8, 2015.
Charles Edward Williams ’54,
Oct. 2, 2014.
Robert F. Henry, Jr. ’54 (Sem. ’62),
July 20, 2014.
Janet Hanna Eden ’55,
Dec. 29, 2014.
Rev. Foster Barney Fowler, Jr. ’56,
May 16, 2014.
Vernon Marie Hammond Holder
’56, June 6, 2015.
Harold E. Martin ’56,
June 10, 2015.
Charles D. Vermillion ’56,
May 14, 2015.
Clarice Smith Brown ’59,
Dec. 23, 2014.
Robert W. Bouknight ’60,
Aug. 4, 2014.
Albert Lee Hagen ’60,
June 10, 2014.
Margaret DuPree Lane ’60,
July 4, 2014.
Manetta James McLain Rhyne ’44,
Sept. 21, 2014.
Dr. Mary MatthewsTribbleTobin ’44,
July 5, 2014.
Ada Lee Loftis Brown ’45,
Nov. 3, 2014.
Margaret Johnston Degenhardt ’46,
Nov. 3, 2014.
Linda Wigington Gettys, ’46,
July 4, 2014.
Marion Martin Ritchie ’46,
Dec. 4, 2014.
Edwina Leathem Brown ’47,
Jan. 9, 2015.
NancyElizabethMcDonaldJervey’48,
March 8, 2015.
BenjaminDeLaney Wyse,Jr.’48,
Feb. 6, 2015.
William Harold Leith ’49,
July 21, 2014.
Clarence “Red” Lowery ’49,
Jan. 16, 2015.
William James Reid ’49,
August 21, 2014.
Shirley Ringhausen Swiney ’49,
Nov. 24, 2014.
William Henry Bennett ’50,
Aug. 2, 2014.
Horace Blackston ’50,
June 11, 2014.
James Ray Brown ’50,
Feb. 1, 2015.
Joyce Gene Griggs Kirkland ’50,
Nov. 13, 2013.
W. Louis McGee ’50,
Nov. 24, 2013.
John Edwin Willard, Jr. ’50,
July 31, 2014.
Benjamin Bell Bleckley ’51,
Jan. 16, 2015.
John J. Corsi ’51,
June 29, 2015.
Alumni Day
Alumni gathered at Erskine April 25 to renew friendships, honor the
achievements of fellow graduates, and prepare for another year of
alumni involvement. Outgoing Alumni Association president Steve
Southwell ’80 passed the gavel to incoming president Andy Byrd ’88.
Visit news.erskine.edu to read more about Alumni Day and each of
the award recipients profiled here.
Alumni Distinguished Service Award
Richard G. Taylor ’69
Outstanding Young Alumni Award
April Clayton ’08
Erskine Service Award
William M. Frampton IV ’03
Sullivan Awards
Sarah Wightman Brice ’71
Douglas O. Jones ’54 (Sem.)
Honorary Alumna
Janice H. Haldeman
Dr. Richard
Taylor ’69, this
year’s Alumni
Distinguished
Service Award
winner, said,
“Pray for the
college, support the
college, give if you
can, and pray
some more.”
Joseph Brice ’01 accepted
the Sullivan Award for
Sarah Wightman Brice
’71, his mother. With
him are, from left, his
wife, Tara Lowe Brice
’00, and daughters
Elizabeth and Caroline.
The Rev. Michael
Jones ’91 (Sem.)
accepted the
Sullivan Award
for his father,
Dr. Douglas
Jones ’54.
Dr. April Clayton ’08
accepted the Outstanding
Young Alumni Award
in absentia. She said she
is “truly honored” to be
chosen for this award.
Will Frampton ’03,
shown with wife Sarah
and daughter Becca, was
honored with the Erskine
Service Award.
Katherine Baker Chandler ’70,
Oct. 20, 2014.
James Wilson Jones ’70,
Dec. 29, 2014.
Vance Frederick Lusk, Jr. ’73,
July 17, 2014.
William Wayne Wells ’73,
Nov. 11, 2014.
Susan Alleyne McCrae Moore ’74,
August 2, 2014.
Paula Linda Mims ’74,
May 18, 2013.
R. Marion Canfield ’74 (Sem.),
August 13, 2014.
John Wiley Williams ’75,
Dec. 1, 2014.
Deborah Sue Hardin Davis ’76,
Jan. 6, 2015.
Tony Delano Grant ’77 (Sem.),
July 28, 2014.
Leslie Ann Pierce ’88,
June 28, 2015.
Robert William Wyatt ’89,
August 24, 2012.
Rufus Grady Bolton III ’94 (Sem.),
June 25, 2014.
Michael Keith Neely ’03 (Sem.),
June 25, 2014.
Carl Aldrich Frady, Jr. ’03 (Sem.),
Jan. 11, 2015.
FRIENDS
Dr. Wilfred A. Bellamy, 80,
June 1, 2015.
Dr. Thomas Henry Gorry, 79,
April 15, 2015.
Lee Ellis Hall, 62,
June 19, 2014.
Harry Theodore Schutte,
April 17, 2015.
Terry Parker Wallace, 76,
June 19, 2014.
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