Tommy Joe Anderson (C ’69), a radio producer for WABE-FM in Atlanta, Georgia, was recently interviewed by the non-profit organization, ArtsATL. Listen to “Q&A: Tommy Joe Anderson on classical music via public radio, the future and local production” at bit.ly/2FqN7fy.
Pam Bell (AS ’71, AS ’83) was a cast member in the premiere of the radio play “Buddy and Sook,” presented by Winchester Little Theatre at Handley Regional Library in Winchester, Virginia, from Dec. 14 to 16, 2018, as a joint benefit for the organizations. The play was adapted and directed by Bill Heavener and based on the short stories “A Christmas Memory” and “The Thanksgiving Visitor” by Truman Capote. Bell read the part of Sook. A recording of the play is available on YouTube. (Pictured front row left to right: Pam Bell and Leandra Hahn. Back row left to right: Bill Heavener, Ryan McGaughey and Reed Personius.)
After retiring from teaching music for 35 years in New Hampshire, Deborah DeMatt Gibson (C ’78) has picked up the baton and conducts several instrumental and vocal groups. These groups include the Carter Mountain Brass Band, the New Horizon Band of the Lakes Region, the Taylor Retirement Community Chorus and the St. Gabriel choirs. Gibson also continues to play in the Lakes Region Symphony Orchestra as principal clarinetist, Lakes Region Woodwind Quintet, the Newmount Military Band and the Center Harbor Town Band. She is continuing to teach music at Lakes Region Community College in Laconia, New Hampshire, as well.
In 2011, Marilyn Sydlo Guadagnino (C ’87, C ’88) and her husband, Lou, created the self-help company Living Stress Free in Rochester, New York. Their company is devoted to helping people reduce and prevent stress, balance their lives and reach their goals. In November 2018, Guadagnino published her first self-help book, “The Living Stress Free Bible: 20 Techniques to Make Your Life Less Stressful.” She also continues to offer music therapy and psychotherapy services at the outpatient community health clinic of University of Rochester Medical Center’s Department of Psychiatry, where she has worked since 1991. (Pictured to the right.)
Brett Devore (HP ’98), spent New Year’s Eve on an 18-hour flight home from Sri Lanka, where DeVore helped coordinate the Eagle Scout project of Cheran Sivalingam, to build therapy and sensory rooms for the Ark (a home for children with special needs). This endeavor included a collaboration between the Atlanta Area Council – Boy Scouts of America, Sri Lankan scouts from Jaffna Hindu College and the Jaffna District Scout Association Sri Lanka. DeVore served as a scout leader and occupational therapy consultant. In addition to this project, DeVore is the founder and owner of a successful pediatric practice, Kiddos Clubhouse, as well as founder of the Kiddos Clubhouse Foundation, which provides therapy scholarships for families in need. (Pictured in second row, ninth from the left.)
Alumni Board of Directors member Jay Foreman (AS ’98) has published his ninth children’s book called, “Mask of the Monkey.” On Jan. 2, 2019, Foreman was also elected vice chairman of the Frederick County School Board.
Heather Ashley’s (AS ’99) article, “Hour of Code Demystified,” was published in the November 2018 issue of The Education Digest, a national education publication. The article provided plans for teachers from all subject areas to participate in the National Hour of Code during December, and first appeared as a feature story in the Virginia Journal of Education.
Jonathan Noyalas (AS ’01) has been offered a contract by the University Press of Florida (UPF) for his next book, “To Be Free Some Day: Race, Slavery, and Emancipation in the Shenandoah Valley During the Civil War Era.” The book will be part of UPF’s “Dissent in the South” series, edited by Randall Miler and Stanley Harrold.
Erin Albert (P ’05) is a clinical instructor at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, where she teaches part-time on nontraditional roles in pharmacy, coordinates a mentoring program for students interested in non-traditional pharmacy roles, precepts and visits other preceptors and students as a liaison.
Lois Jarman (EH ’11) is a member of the Frederick County Board of Education in Frederick County, Maryland.
Katherine Brady Peterman (AS ’13) and John Peterman (B ’13) welcomed son Jeffrey James Peterman into the world in March 2018. (Pictured to the right.)
Katrina Rigden (HP ’13) was featured in PEOPLE’s 2019 Half Their Size issue; Rigden has lost 178 pounds, which she says makes her “feel like she’s a better health care provider.”
Krista Borgquist (N ’14) and her husband, Joel welcomed daughter Ruth Dorothy into the world on Aug. 17, 2018.
Richard Lewellen (C ’15) is the leader of the Shaken, Not Stirred Parkinson’s choir, which helps people with Parkinson’s disease regain their voices through singing. The choir meets every Wednesday at Westminster Canterbury in Winchester, Virginia.
Penn State DuBois Assistant Teaching Professor Barbara Reinard (HP ’15) offered the commencement address at the university’s fall 2018 graduates. Reinard was also awarded the 2017-18 DuBois Educational Foundation Educator of the Year Award in May 2018.
Taylor Brooke Coumes (AS ’16) is the Suzanne McKown Education Coordinator at the Clarke County Historical Association in Berryville, Virginia.
In December 2018, Nick Lenz (C ’17) performed the role of Old Man in “A Christmas Story” at the Lamp Theatre in Irwin, Pennsylvania.
In October 2018, Elizabeth Agre (HP ’18) traveled with Shenandoah University’s Performing Arts Medicine (PAM) Graduate Certificate program to Helsinki, Finland, for the International Association of Dance Medicine and Science Conference. Agre presented the program’s group research project on Peak Gluteus Medius Activation in Female Dancers vs. Female Athletes During a Drop Jump Activity during the conference. (Pictured to the left.)
In Memoriam
Bob L. Alexander (C ’54) of Wilmington, North Carolina, passed away on Oct. 19, 2018. Alexander was a music educator for most of his career, being the choral director at New Hanover High School and Hoggard High School. He then went onto served at the cultural arts director for New Hanover County from 1981 to 1991. Alexander also served as choir director at Trinity United Methodist Church for 36 years. He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Elizabeth “Lib” Alexander; Barbara Alexander Mitchell and Lauren Alexander Sutton; grandchildren, Whitney Mitchell, Morgan Mitchell, Hunter Sutton, and Emilee Sutton; a great-grandchild, Jordan Patterson, and a brother, Troy Alexander.