1939
Lt. Col. Bob Kirtley was profiled in The Virginia Gazette for his role in flying cover on D-Day with the Army Air Corps. Kirtley, 102, lives in Williamsburg, Va. He told the newspaper, “I didn’t know how important (D-Day) was until later. I thought it was just another landing.” He served in the military for more than 30 years. He received many medals and decorations, including the Distinguished Flying Cross and 12 Air Medals for World War II efforts.
1971
Jon Maxwell reports that after a spring and summer of work, woffordfans.com is up and running. This fan board takes the place of Terrierfans.com, which ended for technical reasons. Woffordfans.com is not affiliated with the college.
1975
Danny Morrison is credited with being a key player in landing Duke’s Mayonnaise as the new sponsor of college football games in Charlotte, N.C. The Greenville, S.C.-based company will sponsor a regular season game at Bank of America Stadium and a bowl game. Morrison is is a Wofford trustee and the executive director of the Charlotte Sports Foundation.
1980
Brien Keith Crowder made the 1970s All- Decade basketball team for Science Hill High School in Johnson City, Tenn. The team was named by the Johnson City Press.
1982
Breakthru Beverage Group appointed Barry Thompson executive vice president of Breakthru Beverage South Carolina. Thompson joined the company in 2011 as vice president- general manager for its United Division in South Carolina.
1987
Calhoun County Council appointed Dawn Holtzman Robinson to the board of trustees for Regional Medical Center, which serves Calhoun and Orangeburg counties in South Carolina. Robinson lives in St. Matthews and serves as senior vice president of commercial banking for Pinnacle Financial Partners of the Midlands and Coastal South Carolina.
1989
Marquis Who’s Who Top Business Owners recognized Frank Lesesne. Lesesne is the co-owner of Anchorage 1770, an inn located on historic waterfront property in Beaufort, S.C. The inn has made lists by The New York Times, Southern Living magazine and Coastal Living magazine.
1993
Molly Hughes Cherry was appointed a federal magistrate for the district of South Carolina in July 2020. Cherry had previously been in private practice since 1998 with Nexsen Pruet’s Charleston, S.C., office.
Lynn Smith McEwen was named city administrator in Barnwell, S.C., in February 2020. She has worked in the city since 2005 as tourism and community development director and human resources director. She received a master’s in public administration from Clemson University in December 2019.
1994
Gary Cooper is working on his first book, “Comparing to Kill: How Keeping up with the Joneses is Destroying Your Life.” Cooper is the founder and executive chairman of Palmetto Infusion Services. He has spent 24 years providing leadership to the healthcare industry as an entrepreneur across several different businesses.
1998
An article focused on wrinkle reducers and fillers in the July 2020 issue of Real Simple magazine quoted Dr. Dendy Engelman. Engelman is a dermatologist with Medical Dermatology & Cosmetic Surgery in New York City.
2000
Lanecia Rouse Tinsley is an abstract artist based in Houston. She participated in “Come and See,” a virtual art show hosted by The Breath and The Clay, an art community that explores the intersections of art, faith and culture. Tinsley works with projectCURATE as co-spiritual director and consultant for the arts. She’s also co-founder/co-creative director of ImagiNoir Group, an international alliance and think tank of Black activists, artists, writers, scholars and educators.
2001
McCrory Construction has named Allen Bridgers its president. Bridgers was previously vice president of business development at the company, a 102-year-old general contractor based in Columbia, S.C.
Catherine Baker married Jon Burbage on June 29, 2020 in Lincolnville, Maine. The couple’s wedding story and photos were published in Boston Magazine.
William McGirt returned to the PGA Tour in July after experiencing injuries, surgeries and rehab. He tied for 68th in the 2020 Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio. McGirt is a past winner of that tournament.
Ben Ross, co-founder Brackish Bow Ties, was recognized at the White House in the spring for donating nearly 3,000 cloth face masks to health care workers in South Carolina and at least nine other states. Ross and Jeff Plotner founded the company in 2012. Plotner was unable to attend the ceremony because of the birth of his third child.
2002
Lexington-Richland School District Five named Christian English principal at Seven Oaks Elementary MEDIA Magnet School in Irmo, S.C. English was previously assistant principal at Dutch Fork High School.
Shamika Martin Walls was named chief operating officer for CaringWorks, a Decatur, Ga.-based nonprofit focused on ending homelessness in metro Atlanta. Walls was previously director of administration and finance at the Morehouse School of Medicine.
2003
Jeb Stewart Carlisle was named a vice president with North Highland, a consulting firm. He is based in the firm’s Charlotte, N.C., office as a client executive.
Meghan McGowan Shaw and Chad Shaw welcomed a son, Easton McGowan Shaw, on Sept. 28, 2018.
Barton Keith Ledford was named chief technology officer for Fonteva in Arlington, Va. He was most recently director of technology for CodeScience.
2004
Courtney Parades Plotner and Jeff Plotner '01 welcomed their third son, Tucker Harrison Plotner, on May 15, 2020. Tucker joins brothers Judson (4) and Barnes (2).
Brooks Yarborough Jr. was promoted to lieutenant colonel in the S.C. Army National Guard. He also has a career with Michelin North America. He lives in Gilbert, S.C., with his wife, Meredith, and children Michael Mae, Anna and West.
2005
Ashley Car Sims and her husband, Cole, welcomed their third child, Lydia Josephine “Josie” Sims, on May 20, 2020. She joins big brothers Colston (5) and Benjamin (3). The family lives in Asheville, N.C.
2006
The Spartanburg Herald-Journal profiled Howard Wilkerson in May for continuing his professional basketball career at age 37. Wilkerson is a leading scorer and rebounder for the Centro Español de Plottier in Argentina.
2008
Kinli Bare Abee and Matt Abee '10 welcomed a daughter, Charlotte “Charli” Adams Abee, on Aug. 16. Charli was 8 pounds, 2 ounces and 21.5 inches long.
Mary Patton Parks Anderson recently graduated from the University of South Carolina School of Medicine with a master’s in nurse anesthesia. She has accepted a position as a CRNA at Anesthesiology of Greenwood, S.C., where she and her husband, Jennings, live.
2011
Bo Bryan and his wife, Frances Ellerbe Bryan, welcomed daughter Blanche Anne Bryan on Aug. 18. Blanche’s grandfather Thomas C. Bryan II ’73 is also a Terrier.
Brittani Minnieweather McElveen and Derek Michael McElveen welcomed a daughter, Michael-Hope, on June 19, 2020.
Krista Jones Redding and Nathan Redding welcomed their son, Luke Arlo Redding, on April 30, 2020.
2012
Eric Breitenstein recently accepted a job as a science teacher and assistant football coach at his high school in Boone, N.C. Breitenstein is only the second Terrier — after former head coach Mike Ayers — named to the Southern Conference Hall of Fame.
Neely Bailey Darr and Andrew Darr welcomed daughter Lynn Chandler Darr on July 6, 2020. The family lives in Spartanburg.
Jennifer Lynn Fisher is a consultant at MotionMobs, a software development firm based in Birmingham, Ala. She has been involved with communicating with businesses on how to use a new COVID-19 exposure notification app. The firm is building the app in collaboration with the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the Alabama Department of Public Health.
2013
Lizzie Kyser Frantz has joined Moore Beauston & Woodham as a senior accountant in the tax and consulting firm’s Charleston, S.C., office. Frantz, a certified public accountant, earned a master of professional accountancy and taxation from Clemson University.
2015
Amelia Bryn Furbish graduated from the Medical University of South Carolina in May of 2020, earning a doctor of pharmacy. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in biomedical science at MUSC.
2016
Matthew John Millburn reflected on life in the Minor Leagues, including a canceled 2020 season, with the Spartanburg Herald-Journal in a June 4, 2020, story. He’s a starting pitcher in the Oakland Athletics’ farm system with the Midlands RockHounds in Midland, Texas.
Catherine Watson and John Bradley were married Aug. 1, 2020, at Shandon United Methodist Church in Columbia, S.C. Watson is a financial analyst with OTO Development in Spartanburg. The couple lives in Greenville, S.C.
2017
Ellie Varn and Rob Greene were married May 30, 2020, in Spartanburg.
2018
Ellie MacBride Donohue graduated from the Fox School of Business at Temple University in May with a Master of Science in hospitality management.
Catherine Ann Earley graduated in 2020 with an M.A. in art history from the University of Georgia. She is a sales associate with SOCO Gallery in Charlotte, N.C.
Gabby Boniface Lacey and Walden Lacey were married April 25, 2020 in Moore, S.C. The couple lives in Greenville, S.C.
2019
Cam Jackson completed his first professional basketball season in Germany’s Basketball Bundesliga League. His team in Ludwigsburg placed second in the playoffs.
Thad Mangum, a defensive lineman on the Terriers football team, transferred to use a sixth year of eligibility at the University of South Florida.
Caroline Maas and Zachary Rue were married May 16, 2020, in Columbia, S.C. She is pursuing a master’s degree in English literature at Clemson University. The couple lives in Greenville, S.C.
2020
Josh Burger transferred to Texas Tech University for a final year of eligibility and graduate school. Burger played right tackle for the Terriers and earned all-conference honors his sophomore and junior seasons. He was an All- American after his sophomore season.
Two Terriers happened to find themselves in the same cohort as Americorps VISTAs after their plans to volunteer abroad were delayed. Lydia Estes and Kendall Weaver are both in Greenville, S.C., and decided to become roommates. Their paths often crossed at Wofford. Both were finalists for the Richardson Family Scholarship and were selected as Presidential International Scholars.
The Seattle Mariners signed Brett Rodriguez to a free agent baseball contract. He’s the Terriers’ all-time leader in stolen bases. He started all 61 games his junior season and batted .324. He was all-conference.
Turner Bryant is pursuing a master of engineering focused in engineering physics at Cornell University.
FRIENDS
Russell Booker recently retired as superintendent of Spartanburg School District 7, but he remains active in the education field in Spartanburg County. He and his wife, Sheryl McClerklin Booker ’92, have started One Acorn, a consulting agency, to provide leadership training, diversity, equity and inclusion strategy. He is also the executive director of the Spartanburg Academic Movement.
FACULTY AND STAFF
Dr. Deirdre Coleman, assistant professor of mathematics, has been awarded a Mathematical Association of America National Research Experience for Undergraduates Program Grant. In addition, her research group had one of their papers accepted for publication: “The Periodicity of Nim-Sequences in Two-Element Subtraction Games, Integers 20 (2020).”
Dr. Rachel Grotheer, assistant professor of mathematics, had the following accepted for publication by the journal Inverse Problems and Imaging: “Stochastic greedy algorithms for multiple measurement vectors.”
Dr. Kirsten Krick-Aigner, professor of German, received a grant from the Botstiber Institute for Austrian-American Studies to present a paper on the panel “Age, Agency, and Agencies and the Migration of Austrian Children and Youth to the U.S.” at the October 2020 German Studies Association conference. She conducted research into the life of Jewish Austrian refugee Marianne Winter during her sabbatical and wrote "Marianne Selinger’s Journey from Vienna to the U.S.: How an Epistolary Friendship Led to Emigration and the Reshaping of Identity." Her shorter talk, now to be held at the virtual GSA conference, will be published as a longer research paper in the Botstiber Journal.
Dr. Anne Rodrick, professor of history, had a book review of Lawrence Goldman’s “Welfare and Social Policy in Britain since 1870: Essays in Honour of Jose Harris” appear on H-Albion in June.
Dr. Rachel Vanderhill, associate professor and chair of the Department of Government and International Affairs, had three publication in 2020: “Autocracy and Resistance in the Internet Age (Lynne Rienner Publishers, August 2020), “Iran and Its Neighbors: Military Assistance as Support for Authoritarianism,” in “Authoritarian Gravity Centers: A Cross-Regional Study of Authoritarian Promotion and Diffusion” (Routledge, July 2020), and “Between the Bear and the Dragon: Multivectorism in Kazakhstan as a Model Strategy for Secondary Powers,” International Affairs 96, no. 4 (July 2020).
Dr. Yongfang Zhang, associate professor of Chinese, wrote “The Understanding of Context in Performed Culture Approach and Context Design in a Non-Chinese Language Environment,” published in International Chinese Language Education, 2020.