Spire Spring 2018

class notes

2009 Joshua Cline and his wife, Peyton, of Bluefield, West Virginia, celebrated the birth of their second child, Chandler Lawrence, born February 5, 2018. Matt Cox and his wife, Lauren, of Roanoke, Virginia, celebrated the birth of their son, Brody Alan, born October 1, 2017. 2010 Nathan Cronk of Charlotte, North Carolina, is now a client operations specialist and certified financial planner candidate with Adhesion Wealth Advisor Solutions. Gregory J. Kane of New Tazewell, Tennessee, graduated from the DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine in Harrogate, Tennessee, in May 2018 and will complete his residency at Bluefield (WV) Regional Medical Center. Greg is married to Keilah Ramey (’08 ), and they have two children, ages three years and nine months. Omar “Juice” Reed and his wife, Jelicia, are the new owners of The Juice & Her Smoothie Bar in North Tazewell, Virginia. After nearly a decade of playing professional basketball, which took him away from Tazewell, even overseas, Juice decided he wanted more time at home with his growing family and giving back to the community that gave so much to him. Kara Woodward Wikle and her husband, Brian (’11) , of Bluefield, West Virginia, celebrated the birth of a son, Henry, born June 8, 2017. 2011 Ashley Clampitt Jones and her husband, Seth (‘09) , of Lynchburg, Virginia, welcomed a new addition to their family, Malachi Ethan, born May 5, 2018. Karlee Steffey of Ridgeway, Virginia, gave birth to a baby boy, Collin Artie Young, born May 3, 2017. 2012 Emily Sears Cook and her husband, Chris, of Princeton, West Virginia, celebrated the birth of their first child, Avery Elizabeth, born June 21, 2017. 2013 Caleb Bittler of Montpelier, Virginia, is now an associate pastor to families and youth at New Bethesda Baptist Church in Mechanicsville, Virginia. His wife, Kelly Somers (‘03) , bid farewell to BC after 11 years of service in Student Development and is now a stay-at-home mom to their two children, Jeremiah and Kathryn. Lydia Freeman of Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, recently received the James McBride Teaching Award. She is currently an English teacher in the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) charter school network in Gaston, North Carolina. Josh M. King of Ruther Glen, Virginia, is now the artistic director and co-leader of the Christian Youth Theater (CYT) of Fredericksburg, Virginia. He is a CYT alumnus who also served as a theater teacher at Fredericksburg Christian School for five years. Leslie Williams of Bluefield, Virginia, completed her master’s degree in educational psychology and is now the coordinator for curricular initiatives (CIDER) at Virginia Tech, where she also chairs the annual Conference of Higher Education Pedagogy. Patricia C. Kirk of Bassett, Virginia, married Terrance Grogan on October 13, 2014. Trish is currently a social services director at Blue Ridge Therapy Connection and an independent Scentsy consultant.

2014 Bobby Hall, Jr. of Bluefield, West Virginia, completed his 700th stage show with Blue Gate Musicals. 2015 Michael Callaghan of Roanoke, Virginia, accepted a position on the men’s soccer coaching staff at Ferrum College. Alison Jackson of Bluefield, Virginia, married Nick Mosko on July 2, 2016. Alison is a first-grade teacher at Tazewell Elementary School. Rodney Kasey married Rebecca Havens (‘17 ) July 15, 2017. They now live in Bluefield, West Virginia. 2016 Darius Scott of East Point, Georgia, is playing professional basketball with the Atlanta Show, a minor league team owned, coached and managed by David Kessler (’85) of Winder, Georgia. Jasmine Morrow of Woodbridge, Virginia, is a manager trainee with Enterprise Rent-a-Car. Benjamin “Benjy” Slator of Falls Church, Virginia, married Haley McBee on May 18, 2018. Benjy is the director of performance for the Virginia Soccer Association and Virginia Development Academy. Brian Vaught of Rural Retreat, Virginia, was elected to serve on the Wythe County Board of Supervisors. Brian has more than two decades of experience within state and local government, including his most recent work with the Rural Retreat Town Council. 2017 Benny Burrell and his wife, Valerie (‘09), of Richmond, Virginia, have been facilitating sessions on the challenges of relationships at New Creation Ministries in Cobbs Creek, Virginia. Valerie is also an online admissions counselor at BC. Gabrielle Rivers Edens of Kingsport, Tennessee, gave birth to a baby boy, Rylan Carroll, just days before her graduation from Bluefield College. She and her husband also celebrated their third wedding anniversary and the birthday of their oldest son, Kyle (2). Quincy Gravely of Ridgeway, Virginia, is now a psychosocial rehabilitation manager at Piedmont Community Services in Martinsville and Henry counties. Hannah Amis Tatum of Bluefield, Virginia, is working on her master’s degree in occupational therapy at Radford University. 2018 Jacquelyn Chick married Caleb Robbins (‘16) on May 11, 2018. Jacquelyn is pursuing her doctorate degree in physical therapy at Radford University. Kevin Aldridge of West Jefferson, North Carolina, was promoted to sergeant with the North Carolina State Highway Patrol.

Allison Young Fertitta and her husband, Sammy (‘05 ), of Roanoke, Virginia, celebrated the birth of their third child, a son, born February 2, 2018. Ryan Sheffler was featured in Wake Forest Weekly for his work as a cartoonist. A quality control analyst in his full-time job for Ajinomoto, a Japanese food and chemical corporation, Ryan writes a weekly comic series inspired by his one-year-old daughter, Hope, and titled “Jeff the Yeti” for the comic con website the-variant.com. He, his wife Shawna, and Hope live in Youngsville, North Carolina. 2005 James D. Doss of Beckley, West Virginia, was recently promoted to market organized retail crime manager for Lowe’s Companies, Inc. LeAnn Lane Montgomery of Lewisburg, West Virginia, recently partnered with a local Veterans Affairs (VA) Clinic and VA Hospital on a Blessings in a Bag project designed to provide personal care items to veterans in need. 2007 Kris Hardy of Boiling Springs, Pennsylvania, was a faculty member for a 12-session on-demand Higher Education Analytics Conference through higheredexperts.com. Kris currently serves as the director of web and digital marketing at Messiah College and works part-time at Ruffalo Noel-Levitz as an associate consultant. Ryan Moore married Lori Blevins on November 4, 2017. The couple resides in North Charleston, South Carolina. Elizabeth A. Testerman of Vinton, Virginia, a human resources consultant for American Electric Power, recently received the 2018 Distinguished Alumni Award from the Virginia Western Community College Educational Foundation for her volunteer efforts as a mentor and community advocate for Virginia Western’s Women in STEM Mentoring Program. Dr. Mark Weitzel of Princeton, West Virginia, joined Princeton Community Hospital and Mercer Medical Group ENT after earning his medical degree with honors from the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine and completing his residency and internship at the Philadelphia (PA) College of Osteopathic Medicine. 2008 Myra Bankert Dancausse of Buchanan, Virginia, opened the River Craft Rail House restaurant in November 2017. Addison Blackburn Deskins and her husband, Michael, celebrated the birth of their daughter, Zoey Beth, on February 4, 2018. Addie is a teacher for Tazewell County Public Schools. Jessica Skiles Kidd of Hillsville, Virginia, and her husband, Anthony, celebrated the birth of their second daughter, Evelyn Faith, on April 10, 2018. Evelyn joins big sister Lillian in the family. Jessica is a reading and language arts teacher at Galax Middle School. CharLynn Markwart of Portland, Michigan, won first place in the Americana category of the 2018 Great American Song Contest for her song, “In Mother Maybelle’s Hands.” Judges reviewed songs from more than 1,800 songwriters from around the world. Lindsey Sebring Wagoner and her husband, Derrick (‘08 ), of Horseheads, New York, welcomed a third child to the family, Rachelle Quinn, born March 19, 2018. Julie Fuqua married Ryan Keyser in October 2015, and the couple welcomed their first child, Harper Bailey, on May 20, 2017. The family resides in Brunswick, Maryland. Julie works for AstraZeneca in Frederick (MD).

in memory

1937 Dr. Herbert A. King of Orlando, Florida, died December 25, 2007. He was a certified diplomat of the American Board of Internal Medicine who practiced internal medicine for 48 years before retiring in 1997 after serving as the chief of staff and chief of the EKG Department at Halifax Health Medical Center, president of the Volusia County Medical Society, and president of the Volusia chapter of the American Cancer Society.

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