Page 52 - Southern Magazine-Winter/Spring 2013

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CLASSNOTES
ClassNotes
‘55
The Poor Among Us: Poverty in
America is the fourth book and the
second on the subject of poverty
written by Dr. Charles Emory
Burton of Dallas, Texas. The book
was recently published by John
Wallace Press.
The Alabama Humanities
Foundation recently announced its
newWhetstone-Seaman Faculty
Development Award competition.
The biannual essay competition,
funded by AHF board member Bob
Whetstone of Birmingham and his
sister, Janet Whetstone Seaman,
a former AHF board member, is
open to all non-tenured humanities
scholars who hold full-time
positions at accredited Alabama
colleges and universities. The
purpose of the award, according to
Whetstone, is to engage emerging
scholars in the state and involve
more of them in the work AHF
does.
‘58
Carl Martin Hames’ teaching
legacy was honored posthumously
in a recently published book—a
collaboration by one of his former
students at the Altamont School
in Birmingham and two others.
Larger Than Life features stories,
anecdotes, and recollections of
Hames by more than 70 of his
old students, Altamont faculty
members, and others who knew
him well, including authors Charles
Gaines and Fannie Flagg.
A new recording by Dr. ST
Kimbrough Jr. entitled Christmas
Lullabies was released in
December 2012 by Arabesque
Records. His newest book,
Radical Grace: Justice for the
Poor and Marginalized—Charles
Wesley’s Views for the Twenty-
first Century, was published by
Cascade Books/Wipf and Stock
in 2012. Kimbrough is a research
fellow of the Center for Studies
in the Wesleyan Tradition of Duke
Divinity School in Durham, N.C.,
and founder of the Charles Wesley
Society.
‘64
Suella McCrimmon retired as
a member of the mathematics
faculty at East Georgia State
College in 2007. She resides
in Swainsboro, Ga., where,
she says, “there are more pine
trees than people.” This past
spring, McCrimmon completed
a diploma in forest technology at
Southeastern Technical College
in Swainsboro. She plans to
volunteer in the Great Smoky
Mountains National Park this
spring. “I like to learn, and
retirement is fun,” she wrote.
’66
Dr. Sidney R. Hill Jr. of Starkville,
Miss., recently completed his
fourth six-week tour as a visiting
professor at Ramkhamhaeng
University in Bangkok, Thailand.
Hill retired from the department
of communication at Mississippi
State University in July 2008.
‘68
Laura Brasfield Gearhart recently
retired after 28 years of teaching in
Episcopal schools in Alabama and
Texas and has retired to Tennessee
to be near her grandchildren. “Life
is good, thanks be to God!” she
said.
‘70
Willard
Whitson
has been
promoted
to president
and CEO of
the National
Children’s Museum in Washington,
D.C. Whitson has worked for
AlumNews ’03
Drew Belk has been working in country music for about five years in
Nashville, Tenn.
Since 2008, Belk has performed music full-time with artists like
sheDaisy, Grand Ole Opry member PamTillis, and a number of others.
In May 2009, he was asked to play a showcase with a previously
unreleased artist named Easton Corbin, for whom he is currently band
leader and utility player (primarily on pedal steel guitar and keyboards).
Easton has since had four chart hits, including two number ones: “A
Little More Country Than That” and “Roll with It.” Belk has performed
with Easton and his band a number of times on the stages of The
Grand Ole Opry and the Ryman Auditorium. Among their headlining
dates, they have been fortunate to have supported performers like Brad
Paisley, Rascal Flatts, and Blake Shelton, with whom they will begin a
new tour in June 2013.
After graduating from BSC, Belk worked with Vestavia Hills United
Methodist Church in contemporary church music. Two years later, he
auditioned at Belmont University in Nashville and began a master’s
degree in classical guitar that would open doors for him in Music City,
where he began networking his way into its music community.
“I soon saw the need for what is commonly called a ‘utility player,’ a
person who plays multiple instruments,” Belk said. “I realized I had to
broaden my focus wider than just acoustic and classical guitar to other
instruments, including pedal and lap steel guitar, banjo, dobro, and
keyboards. “
During degree work at Belmont, he worked on each instument
and took all the dates he was offered with local acts to get the stage
experience he knew he would need.
“Travel and performance are fulfilling to me,” he remarked. “My
hope for the future lies in live performance and perhaps later working in
music education. Recording my own fingerstyle compositions—mostly
lullabies—and helping others record their own music is an area of work
that excites me.
“I’ve always been grateful to BSC and the music department for
helping me lay the foundation for living out my passion.” Belk said.
Courtesy of Wendy Prejean