1950-1959
Thomas Jasiel Wilmoth ’50, has been selected as a member of the National Directory of Who’s Who for his creation of the first Credit Score System, now revised and expanded, and used by all Credit Reporting Agencies in this country.
Donald “Buddy” Wray ’59, has been honored with the Distinguished Golden Mulerider Award from Southern Arkansas University.
1960-1969
John “Laddie” Lawrence ’69, was named as The Hour’s Coach of the Year for the 2011-2012 school year after leading the Staple High School Wreckers to sweep the FCIAC championship in cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track; adding a Class LL state title in indoor track and outdoor track; capturing the State Open crown in indoor track; and finishing as Open runner-up in outdoor track.
1970-1979
Gary Glasgow ’73, was named Arkansas Associational Missionary of the Year by the Liberty Baptist Association in El Dorado for his and wife Rebecca (Bays) Glasgow’s ’74 work since June of 2000 at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia.
Bruce Hamlin ’72, has been inducted into the Arkansas Track and Field Hall of Fame.
Dr. Jim (Bubba) Hawley ’78, is an ER doctor in Wheatland, Wyoming. He has written a novella set during the Civil War in Arkansas which is available through Authorhouse.com, Barnes and Noble online, and Amazon online. He is married to Koni Hawley and has a horse ranch with 28 horses and 12 rescue dogs.
1980-1989
Abby Foster ’84, has been hired as the chief executive officer for Mount Sequoyah Retreat and Conference Center. Foster’s background is in corporate finance, human resources and business development. Chartered in 1922 as the Western Methodist Assembly, Mount Sequoyah Retreat and Conference Center welcomes individuals, families, faith groups, non-profits, and business leaders looking to bring focus and direction to their missions and purposes. Mount Sequoyah is a facility of the South Central Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church.
Angela (McCoy) Harless ’89, a doctoral student in counseling education who earned her bachelor of music education degree at SAU, has been hired by the University of Arkansas to help high school students plan for their post secondary education.
Dr. Sharon Ingram ’82, was appointed as the chairman of the Alabama Benin Trade & Economic Cooperative Forum. Ingram sits on several boards and organizations in Alabama; Benin, Africa; and Brisbane, Australia.
Sherrel (Francis) Johnson ’88, of El Dorado was appointed to the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board by Gov. Mike Beebe.
Elisa Millican ’83, has retired after 29 years of being the head coach of the Taylor Lady Tigers of Taylor, Ark.
1990-1999
Noel Brewster ’98, has been hired as the new director of the Early Childhood School at Pulaski Academy, which typically serves around 225 children in kindergarten and pre-kindergarten. Brewster received her master’s from SAU.
Monty Harrington ’93, has been promoted to oversee Retail Banking for Farmers Bank & Trust. Harrington joined Farmers Bank & Trust in 2000 as assistant vice president of Retail Lending, and has most recently served as senior vice president of Retail Lending. Harrington is a native of Magnolia and a graduate of the Southwest Graduate School of Banking at Southern Methodist University, the Arkansas Bankers Association School of Lending, the Barrett School of Banking, and other lending schools.
Marcus Lorenzo Jackson ’91, Retail Operation Manager for Kimberly-Clark, will be honored at the 2012 Texas Diversity and Leadership Conference with the Multicultural Leadership Award.
Jeff Kee ’96, of Russellville was recently elected to the Arkansas Bandmasters Association (ABA) Board of Directors. The ABA Board is one of the two governing boards for bands in Arkansas and controls much of the state band functions and the summer professional development convention. During the fifth year of the appointment, Kee will become president of the association and preside over all state-wide events that year including the 2016 ABA Convention in Fort Smith. Jeff Kee currently holds the position of band director in the Russellville School District where he teaches both at Russellville High School and Russellville Junior High School. The band program at Russellville currently has an enrollment of over 1,000 band students.
Talesha (Walker) Tatom ’99, recently received a promotion from Farmers Bank & Trust. She was promoted to vice president of Retail Lending. Tatom began her career with the bank in 1999. She has one daughter, Chelsey, and is a native and long time resident of Magnolia.
Robert Upshaw ’92, has retired as the central Arkansas FCA director to go into a fulltime teaching position at Arkansas Baptist High School, and Upshaw will still be working with UCA freshmen athletes to develop their spiritual formation and leadership skills.
Jeff White ’98, recently received a promotion from Farmers Bank & Trust. He was promoted to vice president of lending. He began his career in 1999. He is a native and long time resident of Magnolia and has two sons, Christian and Caleb.
2000-2009
Steve Browning ’01, was appointed as the Director of Athletics at Southern Arkansas University Effective July 2012. Browning has served as interim director of athletics since December 1, 2011, and will continue to serve dually as head baseball coach. Browning is married to the former Brandy Nicholson and they have two sons, Cade and Mason.
Jeremy Griffin ’04, a one-year Jenks, Okla., high school assistant coach, has been named head baseball coach at Muskogee High School. Griffin, a Bixby High School graduate, played college baseball at Seminole State College and Southern Arkansas University.
Liz Kimbell ’00, ’01, and Stan Kimbell ’08, are coaches for the 2012 Lady Bears High School softball team at DeKalb, Texas, and they have a wonderful relationship of working together professionally and personally. Liz and Stan are brother and sister and their relationship has led them in the right direction coaching the softball program. In addition to the softball program, Liz is an assistant coach in varsity volleyball, varsity basketball, and junior varsity basketball. Stan is also the defensive coordinator, assistant varsity basketball coach, and junior varsity basketball coach.
Jeremy Langley ’10, has been named associate director of athletics for operations at Southern Arkansas University. Langley has worked as assistant to the president for special projects since 2008 and has served dually as university editor since 2009. He will continue to serve dually as assistant of the president for special projects as he moves into his new role. He is married to the former Mary Ehrhardt of Hope.
Nik Lewis ’03 (Calgary Stampeders) and Kenny Pettway (former student, Edmonton Eskimos), went head to head during the 2010 Canadian Football league season and their longtime friendship was never far from the surface. Since then Pettway has accepted a contract with the Calgary Stampeders and he and Lewis look forward to playing on the same team together again.
Thomas Tillery ’09, ’11, has been named first assistant coach for Meridian Community College. Tillery, who pitched on an NJCAA national championship team at LSU-Eunice, was second assistant during the 2011-12 season. He came to MCC after serving on the coaching staff of Southern Arkansas University.
Billy Vess ’03, has been hired as the head band director for the Queen City ISD. Vess and his wife, Michelle (Bowling) ’04, have a six year-old son, Caden, and a four-year-old daughter, Chloe.
2010-2012
Romerse Biddle ’12, has finished his internship in Gov. Beebe’s Legislative Affairs Department with the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance. Biddle worked to find feeding sites for Southwest Arkansas children in need during the summer.
Juanita Harris ’10, has been hired as a first grade teacher at Union Elementary in Texarkana, Ark.
Ashley Mills ’11, has been named as the recipient of the Walt Garrison Award. This is the top award given out by the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association to a student.
Friends of SAU
Dr. Martine Boumtje, Dr. Pierre Boumtje, and Dr. Dan Dykema and the Rev. Mike Morgan of the Magnolia Presbyterian Church, went to the African Nation of Cameroon to assist in the dedication of a new church. The Magnolia congregation worked for three years to raise money for construction and equipping of a Presbyterian Church in the village of Nkom (knee-COMB).
Mickey Hammer (Current Student), of the SAU men’s cross country team set a new school record in the 8K (5 Miles) at the annual Lois Davis Invitational on Saturday October 6, 2012, with a time of 24:39, 10 seconds faster than Laredo, Texas, runner Adrian Romanos’s record of 24:49.
Joseph E. Landes (former student), was recently promoted to Executive Vice-President of Technical Services for the newly formed SPL Technical Services Group by Southern Petroleum Laboratories, Inc. He has over 35 years of experience in oil and gas measurement and laboratory analysis. SPL is recognized globally as an industry leader in oil and gas measurement, allocations, auditing and laboratory services.
Wanda Muldrow (former student), the Little River County Memorial Hospital Lab Manager, has been placed in charge of the new state lab equipment.
Dr. Henry Robison (Emeritus Professor of Biology), was awarded the 2012 Frank Blair Eminent Naturalist Award by the Southwestern Association of Naturalists. The award recognizes excellence in a lifetime of commitment to outstanding study or conservation of the flora or fauna of the southwestern United States, Mexico and Central America. Dr. Robison was a faculty member for 37 years at SAU.
Morgan Thomas (current student), has been part of a multi-year survey conducted by researchers at Sam Houston State University and SAU. The research has been on RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) and has shown a steady growth in the past eight years in the utilization of RFID systems by U.S. manufacturers to track inventory.
Mary Frances (Talley) ’50 and Kenneth Fletcher ’58, celebrated their 62nd wedding anniversary August 4, 2012. They were married in 1950 in Shreveport, La. After retiring from the restaurant business in Houston, Texas, they retired to Huntsville, Texas, where they now reside.
