Class Notes

retired from the San Antonio Public Library on October 31, 2009, after working 28 years with the library. She was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer last year on July 10. She and her husband moved from San Antonio to Cleveland, MS in August 2014, and she has been having treatment for cancer since late September 2014.

Tillman Crane ’78 is being inducted into the inaugural class of Alabama Center of the Arts Hall of Fame on November 16, 2016. He joins other celebrated Alabamians including Wes Chapman, dance; Emmylou Harris, music; Nall Hollis, mixed media; the late Dean Jones, theater; Bruce Larsen, sculpting; quilters of Gee’s Bend, textiles; the late Mildred Nungester Wolfe, paint; the late Richard Zoellner, paint. Through theater, textiles, music, dance, photographs and paint, these artists influenced the world regionally, nationally and globally. Noted as one of the nation’s most well-known large format photographers, Crane published four photography books and taught the craft in China, Mexico, Scotland, England and throughout the United States. His work has hung in the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin, Ireland, the Portland Museum of Art in Maine and Brigham Young University Museum of Fine Art in Utah. “This is what I love,” Crane said when conducting a workshop in north Alabama in 2014. “I am an introvert by nature. This is the way I understand the world. Nothing replenishes my energy more than setting up the camera and waiting for that perfect moment.” The Alabama Center for the Arts Hall of Fame has been established to recognize Alabama natives and residents who have achieved preeminence in their respective fields of artistic expression. The Hall of Fame furthers the Center’s mission of providing all Alabamians with access to the highest caliber of artistic instruction and cultural awareness. The Center will continue to serve as a statewide catalyst for artistic education and appreciation, while also promoting a culture of creativity throughout Alabama. From

Tillman Crane ’78 receives international recognition for his photography By Katie Boggs katie.boggs@thedailytimes.com Posted on Nov 30, 2016 Tillman Crane was able to mold his early days as a photojournalist for The Daily Times into a lifelong work as an artistic photographer, becoming a leader in platinum printing and finding unique possibilities in everyday objects. Crane began photography during his days at Maryville College in 1976. After graduation, he started work at The Daily Times, hired to shoot color pictures, as The Daily Times was one of the first Tennessee newspapers to begin printing in color. Nancy Cain and Dean Stone were Crane’s immediate boss and editor, respectively, during his eight years working for the paper, and he credits both of them as being very instrumental in his photography career. As he explored photojournalism, Crane also began to participate in workshops, combining photography with history, his major in college. Crane said of this time, “That’s how I began to branch out and really explore photography.” Platinum printing It was during these workshops that Crane first discovered platinum printing. There was a small exhibit on platinum prints from the early 1900s done by Frederick Evans, and the quality of the prints after all those years left an impression on Crane. “I spent 2½ hours in that small exhibit,” he said, “It was the ideal photographic process for me.” After moving to Maine, Crane began a studio class introduction to large-format photography with 8-by-10 cameras. This led to working with even larger cameras and allowed him to start his own platinum printing. Platinum printing became his passion, and his photographs gained recognition through this unique process. He began photographing around the United States and in other countries, including Scotland and China, and he also formed his own workshops, which he continues, and printed books of his pictures. Crane receives honors His trips to China started to multiply after being recommended to teach the platinum printing process, and eventually two private students paid a visit to his own home and studio in Maine. They invited Crane to have his photographs displayed at the National Art Museum of China. This exhibit began Wednesday, Nov. 23, and will run through Dec. 5, 2017, showcasing, “Alchemy of Light, 100 Photographs by Tillman Crane.” Even overseas, Crane photographs everyday items and teaches in a similar style as workshops led in the United States. He challenges people to see each ordinary object with an extraordinary feature, which is aided by the slow work of dealing with big cameras. “Hopefully the prints speak for themselves,” Crane said of this, wanting the message behind his photographs to go beyond borders. Along with recognition in China, Crane came full circle in his work and was nominated into the Hall of Fame at the Alabama Center for the Arts in his hometown of Decatur. He was inducted alongside artists such as Emmylou Harris and Wes Chapman, and he said the induction allowed for him to experience a new way of seeing his hometown. Crane is a reactionary photographer, often playing with light and using the situation to see objects in a new way. He uses the flexible qualities of light, everyday instances and the slow time of a big camera to create positive situations wherever he is, saying there are opportunities to photograph all around. “If you give me time, I enjoy everywhere,” Crane finished. http://www.thedailytimes.com/news/former-daily-times-photojournalist-receives-international-recognition/article_4e78fc8f-f351-5de3-8bc8-c340d94860aa.html

Tillman Crain will exhibit a collection of his photographs at the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, Maine in April 2017. Several exhibitions are planned to celebrate the 100’s birthday of painter, Andrew Wyeth. The museum hired Crane to photograph the Olson House in Cushing after the museum acquired the property in the early 1990s. Wyeth made the house into an iconic American image when he used it as a setting for his best-known painting, “Christina’s World.”

Writes in to report that she retired in 2014. Her husband, a detective with the the Sarasota Sheriffs department, passed away suddenly in 2012. She has five grown children, fourteen grandchildren, and one great granddaughter. She is enjoying performing in two concert bands in Florida on the French horn. She is an avid swimmer, bicyclist, tennis player, and a fan of the performing arts.

Meredith Thompson Henderson ’78 and husband Keith Henderson ’78 are Directors of the Haiti Deaf Academy. They live in Haiti 9 months each year. They will return to the U.S. in August, at Christmas break, and Easter break when the deaf students return home for their school breaks. She says her experience as a certified interpreter has helped prepare her for this opportunity. Read more about HDA here: www.haitideafacademy.com <http://www.haitideafacademy.com>.

When Haiti re-opens after COVID 19, Keith Henderson (’78) and I will return to begin our 4th year as Directors at the Haiti Deaf Academy. We serve 50 Deaf children. Most come to HDA with little or no language. After language acquisition, our next goal is to share the good news of the gospel and then prepare them to live productive lives in Haiti.

Top anesthesiologists will gather June 13-15, 2014, at the Breakers Resort in Palm Beach for the annual conference of the Florida Society of Anesthesiologists (FSA) to discuss trends and practices in the field and tools for safeguarding patient care and safety. Topics to be covered include Ethical Considerations with Drug Shortages and Impacts of Health Care Reform on Patient Care and Kurt Markgraf, M.D., will receive the Distinguished Service Award, the Society’s top honor.

and wife Grace announced the birth of their second grandson, Owen Wayne Landmann, on January 8, 2014.

Bonnie has recently begun a job as director of a co-occuring residential rehabilitation recovery center for people who identify as LGBTQ+ in Holyoke, MA. She became a Quaker 20 years ago now and continues to be active in civil rights issues. She is happy to have moved to MA and now lives within 45 minutes of her two grandsons. Bonnie continues to sing and play the guitar and now has three cds of her own and has participated in several compilation projects. She sings with the Springfield College Community Chorus.

Received her degree in Psychology at MC and completed her master’s degree as well from University of Georgia in 1981. She is currently in a private practice setting in Canton, Georgia. They specialize in substance abuse treatment. She has contracts with two accountability courts in her community. She also provides post-critical incident de-briefing sessions for local law enforcement after a use of deadly force. Grace is still married to Phillip and they have two children. Her son Zack is married and working in management with Chick Fil-A. Currently he and his wife are travelling all over the country assisting in the grand openings of new stores. Her daughter Emma has a semester left at University of Georgia to finish her master’s degree in Social Work as well. She will work with Grace at her counseling office. Grace said, “And let the fun begin!!!”

writes in to say that she and her daughter Emma Grace Price are now practicing social workers together at Price Counseling as of mid-May 2016. Emma and Grace will open Price Sober Living, a sober living facility in Waleska (a suburb of Canton, Georgia), in the fall of 2016. The facility will house 8-12 males in recovery. There is not a halfway house or sober living facility in Cherokee County, Georgia yet.

Writes in to say, greetings to all in 2016! Her Maryville sweetheart and husband, William (Bill) C. Birch, MC graduate of 1968, died the morning of Christmas Day, 2012. Bill was an Education & History major while she majored in English Lit. They met at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary where they both earned a Master’s of Divinity. They enjoyed nearly 30 years of ministry, which led them finally to Fort Wayne, IN. After Bill’s death, she continued worshiping at Trinity Presbyterian Church, pastored by Kevin Boyd, a classmate from LPTS. There she happened to meet her new groom, Channing D Rash, an electrical engineer originally from Joliet, IL. He was widowed shortly before she was when his dear wife, Rosemary, died in August 2012. They made their home in Huntington, IN, southwest of Fort Wayne. Chan relocated to Fort Wayne…a change that allowed them to meet! They married on May 9, 2015 and continue to live in Fort Wayne, IN., enjoying retirement, the joys of his family (daughter, Kati & her fellow, Jaime and their nearly 5 year old daughter, Elicia). They also enjoy his son David, a recent graduate from Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne. He graduated Suma Cum Laude with a B.S. degree in I.T. David lives in Indianapolis, IN).

was recently inducted into the University of Tennessee’s Educators Hall of Honor! Bill, who attended MC, served as the Orchestra at Maryville College’s concertmaster from 1978-1991 and as its conductor from 1991-2013.