Highlights from the Highway

See the photos

After a wonderful week of vacationing with my family, I was able to rejoin the crew for our event in Cartersville today. If you have never had the opportunity to visit or dine at The Grand Oaks, you are truly missing out. Not only is the venue beautiful decorated period specific, but the hospitality is out of this world. We were definitely treated like family!  

I would have liked a larger turnout today, but the group of people that did come were all wonderful. Throughout the day, I had the opportunity to chat with Betty Burns Pierce ‘55, Barbara Cousins ’61, and Rebecca Satterly ’06. Rebecca and I had the chance to really talk, and I was fascinated to learn that she was the first Shorter student to study abroad in Japan. And get this… she taught herself to speak the language. It takes so much courage to pick up everything and move to a foreign country as it is, but imagine being the only student from Shorter, the only student from Georgia. Rebecca has truly done some impressive things in her young life. Mrs. Betty and Mrs. Barbara where just a joy to catch up with. My time spent with them reminded me of my grandma. We sat there talking about life and the past. They both have such a sweet spirit, and I felt so comfortable with them.

It was also great to meet Glenda Stephens ’00, a professional studies graduate! She was actually one of the last cohorts to take classes on our original professional studies campus at Windy Hill. A native of Cartersville, she stopped in briefly to say hey. Just to show you how small the world is…Mrs. Barbara actually taught Glenda’s daughter in the fourth grade. It was nice to see them catch up as well.

My shout outs for the day go to Warren Kennedy ’71, and Ray Thacker. Warren served as the alumni host for today’s event. He did such a wonderful job of welcoming everyone and taking the time to really get to know them. I tell you what, the class of 71 is really stacked with some amazing people. Thank you Warren, and I look forward to working with you more in the future! Ray is the owner of The Grand Oaks. He and his staff went out of their way to make our event a special one. I highly recommend using his services in the future.

Tomorrow’s stop takes us to The Dalton Depot. Hope you can join us!

Rachel

Cartersville was a smaller gathering of alumni, which to me is a bit shocking considering all of the people in the area that are Shorter Alums. But it was on a Sunday afternoon and people often have plans, especially in the summer months. That being said, we had a great lunch at Grand Oaks. The heavy hors d’oeuvres were outstanding, thanks to the one and only Ray Thacker. Grand Oaks is an historic home in downtown Cartersville that has been completely restored and added on to. The furniture and paintings throughout the three story home are identical to the period in which it was originally built. Ray did a wonderful job decorating and restoring everything. Apparently there are weddings there all the time (who knew!?...not me!).

I sat with Betty Burns Pierce (’55) and Barbara Cousins (’61) and they were so much fun to chat with. Mrs. Pierce’s daughter was a cheerleader at Alabama and we talked about how awesome Shorter’s squads have done recently. I explained to her that I cheered at Shorter back in 2005 and it was nowhere near what it is now---as in, if I were to try out today, right at this very moment, I would definitely not make the team! HA!

One of the alums that we met up with early on in the Road Tour, Andrew Schrampfer, joined us for lunch and Mrs. Pierce and Mrs. Cousins enjoyed talking to him about how much they love Chick-fil-A….especially their peach milkshakes (be warned, folks, there are over 1,000 calories in ONE). Andrew is the Unit Marketing Director for two Atlanta Chick-fil-A locations and also the Georgia World Congress Center events.  It was nice of him to join us for the occasion.

Mal

There’s nothing like spending a Sunday afternoon eating finger foods and drinking punch in the sun room of a gorgeous house.  Our Cartersville event was held at Grand Oaks Manor which is an historic home that has been very tastefully restored into a fabulous venue for entertaining. 

Warren Kennedy ’71 did an amazing job in helping us choose the location and making calls to let folks know about the event.  Betty Burns Pierce ’55 and Barbara Cousins ’61 sat at my table and it was fun to hear about both of their teaching experiences, Betty as a piano teacher and Barbara as a school teacher.  I also got a chance to meet Rebecca Satterly ’06 who was an English major at Shorter.  While at Shorter Rebecca was able to study abroad in Japan and it was really interesting to hear about her cultural experiences in that country.  Glenda Stephens, a 2003 alum of our Professional Studies program, dropped by as well and I enjoyed making her acquaintance.

Never underestimate the power of the Schwartz!

Chip