1950

Tom Flowers ’50, who was an art professor at Furman from 1959 to 1989 and died in 2020, received a South Carolina Governor’s Award for the Arts (Lifetime Achievement) from the S.C. Arts Commission. During his career, he was selected as one of the 100 Artists/100 Years exhibit at the State Museum in Columbia, S.C., and he was one of 12 artists from the state whose works were presented in the South Carolina National Bank exhibit “The Bicentennial, An Interpretive Approach.” Flowers’ work was also included in the “Portrait of the South” exhibition in Rome, Italy. He was president of the Greenville Artists Guild, a board member of the Guild of South Carolina Artists, a member of the board of trustees of the Greenville County Museum of Art, a state representative of the American Craft Council, a member of the advisory board of the Guild of South Carolina Artists, and a Pickens County arts commissioner.

1965

The Furman Board of Trustees proclaimed April 17, 2021, “Tommy Stevenson Day,” in honor of Tommy Stevenson ’65, the proprietor of Greenville’s storied Country Ham House. Stevenson announced his plan to retire in the spring, following 36 years in the restaurant business —during which he provided Friday evening meals to Furman football teams, numerous other Paladin squads, groups, fans and even opponents.

1976

Daniel Washington ’76 was awarded the annual Shirley Verrett Award by the University of Michigan Women of Color in the Academy Project. Washington, a bass-baritone, is a professor of music (voice) at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance and an honorary professor (humanities) at the University of Cape Town, South African College of Music.

1982

Maggie Long McGill ’82 became a corporate, finance and investment paralegal with King and Spalding LLP in Charlotte, N.C.

1983

Margaret ’83 and Robert Hill ’83 received the OneJax Institute’s humanitarian award. OneJax, in Jacksonville, Fla., is a non profit interfaith organization dedicated to achieving civility, understanding and respect for all people and promoting diversity as the foundation for a strong community.

1984

Benjamin Moore ’84 retired in May from Fontbonne University in St. Louis, Mo., where he founded the Center for Bosnian Studies. His book, “The Names of John Gergen,” was released in March by the University of Missouri Press.

1989

Lea Noblin Marshall ’89 received the Florida Education Innovator of the Year Award by the James Madison Institute.

1999

Jenny Adamson ’99 joined Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP’s Greenville, S.C., office as special counsel.

2001

Ed Waller ’01 graduated from the Basic Strategic Art Program at the U.S. Army War College and is serving as an Army strategist at the National Guard Bureau in the Strategic Plans and Policy Division.

2004

Sean Atkinson ’04 published a new course with The Great Courses. “Music Theory: The Foundation of Great Music” is about the inner workings of Western tonal music.

2008

Mason Freeman ’08 was elected partner at Womble Bond Dickinson (U.S.) LLP. He practices out of the firm’s Raleigh and Winston-Salem, N.C., offices.

2009

Melody McGowin ʼ09 started a new position in April 2020 as corporate counsel at Amazon in Seattle, Washington, supporting Amazon Web Servicesʼ Sales & Marketing division. She was previously an associate attorney at the New York City office of the law firms of Pierce Bainbridge Beck Price & Hecht and McKool Smith.

2013

Saul Rivera ’13 published “Are You Our PawPaw?”in November 2020.

2015

Erin Van Meter ’15 earned a master’s degree in speech pathology from the University of South Carolina in August 2020 and accepted a position with Prisma Health Children’s Hospital –Upstate, Kidnetics.

2019

Nathaniel DeSantis launched a media company called Amalfi Media in December 2020 that produces podcasts and videos on a range of pop-culture topics. Among the hosts are Nathaniel’s siblings Sara DeSantis ’17 and Matthew DeSantis ’02, their father, Blaine DeSantis ’75, Joe DePinto ’19 and Chase Pittman ’21.

HOW I GIVE BACK

Robyn Andrews, who was named “Staff Member of the Year” in May by the university staff, has served Furman for 13 years as the libraries circulation supervisor, diversity coordinator, and Pathways advisor. She also received the Meritorious Award for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. What memories has she gathered over the years? “From Styrofoam cakes to graduation hugs, dunk tanks to ‘Mamma Mia,’ being honored in a printed senior thesis to surprise visits from alums, and watching my student assistants and Pathways advisees grow, they are all so special and so memorable.” -Robyn Andrews