GPCAA’S AMAZING JOURNALISTS AND A HARDY GIRLFacebook will take you to the site. [In addition to writing her four novels, Anne was also] a staff writer on In The Field, Heartland’s

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In this issue: GPCAA’S AMAZING JOURNALISTS • A HARDY GIRL • PRESIDENT’S MESSAGEIN MEMORIAM

© 2019. Gulf Park College Alumnae Association, Inc.

All rights reserved.

THE OAK LEAF Fall 2019 Volume 6

The Gulf Park College Alumnae Association, Inc. is an incorporated, nonprofit, member-driven organization that honors the memory of our beloved Gulf Park by-the-Sea!

GPCAA’S AMAZING JOURNALISTS...AND A HARDY GIRL

As everybody will remember, recently we published two artists’ issues of the Oak Leaf. Those profiles were so popular that we decided to look into the subject of Gulf Park’s writers. Lo and behold, we found several prolific writers and one photographer whose work illustrates a published book. We even

ran out of space in this issue and will profile another impressive author in the next issue. We very much hope that you will contact us if you are a writer or know anyone who is. We can’t possibly keep up with the waves of talent that are pouring out of our college by the sea. We especially hope to hear from women in the last two years of GPC because

these files are the most incomplete. Please contact Oak Leaf editor Sidney Oliver (C ’65) to share your discoveries [email protected] We also invite you to read up on these talented women and to visit Amazon.com to support them!

Enjoy!

Priscilla Solomons DavisAnn Nichols Reynolds Faye Dunn Beth Hardy DuderstadtNancy Taylor Rosenberg Susan Irvin

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Anne Nichols Reynolds“Anne Nichols Reynolds was an award-winning author, educator, artist. archaeologist, and speaker. She believe[d that] stepping out of her comfort zone led her on numerous adventures throughout her life. Some of her adventures include[d] camping, canoeing, lobstering, fossil hunting, and traveling with friends, family, and her artist friends each year to paint in various states and in Italy. She [also] spent a month on an archaeological dig at Caesarea Maritima, [a port town built by Herod] in Israel, and rented a car to take her to Acre and other places not on the tourist trail.

Anne’s family is in the citrus and cattle business in Florida. [She] discovered a significant archaeological site she called ‘Blueberry’ on one of their properties. This large, multi-component site, which includes a pre-Columbian village, is being written up, studied, and used to educate and mentor students. All artifacts [from the site] are donated to the Florida Museum of Natural History. Searching KVAHC on Facebook will take you to the site.

[In addition to writing her four novels, Anne was also] a staff writer on In The Field, Heartland’s Agriculture Magazine, and Homegrown Farmers and Cowboys, interviewing interesting people for the cover stories.

After serving three terms on the District Board of Trustees for South Florida State College, she retired and began writing nov-els: Winter Harvest, Mast Island, A Will of Her Own, and Shadow of Death, and In 2014, she and her husband, Charles, were the first couple to receive the Distinguished Alumni Award from Florida Southern College. [As Anne herself said, her greatest achievements were ‘maintaining a relation-ship with the Lord, and having children, grandchildren, and a wonderful, supportive husband.’” (From https://www.amazon.com/Anne-Nichols-Reynolds/e/B00OQFUSSY%-3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share.)

Anne once credited her experiences at Gulf Park College with stimulating her interest in writing.

Her wonderful painting was highlighted in a recent “artist’s edition” of the Oak Leaf.

Anne attended Gulf Park both in high school and in college, graduating from college with the Class of 1964. She was an awesome woman, kind and brilliantly talented, and (I know personally) a Senior of the milder variety. She died on August 12, 2017, after a lengthy and brave battle with leukemia.

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Photos courtesy of Amazon.com, Goodreads.com, and Florida Writers.net

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Faye Dunn A Letter to Judy Shafer Williams from Faye:Dear Judy,

Until you asked me, I had not given much thought to what Gulf Park had done for me, except give me two happy years. Looking back, I think the thing that played the biggest part in my development was my classmates...the variety from all over the country...cities, farms, different economic backgrounds and cultures. Without my realizing it was happening, I had changed. I had changed from being a girl from a small southern town where I associated only with people having similar backgrounds.

Now I had a much wider window. It made me believe I could relate to and be friends with all members of society, not just those restricted to my hometown.

Following graduation in 1944, I joined the Navy. After training at Hunter College in New York, I was assigned to the Naval Training Center in, of all places, Gulfport, Mississippi. I was disappoint-ed as I had expected to join the Navy and see the world. I did, however, see parts of the Mississippi Gulf Coast that I had not seen when I was at Gulf Park.

I was put in charge of a barracks which housed 28 Medical Corps Waves. I was 20 years old and not quite ready for prime time. They were an inde-pendent, strong, dedicated group of women with

varied backgrounds and all ages. I learned a lot from them! I often visited the Gulf Park campus in uniform. At one of our reunions, one of our teachers came to me and recalled my visiting and how proud she was of her Gulf Park girls in Service.

After my discharge from the Navy, I attended the University of Alabama for one year. I regret to say I did not return for my Senior year, but I had an offer I couldn’t refuse. I had applied for and been accepted for a position in the United States Department of State. I felt that the University of Alabama would always be there but the offer would not. I did 2 years of training in Washing-ton, DC, and then was assigned to the Embassy in Buenos Aires. It was during the Peron years and very exciting. In all, I spent 24 years in the Diplomatic Service, as a Personnel Officer, in eleven embassies around the world. It was a great career and I know of no other I would have enjoyed as much.

Looking back, I believe my early experience at Gulf Park gave me the foundation for the rest of my life and I am grateful to Gulf Park and my fellow classmates.

Sincerely, Faye Dunn

There is so much more to Faye Dunn’s story that, after having read her letter to me, I de-cided a face-to-face interview was needed.

Hometown for Faye was Sylacauga, AL. While at Gulf Park she was Treasurer of the Senior class and president of the Athletic Association and was voted “Most Athletic” by the student body.

Following graduation from GPC (C 44), Faye enlisted in the Navy! She was a WAVE! Boot camp was a 2- year school located in New York City at Howard College. After arriv-ing in NYC the bus to Howard College was delayed for a few hours as the train from Cali-fornia carrying “more recruits” was running late. While they were waiting, one of the officers asked if any in the group could sing. Faye raised her hand and after a brief audi-tion, she was invited to become a member of the “Singing WAVES Platoon.” On occasion, this platoon sang backup for Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby. (Readers can Google “The Singing WAVES Platoon”)

Following boot camp, Faye was hoping for an overseas assignment. Instead, she discov-ered she was posted to Gulfport, Mississippi! While in the Navy, Faye worked in “person-nel”, a very vague duty. She was, however, “in charge of her barracks.” With a chuckle she recalled one inspection where she was written up for “a bobby pin adrift on deck.”

Faye resigned from the Navy after her 2-year tour was complete and enrolled at the Uni-versity of Alabama. After one year, she took a job with the State Department. Again, Per-

sonnel was her niche. At every posting she was in charge of the local men and women the State Department employed—translators, janitors, chauffeurs etc.

Her first posting was Buenos Aires, Argenti-na. She recounted how she went via train to Miami, Florida, and boarded a Pan American plane bound for South America. She ate her dinner, had a few drinks, brushed her teeth, got into pajamas and climbed into bed! The range of those planes was limited, so after refueling in Panama and Santiago, she landed in Buenos Aires.

Along with a salary, state department employ-ees were given a stipend which allowed them to live on the host economy. Faye and another employee lived for 2 years in the penthouse of Edificio Kavanagh--provided of course, that they understood the maid and her dog were part of the deal! (Readers should Google “Edificio Kavanagh” for another interesting story.)

Faye served in Argentina when Juan and Evita Peron led the country. Faye never met the Perons but recalls how beautiful and well loved Evita Peron was.

When this first tour came to a close, Faye was taken to the airport by a veteran co-worker who saw the sadness in Faye’s eyes as she left Argentina. His very sage advice was to board the plane and listen to the engines rev up for take-off . Just as the plane is about to leave the earth, he said, say to yourself, “May I have the next slide, please?” His point, of course, was not to look back at the past 2 years but rather to look toward her next adventure.

Faye’s next adventure was Tripoli, which fulfilled every dream of an exotic and faraway place.

Until her death, Faye lived in Tavares, Florida. At the time of this interview, she was 93 years old and fully engaged with life. She still played golf but admitted to “not being very good.” She also attended a yoga class 3 times a week and played bridge whenever a 4th was needed. She drove her own car and had a deck boat at her dock for taking herself and her company for a tour of the canal and the lake.

Faye’s home is simple and uncluttered with selected mementos collected during her long career with the State Department: a gun she bought from a bartender in Tripoli, a large canvas depicting African landscape, copper plates of indigenous folk--artwork mostly, and every piece a story! She said that

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the African landscape painting was purchased for $3.00, and yet her companion chided her for paying “entirely too much.

I think Faye asked for her last slide on April 14, 2019—sadly, just months before this pub-lication. Her nephew sent me a box of Gulf Park memories saved by Faye for 75 years. These I have taken to the Heritage Room on the Gulf Park campus. They belong there.

Judith Shafer Williams C-64

Nancy Taylor Rosenberg

Nancy Taylor Rosenberg was born in Dallas, TX on July 9, 1946, and died October 3, 2017, in Las Vegas, Nevada, after complications related to surgery

Nancy attended Gulf Park College for two years, graduating from the high school divi-sion in 1964.

In her life Nancy did and was many things: a model, a mother, a businesswoman, a police officer and an author. It is as an author that we celebrate her life and work. Taylor’s novels are too numerous to mention, but titles may be found here https://www.orderofbooks.com/authors/nancy-taylor-rosenberg/ Photos are also credited to order of books.com and amazon.com.

During the time Nancy was working as an investigative police officer in Ventura Police Department in CA, she decided to nurture her deep passion for literature and writing. On her days off, she wrote her first manu-script, which she kept in her dresser drawer. In 1991, while living in Monarch Beach, CA, she enrolled in a UCLA creative writing class to pursue her dream of becoming a writer.

Drawing on her experiences in law enforce-

ment, in 1992 her first novel, Mitigating Circumstances, was published, and almost immediately, the film rights were sold to TriS-tar Pictures. By my count, 13 novels followed.

In an interview with Columbia Encyclopedia, Nancy shared these comments:

“All my life, I planned to become an author. After studying English in college, however, I found myself in many different careers. I was a model, a police officer, a probation officer and a criminal investigator. These experienc-es served me well, as I write thrillers set in the criminal justice system. I am also the mother of five children. Young people appear many times as characters in my novels.

“Many people ask me how I made it as a novelist in such economically poor times, and how any new writer manages to become published. My belief is that any terrific piece of work will find its way into print, but I also believe that hard work and perseverance are the mainstay of the writer. This is not something you can approach as a hobby. You must be as serious and focused with your writing as you would be if you were a surgeon stitching delicate arteries and nerves. Being able to accept criticism, listen to worthwhile suggestions, and tirelessly rewrite are some of the best attributes. Young or unpublished writers of all ages tend to become seduced by their own writing and stubbornly reject suggestions on how they can improve.

“On the specific side, I packaged myself and my work to be commercially attractive and easily assimilated by agents, the first step toward publishing. I included a chap-ter-by-chapter outline of my novel, enabling agents to follow the plot line without taking the time to read the entire manuscript, and I enclosed sample chapters, allowing them to review my prose and listen to my voice. In addition, I enclosed a photograph of myself, a biography, and comments other fledgling writers had made about my manuscript.

“If you feel compelled to write, you are prob-ably a writer. This driving need to express yourself and tell stories is the distinctive mark of talent. In today’s publishing world, how-ever, if you want to produce more than one publishable work, you must discover a niche. Then, as in any business venture, you must examine the work of others in your selected niche. Listen closely to any and all comments made by rejecting agents or publishers. Even

though agents are constantly deluged with unsolicited manuscripts to the point where they sometimes let a talented beginner slip right through their fingers, most of them know their stuff. Do not be discouraged. I was rejected by fifteen literary agents long after my novel had been sold, articles had appeared in numerous trade journals and magazines, and the checks were in the bank. Fasten your seat belts, burn the midnight oil, and listen to your inner voice. Good luck!

“Nancy received national acclaim for her writing program for inner city youth called ‘Voice of Tomorrow.’ She was named ‘Woman of the Year’ by the Boy Scouts of America in 1995, and was also included in Woman of Excellence, by Orange County’s Learning for Life Program.”

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There was no writer for Southern Dogs and their People. The idea came about

when Roberta Gamble, a dear friend of mine, was driving on a back road in Tennessee when she got behind an old farmer in worn overalls, driving a tractor with a white French poodle on his lap. She thought, “Where else but the south would

you see that!” This gave her the idea for a book using southern writer quotes about dogs. She told me about it and I thought it was a great idea, and agreed to work with me as the photographer and her as the editor.

Both being animal lovers, we enjoyed working on it! And after several years we had enough work done to seek a publisher. After many rejections, we stumbled across the perfect publisher, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Our book went through three printings and we had lots of fun going on book signings. This was 20 years ago, and we are still occasionally receiving comments on it.

Priscilla Solomons Davis graduated from GPC in the class of 1961. She is from Greenville, AL, and was an art instructor for a total of 32 years in a public high school and community college. She had the honor of creating an art department, which is still in place and operating.

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Susan Howell Irvin

After graduating from a girl’s boarding school in Switzerland, I came back to the States to attend college at Gulf Park in 1968 to 1970. I was there before and after Hurricane Camille. It was a time when the Vietnam War was in full swing and they were training 30,000 new recruits a year at Keesler Air Force Base. Our beaches were never empty. For me it was a major change to be stateside. First of all, everyone spoke English and there was absolutely no use for all of the French I had learned for the past three years. Also it was great to just be around Americans. Miss Helton, who was the English teacher, taught a class I took, English Comp. In our course of study we ended up having to write one to two papers a week. I thought I was going to love that class because I loved to tell a story. However, on the first paper I wrote for her I got a 26! There was so much red ink on the paper I could hardly see what she was correcting. Needless to say I stayed after class, highly offended that she didn’t like my “style” of writing. So she sat me down and we got to work on figuring out what I had done wrong. The next paper I got a 30. She called it progress. I cried.

Finally I had to call my mother to tell her I wasn’t going to graduate. That or I was going to have to drop the class, but my mother told me to keep on trying till I got it right. So I did. After almost every class Miss Helton and I worked on my papers. She finally just put a chair by her desk because she knew I was going to be there with another paper colored in red. After a while I asked her to change the colors so as I progressed she went to green. That’s how the semester went with my papers changing colors as I progressed until I finally got an 87. I kept telling my Mother I had to be stupid because everyone else was acing the class and I was totally failing. There was no way I could pass as my average was so low that it was hopeless. At the end of the semester I went to my mailbox to get my grades and ran to Miss Helton’s class. When I got there a large group of girls was there too. They were furious because they had gotten A’s throughout the semester but she had failed them. Her reply was the work that they had turned in was A work but it wasn’t their work. She had found their work word for word in the library. After everyone left I stood there and asked her why I got an A-. She said that the effort it took to go from a 26 to an 87 was A- work and that I had earned it. I never forgot that time with her forty years later and the many invaluable lessons she taught me as I wrote an international romantic spy intrigue that reflected a large part of my life. I called it Oil Rush, by Susan Howell. In it I incorporated my many life experiences. GPC also helped prepare me to head up my husband’s professional photography business during our marriage. And when my father died I became the majority shareholder in his business and have learned to navigate the intricacies of the aeronautical business world, along with investing in an augmented reality company. In my spare time I’ve taken up public speaking and am having a blast. The lessons learned at GPC prepared me for all of that.

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Beth Hardy DuderstadtA Hardy GirlIn 1953, I attended Gulf Park College as a freshman. My decision to attend GPC was based on several reasons. I recall hearing about it when my mother, brother and I moved to Snow Hill, North Carolina in 1944: my father’s brother, Seymour Hardy, brought us from Ft. Worth, Texas where we had lived briefly while my father, George Hardy was serving in the South Pacific as an Army Chap-lain during WWII. Uncle Seymour’s daughter, Mary Ellen happened to be attending Gulf Park at that time.

I later learned that my great-uncle, Col. James Hardy as he was called, died in 1924 just a few years after he and Richard Cox founded Gulf Park as a 4-year high school and 2-year college institution. They had been persuaded to found a college for women by a group of influential citizens in Gulfport. As an aside, the people of Gulfport were already famil-iar with Col. Hardy, who had founded the Gulf Coast Military Academy. Even though James Hardy died in his early 50’s, I have learned about his influence through reading a self-published book, “Whose Leaf Doth Not Wither,” written by his widow, Lulu Daniel Hardy. Hardy Hall was named to honor him.

After WWII ended, my father moved our fam-ily to Kerrville, Texas, where he would serve as the VA Hospital Chaplain. I attended the Tivy Schools, from the sixth through twelfth grades, graduating as Valedictorian. This en-abled me to receive some scholarship offers, among them Gulf Park. We had visited the campus between my junior and senior years of high school. When I saw the enclosed swimming pool and the campus fronting on the Gulf, well, that was it!! I continued my studies in piano as well as the usual academ-ic subjects I recall in particular an English teacher, Ms. Schreiber.

We did have hazing, and my first roommate decided to leave in mid-semester. But we had much worse hazing in a high school sorority. I enjoyed talking to my suitemate, Jevne Kes-sel, and enjoyed all the athletics: volleyball, water ballet, field hockey, basketball, as well as learning to sail and water ski on the gulf.

I took advantage of the trips to Pensacola for dances with the Naval Cadets. I dated one in particular, and my mother even allowed me and my eventual roommate, Gaye Cavett, to

drive to Corpus Christi, Texas and then drive in open convertible to Monterrey, Mexico with AJ and Gaye’s young man. Well, I guess that is X-rated, but NOTHING happened! And one time at the Broadwater, where we could go dance, I won a bottle of champagne. My date asked a teacher what we should do and she said, “I’m not here so do what you want.” I lived in fear for some time after that!

In my senior year, I was elected Class Presi-dent. When we went to New Orleans for Mar-di Gras and attended the Comos Crewe ball, I received a “call out”, meaning I danced with a member of the crewe. I could see some very thick glasses through the mask, and realized I was dancing with Richard Cox, a co-founder of Gulf Park. He was no longer active in the college, at that time.

Between my first and second year, I planned the skit for my sorority’s pledge drive. I also composed our class fight song. These are activities I would not have been able to do at a large university. I think this was a persua-sive factor in my parents’ mind to stretch their budget for me to attend GPC.

I took diving lessons from a local man who suggested I stay on for the summer to be coached for an Olympic try-out. I decided against it, however.

I still have my Senior Hat in storage some-where. It was given to me by Marge Scheidler from Indiana. She was the Student Body President. I managed to keep up with her for a while, but she didn’t respond the last time I was in the Los Angeles area, where she and her husband, Paul Aagaard had a part-time home.

At first, I felt sort of insulted that we were so supervised, but in retrospect, I am sure it was for the best.

My second year roommate was again Gaye Cavett. We had a room in the center of the

long corridor that looked out at the fountain with the gulf further out. I recall the many times our class spent singing out in that courtyard. I felt very close to our 50 or so classmates. Weekends spent at Huck I also remember fondly!

During the Spring of my last year, one of dorm “mothers” introduced me to Richard Boone Felner, whom I married in June 1956, after my junior year at the University of Tex-as. We lived in Gulfport for a while. Both of us sang in the choir of the Methodist Church. When his enlistment was over, I persuaded him to leave the Air Force, as I had moved so many times growing up—as a preacher’s kid. Then, I returned to Austin, TX to complete my degree in English from January through August, 1957. While I was back at U.T., Richard had moved to Cincinnati where he worked for Proctor and Gamble in the new Computer Programming industry. When I arrived in August, I used my camping skills to get a job as a Girl Scout Professional. But the joke was on me: we moved a LOT until we finally arrived in Stone Mountain, Georgia in 1971. Here is the list: Phoenix, AZ, San Francisco, Milwaukee, Chicago, and back to Phoenix, then to St. Paul, MN. Along the way, we had two children, Ellen born n Milwaukee in 1961, and Steve born in Evanston, IL in 1963.

In 1991, my mother moved to Stone Moun-tain to live with us. My dad had died in 1987. Then my brother who was three years younger than I, died in 1995, leaving his youngest son Christian for me to raise. (He was 13 and I was 60.)

I have met many challenges but continue to love life and enjoy good health. I have kept up with several friends from Gulf Park days, but have learned that several have died or have dementia.

Richard and I moved to Park Springs, a Senior development, in 2005, after he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s. He died in 2011. Then, in 2014, I married a man I had dated my senior year in Kerrville. He lived until 2016.

Perhaps I have told you more than you want to know. All of this may not make the cut. I have been to several reunions, but none late-ly. I have just met Susan Melanie Levy who attended GPC about 10 years or so after I did. We feel like sisters!

Beth Hardy Duderstadt (C ’55)

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Beth Hardy Dunderstadt (R) with Susan Melanie Levy

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Martha Townley, ‘45 Died 5 May 2019

Susan Shattuck, ‘61 Died 15 May 2019

Jane Andrae, ‘61 Died 25 August 2019

Claudia Tospon Died 4 October 2019

Dorothy Schermer Died 15 May 2019

* * *

In MemoriamPresident’s Message

One of the goals I set to accomplish this year is to get our website, www.gulfparkcollege.com, repaired so that information can be added. Lacking the ability to repair this site, the Board of Directors has opted to create a new website. This is in the works as I write. Barbara Lord, the genius who makes the Oak Leaf look so professional, is working on this as fast as her fingers can move.

Our 2020 reunion is shaping up nicely and we already have a couple of reservations made at our hotel, The Courtyard by Marriott. In addi-tion to a picnic lunch at the Y-Hut on campus, we have added a day trip to New Orleans. The van will leave the hotel in the morning and return to the hotel late in the afternoon leaving plenty of time to freshen up and have dinner with friends. As a reminder, the reunion dates are: Tuesday, April 21, 2020, with departure, Saturday, April 25, 2020. MARK YOUR CALEN-DARS!

Looking ahead, a nominations committee, seeking potential new Board members, will be formed and will soon start their work. The Gulf Park College Alumnae Association, Inc. was started due to the response we had to a survey which asked alums if they would be willing to serve on the Association’s governing board. Many women responded favorably. If you were one of these women, please come forward now. You may contact me at [email protected]. We need you. The work of the Board of Directors is NOT difficult and will not consume your life. So far this year, the Board has only had to consider 2 issues. Both of these issues were presented, discussed (via email), and vot-ed on in very short order.

I hope this letter finds each of you happy and well and I look forward to seeing you in April, 2020, on the beautiful Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Best wishes,

Judy Shafer Williams (C64), President

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This and That■■ Paid your dues? If you haven’t paid your 2018 or 2019 dues, do it now! Make your $25 check payable

to Gulf Park Alumnae Association, Inc., and mail it to Treasurer Marcia Burnham Klosterman at 1065 Mockingbird Lane, VanWert, Ohio 45891. Any amount over $25 will go to the Scholarship Fund and can be deducted on your income tax return.

■■ In memoriam? Know of an alum or faculty member who has passed away? Please notify Judy Shafer Williams at [email protected] or 251 Beachview Drive. Ft. Walton Beach, FL 32547.

■■ Change of mailing address, phone or email address? Don’t let us lose you! Notify Judith Shafer Williams @ 251 Beachview Dr, Fort Walton Beach, FL. 32547, [email protected], Cell phone 850-621-5646.

■■ ALERT ! Email change? Please send to JAKE the Email Blaster of Oak Leaf at [email protected].

■■ Got something to say, or a personal update? We want your comments and your stories! Please send your comments to Jane Sidney Oliver, Oak Leaf editor, at 54dobes489daze@gmail or 2844 East Weldon Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85016.

■■ Should we send a note? Please contact Lonnie McConnell, “Sunshine Lady,” at 26514 Fielder Brook Lane, Katy, TX 7794 or [email protected] if congratulations or condolences are in order.

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