ics director and played quarterback and defensive
back for the Tar Heels from 1969 to 1971.
■ obituaries
Charlie Ray Brown (’ 71 AB, ’ 74 JD), 59, of Clearwater,
Fla.; Jan. 20, 2009. Brown practiced law in North
Carolina and Florida, primarily in residential and
commercial real estate. He was the organizer for the
Clearwater to Key West Sailing Regatta. While living
in western North Carolina, he was chairman of the
Blowing Rock Board of Elections and the planning
and zoning board, and was president of the Blowing
Rock Chamber of Commerce. He received the Order
of the Long Leaf Pine and the N.C. Governor’s
Award. At UNC, he was president of Old East dormitory. Stephanie Waddell Jackson (’ 71 ABEd), 59,
of Louisburg; Jan. 4, 2009. In Louisburg, Jackson
was active in her church and local politics. At UNC,
she was in the Honors Program and graduated Phi
Beta Kappa. Marian Davis Whiteside (’ 71 MPH),
76, of Greensboro; Jan. 14, 2009. Whiteside, a
nurse, taught in UNC-Greensboro’s school of continuing education. She also chaired the American
Nurses’ Association’s Commission on Human Rights.
John Matheson Young (’ 71 ABEd), 60, of
Morehead City; Jan. 25, 2009. Young was head
librarian at West Carteret High School, where he also
coached the cross country team. Previously, he
taught in the Nash-Rocky Mount school system.
’ 72 Michael Francis Easley (’ 72 AB) of
Raleigh has joined the Bill and Melinda
Gates Foundation in a part-time role.
Easley, who left office as governor in January, will
promote the Learn and Earn program nationwide,
the initiative he developed in North Carolina that
allows high school students to earn college credit
through free online college courses.
■ obituary
John Reeves Goldfinch (’ 72 BSIR, ’ 79 MEd), 58, of
Chapel Hill; Jan. 24, 2009. Goldfinch was managing
director of Morgan Keegan & Co., a member of the
New York Stock Exchange. He was a member of the
founding board of the State Employees Credit Union
Family House in Chapel Hill, which provides care for
the families of hospital patients. As a student at
UNC, he belonged to Phi Gamma Delta.
’ 73 Talmadge Ragan (’ 73) of Toluca Lake,
Calif., narrated the audiobook The Sign
of the Salamander by Eugenia Miller,
which has been selected as the Gold Medal Winner
of the 2008 Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards for
Audiobooks. G. Keith Wells (’ 73 AB, ’ 74 MSRA) of
Raleigh, Louis Chesterfield Arthur (’ 63 AB), and
Carol Chapman Smith (’ 61 ABEd) have opened
Louis C. Arthur, Enrolled Agent & G. Keith Wells,
Enrolled Agent, a practice specializing in assisting
businesses and individuals with tax collection or
examination issues. Tom Woodbury (’ 73, ’ 72 AB;
’77 JD) of New York has been named general counsel and executive vice president, networks business
affairs, for Home Box Office Inc.
■ obituaries
Douglas Michael Haskett (’ 73 AB), 57, of San
Francisco; Dec. 26, 2008. Haskett was a lawyer.
Later in his career, he became a cab and limousine
driver in San Francisco. Myra McCaskill Maness
(’ 73 ABEd), 57, of Biscoe; Jan. 27, 2009. Maness
taught in Richmond Community College, as well as in
Montgomery and Richmond counties. She owned
and operated a shop and was a bookkeeper for a
trenching service. Martha Bess Overcash (’ 73,
’ 72 ABEd), 57, of Gastonia; Nov. 11, 2008.
Overcash retired after 32 years teaching first- and
second-grade in the Gaston County school system.
For 30 years, she was the organist for her church.
C. Linwood Taylor Jr. (’ 73 MA, ’ 79 LICDA, ’ 79 MFA),
67, of Hampstead; Feb. 11, 2009. From the late
’80s, Taylor was involved as art director or production
designer for a number of movies and TV shows. Most
recently, he was art director for the TV series Army
Wives. Other films and shows included Matlock, One
Tree Hill and The Member of the Wedding. Earlier in
his career, he was designer and technical director at
N.C. Central University, then returned to UNC as a
member of the drama faculty and resident designer
of PlayMakers Repertory Company. While at UNC, he
was a member of the Carolina Playmakers.
Norman Lee Wilkinson (’ 73 PhD), 80, of Salina,
Kan.; Dec. 19, 2008. Wilkinson retired as a history
professor at Kansas Wesleyan University. He specialized in British history. Before acquiring his doctorate,
he was an accountant.
’ 74 Charlotte Vestal Brown (’ 74 PhD) of
Raleigh has retired as director of the
Gregg Museum of Art & Design at N.C.
State University. Rebecca Dewees Olson (’ 74
BSN) of Sylva has received the UNC School of Nursing Carrington Award for Exceptional Community Service. Olson was honored for her commitment to
bringing health care to the underserved. She is a
member of the board of Jackson County’s Healthy
Carolinians Coalition, co-chair of the School Health
Advisory Council, and executive director and clinic
manager for The Good Samaritan Clinic of Jackson
County. Edgar Mayo Roach Jr. (’ 74 JD) of Chapel
Hill has retired from Dominion Resources, where he
was president and CEO of Virginia Power, and has
joined the Raleigh office of McGuire Woods as a
partner and a member of the firm’s recently established energy and climate change team. Wanda
Sue Rushing (’ 74) of Memphis, Tenn., has written
Memphis and the Paradox of Place: Globalization in
the American South, a book to be published in the
fall by UNC Press. Rushing is associate professor of
sociology at the University of Memphis.
■ obituaries
Edward Gerald Ezrailson (’ 74, ’ 73 PhD), 62, of
Vermillion, S.D.; Dec. 16, 2008. After serving as an
assistant professor of biochemistry at Baylor College
of Medicine, Ezrailson founded the medical research
lab Emerald Biomedical, which he served as CEO.
Nancy Jane Harrison (’ 74 ABEd), 56, of Rocky
Mount; June 23, 2008. Harrison was an instructional
assistant at Nash Community College. Ernest
William Harwell (’ 74 AB), 56, of Mooresville; June 3,
2008. Harwell had worked as a territory agent for IBM.
’ 75 Robert E. Esleeck (’ 75 BSBA, ’ 79 MBA,
’ 79 JD) of Winston-Salem has been
named a certified Superior Court mediator by the N.C. Dispute Resolution Commission.
Esleeck is a partner in the law firm of Wall Esleeck
Babcock LLP. Lynn Ward Zimmerman (’ 75 AB, ’ 96
MSLS) of Hammond, Ind., has been named a 2009
Fulbright Scholar. The award allowed Zimmerman, an
associate professor of education at Purdue University
70s
Calumet, to lecture at the University of Wroclaw in
Poland in the spring.
■ marriage
Charles Edward “Chip” Showfety (’ 75 BSBA) and
Brenda C. Hanzlick of Woodstock, Ga. After a career
of more than 30 years of domestic and international
executive leadership with IBM, Showfety has retired.
’ 76 J. Wade Harrison (’ 76 AB, ’ 79 JD) of
Burlington has been named to the board
of directors for the Alamance Community
College Foundation. Harrison is managing partner in
the Burlington office of Wishart, Norris, Henninger and
Pittman PA. Michael Alan McFee (’ 76 AB; ’ 79, ’ 78
MA) of Durham has won the 2009 James Still Award
for Writing About the Appalachian South from the Fellowship of Southern Writers. McFee is a poet, a writing
professor and director of UNC’s creative writing program. J. Anthony “Andy” Penry (’ 76 AB) of Raleigh
has been reappointed to the board of trustees for
Wake Technical Community College. Penry is a partner
with Penry & Riemann and practices in the areas of
construction disputes, securities and real estate litigation, and occupational licensing. Dr. Jerry Wayne
Price (’ 76 DDS) of Tarboro participated, for the third
time, in the annual free dental clinic at Memorial
Hall in Tarboro. Price is in private practice. William
Sutcliffe Sagar III (’ 76 AB) of Brevard was named
solid waste manager for Henderson County. Sagar
served as president of the N.C. Recycling Association
in 1995-96. Clifford Weldon Smith Jr. (’ 76, ’ 75
PhD) of Rochester, N. Y., was a speaker at the ninth
annual Chartered Financial Analysts N.C. Society
Forecast Dinner. Smith is the Clarey Professor of
finance at the William E. Simon Graduate School of
Business Administration, University of Rochester.
■ obituaries
Burma Armstrong (’ 76 BSDAT), 74, of Jackson,
Tenn.; Oct. 1, 2008. Armstrong retired from the
employment services for the state of New Jersey. A
Vietnam War veteran, she served 21 years in the Air
Force. Charles Thomas Faison (’ 76 BSPHR), 55,
of Winston-Salem; Jan. 19, 2009. Faison was a pharmacist at Forsythe Memorial Hospital. At UNC, he
belonged to Kappa Psi and Rho Chi.
’77 Elizabeth Graves Cook (’77 ABJO) of
Salisbury represented UNC at the installation of W. Craig Turner as president of
Catawba College. Cook, editor of The Salisbury Post,
is a former member of the GAA Board of Directors.
Edward Theodore Faircloth (’77) of Mount Pleasant,
S.C., is the new club leader for the Charleston Carolina Club. Gregory Lee Overbeck (’77 BSBA) of
Chapel Hill has joined the board of directors for the
Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau. Overbeck
is a partner in the Chapel Hill Restaurant Group and
represents the Chapel Hill/Carrboro Chamber of
Commerce on the board.
’ 78 Michael J. Lockerby (’ 78 AB) of Richmond, Va., a partner in Foley & Lardner
LLP, has been named chair of the litigation department in the law firm’s Washington, D.C.,
office. D. Scott Shuford (’ 78 AB, ’ 81 MRP) of Jacksonville has been named planning and development
director for Onslow County. Barry Lynn Smith (’ 78
ABJO) of Graham is the new club leader of the Alamance County Carolina Club.
