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Main stage sometimes sets stage for lifelong love scene It’s no surprise that the many love scenes practiced and acted out on the stage of the Performing Arts Center mean romance is often in the air there. But not many people realize that sometimes the declarations of love made on that stage are for real. Several A&M-Commerce students have actually tied the knot onstage—complete with props, lights, music and, of course, an audience. Dr. John Hanners, head of the Department of Mass Media, Communication and Theatre, can think of at least four couples who have taken their vows on stage. Most have been theatre students, he said, adding, “I suppose it is a place that they felt most at home.” Some were performers right up until the big moment. Kimberly Walker Grimm (BS ‘02) invited her family and friends to the Performing Arts Center under the pretense they were there only to watch her perform with the Cricket City Improv. The audience received the improv performance of a lifetime when, after the troupe’s bona fide performance, Kimberly marched down the aisle in an iridescent pink and purple dress to the Beatles tune “I Will.” Her fiance, Dan Grimm, waited onstage in a tuxedo suit and green shirt minus the tie. “Once we exchanged our vows and rings, we exited through the audience to Robert Earl Keen’s ‘Gringo Honeymoon,’” she remembered. “Then we met with everyone out in the lobby, including my parents who knew we were going to get married, just not expecting it to be that night.”

Dr. Gina Shelton (BS ’86) is now a radiological physicist with US Oncology at St. David’s Cancer Center in Round Rock, TX. She previously was associated with Radiological Physics in San Antonio. She is also an adjunct professor of biomedical sciences for The University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio.

Eddie (BS ’87) and Traci Owsley Matlock (’85) live in Tyler, TX, with their three children, Taylor Kevin, 13; Meagan Lee, 10; and Hanna Christine, 7. Traci earned a volunteer award for her work at the Caldwell Arts Academy, where the girls attend school. Eddie has been with Wurth USA for six years and was the top sales rep in Texas for 2000 and 2001. He was number one in the nation for 2002, and in 2003 made the national top ten. Eddie and Traci are in the praise band, orchestra and choir at their church. In June they will celebrate their 19th wedding anniversary.

Melanie Hall Copic (BS ’88) and her husband, Brian, are the proud parents of William Brian Copic III, born May 7.

Dr. Jeff Cunningham (BS ’88) sought the Republican Party nomination for District 3 State Representative, which covers Hopkins, Delta, Franklin, Lamar, Red River and Titus counties in Texas. Jeff is a chiropractor who lives in Sulphur Springs. He and his wife, Nan, have two children, Zoe Rose Cunningham, 4, and Andrew Zallard, 14.

Rob (BS ’89) and Kristi (BS ’97) McWhorter welcomed son Michael Kenneth McWhorter on Nov. 17. Rob is the technical services advisor at the University’s Sam Rayburn Memorial Student Center, and Kristi is employed by Custodial Services there.

1990-2003

Robin Milam-Smith (BS ’90) and Kirk Smith (BS ’92) had a baby boy, Kirk Leon Smith Jr., on June 12. Baby Kirk was welcomed by his sisters Ashley, 14; Rachel, 9; Monica, 6; and Sarah, 2. Kirk Sr. has been employed for 11 years by the Town of Highland Park in Texas as a building inspector.

Dee Danette Davis Hawkes (BS ’91) is a first grade/reading recovery teacher in Paris, TX, and has been an educator for 13 years. For 12 of them she’s been married to Darrell T. Hawkes Jr., a senior business systems analyst at Turner Industries. They have three children, a 5-year-old boy and twin 3-yearold girls.

John Lindsay (BS ’91) has been named the 2003 West Coast Artist Development Representative (ADR) of the Year for the Warner/Elektra/Atlantic Music Corporation, which is the highest award an ADR can receive. Over the past year he has worked with Fleetwood Mac, Josh Groban, Metallica, and Rush, to name a few.

Charla Steward (BSIS ’91) is teaching sixth grade science and social studies in Wichita Falls, TX.

Rebecca Ann Hunt (BS ’94) is currently teaching theatre arts and debate at Seguin High school and also serves as the technical director.

Amy Dooley Morgan (BSIS ’96) and husband Peter Morgan announced the birth of daughter Georgia Caroline on Oct. 14. Amy has two other daughters, Anna and Katharine. The family lives in Greenville, TX.

Tara Dawn Wright Buchanan (BS ’98) and her husband, Justin, welcomed daughter Jenna Danielle on Jan. 26. Proud sisters are Jacee Dawn and Jaden D’Anna.

Melissa Majka Nives (BS ’98) and her husband, Clint, welcomed a baby girl, Audra Leigh, on Jan. 8.

Timothy Ray Medley (BS ’00) and Marilyn DeYoung (BS ’01) were married Dec. 20 in Pottsboro, TX.

David Caldwell (BS ’01) is the executive director for the Hunt County Committee on Aging in Greenville, TX. The agency provides nutrition and social services for senior citizens in Hunt and Rockwall counties.

Amy Tunmire (BBA ’01) married Jeffrey Wehr Oct. 18 in Fort Worth, TX. Many attendants at the ceremony were Alumni, including: Katherine Killingswroth, Alicia Denton, Trecia Gross, Denise Jernigan, and Josh and Katie Shaul. Amy is an independent future director for Pampered Chef. Jeffrey is a route sales rep for Frito Lay. They now live in Jeffrey’s hometown of Wills Point, TX.

Sharon Louise Flinn (BS ’02) married Michael Wilson Nov. 9 in Augusta, GA.

Tammie J. Rolf (BS ’03), an algebra teacher at Mount Pleasant High School in Texas, has received a Teaching Initiatives Award from Citigroup. The award includes a $1,800 cash incentive.

In Memory

Lula Lucille Mullins (BA ’30)—12-6-03. In 1974 she retired after teaching 43 years. A year ago she was featured in The Pride for having donated her college scrapbook to University Archives.

Ms. Ray Woodbridge Bishop (BA ’32, MA ‘40). She got her bachelor’s in math and her master’s in educational administration.

Nora Pinkham Chaddick (BS ‘34)—11- 18-00. She was a retired teacher from New

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Eunice Fant Moore

Eunice Fant Moore (MED ‘60), 96, died Dec. 18 at her Linden, TX, home.

Among six children of Judge John P. Fant, all of whom were required to learn to play a musical instrument, Eunice played the piano. She often played for her father as he campaigned for election to the Legislature. She was the pianist at Kildare Baptist Church in Cass County for 62 years, until she was 94.

She taught public school for 37 years, and her family remembers that in the heat of integration, when someone asked how many black students were in her class, she quickly answered, “I have no idea,” indicating that children are children, and that race was not an issue.

Memorials may be made to the Eunice Fant Moore Endowed Scholarship through the Texas A&M University-Commerce Foundation.