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 Mystery
Writer Mike Stewart Scores Again with Dog Island
Mike Stewart L'88 is at it again, working out a mystery through
the eyes of his fictional character, Tom McInnes. This time,
McInnes plies his trade, lawyering and sleuthing, in a whodunit
titled Dog Island.
The Cumberland School of Law graduate left a legal career with
a health-care company several years ago to write mysteries full-time.
He wrote his first book, Sins
of the Brother, in eight months, but it took him two years to
find a publisher. When he did, it was a major house, G. P. Putnam's
Sons, and they subsequently bought Dog Island, too.
Stewart's first book evoked some heady praise ("The most
accomplished debut of the season," said Kirkus Review),
and Dog Island is doing the same. "Stewart scores big again,"
said Publisher's Weekly. "Stewart is a deft scene setter,"
added the Detroit Free Press. "Stewart has come up with
something special," observed the Chicago Tribune.
Like his main character, Stewart grew up in a small sawmill town
(Vredenburgh) in southwest Alabama. He worked as a copy editor
for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution between undergraduate school
at Auburn and law school. There, he learned economy of language
and attention to detail-traits that would make him a better writer.
The Birmingham author is putting finishing touches on his third
novel, called A Clean Kill, and giving some thought to a fourth.
He's also enjoying meeting people during the book tours Putnam's
sends him on, like the woman whose father owned the actual Dog
Island off the coast of Florida southeast of Apalachicola.
Even though Tom McInnes is fictional, one man brought a McInnes
plaid shirt, a T-shirt bearing the McInnes coat of arms and a
history of the McInnes clan to a signing.
"The whole thing has been a great experience," said
Stewart.
 It's
Gospel with a Touch of Folk on Campbell's Fifth Album
Kate Campbell's fifth album, Wandering Strange, features gospel
music with a folk influence. Out this spring from Eminent Records,
the offering includes a mixture of 18th and 19th century hymns
and songs written or co-written by Campbell.
While the album may be a bit of a departure from her earlier
folk collections, Campbell says the new release "is very
much more about all of my musical influences, and the songs that
I loved to sing as a child."
The former Kitty Henry '83 grew up in Sledge, Miss., the daughter
of Baptist preacher Jim Henry. After finishing Samford, she earned
a master's in history at Auburn University and taught school.
Since making her recording debut in 1995, Campbell has made a
name for herself in folk music. She has played the prestigious
Cambridge Folk Festival and Philadelphia Folk Festival to enthusiastic
audiences. She's been featured on National Public Radio's All
Things Considered and Live from Mountain Stage. Two of her albums
were nominated Folk Album of the Year.
"Her songs artfully skirt the border between country and
rock with a few blues twists," said the Boston Globe. "If
Eudora Welty wrote songs, they would probably sound a lot like
those of Kate Campbell."
Almost from the start of her professional career, Campbell would
occasionally close a concert with "On Jordan's Stormy Banks,"
a song she loved to sing as a girl. Every time, she said, someone
would ask, "Well, Kate, when are you going to make a gospel
record?"
"I knew when the time was right, it would happen,"
she said. "So that hymn was the impetus for this album."
'80
MARIGENE CHAMBERLAIN of Nashville, Tenn., wrote a small-group
study book, Creer, amar, obedecer: El discipulado cristiano en
la tradicion wesleyana (Believe, love, obey: Christian discipleship
in the Wesleyan tradition), which was published by the United
Methodist Church. She is director of Hispanic ministries and
affirmative action officer at the UMC's General Board of Discipleship.
TRICIA DESKINS HAYWOOD of Pelham is director of the oncology
unit at Brookwood Medical Center, Birmingham.
Dr. CHARLES LEWIS is vice president of institutional advancement
at Millsaps College in Jackson, Miss. He supervises the offices
of communications, alumni relations and development. He and his
wife, JANE BRYAN LEWIS '81, have three children. They live in
Madison, Miss.
'81
JEFFREY D. BROOKS is president of Brooks Development Corporation,
which specializes
in apartment communities in
the Southeast, and is founding partner of a dot com company,
www.besttoysonline.com, which sells specialty toys. He and his
wife, Donna, have four children, Austin, 15, Cameron, 12, Kalen,
five, and Kenley, three. They live in Birmingham.
NEAL F. FONDREN is vice president of Media General, Inc., and
president of its new Interactive Media division, which will integrate
the company's Internet properties with its newspapers and television
stations. He lives in Richmond, Va.
STEVEN W. THOMPSON is associate pastor in administration and
education at Woodmont Baptist Church in Florence. He and his
wife, Cinda, have three children.
L'81
JOEL L. WILLIAMS is Alabama district governor of Kiwanis. He
is an attorney in Troy and adjunct professor of law at Jones
Law School and Faulkner University.
'82
GORDON G. KERR, Jr. is an international pilot for USAirways,
flying the Boeing 767 to Europe. He and his wife, SUZANNE MATLOCK
KERR '82, live in Charlotte, N.C. She recently received an award
for 2000 hours of volunteer service at Mercy Hospital South.
GLORIA PARVIN is education and outreach coordinator for the Nashville
Symphony and is choir director for St. Augustine's Chapel at
Vanderbilt University.
L'82
ALAN L. KING was recently elected Jefferson County Probate Judge,
Place 2. He is responsible for adoptions, involuntary commitment
cases and condemnations. He and his family live in Vestavia Hills.
'83
W. HUNTER GOFF III works with Jefferson County Schools and is
organist at Hunter Street Baptist Church. He is president of
the elementary division of Alabama Music Educators Association.
ROBERT P. MOON is equipping minister for students at Morningview
Baptist Church, Montgomery.
'84
JOHN EDWARD BECK received a doctor of ministry degree from the
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Ky., in December.
M. CAROL COTTON
works in software support with Tickets.com, an international
software company that creates ticketing programs for performing
arts centers, museums and athletic organizations, including the
2002 Winter Olympic Games. She lives in Syracuse, N.Y.
TIM SCOTT is vice president of product support with SunGard Employee
Benefit Systems. He oversees product support for SunGard's OmniPlus
software.
L'84
SHARON LEE PATTERSON recently received the Department of the
Army's Superior Civilian Service Award for providing outstanding
legal advice to the U.S. Army. She is a member of the Office
of the Chief Counsel, Acquisition Law Division, U.S. Army Aviation
and Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama. She and her husband,
Guy, live in Hazel Green with their three children: Cassie, 16,
Brooks, five, and Mary Grace, three.
'85
LEE G. GURLEY of Moody is board treasurer of Community Christian
School.
Dr. TOBY ZIGLAR is assistant professor of religion at Carson-Newman
College, Jefferson City, Tenn.
'86
BILLIE GROVES is preschool and children's director at Hueytown
Baptist Church.
'87
KENNETH HUBERT RAY is captain and officer of training, Bessemer
Fire Department. He and his wife, SUSAN HUNT RAY, live in Birmingham
with their daughter, Emily Lane, born in September.
MARY ELIZABETH SPENCER of Alabaster is pursuing a Ph.D. in curriculum
and instruction at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
CRAIG and BARBARA HUDSON WEBB live in Lahaina, Hawaii, where
he is pastor of Lahaina Baptist Church and she is an artist who
sells her Hawaiian scenes in art and gift stores. They have three
children: Aaron Christopher, seven, Carl Christian, five, and
Gracie Christine, born in January.
LARRY YARBOROUGH is pastor of First Baptist Church, Tallapoosa,
Ga.
'88
TIMOTHY WAYNE BEMBRY, CFP, was recently named one of the top
50 bank investment representatives in the U.S. in Bank Investment
Marketing Magazine. He is an investment adviser with SouthTrust
Securities in Birmingham.
KEITH KIRKLAND is vice president, business development manager,
for Encompass Global Payment Solutions, Nashville, Tenn. He and
his wife, Sarah, have two daughters, Aubrey, and Anna Caroline,
born in January.
CHRIS LANE of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., is executive director of
First Priority campus ministry and chaplain of the Florida Marlins
baseball team. He and his wife, Wendy, have two children, Joshua,
four, and Jacob, one.
CAROL MITCHELL of Birmingham is a branch supervisor in internal
audit with Regions Bank.
'89
ELIZABETH WOODALL COUNTS and her husband, Tim, live in Charlotte,
N.C. She flies internationally as a flight attendant for USAirways.
They have a son, Brendan Reaves, three.
CHARLES and DEITRA FITZPATRICK DUNN live in Birmingham. He is
a sales manager for a division of Sara Lee Corporation. She is
controller for a privately held corporation. They have two children,
Casey, six, and Courtney, two.
ALAN LASSETER L'93 is a partner in the Pell City law firm of
Church, Seay, Lasseter & Minor, P.C. He and his wife, ELIZABETH
COLLINS LASSETER '91, have two sons, Benjamin and James, and
are active in community service and the local parish of the Alabama
Episcopal Diocese.
ANGELA PRATER MINTZ, M.D., is medical director of the developmental
evaluation and intervention program and the infant hearing impaired
program at Sacred Heart Children's Hospital, Pensacola, Fla.
She and her husband, Jerry, live in Pensacola.
CHARLES '90 and DIANE WILKINSON WEBB teach at Cornerstone Christian
School in Columbiana. He teaches physical education and she teaches
sixth grade. They have three children: Bethany Grace, nine, Myrissa
Faye, three, and Laralyn Samantha, born in August.
Air Force Major TERI L. WEIDE is a flight instructor at Naval
Air Station Pensacola, teaching aviation weather and flight rules.
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