The view from Wait Chapel on what Wake Forest is, was and could be from an array of teachers, thinkers, artists, scientists, coaches, caregivers, leaders and learners.
Editor’s note: In 2008, I was on a yearlong sabbatical from my newspaper job and volunteering in the bush of Botswana when, to my surprise and delight, a South Carolina family arrived by bush plane on the grassy strip near my tent. The daughter wore a gray Wake Forest T-shirt. In that moment, deep in the Okavango Delta where threads of papyrus bend with gentle waves above the river channels and glistening malachite kingfishers dive for dinner, she and I were connected. She had finished her undergraduate studies and would be heading off in the fall to study veterinary medicine. Her family marked her accomplishments by coming to Botswana on safari, and I could not have been more excited by the arrival of this unexpected visitor.
“Here’s to Wake Forest!” We both knew what it meant – and felt it. (So did the young woman’s parents, proud that their daughter had been a Demon Deacon and no doubt pleased that the last tuition check had been mailed.)
I had graduated decades before. The young woman was fresh from the Quad. No matter. The kinship was immediate. We were inextricably linked by traditions, the carillon’s call, the Pit scene, our fondness for professors and our lamentation over how quickly four years can fly by.
For this issue of the magazine, to define Wake Forest community seemed to me an impossible task in a single story and with a single voice. Wake Foresters – alumni, faculty, parents, staff, even children pumping tiny legs to aim for the treetops on the swing outside Scales – are bound together over time and through our experiences on our campus home. We each have a story to tell that composes the mosaic that is our community. We are presenting to you in this issue a sample of those views.
I remain resolute in my opinion about our community. Passion for this place in Winston-Salem creates a spark of recognition that can be shared whenever Wake Forest people meet, even under the Southern Cross where elephants roam.
— Maria Henson (’82)
Front row (left to right): Spencer Schiller 23, Jiayi “George” Baolin 39, Alex Katz 40, Kate Mewhinney 41, Simeon Ilesanmi 42, Jeff MacIntosh 43, Suyash Keshari and Captain 44, Mia Harris 16, Rogan Kersh 17, Rose O’Brien 18, Tatianaide Medina Nieto 19, Maria Difazio 20, Lily Walter 21, Ryan Johnston 22
Middle row (left to right): Evan Raleigh 30, Nate French 31, Marybeth Sutton Wallace 32, Elise Dean 33, LB Snipes 34, Dr. Leslie Danese Kammire 35, Byrd Tribble 36, Betty Holliday Waddell Bowman 37, Edwin G. Wilson 8, Bill Faircloth 9, Shayla Herndon-Edmunds 10, Minta Aycock McNally 11, Antionetta “Netta” Richardson 12, Hu Womack 13, Megan Schmit 14, Peter Kairoff 15
Back row (left to right): Bill Wells 23, Lamont “Lemonydue” White 24, Daniella Feijoo 25, Lloyd Howard 26, Mark Welker 27, J.L. Bolt 28, Nathan O. Hatch 29, Ashby Cook 1, Regina Lawson 2, Roger Beahm 3, DeDee DeLongpré Johnston 4, Joe Sposato 5, Anne Boyle 6, Reid Morgan 7
