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I love a good story. That is, a story about human behavior and the hard choices people must make in their lives, the consequences of those choices, and then the triumphs or tragedies that follow. 

At its nub, mine is a selfish and self-aggrandizing love. Good stories are just plain good entertainment. Voyeurism. Good stories often contain secrets, and secrets, uncovered, have power -- sometimes private, sometimes public – for those who uncover them.  Ask any journalist. 

 The telling and consuming of stories can be unselfish, too.  My cognative therapist tells me stories to help me modify my thinking about what troubles me.  Journalists at their best tell truth to power and share that truth so readers and listeners can use the stories and their secrets to make decisions about, well, to be lofty about it , the democracy.

 I grew up a reader in a small South Carolina town full of Southerners, good and bad, who knew how to tell good stories. The love good stories is probably the reason I was an English major at Agnes Scott, Class of '69. Ditto editor of the Profile.  

Good stories are definitely the reason journalism, particularly feature writing, became my career. Now as the retired grandmother of four, I find the children's stories the icing on my cupcakes.

After ASC, it was off to Chicago for a master's in journalism at Northwestern University's Medill School. The idea was to monetize my interest in stories and their telling and to take advantage of the program's recruiters looking for rookie reporters. I also figured if J-game didn't work out, I could always teach college with the advanced degree. (Interestingly, the TV-news guy I would marry 15 years later was doing the same thing about the same time for the same reasons, only at Columbia University.) 

And so my story became pretty much typical for a baby boomer woman journalist -- a series of newspaper and television reporting-writing-editing jobs up and down the East Coast, until I married at nearly 40, had a child and began following my husband around the world, freelancing a little and working jobs when I could. 

In 2007 my husband and I both started using those masters degrees to begin teaching journalism in college, first at the American University in Bulgaria, and then at Savannah State University, an historically black institution in Georgia.

My first newspaper job after Medill bears specific mention here because it hooked me on reporting and writing feature stories about human behavior and solidified the feminism that had begun percolating at Agnes Scott. 

That first job in 1970 was in the women's section of Today newspaper, then a colorful daily in Cocoa, Florida, created by Gannett for the space boom.  At Today, one of the best stories I wrote was about a young woman who was convicted in Florida of having an abortion, put on probation and banished from the state. I followed the woman home to a tiny town in the mountains of North Carolina where she was to live with her sister, brother-in-law and their preschooler. The preschooler, it turned out, was the banished woman's biological child and that bit of information was a family secret. 

I no longer remember whether or not I used that secret in the story, and I haven't dug out the story. I suspect I didn't because I'm sure I was asked not to. But now, after much experience, I think the secret was germane to the story of a woman with an unacknowledged biological child who was later convicted of having an abortion in her second pregnancy. I should have asked the woman about her decisions, and with luck, the story would have illuminated the challenges of being human and female in the early 1970s.

To report and write such stories at Today, I was paid $135 a week to start with a $5 raise after a year. My salary was at least $10 a week less than the reporters -- all male but one -- in the Today newsroom. The disparity drove me to lead a campaign, with so-so success, to discover the salaries and demand equity. 

In 1972, to earn my hard news spurs, I went to The Louisville (Ky.) Times, the afternoon newspaper then owned by the Bingham family. I reported and wrote about everything from the courts and anti-busing riots to the legislature and state government. 

In Kentucky, I also had a fling with television, first writing editorials for the CBS local station in Louisville and later producing and hosting a magazine show for the state's public television network. I loved the issues we addressed and the stories we did, but I also learned TV wasn't for me – the format was too brief for the stories I wanted to tell. 

So it was back to Florida in 1979 and another woman's section, this time at the Miami Herald. Over six years, I covered fashion, the Florida legislature, wealth and the business of philanthropy. I was also the paper's TV critic for a time.

I used to feel slightly embarrassed, feminist that I am, to say that I left the Herald in 1985 for a man – Phelps Hawkins, then at NBC News in New York. But there you go. We married and I went to work as a feature writer in Manhattan for Newsday, the Long Island daily.

The Newsday gig lasted less than a year when NBC News sent Phelps to Tokyo as No. 2 in its bureau covering all of Asia. It was my chance, at nearly 40, to step back and have a baby without having to juggle child care and a full-time job. Our son and only child, Bradshaw, was born in Tokyo in 1987.

For the next 30 years or so, my chief occupation became packing, moving, settling the family in somewhere for two to four years usually before packing up again following Phelps to a new job. TV people move a lot. After Tokyo, it was Washington, D.C.; Chicago; Minneapolis; Princeton, NJ; Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria; Upper Saint Regis, N.Y.; and Savannah, Ga. where we've now lived for an unprecedented eight years. 

As we moved around, I freelanced some and worked a job where I could. In Minneapolis, it was a business weekly and a monthly business magazine for a couple of years. In Princeton, I spent a year at Bloomberg News and nearly three writing and presenting TV editorials on New Jersey for Cablevision. Opinion, I could do on TV. 

Along about 2007, Phelps and I decided it was time to give back to the profession we loved by teaching journalism. The first place to hire us was the American University in Bulgaria where we taught (in English), traveled widely and enjoyed students from more than 40 Eastern European and Central Asian countries. In 2011, we came home and began teaching at Savannah State University, a historically black university. At each of the two universities, I'm we learned more than we taught. 

Retirement came in May 2018. These days I'm refocusing on good stories, this time in the form of memoir, family stories and family photographs. I used to think of my interest in family stories as "quick, before they die." Now it's "quick before we die." My mission is to help people preserve their family treasures.

Speaking of treasures, our only child is a corporate lawyer in Dallas with an M.A. in theology and, this spring, an EMBA to help him rise in corporate America. He and his hard-working, carpool-driving, activity-juggling wife have four sports-minded, bright children ages 13, 7, 4 and 3. These days, those children are the best story of all. 

After graduating from Agnes Scott, I spent 5 years at the Medical

College of Ga—3 ½ as a med student and 1 ½ as an intern in

pediatrics and internal medicine. In July 1974 I married a med school

classmate, Marshall Guill, and went with him to Hawaii for two

years—he was a flight surgeon (physician for helicopter pilots, really)

and I was a GP at the Kaiser Clinic. Our first child was born in Hawaii.

We then moved to San Francisco in the summer of 1976 where we

were both residents—he still in the Army doing training in

dermatology and I in pediatrics at the Kaiser Hospital. Our second

child was born in SF just before we moved on again. After 3 years in

SF, we moved back to Augusta where he finished his military career at

Ft. Gordon as a dermatologist and I finished an allergy fellowship at

the Medical College of Georgia, then joined the faculty in 1981 as an

allergist for 11 years before transitioning to pediatric pulmonology for

17 years. After retiring from a 30 year career at MCG, I moved to

Dartmouth Medical School and the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Clinic in

New Hampshire where I worked as a pediatric pulmonologist for 13

years before “really retiring” in the summer of 2021. We now live in

the Raleigh suburbs, near our daughter’s family, during the school

year, and continue to enjoy the New England summers. Our

retirement life centers around my mother, almost 94 years old and

living south of Charlotte, and our children and

grandchildren—daughter’s family with 4 children in NC and 3 in the

Chicago suburbs with our son’s family. The anticipated travel and

personal time in retirement has not materialized yet, but we are very

happy with what we are doing and feel comfortable that it is where we

should be. We have had several interesting trips with our two oldest

grandchildren, who have had opportunities to play soccer

internationally, but those senior sightseeing and history/culture trips

that we had in mind are still waiting for us.

I have been married for 48 years to my best friend, Bill. I am a mother to three wonderful sons: two live in Durham and one lives in Qatar with my four grandchildren. (We have been to Qatar several times and we are planning a March trip now.) Two of my sons are teachers, the other is a video journalist. Having a family and raising our sons has been my major contribution to society.

I taught school for 33 years...mostly high school US History. (Dr. Posey and Dr. Campbell would be proud!) I loved teaching and felt it was, indeed, a ministry. 

By the time our youngest son was in high school, I started traveling around the world. I have traveled with my husband, with sons, with siblings, and with friends. I’ve had the cheapest trips ever and a couple of very exclusive trips. I’ve been on tours with one other person, tours with 20 to 40. I've stayed in the home of former students in Germany and homes in South America which belonged to host parents for one son. I have been on bicycle trips, driven cars, ridden buses, trains, boats, a hot air balloon, an elephant, a camel, and a rickshaw. Sometimes I’ve traveled with no itinerary and have gotten lost in some of the finest cities.

In retirement I continue to plan trips but also continue to serve on local boards, which include church, YMCA, library, and to participate in Meals on Wheels, bridge, book clubs (one is Agnes Scott), and almost daily I play pickle-ball. Using mixed mediums, I also paint as a hobby. If we are not in our newer, downsized home in Thomasville, NC, we will likely be at Lake Junaluska, NC, where we have a home, which serves as a family meeting spot.

  At 70, remaining time becomes a question, invites looking back:  20's-graduated college, married and ultimately moved west; 30's-graduate school, mental health team leader, hand-building our log home and the birth at home and death two years later of our beloved son, Nathan; 40's- we welcomed our strong and lovely daughter, Elise, with a home birth as well and I started a private practice of psychotherapy. Recovering from a broken leg at 50, I was also a volunteer fire fighter, EMT and Chief Medical Officer for our volunteer fire department on Sugarloaf Mountain and I became a founding member in Resonance, a women's chorus in which I still perform. The 60's continued to teach lessons in impermanence and presence in powerful ways with my parents' late aging and deaths and a house fire. With our daughter college graduated and emancipated, we began to take a peek at retirement. By 69, we had camped in all 50 states and most Canadian provinces, sailed and/or scuba dived off many Caribbean Islands, Galapagos and South Africa where we were also fortunate enough to be when Mandela died and for the mourning time in country which was expressed throughout our stay with flowers, children's pictures and sentiments, and loving tributes in a book the country was creating village by village for the family, explored Mediterranean Europe by train and the British Isles with friends and family. Travel has always informed and enriched our lives, mostly camping, frequently in nature and on foot or canoe, so, it is not surprising that my 71st birthday and our 50th wedding anniversary will be spent in French Polynesia on the sea under a full solar eclipse and living on and diving off of a far flung island thankful for our spontaneous yes two years ago and sustained good health that blesses us with opportunities. Our 31-year-old daughter shares her courage, strength, wisdom, playfulness, beauty and art living in a world that is not mine. We are older, healthier, enjoying retirement with fewer external demands, more relaxed time with friends, and more art and house projects finished as well as started. I am a tougher tennis player, and even though I can't hear as well and can't remember names sometimes, I am still learning new skills and easily memorizing music. Humbled by the creativity, connectivity, collaboration and compassion embodied by those seen and unseen who illuminate the path forward with shared heartache and soaring spirit and knowing luck, loss, hard work, and abiding appreciation, I am still looking forward.  

The summer of 1969 was triumphant for the Apollo 11 astronauts, but for me, as a recent college graduate looking for work in Atlanta, it was a discouraging time. My many courses in English and art history had been enjoyable, but they suddenly seemed useless. A series of lucky accidents led me to graduate school in the Division of Librarianship at Emory that fall. I soon discovered the children’s book field, where I have happily spent my professional life as a librarian and a book reviewer. Bob and I married in 1970 in Toronto. Ruth Holmes Whitehead, my college roommate, lived there at the time. Ruth was my bridesmaid and she also made our memorable wedding cake. After several years in Canada, we moved to Evanston, Illinois, where we have lived ever since. We raised two sons and now have a daughter-in-law as well. Bob retired a few years ago, but I still enjoy the two jobs I’ve held for many years, working part time at a public library and reviewing children’s books for Booklist, where the seemingly useless skills I gained in college (research, critical thinking, organizing facts, and writing clearly about text and illustrations) have been so very useful. In our free time, you’ll find Bob and me reading, hiking, traveling, and trying to stay a step ahead of the aging process. 

First my name change, Gayle to DorothyGayle. When we first moved to Ukiah,
38 years ago, we went to a small gathering where there were 3 Gails.  I
then decided to take and my full name and became DorothyGayle.
I live in the coastal range of northern Ca. about 100 miles north of San
Francisco.  Our home, on 40 acres, which Bill built with a little help
from friends was constructed very piece meal as we could afford the next
stage.  We are off grid and back then a solar system was beyond our reach,
so I read to my boys by kerosene lantern.  When Bill and I split up, I
stayed on the land and continued to work on the house, while teaching full
time at our neighboring alternative school.
Mariposa School was created by a group of Stanford graduates who wanted to
create a land based, hands on curriculum school.  I taught at Mariposa for
9 years (K-2), raising bummer lambs, baking apple pies from apples in the
orchard, studying the creek which flows through the property, learning the
wild flowers, and learning and practicing conflict resolution.  It was a
wonderful, creative time in my life and I was able to be there with my
sons, Eran and Andrew.
When Mariposa transformed into a charter school, for which teachers needed
a California credential, I then became a social worker for Child Protective
Services working at the family center providing classes and services for
parents and children.  That lead to a position as a facilitator for a
family wrap around program which served families from juvenile probation,
mental health, and social services.  The bottom line focus for our work
was to find each family's strengths and build our plans based on strength
rather than deficit.  That work was life affirming for me.
I am now retired.  I am a Soul Collage facilitator, currently working with
women who were devastated by our local fires.  Paul and I have a large
garden which occupies and entertains us both.  I have been taking art
classes at the local junior college and Coast art center and have
exhibited in several shows (soft sculpture and mixed media).
My spiritual path has been a central focus in my life's journey.  I began
practicing yoga shortly after graduation.  I moved to San Francisco at 28,
connecting there with Eleanor McCallie. In San Francisco, I explored many
ways of connecting with Spirit.  Here in Ukiah, I have been director of
Christian Education at the Methodist Church,  have participated in a Sufi
healing prayer group for 25 years, and have become a disciple of
Parmahansa Yogananda and practice his meditation technique. I still
practice yoga and have added qi gong.
My sons do not have children and though they are both in relationships, I
don't see grandchildren on the horizon.  My partner, Paul, also has 2 sons
and they are both childless.



 

When I graduated from Agnes Scott, I began teaching elementary school.  In 1972, I transferred to Douglas County, GA. In 1974, I married Ray Baggett.  We had 3 children, a son and 2 daughters.  The youngest graduated from high school in 2000.  Each daughter has blessed us with 2 grandchildren, each having a boy and a girl.

My dream had always been to teach.  I spent 14 years in elementary.  During these years, I earned an M.Ed. from GSU. Then I was invited to teach high school reading and English.  While teaching at Douglas County High School, I earned an Ed.S. in English from West Georgia College.  I spent 12 years at the high school, a total of 26 years doing what I loved.

In 1990, I was asked to direct the Children's Ministry of my church.  The next year I earned the Certificate of Ministry of Christian Education in the Church of God.  This was putting my degree in Bible to use.  I also took on the entire field of Christian Education in my church.  My retirement from this field coincided with my retirement from education.

I stayed involved with my children's sports and programs until all 3 had graduated. Since then, I have been free to be involved with educational opportunities in my church and community.  Also, I have gotten involved with the "Silver Sneakers" program at the local gym (and I always hated PE).  I have enjoyed the reunion years here at Scott.  I have been as busy as I want to be.

As a friend recently said, "My body may be xx years old, but my mind doesn't feel like it".

If only I could have imagined what a great life we would have for 50 years! I have been very fortunate!

I have shared life 50 years with the same husband Neale Hightower, as have many of you. Neale and I have an only son, precious to us, Neale Hightower Jr. He has married Mary. They have born us three amazing grandchildren, Abbey Leigh Hightower, born 2003, Anna Grace Hightower, born 2004 and David James Hightower born 2006. Blessed with a sweet and growing family!

I have served in public and private education mostly in administrative roles including State of Georgia Department of Education, Atlanta School of Biblical Studies and Westminster Christian Fellowship at Georgia Tech.

Most important, my husband and I have grown together in our Christian faith and service through the North Avenue Presbyterian Church for 50 years. 

Most of those years we have spent serving in university ministry at Georgia Tech through the old Presbyterian Center, now called Westminster Christian Fellowship. For the past 20 years we have had amazing experience to administer a large welcoming ministry for all the Georgia Tech students from mainland China. Last year we welcomed 380 for example. 

We have been richly blessed with many Chinese friends and have travelled 3 times to China to visit 14 cities there. It has been quite an exciting life and retirement! We are never bored! I really could not have dreamed of feeling so fulfilled and blessed as I am today. The young people keep us going!

I am blessed for the foundation that I received at Agnes Scott and all that I learned through those years.

With much gratitude and praise to God!