Dr. Rosalind Flanigan Operton ’96 was named assistant superintendent for the Meridian, Miss., Public School District. Dr. Operton has previously served as an assistant professor at Mississippi State University-Meridian, an elementary school principal, and English teacher. She graduated from BSC with a degree in Elementary Education, went on to get her master’s in educational leadership and a doctorate in K-12 Administration from Mississippi State.

Kyle Whitmire ’02, an al.com columnist, won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize in Commentary for his “State of Denial” series. Whitmire joined the al.com staff in 2012 as a government and politics reporter and became a columnist in 2014. In 2020 he received the Scripps Howard Foundation’s Walker Stone Award for opinion writing, and in 2021 he received the Sigma Delta Chi award for best opinion writing from the Society of Professional Journalists and the Molly Ivins Prize for political commentary. An English major at BSC, Whitmire also served as editor of The Hilltop News. Read his Pulitzer-winning work here.

Sheetal Patel Cordry ’03 joined the Homewood Board of Education in May, representing Ward 4 in the Birmingham-area suburb. Cordry also serves as the PTO president at Shades Cahaba Elementary School. After earning a bachelor’s degree in psychology from BSC, Cordry went to Washington University in St. Louis for her master’s in social work. Read more about her new role here.

Chris Friedman ’05 has joined Husch Blackwell as a partner in its Financial Services & Capital Markets business unit. A resident of Nashville, he is based in the firm’s virtual Link office. In addition to his practicing law, Friedman is a published legal author, having co-authored the “Settlement” chapter of the American Bar Association’s Class Action Strategy & Practice Guide. While at BSC, Friedman was a member of Sigma Chi and served as SGA president.

Jered Goodwin ’05 of Oviedo, Fla., was inducted into the Seminole County Sports Hall of Fame in May. Goodwin played baseball at BSC, where he helped the Panthers win a Big South Conference Championship in 2004. After graduation, Goodwin began his coaching career at Lake Howell High School before moving to Lake Mary High School and then to Hagerty High School, where he has won four district titles. He has developed countless young baseball players, nine of whom were drafted by Major League Baseball. Goodwin is currently the senior director of scouting operations at Perfect Game USA.

Lauren Kilgore ’05, a partner with Shackleford Bowen McKinley & Norton LLP and a graduate of Vanderbilt Law School, has been named a Fellow of the Nashville Bar Foundation. The Fellows program was established as a way for the bar to honor its members who have significantly contributed to the community. Fellows are selected by their peers and each class is limited to 2% of the bar in Nashville. Her Nashville-based practice focuses on the entertainment industry.

Joseph Rychlak ’13 of New Orleans and his wife, Alexandra, welcomed their first child, Daisy James Henriette Rychlak, on November 7, 2022. She was christened on December 10 at St. Patrick’s Church in New Orleans and baptized into the city’s culture by her first Mardi Gras shortly thereafter.

John Banks ’18 of Birmingham was named one of the Top 40 Under 40 Black Lawyers in Alabama by The National Black Lawyers. The award honors African-American attorneys with reputations for providing excellent legal representation in their respective practice areas. Banks earned his J.D. from Cumberland School of Law in 2021. At Balch & Bingham LLP, he works with clients on a variety of matters, including trademark issues and administrative agency complaints.

Lisa McDaniel Crane ’79 of Wimberley, Texas, on May 15. A member of Zeta Tau Alpha, Crane graduated from BSC with a degree in economics and business administration. She went on to earn her J.D. from the University of Texas Law School. As an attorney and real estate developer, she assisted in the creation and completion of numerous buildings in downtown Austin that still stand today. During this time, Crane met and married her husband of 29 years, Les Crane, owner of Longhorn Dental. Together, they successfully expanded Longhorn into the largest group dental practice in central Texas. For many years, they owned and bred Arabian horses throughout the United States and helped introduce the Japanese Wagyu cattle breed to the American market. Crane loved to travel, and her and her family spent many happy days on the beaches of Belize and Destin.

Peggy Haywood Hair of Birmingham on April 22. Hair graduated from the University of Alabama in 1970 with a degree in education. She went on to Indiana University and Mary Washington College for post-graduate studies. Hair and her husband eventually moved to Gettysburg, Pa., where she worked as an interpretive ranger for the National Park Service. Shortly after her husband’s untimely death, Hair moved back to Alabama, where she served as as associate vice president for development and alumni affairs at BSC and later a major gifts officer for Alabama Public Television, where her honeyed voice narrates APT’s own public service announcements. Hair was also active with the Alabama Trust for Historic Preservation, serving as the organization's president and as a member of its board. She was particularly proud of the trust's work in preserving under-recognized parts of the state: indigenous mound sites and roadbeds on the Trail of Tears, unmarked cemeteries of enslaved people and the plantations they built. Her BSC family included her late brother, Dr. James Leon “Scooter” Haywood ’77, her nephew Dr. Sean Rogers Hair ’99, and her niece Heather Hair Meissen ’03.

Elaine Gayle Herren ’79 of La Jolla, Calif., on April 28. A Mountain Brook High School graduate, Herren earned a bachelor’s degree in art from BSC.

Chervis Isom ’62 of Birmingham on May 18. He graduated from BSC with a bachelor’s degree in English and earned his J.D. at Samford’s Cumberland School of Law. Isom practiced law for nearly 50 years, rising to senior counsel in the Birmingham office of Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz. He was also part of the group that spearheaded the creation and placement of the Four Spirits sculpture in Kelly Ingram Park memorializing the four little girls who were killed in the 1963 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. Isom was also an award-winning writer and author of the book “The Newspaper Boy: Coming of Age in Birmingham, Alabama, During the Civil Rights Era.” Always a loyal supporter of BSC, Isom and his wife established the Chervis and Martha Isom Scholarship. Read more about Isom’s life and legacy on the BSC Blog.

Maxine Berthon Miller Pearson ’46 in May. A French major at BSC, Pearson was also a member of Alpha Chi Omega. Her late husband, Alvin Miller ’45, also attended BSC.