Alumni Association Elects Two New Trustees

Two new representatives from the Alumni Association were elected this spring to soon begin service as members of the Winthrop University Board of Trustees.   Frances Cunningham Davenport `59 of Clinton, S.C., and Jane Lawton LaRoche `69 of Camden, S.C., will represent the association. The two take the place of Mary Jean Martin `54 and Polly Ford `48, who will be rotating off the board in June. Davenport will serve a six-year term, while LaRoche will join the board for a four-year term. Davenport earned a bachelor’s degree in religious education in 1959. Currently the chair of the Annual Fund Loyalty Council, she is a member of the Winthrop University Foundation Board of Directors. Retired from teaching, she serves as a board member for the United Way of Laurens County and volunteers as a mentor Frances Cunningham Davenport in local schools and as a juvenile arbitrator for the judicial circuit.   Jane Lawton LaRoche Meanwhile, LaRoche earned a bachelor’s degree in Spanish in 1969, followed by a bachelor’s degree in physical education in 1970 from Winthrop and a medical degree in 1974 from the Medical University of South Carolina. A member of the Kershaw County alumni club, LaRoche is a member of the Annual Fund Loyalty Council and was recognized in 2005 as one of the “Distinguished Alumni in Physical Education.” LaRoche is an emergency room physician at the Barnwell County hospital. A member and fellow in several medical societies, she also has been active in Camden in the arts and with historical and library associations. Current board members Glenda Pittman Owens `59 of Charleston and Kathy Bigham `73 of Rock Hill were elected April 5 by the S.C. General Assembly to represent their Congressional districts for six-year terms. Owens recently won re-election to her seat representing the Charleston area. Bigham has now moved from serving as the governor’s appointee to the Rock Hill area seat, replacing Harold “Skip” Tuttle, who has completed his second and final six-year term on the board. The four will join current members Karl Folkens `78, Donna Tinsley, Leland Cox, Janet Smalley `72, Sue Smith-Rex, Larry Durham `80,`87, Sanita Savage and faculty representative Tim Daugherty. Student representative for 2006-07 will be Dustin Evatt of Easley, S.C.   Return to Main Page -->