Woman’s Club Lunch Deadline

The Sewanee Woman’s Club will meet at noon on Monday, April 11, at the DuBose Conference Center in Monteagle. The deadline for lunch reservations is Saturday, April 2.

Emily Partin and Katie Goforth will present the program, “Grundy County: Then and Now.” Partin is the executive director of Discover Together, and Goforth is the network director of the South Cumberland Plateau Health Network.

There is an optional social hour at 11:30 a.m. Lunch is served at noon. Programs begin at 12:30 p.m., with club business following around 1 p.m. 

The lunch ($13.25) will be stuffed pasta shells with marinara sauce, garlic bread, tossed salad, strawberry and apple salad, and cupcakes for dessert. Vegetarian meals and child care are available; please request these when making a reservation.

Reservations can be made by calling Pixie Dozier at 598- 5869 or email Marianna Handler at <mariannah@earthlink.net>.

The annual dues of the Woman’s Club are $5. These dues and the proceeds of the club’s fund-raising events support Thurmond Library and community projects.

“An Evening with Teddy Roosevelt” Dinner

The Rotary Club of Grundy County and the Grundy County Historical Society are hosting “An Evening with Teddy Roosevelt,” Monday, Nov. 16, at the DuBose Conference Center in Monteagle. The social hour is at 6 p.m.; dinner will be served at 7 p.m. Tickets are $50 per person.

Actor and historian Joe Wiegand will bring Theodore Roosevelt to life in his one-man performance at this special event. Wiegand, a Sewanee C’87 alumnus, has entertained audiences nationwide with the wit and wisdom that endeared Theodore Roosevelt to the American people. 

As a one-man show, Wiegand shares stories full of adventure, laughter and inspiration. Enjoy T.R.’s adventures as rancher and Rough Rider. Relive the establishment of America’s great national parks, forests, monuments and wildlife reserves. From bear hunts to the Panama Canal, from Africa to the Amazon, T.R.’s delightful stories come to life. 

Proceeds of this fund-raiser will support the Grundy County Imagination Library and the Grundy Heritage Center. Tickets are available at the Grundy County Heritage Center or by contacting Nadene Fultz Moore at (931) 273-2194 or (931) 592-6008, or Jim Waller at (931) 636-7297.

Four Tennessee Episcopal Retreat Center Directors Meet on the Mountain

On April 9, the executive directors of the four Tennessee Episcopal camp, retreat and conference centers met at St. Mary’s Sewanee and DuBose Conference Center to establish contact and exchange ideas. 

The group began with lunch and a tour of St. Mary’s Sewanee, then moved to DuBose, where the group met and the out-of-town guests lodged for the two-day meeting.

Until the 1980s, there was only one Episcopal diocese of Tennessee, and DuBose was the diocesan camp and conference center. Then the diocese split into three autonomous dioceses, all of which now (in addition to sharing ownership of DuBose) operate their own camp and retreat centers. Both St. Mary’s Sewanee and DuBose are governed by independent boards of directors; St. Columba Episcopal Center Memphis in West Tennessee and Grace Point Camp on Watts Bar Lake in East Tennessee are diocesan centers.

“We were delighted to participate in this collaboration of organizations. I believe this was the first time ever that all of the directors from the four Tennessee Episcopal retreat centers were together in one place,” said David Ramsey of DuBose. 

“The whole visit was marked by a spirit of goodwill and cooperation as we discussed many of the issues of providing hospitality shared by all,” said Ramsey.

”Like siblings, each retreat center is different and has its own personality,” said John Runkle, executive director of St. Mary’s Sewanee. “Each of us attracts folks with different programs and interests, but ultimately we all are here for the same purpose: love of God and love of neighbor.”

DuBose Center Appoints New Director

The board of directors of DuBose Conference Center has named Chattanooga businessman and civic leader David R. Ramsey as its new executive director. Ramsey brings experience in executive leadership, day-to-day business management, nonprofit development and fund-raising, as well as a lifelong history with DuBose. 

Ramsey also has deep connections to DuBose, including as a camper at Camp Gailor-Maxon and serving meals at Episcopal Laymen’s Conferences. He has served two terms on the DuBose board, and was the board president 1996–97. 

“In many ways, it feels like my whole life has been a preparation for this job: from my days here as a camper and a layman, to serving on the DuBose board, to running and growing construction-related businesses, and doing development work for nonprofits,” Ramsey said. “Every aspect of that experience leads me here.”

“David’s executive and development experience will be critical as DuBose begins a new strategic plan and a fully integrated development plan to support DuBose’s mission into the future,” said Brad Almquist, chairman of the DuBose board. “He has a deep love for the place and respects its rich history, its role in the church and on the Mountain. And he also has the skills to be a great steward and leader for DuBose.”

Ramsey’s first action was the hiring of Christy Mitchell as associate director for guest services; her hospitality industry experience includes events management for the Jack Daniels Distillery in Lynchburg.

“Christy is a great addition to the DuBose staff, and will enhance our ability to develop new programs, attract more guest groups, and retain the same warm DuBose hospitality everyone loves,” said Ramsey. 

Ramsey is the former CEO of Ramsey Electric Supply Co. and led it from a small family-owned company to a large distributor with more than 40 employees. He ran an environmental firm, Earthscapes, and a business consultancy. His former civic involvement includes Chattanooga Rotary Club, United Way and UT Chattanooga Chancellor’s Roundtable. Most recently, Ramsey served as development director for the Children’s Nutrition Program of Haiti.

Ramsey succeeds Ernest Walker IV, who decided to return to Atlanta to resume his business career. 

“The board is grateful to Ernest for his hard work and his dedication to DuBose in what has turned out to be an interim position,” said Almquist. “Ernest has helped us assure a smooth and positive transition for David and the staff.” 

DuBose Conference Center in Monteagle is a nonprofit conference center serving the Episcopal Church in Tennessee and an expanding roster of educational, arts, community and church groups. For more information go to < www.duboseconferencecenter.org>.

DuBose Welcomes Walker

DuBose Conference Center in Monteagle has a new executive director, J. Ernest Walker IV, according to Brad Almquist, chairman of the board of the center.

Growing up, Walker spent many summers on the beautiful tree-shaded DuBose campus where his grandparents, Winnie and Ernest Walker Jr., were the resident caretakers of the facility. He returns to DuBose from a 20-year career in healthcare administration and management consulting.

“The DuBose board of directors engaged in a thorough search process that gleaned more than 60 résumés, and Ernest’s business experience in end-to-end management was a major factor in our decision,” said Almquist. “But his knowledge of DuBose and its history, his skills set and his ideas for DuBose’s future are a perfect fit.”

“I grew up in the shadow of the DuBose bell tower, was a camper and later a camp director for Camp Gailor-Maxon, and have many happy memories of serving the Tennessee Laymen’s Conference crowds over the years,” said Walker. 

Walker succeeds DuBose’s Kim Agee, whose hospitality, dedication and attentiveness has welcomed, fed, housed and delighted thousands of DuBose guests through the years. 

Almquist noted that Walker will hit the ground running because DuBose has a healthy roster of upcoming conferences, retreats, meetings and celebrations booked for the late summer and fall. 

Guests will see numerous new improvements to the facility, including newly refurbished meeting rooms, new seating and audiovisual systems in the large chapel, cabin expansions, a newly installed Rogers electronic organ and Wi-Fi throughout the public areas.

For more information about DuBose, go to < www.duboseconferencecenter.org>.