Alumni Day 2025 brought cool weather, warm fellowship to the Erskine campus
Alumni and friends came to the Erskine campus Saturday, April 12, for Erskine Alumni Day 2025. Lee Logan ’67 was honored as this year’s Alumni Distinguished Service Award recipient, and several other awards were presented at the annual meeting of the Erskine Alumni Association. Alumni Relations Coordinator Jeanne Bell ’92 was thankful for the beautiful weather and pleased to observe alumni participation throughout the day.
“More than 60 participants in the Choraleers Reunion Concert had a blast, and have requested that we make this a tradition,” she said, adding that alumni were on hand for soccer and volleyball games and then attended afternoon sporting events. Reunion events included a gathering “Under the Towers” for the Class of 2020, whose members missed having in-person commencement ceremony because of the pandemic.
During the annual meeting, Erskine President Dr. Steve Adamson spoke about “turning the page to our 186th year,” noting that the school is set to present another positive financial report for the 2024-25 fiscal year. Referring to the removal of Erskine from sanction in January, with reaffirmation of the school’s accreditation through 2032, he told alumni, “That’s all behind us. We’re moving forward.”
As Erskine continues its mission in its 186th year, there are “so many opportunities,” the president said, urging alumni to contact Paul Bell with their ideas and suggestions. “We’d love to have your input,” he said. “The Lord has blessed Erskine College for so long. It is here, and it is staying here.”
Alumni Association President Dr. Sanita Cousar ’77 conducted this year’s annual meeting of the association in Bowie Chapel. She was introduced by Vice President for Advancement and Alumni Relations Paul Bell ’84, who welcomed attendees. Cousar called on Michael Noble ’99 to give the invocation.
In the business portion of the meeting, a new slate of Alumni Association Board of Directors members was presented and approved: Robert “Tripp” Boykin ’92; Jennifer Dobson ’95; Jose “Pepe” Espinoza ’83; Rhonda Hayward ’19, ’25 (Sem.); Josh Meurer ’99; Cherilyn Rice ’01; and Austin Hough Walker ’19. Jim Moore ’77 was chosen as president-elect and Peggy Harrill ’76 was elected secretary. Members completing their service were recognized, including Lloyd Kelso ’73, Mary Elizabeth Land ’90, Michael Noble ’99, Jim Rambo ’62, Walker Riley ’16, and Ken Robinson ’78.
Cousar introduced former Erskine soccer coach Ralph Lundy, who announced that nearly $300,000 has been raised for Erskine’s new soccer field. “The field is there. The grass is so green that you just want to roll around in it,” he said, but more funds are needed for bleachers and lights. “We’ve got to take care of our kids—that’s what Erskine does.” He noted that this fall, Erskine will celebrate 100 seasons of soccer—60 years for the men, and 40 years for the women.
The Alumni Association’s most prestigious honor, the Alumni Distinguished Service Award, was presented to Lee Logan ’67. The award recognizes service to church, community, profession, and alma mater over a lifetime. “If I were to enumerate all the ways Lee has served his church, community, profession, and Erskine over the span of his lifetime, we might not have time for any other activities today,” Cousar said.
A member of the Due West ARP Church for more than 50 years, Logan’s service to the congregation has ranged from swinging a hammer or pushing a broom to helping lead a worship service or chairing a committee. He and his wife Eleanor Grier Logan ’67 frequently host home-cooked dinners for Erskine students attending the church.
“Lee may be the most civic-minded graduate Erskine has ever produced,” Cousar said. “There is hardly a non-profit charitable board in Abbeville County that Lee has not served. In fact, he has helped to found some of them.” Elected mayor of Due West twice, he has been an active director on the West Carolina Telephone Cooperative for more than 40 years and has served more than once as its chairman. He is a longtime member of the Abbeville Rotary Club and a Paul Harris Fellow. He has recently served on the board of the Due West Robotics Club. “With his capable assistance and expertise in fundraising, the club will soon break ground on a 17,000-square-foot building, the first permanent home the club has had,” Cousar said.
Logan’s career at Erskine began in 1973 and he retired as Vice President of Development in 2006. He helped to establish and for more than 25 years has served on the board of the Bell Enrichment Fund, which has provided programs for Erskine students as well as faculty and staff. He volunteered to lead a recent fundraising project for the Lesesne Sunroom at the President’s Home, raising the required money “within a matter of days.” Calling him “the consummate professional who elevated the role he served,” Cousar added, “One of his admirers has often said that Lee reminds him of Joseph in the Old Testament—the Lord has been with him in whatever he does, and whatever he does prospers.”
Logan recalled coming to Erskine as “a shy, skinny freshman,” and said he learned to “pay attention to role models,” including some—like McDonald-Boswell Professor Emeritus of History Dr. James W. Gettys ’62—who were present at the Alumni Association meeting. He thanked his wife Eleanor Grier Logan ’67, expressing gratitude for his children Frank Ward Logan ’92, Rebecca Logan Gamble ’95, and Ruth Logan Burdette ’06, as well as his children’s families. “This means a great deal to me,” Logan said of the award. “Eleanor knows more than anyone that at least two-thirds of this is due to pure grace.”
This year’s Outstanding Young Alumni Award, recognizing alumni of the last 15 years “who have begun to be a positive and encouraging influence in their community, church, profession, and Erskine” was given to Iris Gadsden Fisher ’20 and presented by Jeanne Bell.
“Iris was one of those quintessential Erskine students, excelling in the classroom and making a positive difference as a campus leader,” Bell said. A member of Sinfonia, Rotaract, Omicron Delta Kappa, Baptist Campus Ministries, and the yearbook staff, she also served as a Resident Assistant, worked in Supplemental Instruction and in the Financial Aid and Admissions offices, and took advantage of summer internship opportunities that shaped her career.
“Iris has discovered that her personal and professional ideals are tightly intertwined and guided by her Christian faith in a profound way,” Bell said, working in several roles “that support and uplift her local community.” She has served in the areas of food policy advocacy and justice, engagement of community health resources, and rural health advocacy. Iris enjoys “women’s ministry, leading praise dances, and leading Black History Month celebrations” in her church, Bell said.
“Erskine’s motto speaks to the ideal of knowledge that undergirds a life of serving others,” Bell said. “Iris clearly embodies that ideal and we are pleased that she is receiving this year’s Outstanding Young Alumni Award.”
The Erskine Service Award, for faithful volunteer service to Erskine, was given to E. Philip Cook ’92. “It would be difficult to find a person who devotes more time and talent to his alma mater,” Bell said.
Serving twice on the Alumni Board, Cook was its president-elect for two years, then president for two. “Philip constantly encouraged Alumni Board members to be actively engaged at Erskine, and he led by example,” Bell said. “There was nothing he asked board members to do that he wasn’t willing to do himself.”
Known for his “sage counsel,” Cook was elected to the Erskine Board of Trustees after he finished his term as president of the Alumni Association. “By the time his term as trustee ends, he will have rendered nine consecutive years of service, first on the Alumni Association Board, then on the Board of Trustees.”
Karen Claxton, an Erskine parent now serving for her fourth year on the Erskine Board of Trustees, where she chairs the College Committee and serves on three others, was named an honorary alumna. “If you encounter Karen at an Erskine event and have a conversation with her, you might be quite surprised to learn that she did not attend Erskine,” Bell said. “Her passion and love for this place is quite strong.” Claxton and her husband Bradley drive to Due West frequently to attend Erskine events, and Bell characterized her as “a worker bee.” But her greatest contribution was “entrusting both of her children to Erskine”—Presidential Scholars Rebekah Claxton Garrido ’23 and Jonathan Claxton ’25.
Also named an honorary alumnus is British actor and playwright David Payne, who will be given his award as a surprise later this month when he is on campus to give a dramatic reading of Livingstone and Stanley, a play he wrote for Erskine. In 2022, he presented his one-man shows Winston Churchill and An Evening with C.S. Lewis. He has since returned to offer A Christmas with C.S. Lewis and Lewis & Tolkien, of Wardrobes and Rings. “His performances here have helped to renew Erskine’s reputation as an institution that appreciates the fine arts,” Bell said.
Reflecting on her experience as Alumni Association president over the last two years, Cousar, who concludes her service June 30, thanked the members of the Alumni Board of Directors. “Each year I am amazed at the talents, time, and resources you bring to our beloved Erskine,” she said, citing board members’ efforts to reengage alumni, their participation on career panels, and their service as mentors.
She expressed appreciation to Erskine’s president for his “leadership through our challenges and successes of the past two years” and commended him for speaking regularly at Alumni Board meetings, a practice she said has helped board members “to understand, to be informed, and in turn to inform others.”
Praising Paul Bell and the Alumni and Advancement team, Cousar said, “They are professional, have great foresight, and love our alumni. It has been my privilege to work with them.” She took a moment to address her husband Elijah, whose support has helped her to carry out her many Erskine commitments. “Elijah, I thank you, I appreciate you, and I love you,” she said.
The meeting ended with the singing of the alma mater led by Mary Pratt Horne ’22, who also led the closing prayer.
Alumni Day highlights included Music on the Mall with singer and songwriter Trey Stephens, from Walhalla, as well as a Choraleer concert in the afternoon. Inflatables, cookie decorating, and T-shirt making offered fun on the mall, and several class reunions—in addition to the five which gathered on the Mall during the complimentary picnic lunch—helped to make the day memorable.
At the Erskine Archives in Reid Hall, an exhibit entitled “A Walk Through the Years of Erskine” paid tribute to the 185th anniversary of the founding of Erskine College. At the Bowie Arts Center, “For the Beauty of the Earth” presented a display from the Abbeville County Gem and Mineral Club as well as nature-inspired artwork from Bowie’s permanent collection.
On Alumni Day, Erskine’s campus was also the setting for an admissions Spring Open House and a “Garnet, Gold & Boom” football celebration. “The spring football game had more than 1,000 in attendance, and people enjoyed food trucks and tailgating,” Bell says.
