Alumni Directory
Class of 75
Name : Gray, Jim
Email Address : jagray@tntech.edu
Year Graduated : 1975
Years Attended T.O. : 1973-1975
City of current residence : Cookeville, TN
Current profession/occupation : University Administrator
Favorite T.O. Memory(s) : The first Towering Oaks basketball team and how hard Coach Yancey made us work. Miss Swartz and Dr. Greene challenged me to do my best. I was well prepared for college. There were so many special people in the Class of 75.
Profile : I help students enroll at Tennessee Technological University and assist them in finding scholarships.
Comments : I wonder where Coach Yancey and Brother Taylor are? What really happened to cause the school to close? It was a truly special place with wonderful caring people. I have very fond memories of my days at T.O
Name : Griffitts, Bill
Email Address : jdgriggindex.htm
Years Attended T.O. : 2
City of current residence : Memphis
Current profession/occupation : Analyst
Favorite T.O. Memory(S) : Riding around with two of the "best" worst drivers on this planet - Terry Johnson and Mark Rivalto. They set drivers education back 20 years.
Also, playing and learning under Roger Yancey. I once questioned why we doing a certain drill. He told me, "Son, don't worry about the mule being blind, just load the wagon." I have a teenage daughter (named Halle), and that saying that at the time made no sense to me now makes perfect sense!
I might add that the look in his eye and tone of his voice told me one thing...get to loading.
Profile : I live in Memphis and work for FedEx. My wife Michelle is a six grade teacher at St. Agnes Academy. We have a 14 year old daughter who is a freshman at St. Agnes.
Comments : Billy and Steve, this is a great project. I hope it continues. The check is in the mail...really!
Name : Griggs, Jody
Year Graduated : 75
Email Address : jdgriggs@fedex.com
Years Attended T.O. : 2
City of current residence : Memphis
Current profession/occupation : Analyst
Favorite T.O. Memory(S) : Riding around with two of the "best" worst drivers on this planet - Terry Johnson and Mark Rivalto. They set drivers education back 20 years.
Also, playing and learning under Roger Yancey. I once questioned why we doing a certain drill. He told me, "Son, don't worry about the mule being blind, just load the wagon." I have a teenage daughter (named Halle), and that saying that at the time made no sense to me now makes perfect sense!
I might add that the look in his eye and tone of his voice told me one thing...get to loading. Profile : I live in Memphis and work for FedEx. My wife Michelle is a six grade teacher at St. Agnes Academy. We have a 14 year old daughter who is a freshman at St. Agnes.
Comments : Billy and Steve, this is a great project. I hope it continues. The check is in the mail...really!
Name : Hodge, Jon
Email Address : jhodge@namb.net
index.htm1975
Years Attended T.O. : 73-75
City of current residence : 4418 Inniswood Cv, Bartlett, Tennessee 38135
Current profession/occupation : Southern Baptist Missionary
Favorite T.O. Memory(S) : Football Camp in Linden Tennessee
Profile : I am a Southern Baptist Missionary working with a program called World Changers. I have 15 different cities in Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, Illinois, Alaska, and Canada that I am responsible for getting all the logistics done to make the summer camps happen. I have 3 children Two Boys ages 16 and 13 and a Girl age 5. I have been married 20 1/2 years to Linda Dancy. I Graduated from Memphis State with a BS and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary with a MA. You can tell by the list of states I work in, that I travel guit often. However, my office is in my home allowing me a good deal of time around the house.
Comments : Thanks for getting this together.
Name : Johnson, Terry
Email Address : tjohnson@sartorifoods.com
Years Attended T.O. : 2
City of current residence : Kohler, WI
Current profession/occupation : Sales Director
Favorite T.O. Memory(S) : Late night egg runs past our favorite teachers houses with the boys in my dad's hot Dodge Polara.
Profile : I have been married twenty years to my wife Sherree and I have a fourteen year old daughter and a twenty-five year old step-daughter who is married and lives in Memphis. We moved last year from Memphis to Wisconsin and we are trying to adjust to the weather and the absence of greasy fried chicken. I have been in the food ingredient business for the past 12 years or so and try to play as much golf as possible.
Comments : I still see some of the old crew (Jody Griggs, Mark Rivalto, Eric James) on occasion. Those were the good ole days, we just didn't know it at the time.
Name : Penna, David
Email Address : dpenna@southwest.tn.edu
Year Graduatedindex.htmded T.O. : 73/74-74/75
City of current residence : Memphis, TN
Current profession/occupation : Educational Administration
Favorite T.O. Memory(S) : The overall experience of going to a small school where everyone has a chance to get to know everyone. I enjoyed attending some of the basketball and football games. I remember going to the Wa-Floy Mountain Retreat in Gatlinburg for the Senior Trip.
Profile : I graduated from Memphis State in 1979 with BBA in Marketing and from University of Memphis in 1995 with a MBA in Management. I have been with State Technical Institute and now Southwest Tennessee Community College since 1985. I presently work in the Division of Workforce Development and Continuing Education. I have been married to Maria for 20 years. Maria is originally from El Salvador. I have had the opportunity to visit El Salvador twice and really enjoy being able to visit Maria's family and seeing the country. I have four boys (two older stepsons Rene and Tommy and two younger sons David and Stephen. Believe it or not, I have 4 grandchildren. Rene is single and lives in St. Louis. Tommy is married and lives in Conway Arkansas. We home school our two youngest sons 15 and 17. They both play for a competitive homeschool basketball team called the Memphis Nighthawks. We attend Bellevue Baptist Church. My wife translates the 11 o'clock service into Spanish and works part-time at the local Christian Radio Station WCRV. We both teach English as a Second Language to internationals at Bellevue. We get to teach English as well as teach English using the Bible. I love playing basketball with the kids in the backyard. I am lucky if I can pull out a few wins. I love golf even though I play about once or twice a year.
Comments : My wife was getting some e-mails about her upcoming high school reunion. I was thinking how I never see or hear from anyone from Towering Oaks. By accident, I just ran into Steve Chism at Kroger yesterday. I believe he is the manager. I decided to do a search on the internet and see if any thing came up concerning Towering Oaks. I was happy to find this web site. I hope to go back and be able to send some pictures. It would also be nice for people to send in some current family photos. I will try to run back by the Kroger store and make sure Steve is aware of the web site. Keep spreading the word to any alumni that you meet or know.
Name : Proctor, Phil
Email Address : pmproctr@comcast.net
Year Graduated : 1975
Years Attended T.O. : 1
City of current residence : Franklin, TN
Current profession/occupation : Medical Sales - Depuy/J&J Orthopedics
Favorite T.O. Memory(S) : Joe Grease & The Hubcaps, defeating Briarcrest all 4 times we played them in basketball, putting the 1 loss on OBA's 41&1 record. Above all, the great friends I made and the many lessons I learned during my time at T.O.!
Profile : I've been married to my wife, Melissa for almost 20 years. I have 2 boys, 12 & 9, who keep us busy with football, basketball, soccer, & swim team. I coach their basketball teams,using some of the same drills Coach Yancey taught me! As a family we enjoy fishing, water skiing, canoeing, & bicycling.
Comments : I've really enjoyed reading these profiles. Thank you to Billy & Steve for all the hard work in setting this up. I look forward to hearing from more of our friends!
Name : Ralston, William (Bill)
Email Address : wralston@comcast.net
Year Graduated : 1975
Years Attended T.O. : 2
City of current residence : Midlothian (Richmond), VA
Current profession/occupation : Director, New Construction
Favorite T.O. Memory(S) : There were many great memories throughout the 2 years. The classmates, trips and activities are all fond memories.
Profile : I've been married for 25 years to the same beautiful woman who has blessed me with 3 great kids, Cassie 22, Kinsey 20 and Courtney 12. I've been in the construction business for 30 years and have lived all over the country with stops in Boise ID, Orange County CA, San Fransisco CA, Santa Fe NM, Dallas TX, Washington D.C. and Midlothian VA. I have been in the business of building prison and high rise buildings. To date, I've completed over 35,000 prison beds and two high rise buildings in downtown Dallas. My wife is in Early Childhood Development. Cassie recently graduated from Virginia Intermont with a degree in Equestrian Science and hs been on 3 National Championship Equestrian Teams. My son is an atrist and computer geek but a rather large one, 6'3" 230 lbs. Courtney is a ruuner and basketball player and plays year around for AAU travel team. I've recently started a consulting company with my wife and two other partners and my wife also has her own travel agency as well.
Comments : I appreciate the opportunity to see what is going on with those that have participated in this web site. I frequently travel to Memphis on business and would like to hook up with the old classmates. Feel free to email me.
Name : Rivalto, Mark
Email Address : mrivalto@coleharford.com
Year Graduated : 1975
index.htm City of current residence : Memphis, TN
Current profession/occupation : Sales Manager
Favorite T.O. Memory(S) : Mrs. Ott's typing class, that's where all of the ladies were located. Good friends, not only the ones that transfered with us from the schools we attended. But also the new ones we made. I miss you guys.
Profile : Attended CBC my freshman year but then transfered to Memphis State where I majored in Physical Educationed and minored in American History. I have been married for 24 years my wifes name is Patricia and have 2 daughters ages 20 and 14 the oldest is Diane and the younger is named Christina. I have been selling food packaging and paper products for the last 23 years in a four state region.
Comments : Thank you for setting up this site so that maybe we can re-establish old frienships. Maybe some kind of all inclusive reunion.