Alumni Ink

Courtesy Charles Maynard

A Blue Ridge mountain boy living in Atlanta, Charles Maynard 80T cherished the faint view of the ridges from the tenth floor of Woodruff Library while studying for his master’s of divinity at Emory. He was, he says, “homesick for the mountains.”

In his recent book, The Blue Ridge Ancient and Majestic: A Celebration of the World’s Oldest Mountains, Maynard and photographer Jerry Greer capture the life, culture, and natural and human history of the rocky stretch from Georgia to Pennsylvania through photographs and essays. As narrator and self-proclaimed amateur naturalist, Maynard tells of the people and places he’s come to know and love while living, traveling, and hiking in the mountains since childhood.

Maynard is a member of the Holston Conference of the United Methodist Church, where he serves as director of development for camp and retreat ministries. He was also the first executive director of Friends of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and later served as the director of advancement for the International Storytelling Center in Jonesborough, Tennessee.

Almost to Eden, June Hall McCash 67PhD’s debut historical novel set on Jekyll Island and in New York, presents the narrative of an Irish immigrant working as a chambermaid at the famous Jekyll Island Club. In search of liberty in a new Eden on the Georgia coast, Maggie O’Brien finds even freedom does not always win out over the power of money.

Pulling the curtain on a Southern banking family’s secrets and scandals, Miles DeMott 90C’s ­Family Meeting explores the inner workings of family dysfunction. In an effort to free themselves of the family’s defining asset, each member seeks personal salvation, hoping to redefine the reputation built over generations.—Alyssa Young 11C