Neil S. Penn '73G, a professor of history at Oxford College, participated in the Paralympic Torch Relay in August. "The Paralympics enabled us to see people in a different context, to know that there's more to a person than the fact that they're in a wheelchair," says Penn, who carried the torch near Central City Park in Macon. "It was a thrill being a part of it, even if it was only a small part. I had a fascinating sense of continuity, of being a link in something held together by that little light going across the country."
Marjorie Nunn '61C wrote to tell us
about her nephew, G. Christopher Nunn '96C, who carried the Olympic flame
in Perry. Currently a Robert T. Jones Scholar at the University of St. Andrews
in Scotland, Christopher also helped with security for the Games as an intern
with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
We also heard from Laura L. Swanstrom '95C. "I was not one of the chosen few who carried the torch," she wrote, "but I was lucky enough to land a job with the Opening and Closing Ceremonies." As an assistant production manager, Swanstrom kept track of eight hundred performers and integrated them into the full cast of some fifty-five hundred for the Opening Ceremonies. "I did everything from coordinating rehearsal space and delivering cast members to their places at showtime to making sure that costumes had arrived from Trinidad and that cast members didn't faint on the field from the hot sun."
Others who got in touch with us were David M. Wilds '64MBA, who participated in the Olympic Torch Relay in Nashville; Cindy Francine Hills Melancon '73N, who carried the torch in Fort Worth; Jeffrey H. Cohn '78SURG, who ran with it in Birmingham; C. Thomas Hopkins Jr. '87ORTH, who carried the torch in his hometown of Griffin; Kevin Gale '89C, who ran as part of the relay through Eatonton; Kevin Morrison '95C, who ran in Augusta; and current Emory College student Molly Hood '98C, who was a torch-bearer in Dayton, Maryland. Participating in the last hours of the relay, as the torch approached the Olympic Stadium for the July 19 Opening Ceremonies, were Jerome Berman '45C-'48M-'51PEDS-'89PH, Ted Tzavaras '69Ox-'71B, Ryan Smith '97C, and J. Harry Lange '63C, who was also a manager in contract administration for the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games.
For many, the 1996 Games were a once-in-a-lifetime thrill, but Laura Swanstrom is hooked on the Olympic experience. "What's next?" she says. "Sydney, of course. See you there."--A.O.A.