Judith Elaine (White) Fry
 


 		  

 

Email: JEF4UTC@aol.com
 
What song most reminds you of your school days?
"Night Train" played by Mr. Everette O'Neal
 
What teacher most influenced you?  
Miss Marjorie Ogle and Mr. J. Pope Dyer
 
Which reunions have you attended?
10th, 25th, 40th
 
Which did you enjoy most? 
25th
 

Fondest memories of your days at Central:
Well, we sat in class, did our homework, and took tests like all students do.  However, when I think of Central, I don't think much about the seat time, I think about the fun times--the rotunda, the noise level in the cafeteria, the Digest staff, the Twix Teens and other clubs, pep rallies, the bus rides to and from Tiftonia (Wauhatchie), friends and slumber parties, dating, dancing, singing, football games and marching in the drill squad, the special events such as Homecoming, May Day, Mr. and Miss Central Court, the Superlatives, the one-on-one conferences with teachers, the high-quality programs presented in chapel and Mr. Millsaps' talks to us, etc.  What a wonderful school was ours to love with its ups and its downs and its joys!  What a wonderful time to be a teenager!

Thanks for the memories.
 
My life since graduation:  
I married Robert N. Fry, Jr. (Bob), my Navy guy and my next door neighbor since I was four years old in 1962.  We will celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary in November.  During the past 40 years, we lived for two years in Holylock, Scotland, where our first child, Deborah (38), was born; returned to Chattanooga for the birth of our son, Robert (37); lived in Chesapeake Bay, Virginia, for two years and in Chattanooga during the remaining years where our youngest child, Patrice (31), was born in 1970.  After a total of nine years in the U.S. Navy, Bob got out and went to work at Combustion Engineering for 13 years as a supervisor in the nuclear welding division.  He is now owner and president of Consolidated Metal Services, Inc. in Chattanooga.

In 1975, I began my first college classes.  I completed a BS in Secondary Education: Home Economics and an MS in Educational Administration and Supervision from UTC.  Then I turned my attention to earning a doctorate and graduated from The University of Tennessee with an EdD in Higher Education: Leadership Studies.  While going to school and raising my children, I also began working at UTC in 1977, not realizing that I would spend at least the next 25 years working there.  I started out as a secretary in the Personnel Services office and later in the Dean of Arts and Sciences office.  Upon completing the bachelor's degree, I was promoted to Director of Academic Personnel.  Upon completing the doctorate, I was asked to fill the then vacant position of Director of Records and Registration and continue as Director of Faculty Records at UTC. Without checking with a good psychiatrist and with several sleepless nights, I finally accepted the position.  It is one of those jobs that engages your life on a massive scale but one in which you know you are able to make a difference for students, staff and faculty.  It is at one time both exhausting and exhilarating.  Of course, retirement has crossed my mind from time to time, especially when I read other biographies and realize that many of you have already retired and gone on to do other things.  Maybe in a few more years....

Bob and I have three grandchildren.  They are in all stages of child development, and they all live within 25 minutes of our house--Ashley Danielle Anderson (16), Ian Taylor Lones (10), and Presley Elaine Batchelor (3).  We adore them!  I just finished reading a book titled, "Grandchildren are so much fun, I should have had them first" and they are.

Of course, life has had its ups and its downs.  In 1988, my older brother, Jerry, died, in 1990, my dad died and in 2001, my mother died.  But such is the nature of life.  All in all, it has been a wonderful life, and I owe much of that to the good home in which I was raised; to my husband, children and grandchildren; to my church affiliations; and to people like you who are reading this--my peers through those turbulent teenage years of discovering who we were--who were so kind to me and fun and good to be around. Thanks to so many of you, I have always cherished the memories I have from high school.  I can only wish that our grandchildren will have the opportunity to attend a high school that provides them with a solid academic background while also providing excellent choices in extra curricular activities and friends that help them meet the future challenges and opportunities in life with confidence and success.