#class of 1996

[jujutsubarista]

Who even knew Cecile Horton/Danielle Nicolet went to the same high school with The Rock and Kevin Hart?

[wellesleyunderground]

Wellesley Alum Pride Alliance: Interview with Malinda Lo ‘96, Acting President

Hi Malinda, so nice to have you with us. First things first, can you tell us a bit more about yourself?

Thank you for having me! I’m a member of the class of 1996. After college I went through a variety of jobs (who didn’t?), including working for quite a while with fellow ‘96er Sarah Warn at AfterEllen, the website she founded which was sort of an Entertainment Weekly for lesbians and bisexual women. I left AfterEllen in 2009 when my first novel, Ash, a young adult lesbian retelling of Cinderella, was published. Since then I’ve published four more novels and a bunch of short fiction. My most recent novel is A Line in the Dark, and if anyone wants to know more about my books, I invite you to visit my website at www.malindalo.com. I write full time and volunteer with WAPA in my spare time.

Many of us tried to start an official group for LGBT alumnae at some point or another, and we are so happy it’s finally here! Tell us, what is the Wellesley Alum Pride Alliance?  What is its mission and how did it get started?

The goal of Wellesley Alum Pride Alliance is to connect Wellesley’s LGBTQ+ alums with each other and with current students for networking, mentoring and community building. The alum group that is now WAPA officially started the process of forming back in 2010. In 2017, our founding committee (of which I was a member) agreed on a set of Bylaws, and Wellesley College officially recognized our shared interest group. If anyone wants a more detailed history, you can read about it in our first official newsletter here: https://wapa.alum.wellesley.edu/article.html?nl=3

Do you have any contact at all with Wellesley’s LGBT Advisor?

Yes! I’ve spoken with her and met with her in person, and we keep in touch via email.

Is WAPA an official alumnae group and will it be active during reunions?

Yes! It is the official Wellesley College shared interest group for LGBTQ+ alums, and we should have an event at Reunion every year. In fact we had our first official WAPA reception at Reunion in 2017, and it was a lot of fun and a big success. I can’t wait to do it again!

What is some of the feedback you’ve gotten regarding the group?

A lot of excitement that we exist, finally! I think this group is long overdue, and I’m looking forward to putting together social and networking events for the Wellesley LGBTQ+ alum community, as well as working to connect alums with current students.

Tell us how it will work. Can alumnae get involved?

Absolutely! We invite any LGBTQ+ identified alums to sign up for our mailing list at https://wapa.alum.wellesley.edu. (Select Login > Alum Login, and then specify your mailing preferences.) We also have a secret Facebook group, and if you have a Wellesley friend who’s already in it, they can add you. If you don’t know anyone in it yet, you can always email us at [email protected] and we’ll add you.

We’re about to start the search for volunteers to serve on the Governing Board beginning in July 2018, so once you’ve subscribed to the mailing list or joined the Facebook group, keep an eye out for that information. This is really our first year of existence, so there will be tons of opportunity to get involved and shape WAPA into the group that you want.

Anything else you’d like to share with us?

One of the most important things to me as WAPA’s Acting President is to let all alums know that my goal is to build a diverse, inclusive, and accessible group for all of us, including everyone on the LGBTQ+ spectrum and people of color. I want WAPA to be a welcoming space for us to connect with and support each other.

[peteneems]

[wutbju]

Christ the Redeemer has a lot of Chicago-land refugees on staff.

Okay. . . . Three.

Darrel Daulton and his son William are on paid staff. The pandemic brought them down to Greenville, they claim. William is a current BJU Sophmore in charge of the "Youth Ministry." Nepotism much?

But there's a new face: Matt Black.

Like the Daultons, Matt Black is from Chicago-land. Like the Darrel Daulton, his main job is peddling BJU. Like the Daultons, his side gig is pastoring at this SBC church.

Black has a long, accomplished résumé. He was a missionary to Spain. He started this publisher. His former Chicago-land church still has his blog posts published, so you can get a sense of his outlook.

He's a very typical Calvinistic Baptist. ::yawn::

But no matter -- why did Matt Black leave a pretty robust ministry up in Chicago to be a mere University Rep? Two of his kids already graduated, and only one is enrolled at BJU. So the tuition benefit can't be the biggest reason. He just arrived at BJU, so it's not the pandemic per se.

He's earning a Ph.D. in Biblical Counseling online with an SBC seminary. He could have done that in Chicago.

Is it this?

ROSELLE, Ill – A suburban church deacon is accused of sexually abusing a girl for close to a decade. 51-year-old Timothy Peltz was charged Thursday with four counts of predatory sexually assault. The abuse, according to the DuPage County state’s attorney, started when the girl was just 3-years-old and continued until she was 13 and could physically fight back. Peltz was a deacon at the Living Hope Bible Church according to the states attorney’s office but other than that he was unemployed. The the church is in Roselle. Peltz lives in Wheaton. Recently, the victim told her mother Peltz began to abuse her again. The states’ attorney’s office says Peltz admitted to the abuse and not only tried to blame the victim for showing him affection, but also threatened her at one point saying if she didn’t keep quiet someone was going to get in trouble. Peltz is being held DuPage County Jail on a million dollar bond. He is due back in court on Sept. 13th. If convicted he looking at 24 to 120 years. The DuPage County state’s attorney’s office tells WGN they don’t think the church played a role in the abuse so those with the church are likely just learning of these charges today as well.

Matt Black was pastor at this church while this deacon was committing his crimes. Did he know about more?

[wutbju]

But BJU Class of 1996 Bob Lazzel is not just BJU's #ProofIsIntheProduct.

He's worked for Maranatha Baptist University for years. In 2019-2020 he was the Wisconsin Improvement contact for Maranatha Baptist University:

He was on the Education faculty no less. But he's since been scrubbed from the Maranatha website.

But folks, he was just appointed the Dean of the School of Education last Fall!

Maranatha Baptist University is pleased to announce that Bob Lazzell will be assuming the role of Dean of the School of Education in the Fall of 2021. Lazzell has been at Maranatha since 2016 when He started as the Director of the Academic Success Center.

Bob Jones University has its Joseph Bartosch. Maranatha has its Bob Lazzell.

[wutbju]

But Bob Jones University is not immune to its more consistent #ProofisintheProduct.

Let me introduce Robert Shane Lazzel, BJU Class of 1996, Elementary Education major.

From Danville, Illinois:

A former employee of First Baptist Church of Danville has posted bond, and has a court date of February 2nd, as he faces four counts of Criminal Sexual Assault.  Information provided by the Vermilion County State’s Attorney’s Office says 48-year-old Robert Lazzell is charged with having sexual contact with someone between the ages of 13 and 18, sometime between September of 2012 and September of 2013.

First Baptist Church of Danville offered this Statement:

As a ministry, we are extremely saddened when anyone associated with our church or school is accused of breaking the law, even when that person is no longer associated with us. If we would ever learn about allegations involving sexual or other abuse of a child, our organization would immediately remove that individual from any contact with children. We would also always fully cooperate with parents, state officials, and law enforcement. We believe that if children are safe anywhere, they should be safe at our church and school. In addition to background checks, cameras, and ongoing staff training, we encourage respect between all staff and students as a matter of character and Christian grace.

Additionally, as a matter of policy, our church and school would immediately report all suspicions of potential child abuse to the appropriate authorities, as we did when this came to our attention. We do not cover-up abuse, and we have zero tolerance for child abuse in our ministry. We carefully interview and screen our employees and volunteers, and our leadership team works to maintain child protection policies based on best practices nationally and under Illinois State law.

We believe that transparency, child safety, and accountability are essential for successful ministry, and we are fully committed to ministering to our church children and youth, as well as to our students, in a safe and responsible manner. With regard to the current matter, we are fully cooperating with law enforcement, and therefore, we will have no further public statements or comments.

He's been charged with four counts!

But there's more. . . .

[wife-of-the-strife]

i had a wild hair to look up my graduating class online and i saw that i was listed as deceased and honestly, i don't care. those shits were all dead to me first so bwahahahahaaaaa☠

[wutbju]

Dr. Donald Leon Pippin, a man who loved God and people, went to be with his Savior on February 17, 2017, in Palm Bay, Florida, at the age of 83.  Leon had an extraordinary passion to serve his Lord and extreme love for his family. He touched so many lives with his charismatic personality. His desire was to exalt Christ and not himself. He was an avid reader and enjoyed spending time in the nursing home ministry sharing Bible studies and friendship with lonely people there. 

Leon, a sharecropper's son, was born in Oran, MO, on January 30, 1934.  

A son so fearful of his father that he cringes at the very mention of his fathers name. When asked a question, he freezes and becomes mute. His father curses and says, "Poot, there cain't be a god, 'cause if there was, he'd a gave ya some brains." He tries to answer, but his tongue feels glued to the roof of his mouth. His father came home drunk one night, grabbed his shotgun, cocked it, aimed it at the uncle who lived with them, and threatened, "I'm gonna shoot ya dead." The son scrambled under his bed and said, "I had heard the preacher say, 'When you're in danger, pray.' I wish the preacher was here to do that for us now." The son wanted a pet, so he caught the smallest goat in the pen and carried him to his second-story bedroom. When he asked his brother Dick if he should call him Buck, Dick replied, "I think you better call him 'dead,' 'cause that's what you 'n' him's gonna be when Dad finds this room all tore up!" The shy sharecropper's son experiencing little closeness, communication, and religious emphasis in his childhood, feels lost within himself. Not knowing how to cope, his crippling fear and claustrophobia cause him to withdraw into himself and makes the verbal separation wider between them. Paralyzing fear of his father does not make him harbor hatred, contempt, or even disrespect for his father, only abject fear. Unknown to this sharecropper's son, however, God is in the background guiding and protecting him through the fearful uncertainties. Memoir fans will find the adventures of this farm boy entertaining and insightful when he's with his younger brother reading Big Little Books, pole vaulting the creeks, waiting for haircuts, and watching the cotton being sucked up out of the wagon. One night he sees an advertisement on the back of a Christian magazine. And then a small gold crown in the ad catches his attention. The title's metaphor, Naked With Clothes On, suggests the vulnerability of the author, and yet the power to be independent when following his own convictions as seen in the story of the wounded sparrow. The survival memoir, with the subtitle Finding Faith Stronger Than Fear, is an easy-read. Full of pathos, humor, and entertaining stories to delight anyone, the book will make you cry, laugh, and inspire you as you follow the son's attempt to change his paralyzing fear to liberating faith.

He later moved with his parents to Nashville MI, where he graduated from high school in 1951.  

He attended King's College in Wilmington, DE and graduated in 1955 where he met his amazing Godly wife Emily, who has enriched his life for over 61 years. The two were married 1955, moved to Silver Spring, MD, then to Newton, MA. He taught high school English and obtained his M.Ed. from the University of MA in Boston.  In 1966 he moved his family to Fort Wayne, IN, where he taught at Fort Wayne Bible College, Ball State University, Blackhawk Christian school and Huntington College. After obtaining a Ph.D. Ed.D. from Bob Jones University in SC in 1996, he and Emily moved to Palm Bay, Florida.

Leon was a retired professor, who rose from his humble beginnings to earn four college degrees. He was a masterful storyteller and had written a full-length play, dramatic monologues, haiku, and devotional articles for CBN.  His most recent work included a weekly blog at Guardedhearts.net as well as his published memoir entitled Naked With Clothes On. He and Emily enjoyed the times they spent together directing and producing plays and musicals in churches and schools. Leon challenged his students to excellence, not only in their academic pursuits but in their relationship with Jesus as well. 

Leon's goal was to bring glory to God in all he said and did. He had the privilege to know and serve the Lord for 69 years.

His heart's verse was "I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings." (Philippians 3:10)

Leon will be greatly missed by his wife Emily, his four children, Jeanne, Don, Greg, and Brett, his eight grandchildren, his six great grandchildren, and all who were touched by his faithfulness to Christ.

Family will receive friends on Friday from 10-11:00 AM, followed by funeral services at 11:30 at Davis-Seawinds Funeral Home, Melbourne, FL.

Published in FLORIDA TODAY on Feb. 23, 2017