All Our Triumphs

For five generations spanning 150 years, Elizabeth Thalhimer Smartt’s family ran Thalhimers, a modest dry goods company in Richmond, Va., that grew into a prominent department store chain with 26 stores in four states. The Zeta Omicron-Wake Forest alumna shares the story of her successful family and chronicles changes in the retail industry in her first book, “Finding Thalhimers,” which will be released this month by Dementi Milestone Publishing. The Virginia Historical Society in Richmond will host a book launch party and reunion for Thalhimers’ employees and customers on Oct. 16 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. For more information, visit www.FindingThalhimers.com.

They are Kappa Deltas, registered dietitians and residents of Memphis, Tenn., and during the annual meeting of the Tennessee Dietetic Association, they took top honors! Virginia “Ginger” Harrison Carney, left, received the 2010 Outstanding Dietitian award, and Lisa Selman Abbay was named the Recognized Young Dietitian of the Year. Ginger, an Alpha Epsilon-Tennessee/Knoxville alumna, is an international board-certified lactation consultant with expertise in pediatrics. She is employed as director of Clinical Nutrition at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and serves on the Board of Governors for the University of Tennessee. Lisa, Delta Omega-Mississippi State, is director of Food and Nutrition and Regional Clinical Nutrition manager for Morrison Healthcare Food Services at Baptist Healthcare – Memphis Hospital. She is the recent past president of the Memphis District Dietetic Association and serves on the board of the Cynthia Milk Fund at LeBonheur Children’s Hospital.

Dr. Jackie Boitz Bruce, Phi Epsilon-Colorado State, was recently elected national president of the Association of Leadership Educators. Jackie is an assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural and Extension Education at North Carolina State University where she teaches leadership development and extension education, conducts research, and serves as a mentor through outreach programs. She earned her doctorate degree from Texas A&M University and came to NC State from The Pennsylvania State University where she worked with state-level leadership development programming for the Pennsylvania 4-H program.

Sometimes God shows up in the most unexpected places, according to Jen Engle Seger, Alpha Delta-Rhodes, who has released her first book, “Routine Revelations: Finding God in the Carpool Line.” A preschool teacher and mom of three, Jen was encouraged by her co-workers and prayer group to write down the heartwarming and uplifting spiritual messages that she shared with them. For the past few years, Jen has been the editor of Women's Words, a devotional message e-mailed weekly to nearly a thousand women in her church. Her book is a compilation of these messages. For more information and to read Jen’s blog, visit www.routinerevelations.com.

During Ball State University’s Homecoming, Zeta Kappa alumna Michele Faroh was named a 2010 Graduate of the Last Decade (G.O.L.D.) Award recipient. This honor annually recognizes the outstanding accomplishments of recent Ball State alumni. Michele graduated with a bachelor’s degree in marketing in 2006 and earned her Master in Business Administration from Ball State in 2007. She works in pharmaceutical sales for Eli Lilly and Company and is president of the Ball State University Alumni Association Northeastern Indiana Chapter. Michele serves KD as Zeta Kappa house corporation president.

Alpha Psi-Drury alumna Jennifer Matlock Ingraham will serve as president of the 2011-2013 board of directors for the Women’s Foundation of Greater Kansas City, an organization that works to improve financial self-sufficiency and career advancement for local women and girls. Jennifer is a founding member of the 360 Degrees of Giving Circle, a group of women ages 25 to 40 who pool their talents and charitable gifts to fund not-for-profit organizations serving the city’s women and girls, and she has served on numerous committees, including the Voices in Philanthropy “Be the Difference” campaign and development committee.

Leslie Peters Tentler, Gamma Delta-East Tennessee State, will soon be a debut author with MIRA Books, an imprint of Harlequin Enterprises Limited. Her first romantic suspense novel, “Midnight Caller,” will be available Feb. 1, 2011, through online booksellers and bookstores everywhere. The novel is the inaugural book in a series of romantic thrillers based around a fictional unit of the FBI. Leslie’s first manuscript won multiple Romance Writers of America chapter contests, including the prestigious Maggie Award of Excellence. For more information, visit www.leslietentler.com.

While volunteering with an elementary-school reading program, Olympia Szokol Eddy was inspired to make reading more entertaining and challenging for her “book buddies.” Working as both author and illustrator, Olympia has published her creative concept in her first book, “Mysterious View,” and is busy creating her second book, “Mysterious Circus.” In the “Mysterious” series, clues entice the reader to guess what the image could be. Olympia is an alumna of Epsilon Tau-Clemson and is certified to teach secondary English. Her book is available from Dog Ear Publishing at booksellers nationwide. For more information, visit www.mysteriousview.com.