Audio of Rabbit Box stories will be archived in the UGA Special Collections Library. A link will be provided when we catch most of the rabbits that thought it was a holiday and jumped off the website for fun.
November’s story summaries and storytellers
LAST CALL | Tuesday, November 22, 2022
Emcee: Heidi Hensley is an artist, musician, and newly elected school board member in Athens-Clarke County.
Lisa Conner, the youngest daughter of Georgia artist Steffen Thomas and Sara Douglass Thomas, is married to Dr. Charles Conner. She received a BA in Psychology from Florida State and K-12 certification in Art Education from UGA. She taught art from 1969-1992. After the death of her father, her mother founded the Steffen Thomas Museum of Art (STMA) in Morgan
County. Lisa has worked in various roles at the museum from 1997-present. She lives with her husband in rural Buckhead, Georgia, and currently serves as interim director of STMA.
An unexpected phone call from Lisa Conner’s father during her freshman year in college resulted in an unwelcome roommate during her Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.
Dave Durden is an Oconee County native. He graduated from Oconee High School and the University of Georgia where he was commissioned into the Army through the UGA ROTC department. After 25 years of service including five combat tours to Afghanistan, he boomeranged back to Athens with his lovely bride Raquel. Dave continues to do selective contract work and is the owner and senior instructor for Protective Reach—a personal safety company. However, these days you’re just as likely to find him with a cigar and bourbon sitting around a firepit watching the Dawgs. Dave continues to be engaged and involved; he volunteers at both UGA and in the Athens/Oconee communities. Their son Tyler and bonus daughter Madison live in Boston.
Would Dave Durden’s resonant voice lead him to heaven or down the road to perdition?
Matthew Epperson is a US Southern “cooperator” by passion and by training, having done his time for about 10 years at Daily Groceries Co-op before moving onto his current position as business director with Savvy Co-op. He loves biking, hiking, zazen meditation, discussing books and movies, and his sweetheart Julia. He is the 2012 Keep Athens-Clarke County Beautiful Citizen of the Year, a black belt in a family of martial arts (Tango Su Doo, Aikido and Jujitsu),
and neophyte to local improv comedy with Flying Squid Comedy (Wednesday nights at Buvez). While it’s true that he has strong stage anxiety, he loves a good challenge.
Penny Noah is retired from UGA and lives in Winterville. She is a photographer, visual artist,
and occasional writer. She posts too frequently on social media and welcomes people to her Facebook account. Her website is pennynoah.squarespace.com
Penny Noah found that listening to an inner call from the heart was more life changing than any phone call she had ever taken.
Cracker Jack Storyteller Alan Armitage took a fork in his life path and ended up somewhere he could never imagine.
Tanya Hudson came to Athens for college in 1999 and never left. As the librarian at Chase Street Elementary School, she spends a lot time telling stories—albeit to a slightly younger crowd! Tanya lives in a 119-year-old house with her husband Micah, their kiddo Melvie, and two cats who fight all the time but secretly love each other.
Tanya Hudson had to say good-by to someone from her past in order to say hello to her family’s future.
Kris Schultz is a nurse practitioner at a local oncology practice who deals in DNA. She is also a theatre buff, lover of gourmet food, and one of those strange people who goes running on purpose.
Kris Schultz found that a nurse often is an important telephone operator when a patient is making their last call on earth.
Robert Tucker is a therapist in private practice. Robert enjoys being able to provide services to his diverse clientele as well as serving as a ministry leader at Ebenezer Baptist Church West and
serving on the Board of Trustees with Historic Athens. His love for food and college sports (Roll Tide!) will never match the love he has for the best better half anyone could ask for: his wife Michele Pearson Tucker.
Robert Tucker had made big plans for the last minute of New Year’s Eve, but reality and two friends got in his way.
Rabbit Box 