I caught up with Barbara Ladd recently by email. If you haven’t heard from her lately, you’ll get a kick out of this, and she brings up a few other people from Trahern in the 80s as well.
TODD: Hey there, Barbara! How’s it going? I think the last time I saw you might have been at Lisa and Tom’s wedding. The bagpipes in the balcony scared the bejesus outta me. I almost peed my pants.
BARBARA: Actually, the last time I think I saw you was at Hobart’s house at a party. That was about nine years ago.
TODD: Oh, I haven’t forgotten that one. It was the infamous “Deck Party.” We had a ball there. I see Hobart fairly often. We drop by to visit him and Michael on our way to Nashville a lot. So how’s your husband and family?
BARBARA: My husband is doing fine. Craig is a sports editor and does sports talk radio here in town. We have been married for 15 years. Our son Keil just turned 9 (going on 15) in June and will be in the fourth grade. He plays all sports: basketball, football, baseball for the most part. We have 2 dogs: a carin terrier named Lady, who is all but that, and a Collie mutt we adopted named Shuttle (Keil named him that. He named him the day the shuttle went down.) We live in Nashville, in the Bellvue neighborhood. We’ve lived in this area for 15 years.
TODD: You got into magazine publishing after graduation. Where do you work
now, and what’s your job like there?
BARBARA: Currently I work at Athlon Sports Communications. We are located off West End, across from Centennial Park. I got into magazine publishing when I moved to Nashville out of college. I did some house “flips” with some people I’d met at Advantage Companies, which is where I was an art director for several magazines at the time. Then I left there for another publishing job for trade publications in the medical industry. I did agency work, sold my paintings at wine and cheese events, came to Athalon and was here for 4 years as a production manager. After I married Keil I had to leave since it was not cool at the time for couples to work here. So then I went to Dixie Graphics, (where Hobart works). From there I went to American Greetings and worked in sales and marketing. Then I left there to come back to Athlon Sports, and have been here this time for 7 years.
About my job here—I have done probably everything at this company a time or two, but I currently run our business services department as the director. What that means is that all the creative that leaves here goes through this department, keeping me very busy handling a lot of work flow. I buy, I design, I pretty much do full circle marketing and product development for our product lines, It’s a busy job.
TODD: I guess you heard that Bruce is retiring after next year? What did you
learn most from him?
BARBARA: When I first me Bruce, I thought he was odd. Now I think, “aren’t we all!” Anyway, I learned a real sense of creativite self-confidence from Bruce.
TODD: I’ve been thinking a lot about the people and fun from APSU. I remember a
Halloween party where you had a fake bloody knife in your neck that was fun, but kinda creepy.
BARBARA: Yes, I do remember that as well–that was sort of creepy. I think that was a point in my life where many things had come to a sort of emotional crescendo–growing up an coping with many things.
I do know that the cheese knife I used caused some decent bruising the next day. I remember laying in the bathtub [in a murder scene scenario,] and having Doug Halloran come in and talk to me–about what I don’t know. Too much alcohol.
TODD: We all had a few that night. I have some pictures somewhere… Hey, didn’t you say Tammy McKissack is a neighbor of yours now?
BARBARA: Oddly enough, Tammy is living around the corner from me. Lisa Cook-Der was in town recently and called to tell me she was going to see Tammy. It turned out that we’d moved into the same neighborhood and didn’t even know it! It turns out I can see here house from mine. So Tammy and I see each other, and my son plays with her three daughters. She stays really busy with her family and friends, but we talk regularly.
TODD: I’m glad you can make it to the reunion, but the fake blood is optional this time. Any parting remarks for everybody?
BARBARA: I’m looking forward to seeing everyone. I think it will be great. By the way, what ever happened to Hortenberry?
TODD: Actually, Hobart and I talked to him last year I think. Hobart gave me a chair that used to be in Hortenberry’s office, and I goggled him and we called. His wife took a teaching job and he left over Christmas break in 1984 or so. He still makes art, including some masks. He has bought and managed rental property in Evansville, Indiana while his wife taught. It was great to talk to him.
Gina says we need people to bring food, so I’m posting this list. That way, instead of emailing each other we can just sign up by clicking on the comments link and typing a message with what we each will bring. Click on the the comments link below to know what others are bringing. Oh, and don’t forget it’s BYOB, so bring what you’d like to drink. Here’s the list:
Todd: Hi Scott! I haven’t seen you since I drove through Boston with a canoe back in–what was that, like 1997?
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