Retirement reception set for Monday, May 8

Six members of the faculty and staff at LSMSA will be honored with a reception at 3 p.m. on Monday, May 8, in the lobby of the Center for Performance and Technology to commemorate their retirement.

To be recognized are Dr. Elizabeth Hall, Dr. Link Hall, Carey Hendrix, Dr. Kenneth Olson, Dr. David Wood and David Zolzer.

Dr. Elizabeth Hall grew up on a wheat and cattle ranch in eastern Washington. She met her husband, Dr. Link Hall, when she was working on a Ph.D. in classical and Medieval Latin at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. When it came time to hunt for jobs, Link happened to see an ad outside the English department for a brand new type of school being created in Louisiana. During Link’s interview, director Bobby Alost said there was not a Latin program, but asked if Elizabeth would be willing to run the girls’ dormitory.

A few months later, Link and Elizabeth moved into Prudhomme Hall. The last 34 years at LSMSA have been a tremendous adventure of dozens of Junior Classical League meetings and conventions, hundreds of awards won by Latin students, countless togas wrapped and pinned, endless mysteries of Latin and Greek grammar simplified by bushels of Hall’s Handouts, legions of devoted work service students and tens of thousands of papers graded.

After retirement, Elizabeth Hall will ease into her second career of research on genealogy and the Oregon Trail.

Dr. Link Hall began teaching English at LSMSA in 1983 as one of the school’s original faculty members. After 34 years of teaching, he is the last “link” to LSMSA’s early days.

A native of Mississippi, Link Hall earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Ole Miss and his Ph.D. in Medieval English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His two daughters are proud LSMSA graduates, and his wife, Elizabeth, was the Latin and Greek teacher for many years.

As part of his commitment to the school, he was the faculty advisor to the school’s nationally award-winning magazine, “Folio,” for 25 years.

Carey Hendrix serves as the administrative assistant for the College Counseling Center. He began his career at LSMSA in 2005. He served 21 years combined in the Army and Air Force as a clarinetist, services specialist, small combo leader, supply technician, office manager, vocal/choral leader/arranger and wing/base history writer. He has resided in Hawaii, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Texas, the Philippines, Germany, England and Italy.

Dr. Kenneth Olson has taught at LSMSA since 1991. His courses have included all levels of German and Russian, fine arts survey, Russian culture, aesthetics, music theory, piano and instrumental ensembles. A veteran of the U.S. Army, Olson attended the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, Calif., University of the Arts in Berlin, Germany, and Texas Tech University in Lubbock. In 2006, he received a Fulbright Fellowship to study for one semester at Moscow State University. In 1996, he composed the LSMSA alma mater. In 2014, he was commissioned to compose a work commemorating the tricentennial of the founding of Natchitoches. The work was performed by the Natchitoches-Northwestern Symphony Orchestra.

Dr. David Wood joined the faculty during the 1984-85 academic year and was present at the first graduation. Including his tenure at the Ravenscroft School in Raleigh, N.C., he is completing 40 years of full-time teaching.

He has taught first-year through AP French and also taught first-year Latin for many years. He served as the department chair for foreign languages for a number of years and sponsored student trips to France during Special Projects Week. Wood has led a popular special project on genealogy for many years. He was among the pioneering faculty in the telelearning program, an LSMSA distance learning initiative, and taught both French and Latin for several years in this program and its successor, the Virtual School.

Wood has sponsored very successful participation of French students in the Southeastern Louisiana Foreign Language Festival for the past several years. He was one of the pioneering faculty members of the ADVANCE Program at Northwestern State University in 1989 and taught French and Latin and later served as the director of this summer program for academically gifted students from 2001-16. In this capacity, he worked in close cooperation with LSMSA as he shepherded many ADVANCE students into the ranks of LSMSA students.

David Zolzer joined the LSMSA faculty in January 2005 with more than 15 years of teaching experience. After serving as a computer and communications officer in the U.S. Air Force for 22 years, he taught at Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio. He helped develop one of the first e-commerce programs and served as training director for the Electronic Commerce Resource Center. In 2000, he brought the e-commerce program to NSU and taught in the computer information systems program for four years.

Born and raised in Denver, Zolzer has lived in California, Ohio, Alabama, Texas and Louisiana. In addition, he spent 18 months in Turkey and three years in England while in the Air Force. He now claims Natchitoches as his home. He is an active member of Trinity Episcopal Church and Rotary, where he will serve as president starting in July.