Honored Alumni

Carley Cole-Cavins is an award-winning advocate, author, and digital marketing strategist dedicated to empowering families affected by chronic illnesses. As founder of Cleverly Changing LLC and senior digital marketing manager at Cayenne Wellness Center and Children’s Foundation in California, she leverages her expertise to amplify awareness and advocacy for the sickle cell community.

Carley’s advocacy is deeply personal. When she and her husband learned that one of their twin daughters had sickle cell disease, she longed for a resource to help families navigate the journey. Determined to fill that gap, she began writing under the pen name Elle Cole—creating books that simplify complex medical conditions for children. Her works include Aaron Learns About Type 1 Diabetes: A Coloring Book for Kids, The Ultimate Sickle Cell Activity Book, ABCs of Sickle Cell Disease, and A Sickle Cell Coloring Book for Kids, which has sold over 4,000 copies. Her books, including Spanish translations, are used in hospitals worldwide to educate young patients and their caregivers.

A tireless advocate for sickle cell disease and type 1 diabetes, Carley serves on several advisory boards, including the American Society of Hematology’s Washington D.C. Community Advisory Board, the Cure Sickle Cell Initiative’s Community Input Panel (led by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute), and the Sick Cells Ambassador Program. She is also a member of the Institute for History and Healing and the Parental Community Advisory Board for Type 1 Diabetes.

Her impact has been widely recognized. In 2020, Carley was honored with the Advocating for Another WEGO Health Award, celebrating her dedication to patient advocacy. In 2022, she received the Caregiving Champion Award for her unwavering commitment to supporting families navigating chronic illnesses. From 2021 to 2024, she has co-hosted the Sickle Cell Caregiver Summit in partnership with the Sickle Cell Community Consortium.

Carley is also a podcast producer and media strategist. She hosts the Cleverly Changing Homeschool Podcast, ranked #3 on Feedspot’s Top 20 Homeschooling Mom Podcasts, and produces the VitaminSC3 Podcast, which amplifies real stories from sickle cell patients and their families.

A Bronze Congressional Award recipient, Carley’s work has been featured on NPR, ABC 7, BBC World Service Radio, Good Morning Washington, and Vertex’s Walking With Warriors Project. As a writer, motivational speaker, and digital marketing expert, she continues to uplift and educate communities, ensuring that no family faces the journey of chronic illness alone.

Scott Hodges has dedicated his career to transforming the way spinal injuries are treated.

Growing up in a small town in western North Carolina, Scott was shaped by a faith-filled home and his Adventist education. His years in boarding academy and at Southern gave him not only lifelong friends and mentors but also the discipline and determination that would carry him through medical school, residency, and the decades of pioneering research that followed.

After earning his medical degree and completing advanced training in orthopedic and spine surgery, Scott served in the U.S. Air Force before joining the Center for Sports Medicine in Chattanooga, where he practiced for 27 years. During that time, he became convinced that patients suffering from debilitating back pain deserve better than spinal fusion, a treatment that often leads to repeated surgeries and limited quality of life.

In 2003, Scott filed his first patent for what would become the MOTUS implant, the first motion-preserving joint replacement for the lower back. Over the next two decades, through research, testing, and overcoming various challenges, Scott continued to believe in the project’s potential to change lives. By 2017, his team had begun treating patients in Grand Cayman, and soon after, they secured FDA approval to launch a pivotal clinical trial in the United States—a study requiring 158 patients across 17 leading institutions, from Mayo Clinic to New York University. Raising more than $75 million to fund the research, Scott helped guide the project through every phase. Results have shown statistically significant improvements over fusion: less pain, quicker recovery, and more patients returning to work. With FDA approval expected soon, the MOTUS implant stands poised to redefine spine care worldwide.

Alongside his surgical work, Scott has published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers, delivered 50+ national presentations, and holds at least 57 patents related to spinal innovation. He views each step as guided by God’s providence—“miracle after miracle” opening doors at just the right time. He’s also grateful for the connections he made at Southern that have supported his success with the MOTUS implant.

Scott and his wife make their home in Tennessee. He is the proud father of two children and grandfather of two. Even as he looks ahead to the widespread adoption of the MOTUS implant, Scott hopes to be remembered most as a good husband, a good father, and someone whose work witnessed to God’s leading.

Abigale Madonia graduated from Southern with a bachelor’s degree in marketing and has quickly made her mark as an entrepreneur, community leader, and nonprofit founder.

In 2020, while still a student, Abigale launched Reyka & Lu Creative, a full-service marketing and advertising firm specializing in helping small and medium-sized businesses grow and thrive. She serves as CEO, leading her team in providing innovative strategies that help local businesses stand out in competitive markets. Shortly after graduating, she co-founded Nooga Networking, a Chattanooga-based networking group designed to connect business professionals across industries. Under her leadership, the group grew to more than 5,000 members, becoming one of the city’s largest and most active professional communities.

In addition to her work in the business world, Abigale has dedicated much of her life to animal rescue. In 2024, she founded Your Local Fur Mama, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that specializes in rescuing neonatal kittens and puppies across Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia. With more than eight years of fostering experience, she has worked with numerous shelters and rescues, served on boards, and coordinated foster programs to save the most vulnerable animals. Her rescue efforts have not only saved countless lives but also inspired a growing network of foster families and supporters.

Outside of her professional and nonprofit work, Abigale is deeply rooted in her faith and community. She attends Crosswalk Chattanooga and hosts a weekly ladies’ Bible study in her home. Born and raised in Maine, she moved to Tennessee for college and has since built a life filled with purpose, service, and love. She is married to her husband, Zachary, and together they share their home with two dogs—Nalu and Lilly—and seven cats—Balenciaga, Dolce, Harley, Rory Blue, Elio, Olive, and Reagan.

Abigale’s journey reflects her passion for building connections, creating opportunities, and making a difference—whether in the boardroom, the community, or through the lives of the animals she rescues.

Pastor Benjamin Jones is the current and eighth president of the South Central Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. With more than 28,000 members and growing, the conference territory includes the states of Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Florida, west of the Apalachicola River.

God has had His hand on Pastor Jones’s life since his teenage years, leading him to share the gospel. He is a graduate of Oakwood College, now Oakwood University in Huntsville, Alabama, receiving a bachelor’s degree in religion in 1971. He received his Master of Arts in religion from Southern in 2001. For more than 50 years, he has been in ministry, preaching throughout the United States and around the world. He currently serves on Southern’s Board of Trustees.

Pastor Jones has served as ministerial director, pastor, evangelist, adjunct professor, counselor, and mentor. He has been married to Carol J. Jones, the love of his life, for 56 years. The Joneses have two adult children and eight awesome grandchildren.

Benjamin loves the Lord, his family, and God’s people everywhere. His passion is to lead people into an experience with the Living Christ. He is known for always going the extra mile, caring for people, and inspiring those around him to be a better version of themselves. His lifetime goals are simple and threefold: to be the best husband a wife could pray for, the best father any child could have, and the best soldier in the army of the Lord.

In March 2025, Marty Hamilton retired from Southern after serving more than 25 years as the associate vice president for Financial Administration, a position he now holds as emeritus. He came to Southern in October 1998 as the director of Property and Industry Development.

Marty began his professional career at Mesa Grande Academy in California in 1982, where he taught history, photography, and auto shop. He loved working with his colleagues and positively influencing young people for Jesus, and he’s still in touch with many of his students.

In 1988, he started working part time for a real estate investment company in San Bernardino County and soon became its president. He quickly adapted to making key land acquisitions, developing real estate, and managing retail and commercial properties. His role in the community gave him the experience of working with both local and county authorities, which allowed him and his wife, Carolyn, to open a shelter for homeless families in 1991. Many said this was impossible, but with God’s many miracles and the couple’s perseverance, Inland Temporary Homes was opened in a historical 1905 house. The organization continues to operate today as Inland Housing Solutions. Marty and Carolyn where both honored by the City of Loma Linda as “Citizens of the Year” for their service to the community.

In 1993, the couple decided to leave Southern California for rural Georgia to raise their two girls. He’d been working for a chemical company for five years when Gordon Bietz and Dale Bidwell, university vice president for Financial Administration, invited Carolyn and Marty to meet for dinner. After asking to see his résumé, they offered him a position. Marty hadn’t been looking for a job, but he thought maybe God was tapping him on the shoulder.

Marty quickly realized how special the campus of Southern was. He hadn’t gone to school here and didn’t know anyone, but he felt welcomed and was impressed by the beauty and coordinated facilities. He developed a zeal to protect and care for that, and he felt his calling was to improve student life. Amidst the hundreds of projects he worked on, the Bietz Center for Student Life stands out as the most meaningful. “I came to this position passionate about students and young people,” he says. “I love that building, because it’s central to our campus and student life.

The expansion of the campus with new buildings, renovations, and care of the campus grounds were all about the ardor of serving, and Marty feels honored to be part of the Southern family.

Gary Patterson grew up in the Pacific Northwest. He met Rachel Ireland while attending Auburn Academy in Washington, after which they attended Walla Walla College and were married in 1957. Following graduation in 1959, Gary enrolled in the Adventist seminary at Potomac University in Washington, D.C., and graduated in June of 1960 with a Master of Arts in Religion.

Beginning ministry in the Idaho Conference of Seventh-day Adventists in June of 1960, he served in pastoral ministry and evangelism in various locations until departing for the Upper Columbia Conference, where he served first as youth pastor in College Place, Washington, and then established a ministry as university campus chaplain and pastor at the University of Idaho and Washington State University. In 1967, he was appointed Youth Department director of the Conference.

In 1971, Gary was called to serve as pastor of the Collegedale Church of Seventh-day Adventists, where he had a meaningful impact on the campus of Southern Missionary College and is remembered fondly by those students. During that time, he entered a Doctor of Ministry program at Vanderbilt University, graduating in 1978.

Following the years at Southern, he served as Montana Conference secretary and ministerial director; pastor of the Walla Walla University Church; president of the Georgia-Cumberland and Pennsylvania Conferences; administrative assistant to the president of the North American Division and chief of staff for NAD personnel; and general field secretary of the General Conference.

Retiring from church employment in 1999, he served as vice president for mission and ministry in the Home Care Division of Adventist Health System until 2004. During the next 16 years, he served as interim senior pastor of 14 major congregations in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, Maryland, and Illinois.

Gary has authored multiple denominational articles and publications as well as three books: Find It in the Yellow Pages, Minister’s Handbook, and Elder’s Handbook.

For Harriet Snyder, 1968 will always stand out as a milestone year—the year she completed her bachelor’s degree in elementary education at Southern Missionary College. To reach that goal, she faithfully worked her way through school with jobs at McKee Foods and the Florida Sanitarium.

The next three decades took her across the United States, teaching in church schools in Tennessee, Georgia, Texas, Washington, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Along the way, she balanced her calling as an educator with the joys of raising her two children, Danel and Delinda (attended), while accompanying her husband in his ministry as a conference worker.

Although she reached retirement age, “retiring” never came easily. Instead, Harriet often described herself as having “retreaded,” finding new opportunities to serve. Even in 2023, at the age of 80, she accepted a new challenge. Returning to Tennessee, she volunteered with Jesus for Asia, where she and fellow volunteer Barbara (Holland) Wear, ’62, learned of the urgent need for experienced instructors to mentor young teachers in Cambodia. After prayerfully seeking God’s confirmation—and receiving it in a remarkable way—she embraced the call.

Upon arrival in Siem Reap, she and Barbara were surprised to learn that their roles would expand to teaching all 282 students in grades 5-12 at the International Adventist School. Lesson plans, grading, and long days followed, but so did many blessings. During her time in Cambodia, her eldest granddaughter was simultaneously serving as a student missionary in Chad, Africa—an experience that made the mission field feel all the more like home.

Before her teaching term ended, Harriet invited her Cambodian students to select a meeting place in heaven for a future class reunion. Together, they chose to gather under the Tree of Life. She now looks forward to that reunion, reflecting her lifelong passion for education, faith, and nurturing young people to shine like “the stars of heaven.”

Barbara Wear’s life of service has been marked by faith, resilience, and a deep commitment to education and mission. She graduated from Southern Missionary College in 1962 with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education, launching a lifelong career of teaching and ministry that has touched lives across the globe.

Early in her career, Barbara taught in the Kentucky-Tennessee, Georgia-Cumberland, and Carolina conferences. She also served four years in Japan as a teacher for missionary children. While there, she witnessed firsthand the challenges and opportunities of mission service during the Vietnam conflict. American servicemen stationed in Japan often found refuge at the mission, and Barbara recalls the joy of helping to provide meals, fellowship, and encouragement. Those years shaped her vision of mission service as a calling that blesses both those who give and those who receive.

In 1969, Barbara married Cecil Wear, ’72, on Sand Mountain, and together they embraced a life of ministry and service. She worked at the Tennessee Department of Welfare while supporting her husband’s studies in accounting. (She jokes that she earned her PhT, or Putting Hubby Through.) The two later served in diverse settings, including Battle Creek Academy in Michigan and Ethiopian Adventist College in Kuyera. They also conducted evangelistic meetings in Kenya. For three decades, they made their home in the beautiful Sequatchie Valley of Tennessee. When Cecil retired, the couple moved to Hawaii, where Barbara treasured life in “paradise” until Cecil’s sudden passing from a heart attack after only three years there.

Though she thought her years of active service might be behind her, Barbara soon discovered otherwise. Returning to Tennessee, she joined her son Tony Wear, ’96, and his family and reconnected with a former student, Don MacLafferty, ’89, who invited her to partner in ministry through InDiscipleship and the General Conference initiative Back to the Altar. This opened new doors of service that extended far beyond what she imagined.

Most recently, in 2024, Barbara answered a call to volunteer in Cambodia, where she and Harriet (Finney) Snyder, ’68, spent four months teaching English to middle and high school students in Siem Reap. The experience was both challenging and deeply rewarding, reaffirming her belief that God continues to open doors at every stage of life.

Barbara’s legacy reflects the spirit of a true servant leader—one who has poured her energy, compassion, and faith into lifting up others, whether in classrooms at home, mission fields abroad, or new frontiers of ministry.