5A
SUNDAY AUGUST 28 2016
LEDGER-ENQUIRER.COM
ROBIN TRIMARCHI rtrimarchi@ledger-enquirer.com
Springer Opera House Artistic Director Paul Pierce talks
about his friend and brother Ron Anderson during a
memorial celebration for the retired associate artistic
director and founder of the Springer Theater Academy.
Anderson died August 24 after a cancer diagnosis two
years ago.
FROM PAGE 1A
ANDERSON
to be fine here in this life
or the next.
Few new Ron Anderson
better than his lifelong
friend and former St. Tho-
mas rector Doug Hahn.
The two were Sunday
School classmates in the
fourth grade in Macon,
Ga., and their friendship
continued at the Uni-
versity of Georgia. Even-
tually, Hahn became An-
dersons priest at St. Tho-
mas.
He considered his
work as an actor and a
teacher as nothing less
than the work of a minis-
ter, Hahn said. Nothing years after he came back
less than work that would
help him and his commu-
nity grow in life and wider
spaces.
There was also humor
to it, Hahn said. He told
the story about a man in
the circus, one that he and
Anderson often shared,
privately. The man walked
into a restaurant and had
a terrible stench about
him.
What is it? those in response as Andersons
the coffee shop asked.
I tend to the elephants,
feed them hay and take
care of their water, and
occasionally, when one of
them gets stopped up, I
get a big ladder, climb to
the top and put on a long-
armed glove, then I give
that elephant an enema. I
jump out of the way, and
sometimes I dont jump
fast enough.
The people in the res-
taurant were taken aback,
Hahn said.
Why would you want
that job? the people in
the coffee shop asked.
That sounds awful. eight hours on Wednes-
What? the man asked, day, Pierce said. Since
and give up show busi-
ness?
St. Thomas Rector
Grace Burton-Edwards
told those that filled the
church before the noon
hour that one of her favor-
ite stories about Anderson
was how he almost be-
came a Baptist minister
but could not get through
the seminary admission
interview with a crusty
dean. After an hour con-
versation in which An-
derson wore a tie with a
hula dancer on it, both
men decided he might not
be ready for Baptist semi-
nary.
He almost, almost
became a Baptist preach-
er, Burton-Edwards said.
Thank goodness that
professor didnt see it.
What a waste that would
have been.
The congregation broke
into laughter.
Ron did not go to the
seminary, he did not be-
come a Baptist preacher,
she said. His ministry
was not bound to a
church. Instead, he took
his show on the road.
And the Springer stage,
just before 5 Saturday
afternoon, was where that
roadshow ended. In a
room full of former stu-
dents and those who
helped him teach them at
the Springer Theatre
Academy, which Anderson
grew from 135 students in
1996 to 631 this summer,
the traditions of the acad-
emy were on full display.
Springer Producing
Artistic Director Paul
Pierce spent more than 20
minutes talking about his
co-worker and friend since
their college days. Pierce
lured Anderson back to
Georgia in 1996 from First
Stage Theater in Mil-
waukee to grow the Co-
lumbus academy.
The Springer swallows
up small ideas, Pierce
said of his conversation
with Anderson as he was
making his pitch. ... What
I am going to be looking
for is a big idea. ... The
idea over the first five
was far bigger than any-
thing I could have imag-
ined.
After the academys
initial success, Pierce went
back to Anderson with
another idea.
Why dont we change
the world? Pierce said.
And thats what hap-
pened.
Pierce pointed to the
avalanche of social media
body was left covered.
final days played out, first
with hospitalization, then
a short hospice stay before
his death. Under the Face-
book and Twitter hash-
tags, #ronstrong and #ron-
sarmy, many people
weighed in on Andersons
impact.
When Pierce learned of
Andersons death, he said
it felt like a hole had
been blown in our uni-
verse. He then reflected
on the fact that one of
Andersons gifts was he
filled holes when he found
them.
It hit me the first six to
which later was demol-
then, I have noticed the
outpouring of love begin
to fill that hole. If you see
a hole, fill it.
Elder noted that An-
dersons ovation at the
end was one of grace, love
and support.
And it was left to Sally
Baker, the person who
replaced Anderson as the
director of the Springer
Theatre Academy, to end
the day. She called more
than 30 former academy
teachers to the stage to
help. They did saluta-
tions, a decompression
SEE SPRINGER, 7A
Public Notice
Effective Wednesday, August 31,
the Columbus Consolidated Government
will discontinue its ownership and
maintenance of 30th Street between
1st Avenue and 2nd Avenue.
Public Notice
Railroad crossing/Road closure
7am -5 pm
August 30th & 31st 10th St.
between 8th & 9th Ave.
September 1st 5th Ave.
between 16th & 17th St
Billy Winn, former Ledger-Enquirer opinion page editor,
discusses Carlton Gary and Columbus seven heinous
Stocking Stranglings of 1977-78.
FROM PAGE 4A
STRANGLINGS
charged with perjury,
assault and possessing
stolen property. He escap-
ed from prison Aug. 23,
1977, and came home to
Columbus to live at 1027
Fisk Ave.
A On Sept. 11, 1977,
Gertrude Miller was
raped and beaten. Gary
lived about two blocks
away.
A On Sept. 16, 1977,
Mary Willis Fern Jack-
son, 59, of 2505 17th St.,
was found brutally bea-
ten, raped and strangled
with a stocking and sash.
Her body was left cov-
ered. Her stolen car was
later found on Benner
Avenue near Fisk Avenue.
A On Sept. 24, 1977,
Jean Dimenstein, 71, was
found raped and stran-
gled with a stocking in her
home that then had the
address 3027 21st St. (the
street has since been
renamed). Her body was
left covered with sheets
and a pillow.
A On Oct. 21, 1977,
Florence Scheible, 89,
was found raped and
strangled with a stocking
in her 1941 Dimon St.
home, which today has a
different address. Her
Garys right thumbprint
was found on a door
frame leading into Schei-
bles bedroom.
A On Oct. 25, 1977,
Martha Thurmond, 70,
was found raped and
strangled with a stocking
in her 2614 Marion St.
home. Her body was
covered by a pillow, blan-
kets and sheets. Garys
fingerprint was found on
the frame of a rear bed-
room window.
A On Dec. 28, 1977,
Kathleen Woodruff, 74,
was found raped and
strangled in her 1811
Buena Vista Road home,
ished during an Aflac
expansion. Garys finger-
print was found on the
aluminum window screen
where the intruder en-
tered, and his palm print
on the windowsill inside.
A On Feb. 11, 1978, Ruth
Schwob, 74, of 1800 Car-
ter Ave., was nearly stran-
gled to death by an in-
truder she fought off,
pressing a panic alarm by
her bed. Police found her
sitting on the edge of her
bed, gasping, a stocking
wrapped around her neck.
A On Feb. 12, 1978,
Mildred Borom, 78, 1612
Forest Ave., about two
MIKE HASKEY mhaskey@ledger-enquirer.com
blocks from Schwobs
home, was found raped
and strangled with a cord
cut from window blinds.
Her body was covered
with a dress.
A On April 20, 1978,
Janet Cofer, 61, of 3783
Steam Mill Road, was
found raped and strangled
with a stocking. A pillow
covered her face.
After that, the stran-
glings abruptly ended.
Police said Gary switched
to robbing restaurants and
moved to Greenville, S.C.,
where that fall he earned
the nickname Steakhouse
Bandit. He went to jail
for armed robbery Feb. 22,
1979.
He escaped March 15,
1984, and returned to
Georgia, where authorities
arrested him in Albany the
following May 3.
On Aug. 26, 1986, a jury
found him guilty of killing
Scheible, Thurmond and
Woodruff. The next day
jurors sentenced him to
death.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
Investigators collected
some evidence that
News
doesnt fit Gary, his de- ior Court of Muscogee
fense team argues. A shoe- County for six and a half
print at the Farmer crime years and the extraordin-
scene was too small for ary motion for new trial
Garys size 13 feet. So has been pending for four
was a shoeprint on the years. The state will con-
air-conditioning unit the tinue to work tirelessly to
intruder stood upon to ensure that the jurys ver-
climb into Schwobs win- dict is upheld and the
dow. sentence carried out.
Blood evidence prose- Asked whether he ever
cutors used to tie Gary to expected Garys appeals to
the murders actually ex- go on this long, his de-
cluded him as the stran- fense attorney said: I
gler, his attorneys said. always thought this case
And though police claimed would go on forever.
to have found his finger- Regardless of Jordans
prints, they did not pho- ruling on the new trial
tograph those prints to motion, it will be appealed
pinpoint their location, to the Georgia Supreme
and they had no objective Court. The end is not in
standard for establishing a sight.
match.
A mold made from a
bite mark found on Cof-
Billy Winn, a former
Ledger-Enquirer editorial-
page editor who covered
ers breast doesnt match Garys trial and spent 10
Garys teeth, the defense years researching the case,
said. Though Gary had is among those who be-
dental work in prison, the
work was on his upper
teeth, not his lower. The
lieve Gary is guilty.
He probably killed
more often than we
mold shows the killer had know, Winn said last
a lower, rotated tooth week. But hes not sur-
Gary doesnt have. prised Gary has persuaded
The bite-mark mold others hes innocent.
wasnt shown to the jury Nothing in this case sur-
during Garys trial. It prises me anymore, he
turned up in 2005, bol- said.
stering defense claims that What he was, was a
prosecutors withheld cru- polished con man, Winn
cial evidence back in 1986. said. He could confound
District Attorney Julia anybody. If he hadnt been
Slater declined to be in- a killer, he could have
terviewed for this story, been the greatest sales-
but she offered a written man on earth.
statement: Though Winn found
The state remains David Roses book outra-
confident in the validity of geous and infuriating, the
the convictions and sen- two writers have some-
tences returned by the jury thing in common: Neither
against Carlton Gary in believes in the death pen-
1986. Post-conviction alty.
DNA results have estab- What should happen?
lished that Carlton Garys Said Winn: I would just
DNA was found in the like to see Carlton go
vaginal washing of Jean away, by however that
Dimenstein and no new may be.
evidence has been discov-
ered that would raise any Tim Chitwood:
doubt about the jurys 706-571-8508,
decision. The case has @timchitwoodle
been back with the Super-