The speakers for ceremonies celebrating the graduation of the Class of 2004 could not be any more representative of the Darlington community. This year’s baccalaureate speaker, resident parent Michael Stanley Wysocki, from Hilton Head Island, S.C., has had two children graduate from Darlington, Jennifer ’90 and Stephanie ’99 and has a third, Alex, who will graduate this May. He will speak during the service held in Morris Chapel on Sunday, May 9, at 7 p.m.
Then on Saturday, May 15, Frank Barron, an alumnus of the Class of 1948, will be the speaker for commencement, which begins at 9:30 a.m. on the chapel lawn. Barron is past parent of two Darlington alumni, Frank III ’77 and Rebekah Barron Montgomery ’78, and has five granddaughters, all attending Darlington, Mary Sue Barron, who will graduate this year, Anne Montgomery, junior, Emily Barron, freshman, Mary Beth Montgomery, eighth, and Hannah Montgomery, sixth.
Mike Wysocki, although raised “in the nomadic ways of a military family,” according to him, spent the major part of his early life in Savannah, Ga., where he met his wife, Cheryl, and was exposed to a competitive baseball program. He received the University of Georgia’s first full four-year baseball scholarship and, after two years at UGA, signed to play professionally with the San Francisco Giants. After five seasons with the Giants, he moved to Hilton Head Island to participate in the early days of its community development.
Frank Barron ’48 is a native of Rome, Ga. He graduated from Washington & Lee University in 1952 and entered the Navy that same year. He began working with Rome Coca-Cola Bottling Company in 1956, retiring as an officer and director of seven Coca-Cola companies. He married Anne West, also a native Roman, in 1957. He is serves on numerous boards for the following organizations: Shorter College, The Georgia Conservancy, Georgia Public Policy Foundation, the Carter Center of Emory University, Georgia Chamber of Commerce, and Richard B. Russell Foundation. He is vice president and director of Echota Realty and Shorter Realty, life trustee for the Boys and Girls Club, and member of the Rome Rotary Club and University of Georgia Gridiron Secret Society.
