Missy is a born and bred Virginia girl who has dedicated much of the last fifteen years of her life to playing, directing and teaching the art of English Handbells. She has served Area III as a Chime liaison, district representative and Historian for nearly 10 years. Missy resides in Virginia Beach and is currently finishing her degree in Music education while teaching preschool and directing Youth Handbells at Great Bridge Presbyterian Church in Chesapeake. In her spare time Missy is beginning her 4th year performing with the Virginia Handbell Consort and is the Mom of three great kids who have also been bitten by the bell bug.

Roxanne B. Golden is a Music Education graduate of Georgia State University. Roxanne began her music career at the age of 12, serving as pianist and organist for her home church. While attending GSU, she became attuned to the beauty of handbells and has since organized and developed handbell programs throughout various churches in the metro Atlanta area. She is currently the Music and Worship leader for Jasper United Methodist Church in Jasper, GA and the director of the Golden Bells of Atlanta, Atlanta's premier community handbell choir. Roxanne is active in the AGEHR, is a director/ staff member in Area IV and National Festivals, has served as Georgia State Chair, is an active clinician and conductor at various workshops, has served on the handbell staff at Lake Junaluska, and has served on the committee to plan Pinnacle Handbell Festival Also an accomplished arranger and composer of handbell music, she has several handbell arrangements available in print. Roxanne is a native of Atlanta and currently resides in Big Canoe, Georgia with her husband Dr. James Golden and their three sons, Andy, Christopher, and Joshua.

Mark Gourley is Director of Music Ministries at First Presbyterian Church in Fayetteville, NC. Mark earned the Bachelor of Science degree in Music Education from Atlantic Christian College in Wilson, NC (now Barton College) and has done extensive graduate study in Sacred Music at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, NC and in Organ and Choral Music at East Carolina University, Greenville, NC.   He has earned the Level I and Level II Certification in Orff-Schulwerk from East Carolina University. Mark also holds the General Handbell Director Certification, Level I from AGEHR. He is a member of the American Choral Directors Association, the American Guild of English Handbell Ringers, the American Guild of Organists, Choristers Guild, the Fellowship of United Methodists in Music and Worship Arts, The Presbyterian Association of Musicians, the Association of Lutheran Musicians and the Royal School of Church Music. Mark has chaired the NC United Methodist Conference Handbell Festival for many years. He served on the Area III Board of the AGEHR for ten years, where he held the offices of NC State Chair, Chair-Elect, Chair and Past Chair. He has taught many handbell classes for Area III events and frequently teaches and conducts workshops and festivals.

Donna Hanna is a summa cum laude graduate of the College of Charleston with a Bachelor of Arts degree in piano and voice.  Since January of 1992, she has served as Associate Minister of Music at Christ Lutheran Church in Charlotte, were she has helped to build a large, vibrant music program.  She directs the handbell program, which includes adult and children’s choirs, as well as a middle school group and an intergenerational choir.  Donna has been a workshop leader at regional ALCM events on such topics as recorders, bells, and contemporary worship, and most recently served as Secretary-Treasurer of Region 2 of  ALCM.   She was commissioned as an Associate in Ministry of the ELCA in 2002. Donna is currently the director of the Mid-Winter Handbell Retreat at Lutheridge, the ELCA camp in Arden, NC, and has been a frequent clinician in handbells, choral accompanying, and contemporary worship at the summer Music Week at Lutheridge.  She has several published handbell pieces, as well as a hymn in the new ELW.

Daniel (Dan) Edward Lawhon is a Kentucky native. He received a Bachelor of Music degree from Belmont University in Nashville, TN and a Master of Church Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from the School of Church Music at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. Dr. Lawhon has served on the music faculties of SBTS, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Oakwood College and the University of Alabama in Huntsville. He is currently the Organist-Choirmaster at Baptist Church of the Covenant and Adjunct Professor at Samford University in Birmingham, AL. Dan directs the Heritage Ringers of Huntsville, a 15 member auditioned handbell choir. He is serving as Treasurer for the Area VI AGEHR. Dan has served as a handbell clinician for the Tennessee Valley Handbell Association’s Young Ringers Festival as well as in New York, San Francisco, Toronto, Vancouver and Moscow. His hobbies include water skiing, running and cooking. Dan’s wife, Sherrie, is chair of the vocal-choral department of Samford University School of Fine Arts in Birmingham, AL.

During her professional years in New Jersey, Joan Marco was known for her work in early childhood music as the owner/director of the Music for Minors studio in Titusville. She was also a music specialist for several early childhood centers in the area and gained recognition for writing Song Stories with the children. Joan has directed bell choirs, developed chime programs for children and coordinated activities for music observers, practicum students, and student teachers at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, Rider Univerisity and the College of New Jersey in Ewing Township. Joan is currently the coordinator for the Dutch Fork Bell Festival, the bell director at St. Jacobs Luthern Church, and the director of the women's community singing group, the "Chapin Chirpers". Since her retirement from the schools and churches of New Jersey, Joan has been giving workshops for local churches and music organizations in the Columbia, SC area as well as serving as a clinician for HDS.

Ellen Moretz has been involved with handbells, both as a ringer and a director, since the 1960s and is very passionate about the art. She is the director of music at A Mighty Fortress Lutheran Chruch and has served as NC State Chair for AGEHR Area III for seven years. She has assisted Robert Ivey in teaching his summer workshops and is a member of the Queen City Ringers, a community group based in Charlotte, NC. Ellen has also taught classes at Lutheridge Music Week Area Festivals and workshops, and local festivals and workshops.

Jane Patterson has been ringing bells for around 19 years in various groups. She is founding director of the Joyful Noise handbell choir in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and has directed church handbell programs in Athens, Georgia and Spartanburg, South Carolina. Jane is also a founding member of the Carolina Bronze handbell ensemble, a community group in upstate South Carolina, with whom she still plays. She is a solo ringer as well as ringing in in the Bronze Quarters handbell quartet. Jane is active in AGEHR, serving in several Area IV offices and is currently serving as Treasurer. She has taken Master Classes in Conducting from Bill Payn, Michael Keller, and Bill Griffin, a Master Class in Composition with Arnold Sherman and has served as a clinician for several massed ringing events. Jane composes primarily for quartets and quintets and has several pieces in print.

Born into a musical family, Lisa Phillips never really had a chance. Her father, an elementary band director, often brought home “orphan” instruments for his children to sample, so she has had her hand on just about every musical instrument available at some point in her life. Her early studies leaned toward the violin and voice, and in later years the concentration shifted to flute. Somewhere in there, around age 11, someone stuck a handbell in front of her, and there has been no looking back. A self-proclaimed bell-hog (the one on her car’s dashboard is purely ornamental); she’s at her happiest with any bell in any range at any time. Solo ringing came about simply because no one else was using the bells over the summer, and that seemed like such a waste! Directing became the next logical step, and she has led a wide range of ages – from elementary to inter-generational to adult groups. An educator at heart, with additional input from the instructors at the University of Northern Colorado, Lisa has had the opportunity to teach a variety of classes at handbell events and loves to introduce new ringers to the art of ringing musically. Ringing handbells has provided Lisa the opportunity to travel around the world. She has attended festivals and conferences in South Korea, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and across the United States. A little over two years ago, Lisa made a bold move and transplanted herself from Denver, Colorado to Raleigh, North Carolina, and this move allowed her the opportunity to ring with The Raleigh Ringers, an internationally acclaimed community handbell choir. When not ringing, Lisa has a “real job” in the accounting department at a local software company.

Lucas Wickstrom is Director of Music at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Columbia where he directs five different Chime and handbell ensembles, four vocal choirs,various instrumental ensembles, teaches Preschool music, and runs a summer music camp for elementary aged children. He received his undergraduate degree in music and religion from Augustana College in Sioux Falls, SD and has some advanced degree work at the University of Washington in Seattle. Lucas has a wealth of experience in a variety of churches including Lutheran, Episcopal, Catholic, Methodist and Presbyterian. He currently serves as the Chair of the Worship, Music and the Arts committee of The South Carolina Synod of the ELCA. His experiences have him working with preschoolers up to mature adults as well as beginning to professional musicians. Lucas' passion is sharing the joys of music and helping people of all ages and abilities discover what a vital part of life music is.