Two local women to be honored by Girl Scouts of South Carolina – Mountains to Midlands
October 12, 2015
SPARTANBURG, SC – The Girl Scouts of South Carolina – Mountains to Midlands has announced the names of the two women to be recognized at its third annual Boots & Pearls Women of Distinction Event. They are Joy Ayers Couch and Dr. Fern Powell. This recognition and fundraising event honors outstanding women from the Cherokee, Spartanburg, and Union areas for their service to others and impact on their community.
The celebration will be held on Thursday, October 8, 2015, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. at the Piedmont Club in downtown Spartanburg. One of the evening’s highlights will be a video presentation in which the two honorees have the opportunity to share the contributions they have made in improving the quality of life in our community and ways in which they exemplify women who demonstrate character qualities of courage, confidence, and character.
Joy Ayers Couch, Athletic Director, has been an incredible force for growing momentum, visibility, programs and enrollments at Converse. Since her arrival in 2007, the College earned full membership as a NCAA Division II program—the highest level of play for any women’s college in the nation. Couch also doubled Converse’s programs to include 11 sports, most recently softball. And, the number of student-athletes has grown from 37 in 2007 to 175 in 2015.
Leading up to Converse, she accumulated 28 years of experience serving as a physical education teacher, department chair, and girl’s basketball coach at Dorman High School from 1998 to 2007. There she led the Cavaliers to three AAAA state championship victories and won the regional championship every year. Her overall record at Dorman was 240-36. Prior to Dorman, Couch achieved impressive records as golf, volleyball and basketball coach at Chapman High School while teaching physical education at Inman Elementary. She also taught and coached at Broome High School and Byrnes High School and served as coordinator of women’s athletics and coach at Limestone College. Her overall high school basketball coaching record is 551-186.
Couch was selected to coach the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WCBA) – Nike High School All-American game in 2005 and was also named the Head Coach in 2002 for the NC – SC All-Star game. She has received numerous Coach of the Year awards including multiple honors as the Spartanburg Herald-Journal Coach of the Year. She has been named Girl’s Basketball AAAA and AAA State Coach of the Year, and received S.C. North/South All-Star Coach awards in both volleyball and basketball. She was named the 2007 Russell Athletic/WBCA National Coach of the Year by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) and was inducted into the South Carolina Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame in July, 2007.
Couch received a Masters of Education degree from the University of South Carolina in 1982 and a Bachelor of Science in Health and Physical Education from Winthrop University in 1977. She has one child, Dyar Jennings, and three grandchildren. She resides in Spartanburg, with her husband, Roger, and their dog, Gus.
Dr. Fern Powell is a Spartanburg native. She graduated from Converse College and the University of Alabama School of Optometry and completed a residency in hospital-based optometry at the Veteran’s Administration Medical Center in Huntington, WV. Dr. Powell returned to Spartanburg to join Dr. Jay Shelley in practice at Carolina Vision Associates in 1992.
She is a member of the American Optometric Association, the South Carolina Optometric Association and is the past president of the Piedmont Chapter of the Optometric Association.
Powell is active with many organizations in our community. She is currently the chairman and board member for HALTER – an organization providing therapy through horse riding for those with disabilities. She is also an advisor for the Glaucoma Awareness Foundation, an advocate for “Friends of Croft” and has been an active lay leader at St. Paul United Methodist Church. Previously she was a member of Spartan West Rotary.
Dr. Powell enjoys spending time with her family, friends, patients and extended family of three dogs, two cats, and two horses. Her hobbies and special interests include hiking, running, bird-watching, horseback riding and kayaking.
For ticket information and sponsorship opportunities, log onto www.gssc-mm.org/bootsandpearls or contact LaTanza Duncan, Chief Advancement Officer, Girl Scouts of South Carolina – Mountains to Midlands, [email protected], 800-849-4475, ext. 3731.
For more than 103 years, Girl Scouting has helped girls develop positive values and become active, responsible leaders in their communities. With emphasis on personal growth and leadership development through service to others, Girl Scouting builds girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place. Girl Scouts of South Carolina-Mountains to Midlands serves approximately 11,450 girls, grades K5-12, and 4,700 adults in 22 counties of central and western South Carolina, including Abbeville, Aiken, Anderson, Cherokee, Chester, Edgefield, Fairfield, Greenville, Greenwood, Kershaw, Lancaster, Laurens, Lexington, McCormick, Newberry, Oconee, Pickens, Richland, Saluda, Spartanburg, Sumter, and Union.
