The Annual Atlanta Open Orthographic Meet was started in 1971 by a group of highly literate drinking buddies, men and women who hung out at the Stein Club (929 Peachtree Street NE). One regular, Donna Brown, thought of it as the “funniest, high IQ bar in America”. They argued about who was the best speller. They decided to settle the matter by planning a bee. The Stein Club pitched in with prizes and the event continued annually.

1971 Support:

Jim Calloway, Stein Club owner provided a pitcher of beer as a prize

Catherine Porter – from jewelry shop next door, designed and made a winner’s medallion that possibly passed winner to winner during the days of the Stein Club regulars

David Frye - made a ring as a prize, which Dick Price still has.

1971 Publicity:

Al Stevenson – AJC, photographed the event

Billie McWhorter Brown – notified the press

1971 Committee Members:

Bob Hatcher, emcee

Bob Califf – Provided the words on pieces of paper.

Tom Couch – Enunciator, who says that he failed to realize the seriousness of the spellers and “their wrath rained down” upon him. There was no preparation for enunciators, no definitions, or rules of order.

Levi Terrill - Enunciator

Patricia Price – Committee member/enunciator

Harold Moore - timekeeper

1971 Spellers:

J. Richard (Dick) Price – 1^st place

Taylor Murray - 2^nd place (GSU professor)

Jonathan Jackson (Anthony Jonathan Pendlebury Jackson, AJPJ, an Englishman)

Arthur (Buddy) Blakely

Daisy Adley (who may have come up with the Bee idea)

Patti Wallace

Tom Hatcher

Billie McWhorter Brown

Other early years included “celebrity enunciators” such as Hank Ezell of the Atlanta Constitution and wife Reva Ezell of WABE, Mike Bucki of WABE. Other enunciators were Adrina Richards (whose husband was Donny of Village Bookstore), Bob Califf, Sidney Califf, Maxine Turner, and Beverly Couch.

Dr. Eugene Brown won three years in a row (1981-83). He was added to the committee, to give other competitors a chance. In 1988 he added two ex-winners to the committee, Patti Wallace and Dyna Kohler. Dr. Brown brought more structure to the process. Words were checked against multiple hardback unabridged dictionaries. Personal computers made it easier to archive words and avoid repeats.

Patti retired in 1993, and Ed Martin, a two-time winner was persuaded to replace her. At that time, only Dr. Brown had won three times. Terrill Soules, our next 3-time winner, joined in 1998. “Three time winners” became our criteria for adding new members.

In 2001 the Bee moved to Manuel’s Tavern. The Stein Club had ceased to exist. Mauel's was a natural fit, and provided more space and food.  The date was also shifted from the original last Saturday in January, to the current Saturday after Valentine’s Day.

In the Stein Club years, the smoke was often overpowering and competitors and enunciators might get drunk and argue. These days, most competitors are more addicted to words than nicotine or alcohol. Terrill Soules said that when he came in second he realized that if he didn’t drink beer, he could probably win! After that, he won three years in a row.

Committee members:

Dyna Kohler & husband John Kohler have been on the committee since 1988, providing continuity. Dyna won in 1986. She was illustrator for the Great Speckled Bird in the 1970s,. After a Master’s in Anthropology, she stumbled into the corporate world for the next 20 years, retiring in 2006. She does watercolor and volunteers for the Park Service. John Kohler retired in 2003 as Dean of Arts and Sciences at Clayton State University, and still teaches historiography.

Beatie Divine joined the committee after her 3rd win in 2004. Her education was in linguistics. She works for the CDC in the malaria division, which sends her to various African countries.

Nancy Nethery joined the committee after her 3rd win in 2009. She works for Cox Enterprises, and was one of the founding editors of AccessAtlanta (fka Prodigy). She has degrees in International Relations & Economics. As a child she competed in the National Spelling Bee. Her husband Kenneth Rogers has also been recruited to help during the Bee.

A bit about other previous committee members, since Dr. Brown's tenure:

• Dr. Brown, our first 3-time Bee winner, now deceased, was a retired internist at Emory. He was a Mensa member and taught continuing education courses in such things as philosophy and Greek comedies. He was a 40-year member of a Great Books discussion group. For many years he was active in ballroom dancing and in annual Smithsonian seminars at Oxford University in England. He passed away in 2004.
• Patti Wallace, a 2-time Bee winner, with a degree in French romance novels, served on the committee from 1988 to 1993.
• Ed Martin, a 2 time Bee winner, had been a lawyer, a forester, a college instructor, and then a city planner in Nevada City California. He served from 1993 to 2008.
• Terrill Soules, a 3-time winner, is a teacher, a poet and is doing his own translation of Dante’s Inferno. He served from 1998 to 2010.
• Karen Peterson, a 3-time Bee winner, lives in South Carolina, works for Greenville News and is raising a family. She served in 2000.

If you would like to provide more information on some of the early history of the Bee, we would love it. Reply to Beekeepers on the Contacts page. Thanks!