Alumni Profile: Ferrell Nolan ’70

We recently reached out to Ferrell Nolan ’70 and asked him what he has been up to UGA. Read on to see what Ferrell had to say!

Who do you still hang out with from Kappa Alpha Order?

Reed Konigsmark, Neil Holloway, George Lawton, Preston (Skip) Saunders, James Tallman, Currell Berry

My family & current business: 

My wife, Marian, and I currently live on a 9 acre farm in Marietta, GA located right next to the 3100 acre Kennesaw Mountain Battlefield National Park, where our small business (Dovetail Farm, LLC) is boarding up to five horses. Having direct access to the Park’s 20 miles of trails attracts horse owners. Our barn manager lives in the apartment located above the barn, and the three of us love getting up early, cleaning stalls, completing innumerable farm projects (repairs & improvements) and serving our customers. One of our three children, Elise, lives in Atlanta, is happily married with three children. Our other two happily married children are Epsie & Bernard, the first living in Spartanburg, SC while Bernard, having five sons, resides on Talahi Island, GA. Bernard and his wife, both professional artists, display some of their paintings in Joe Saffold’s (KA @ UGA) art gallery located in Savannah.

Career and transition to retirement: 

After graduate school at the University of South Carolina, employed at two investment consulting firms in Atlanta, Hazlehurst & Associates and TPF&C, where we managed (selected & monitored money management firms) $200 million of Delta Airlines’ pension assets. Transitioned from the investment world to IBM in 1976, and after 28 years with IBM, my favorite job being managing part of IBM’s Advanced Business Institute located outside of Armonk, NY, departed IBM in November, 2003 and purchased above mentioned farm and started our horse business.

God interceded my life in 1973 with a MIRACLE:

In 1973 during the last semester of graduate school, I was assigned to create a sample company, run it through the product life cycle, provide pro-forma results and make a presentation. While looking for a model, existing company that I could replicate, a fellow golfer suggested The Dimensional Development Company located in Atlanta, then experimenting with 3-D photography. I visited this company, met the general manager who took me on a tour and provided a stack of information that would enable the achievement of my assignment. Throughout my visit there was much mention of Jerry Nims, the owner and creator of this 3-D concept, but that day Mr. Nims was not in the office. Two weeks later, the more I thought about Mr. Nims’ company and the nice employees & management, I began to have the desire to meet Jerry Nims and discuss possible employment. Right then, Marian and I got an invitation from Reed Konigsmark, former KA roommate, to visit Atlanta and to, of all things in which I would not have an interest, attend the Billy Graham Crusade at the Atlanta Braves Stadium. Driving to Atlanta from Columbia, SC, all I could think about was wanting to meet Jerry Nims, but we had gotten a late start and it would be too late to again stop by his firm. The next day, sitting in the stadium, first listening to Corrie Ten Boom and then Billy Graham, who as he gave the gospel invitation and thousands of people were responding and moving down to the baseball field, I leaned over to Marian and said, “what a bunch of idiots”. Her response: “I’m one of those idiots and also want to go down there.” Oh no, not my own wife?! So, I reluctantly walked down with her and as I stepped onto the grass field, a Crusade counsellor approached and introduced himself to me, “Hi, I’m Jerry Nims!” “Jerry, two weeks ago I visited your business, The Dimensional Development Company. Yes, he said, my GM told me about your visit. But Jerry, this meeting today is impossible. No, Ferrell, with God all things are possible. Jerry, I want to know this magnificent God;” Jerry immediately explained to me how to become a Christian and I gave my life, my everything to the Lord Jesus Christ and have never looked back with any regret. Praise and thanks be unto Him!!

Revelation:

At age 74 I may have finally caught on to what Jesus tells us in Matthew 22:36-40 are the two greatest commandments, that of loving God with all of our heart, soul & mind AND loving our neighbor as ourselves. When we seek & love Him, His Holy Spirit becomes the enablement for us to love, evangelize, serve, help, pray for, give to our neighbor, even the least of them (whatever you do to the least of them you do to Me also). Then, in Matthew 6:33, “seek you first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these (other) things shall be added unto you.” Therefore, if we highly prioritize the two greatest commandments, God will take care of the rest of our lives via the fruit & gifts of His Spirit. Each day, we ask Him to purge us, draw us and enable us to fall more deeply in love with Him, and we ask for opportunities to “love our neighbor” and as we serve others, God fills us with peace & fulfillment & joy!

Value from being a KA:

Camaraderie in a family away from home, enhancing the development of character, integrity and confidence. Brothers convinced me to change my major from Forestry to Business, which enabled me to adequately raise and support my family. Met my wonderful wife, Marian, via a KA/XO social.