Featured Volunteer
Holly Whaley
Holly Whaley first became involved with the Nashville Chamber Orchestra (NCO) in 2006 and has quickly become a valued and treasured part of the NCO team. Her first involvement was as a member of the “Music without Boundaries Gala” Committee that put on the orchestra’s participation in the opening festivities for the Schermerhorn Symphony Center. She has gone on to become a member of the Board of Trustees, and this year serves as chair of the orchestra’s Event Committee. She co-chaired a first-time fundraiser, the NCO “Opening Act Luncheon” on October 12th, which was the largest and most successful fundraiser the NCO has ever hosted.
Holly is the Director of Corporate Communications at EMI Christian Music Group and the Executive Director of The Sparrow Foundation. She is a member of NARAS, GMA, the Brentwood Chambers of Commerce, Leadership Brentwood, Fellowship Bible Church and enjoys volunteering for many community organizations. In addition to her membership on the NCO Board of Trustees, she is also a member of the Board of Directors for Barefoot Republic Camps and Brentwood Arts Foundation. This year she has served as Chairman of the Nashville Public Library Gala Patrons Party and the L’ Ete’ du Vin Premier Auction. Her work in the creation and development of Nashville’s Best Cellars Dinner has helped raise over $1,000,000 for the T.J. Martell Foundation. Other organizations for which Holly has volunteered include the Gospel Music Association’s Hall of Fame, the American Heart Association’s Heart Gala, Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital’s Iroquois Steeplechase and Hunt Ball, and the Brentwood Cool Springs Chamber of Commerce’s Star Gala for which she was awarded the Ann York Huff Volunteer of the Year. Holly resides in Nashville with her husband Mark Whaley DDS and her son Trevor, a junior at Baylor University.
Teresa Driver
The Senior Center for the Arts and the Nashville Dinner Theatre would like to nominate Teresa Driver for volunteer of the month. Teresa has been our stage manager for over two years and counting. She volunteers endless hours organizing a cast of sometimes 65 people. It can be a bit of a challenge when 65 people are asking you questions and you are expected to answer them. Most people would just blow them off, but Teresa does not rest until she has an answer and puts that person at ease. Volunteering for us is not do to extra time, Teresa is a very busy CPA and is raising two teenage daughters.
Teresa recently graduated from Leadership Donelson/Hermitage and is very active in her community. In addition to volunteering multiple hours for the Nashville Dinner Theatre Teresa also volunteers her time for such organizations as Relay for Life and the Donelson Senior Center. We are very thankful for Teresa and literally could not do it without her.
Jean Gauld-Jaeger
The Tennessee Art League wishes to nominate Jean Gauld-Jaeger as the volunteer of the month. Jean moved to Nashville in 1997 to work as the Director of Patient Affairs at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. During that period she resumed her love affair with painting.
Over the years, Jean formally studied art in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and started to share her knowledge with others as an instructor. The move to Nashville revitalized both a desire to continue painting and to teach others how to paint. In addition, Jean began to develop a long history of actively supporting the visual arts in the community. As a member of the Tennessee Art League, Jean and her husband Chuck, have volunteered countless hours to promote and support the organization and their mission of providing visual arts classes, workshops, lectures, and exhibits to the community. Jean currently volunteers as the Chairman of the Gallery Committee for the TAL. This means that she organizes, manages, and participates in the monthly art exhibit installations at the TAL.
After retiring from Vanderbilt Medical Center in 2003, Jean became even more active in the community as a member of The Chestnut Group of Plein Air Painters, The Portrait Society of America, The Nashville Artists’ Guild, and Oil Painters of America.
People working, living, or visiting Nashville may have seen or spoken with Jean as she sets up her easel on the sidewalk to paint beautiful scenes of our city. Whether it has been a brief encounter with the artist painting the cityscape, or meeting the knowledgeable docent in the TAL Gallery, people who meet Jean are charmed. Her warm and inviting personality has done so much to infuse and inspire the creativity in so many people in Nashville and has done so much to promote Nashville as an Arts City.
Patsy Vaughan
Patsy Vaughan is a valuable resource to the Tennessee Performing Arts Center, volunteering at TPAC for over seven years. She regularly assists with HOT (Humanities Outreach in Tennessee), a TPAC Education program that brings schoolchildren across the state to the center for a wide range of performing arts programming. Patsy provides the young audience with guidance and care and sees that they remain safe and supervised during their visit to TPAC. She has also taken on several leadership roles in the volunteer program, utilizing her skills and experience at TPAC. She serves as a Lead Volunteer for Jackson Hall performances and makes those with accessible needs feel secure and comfortable when they come to the facility. Not only does Patsy volunteer on a weekly basis for us, she also volunteers at several other organizations in town and her commitment to building a better community is inspiring.
Heather Thorne
Heather Thorne joined Friends of Nashville Ballet in 1999, and quickly became involved with supporting the ballet as the parent representative on the ballet’s board. Her son, Owen, was a student at the School of Nashville Ballet, and is now dancing professionally. She has hand-made countless delectable chocolate candies and sewn innumerable pillows to be sold, organized the Parent Association as a separate entity, and worked tirelessly at The Ballet Boutique raising funds for the company and the school. She was elected President of the Friends of Nashville Ballet, guiding this organization for three years, after serving two years as President-Elect. In the past five years, Heather has expanded her role within the ballet, becoming more involved as the photographer for the company, capturing the dancers and performances of Nashville Ballet. Her pictures were featured in a public show as part of The Arts in The Airport exhibit this past year. She continues to serve on the Board of Directors, and consistently spends fifteen to twenty hours per week volunteering her time towards the ballet. Her passion for dance is evident in throughout her work, her pictures grace the new season brochure; the staff and dancers applaud Heather Thorne for her gift of time, and for sharing her talents to help make Nashville Ballet the best it can be.
Gloria Jackson
Gloria Jackson is a volunteer with interests in both the performing arts and the visual arts.
Gloria and her husband, Bob, moved from Alabama to the Sumner’s Shackle Island community in December of 2000 in anticipation of retiring. While a son and grandson live in the Atlanta area, Nashville was chosen for its location, good transportation, cultural activities, and high quality of life.
Gloria is a volunteer with the Nashville Opera Guild. She is a member of the Opera Guild’s Board, managing the Guild’s Boutique. While living in Alabama, Gloria and Bob had attended Nashville Opera performances and Opera Guild functions, where the friendliness of Lee McMurray, Marion Couch and Shelly Page further whetted their interest in the opera and in the Nashville community. Without family in the area, Gloria soon became involved as a volunteer with the Nashville Opera Guild, Tennessee Performing Arts Center and Tennessee Repertory Theater. Gloria enjoys the excitement of being involved with and attending the high quality operatic and stage productions available in Nashville. She works tirelessly to help other people share in that excitement.
Gloria and Bob are members and supporters of the Frist Center for the Visual Arts; Hendersonville Arts Society and Creative Photography Club.
Gloria is a emerging visual artist, who studies with Charles Brindley and who has participated in exhibitions in the local community.
