While handbells are her love, the job that pays the bills for Sue is being a Director, Human Resources for Travelers Insurance supporting 350 employees in two Virginia offices. She has rung at Distinctly Bronze on and off (mostly on) since 2003. She held various positions on JRR’s Executive Board including at-large member, Vice-President, and President. Sue joined The James River Ringers, Richmond Virginia’s auditioned community handbell ensemble, in 1999. Sue started ringing handbells in the late 1980s and currently is active as an on-call substitute for churches throughout Richmond. Their son, Brian, followed in his parent’s footsteps as a low brass player – he was a tuba player in both high school and college. She met her husband, David, on the marching band practice field at JMU. She marched at the collegiate level with “Virginia’s Finest”, The James Madison University Marching Royal Dukes and is a life member of Kappa Kappa Psi, the national honorary band service fraternity. Sue played bassoon and euphonium from middle school through college. Atkins, PHR, CEBS, of Richmond, Virginia, has been involved in instrumental music most of her life. Handbell highlights include: 3 performances at Disney World directing the Weddington UMC Youth Handbell Ensemble participation in Distinctly Bronze East since 2002 and Distinctly Bronze West since 2014-2017 performing the National Anthem for the Washington Nationals and Texas Rangers and performing onstage with the Raleigh Ringers as part of Virtuoso 20. She lives near Charlotte with her husband, Milton, who is a fellow ringer. Even though she works for an Insurance Agency to pay for her handbell addiction, Sarah received a Music Education degree from Wingate University where her principal instrument was French Horn and secondary instrument was flute. Sarah currently rings with Queen City Ringers (since 2002 and is currently President) and with The Raleigh Ringers (2017 was her first year!). Thankfully she jumped at the chance as she has been playing bells ever since. Since she could read music, she was on the short list of recruits. In 1994 her church purchased a set of handbells. Sarah’s start into handbells began like so many folks out there. He has written articles for the national handbell magazine “Overtones”, and has arranged and composed over 40 pieces of handbell music. This summer, he will be the co-conductor for the 2018 All-Star Handbell Ensemble at the National Seminar in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Payn, and, he also conducted the Distinctly Teen ensemble at the Handbell Musicians of America National Seminar in Dallas, Texas. In 2015, Nick was chosen as the first-ever Associate Conductor for Distinctly Bronze, under the mentorship of renowned conductor, Dr. Nick has served as faculty, clinician, and conductor at handbell events in 13 states, Washington DC, and internationally in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan. He is also in his tenth year as the handbell director at Bush Hill Presbyterian Church in Alexandria, Virginia. He is in his twelfth year as the director of handbell ensembles at the Potomac School in McLean, Virginia, teaching instrumental music to 5th – 12th grade students in four handbell ensembles. Nick Hanson received a BA degree from Concordia University, Irvine, CA, as a major in music with concentration in handbells.
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