Category: Past Speakers

Join us for a special Christmas program including the Prichard Prep Singers and the McGill-Toolen Chamber Singers.

A native of Seattle, Washington, Commander Emily Bassett graduated from Boston University (BU) with a Bachelor of Arts in Classical Civilizations. She earned her commission through BU’s Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC) program. She is a Nuclear trained Surface Warfare Officer.
Afloat, Bassett completed her first division officer tour aboard the amphibious landing dock ship USS Rushmore (LSD 47) as combat information center officer and assistant operations officer. After nuclear power training, she completed her second division officer tour aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) as the reactor laboratories division officer. She completed two department head equivalent tours, first as operations officer on USS Ingraham (FFG 61) and then as reactor electrical assistant on USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72). She served as executive officer on USS Arlington (LPD 24), certifying every warfare area in the ship’s first training cycle and commencing the ship’s maiden deployment. Basset has completed five deployments, to include support in the western pacific, CARAT, Operations Enduring Freedom, Southern Watch, and Iraqi Freedom.
Ashore, Bassett was selected for an Olmsted Scholarship and earned a Master’s degree in Hispanic Studies, taught in Spanish, from the University of Cadiz, Spain. She served as Commander, Naval Air Forces Atlantic’s Force Reactor Training Assistant, and has a Master’s degree in Engineering Management from Old Dominion University. She has completed the Air Command and Staff College program for Joint Professional Military Education Phase I.
Currently, she is the commanding officer of LCS Crew 214, PCU Manchester (LCS 14).

Mark Sealy
Fire Chief
Chief Mark Sealy has served with the Mobile Fire Department for over 26 years. He began his career as a Firemedic and has progressed steadily through the ranks of the fire department. He has experience in all aspects of fire service including Driver on both suppression and medic units, Captain on both engine and ladder companies, and as a District Chief in both operations and in training. He was promoted to the position of Fire Chief for the City of Mobile on May 14, 2017.
Sealy’s specialty training includes hazmat, urban search and rescue (USAR), as well as being a SCBA specialist (smoke diver), nationally registered paramedic, and fire instructor. He is well respected among firefighters for his professionalism and his ability to motivate others.
Born in Mobile, Alabama, Chief Sealy began his professional career as a United States Marine, where he served as Sergeant of a Reconnaissance Unit, earning consistent commendations for devotion to duty. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Fire Science from Columbia Southern University. He is presently enrolled in the Executive Fire Officer Program at the National Fire Academy.

WILLLIAM E. BARRICK, PhD.
Dr. Barrick began his formal career in Horticulture by serving as an Assistant Professor in Ornamental Horticulture at the University of Florida. He later became the Executive Vice-President and Director of Gardens at Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain Georgia serving in that capacity for almost twenty years before becoming Executive Director of Bellingrath Gardens and Home in November 1999.
Dr. Barrick is a Past President of the American Public Garden Association, Past Chairman of the American Horticultural Society, 1994 recipient of the Arthur Hoyt Scott Horticulture Medal and the 2012 Governor’s Tourism Award from the Alabama Tourism Department, Recently he has been awarded the Liberty Hyde Bailey Award from the American Horticultural Society and a Distinguished Alumni Award from the College of Agriculture at Auburn University.
Bill has been a member of the Rotary Club of Mobile since 2000 and is a Paul Harris Fellow.

Paula Lenor Webb, Government Documents Reference and Outreach Librarian at University of South Alabama, Mobile, Alabama, obtained her MLIS from the University of Alabama. Paula is a member of the Southeastern Library Association and Alabama Library Association. She has appeared in many academic publications, including two published this year. Paula also received 2011 Mover and Shaker Award and the 2012 ALLA CUS Research Award. In 2016, she decided to try something new. She broke away from working only on academic publications and tried to learn and write more about the city she was born in: Mobile, Alabama. She has since edited the Mobile Genealogical Society publication, Mobile Mayor’s Court Reports: 1865 and authored the History Press publication, Mobile Under Siege: Surviving the Union Blockade. In 2017, she co-edited the Mobile Genealogical Society Publication, Mobile Mayor’s Court Reports:1864. This month, she has an article about Octavia Walton LeVert published in the Mobile Bay Magazine.