About our Director, Sheila Nugent

Sheila Nugent became Piney Hills Harmony's director in 2011. Prior to that she served as interim director and assistant director and has been a member of Sweet Adelines since 2003. Other chorus positions that she has held include president, board member, bass section leader and Visual Team member.

Sheila regularly attends Sweet Adeline regional summer music camps and seminars and has also attended the organization's International Education Symposium. She has sung bass and baritone in several quartets and currently sings lead with her quartet, Rhapsody.  She has also sung and competed internationally as a dual member with Top of the Rock Chorus in Little Rock, Ark. For her outstanding contributions to Piney Hills Harmony, Sheila was voted local Sweet Adeline of the Year in 2004.

Sheila has a deep admiration for Sweet Adelines International and for Piney Hills Harmony Chorus in particular. "I love the close-knit, familial relationship that our chorus has," she says. "The love and warmth that our chorus shows each other is unbelievable. It is truly an honor to be a part of such a talented, giving group of women." Sheila also loves to hear the "lock and ring" of barbershop chords. "To me, no other form of music can compare to barbershop. When four voices are so blended together so completely, so true and pure that an overtone is created simply through four voices singing together as one... the ability to create such a beautiful sound is truly a blessing from God."

Sheila is currently the curriculum strategist at Simsboro High School. She recently completed her Doctorate of Education at Louisiana Tech University. She has been married to the love of her life, Kevin Nugent, since March, 2009, and has a wonderful step-daughter, Madeline. She and her family make their home in Ruston, LA.

Please contact Sheila if you have any questions about Piney Hills Harmony!

About our Assistant Directors:

Donna Fike and Sallie Rose Hollis

Donna Fike is assistant director of sound and musical expression. Donna joined Piney Hills Harmony and Sweet Adelines International in 2004. Donna currently sings tenor in Rhapsody, a Sweet Adelines quartet that performs both with the chorus and throughout the area. Other Piney Hills Harmony duties include current service as tenor section leader and member of the Music Staff and former service on the board of directors. She is in the process of completing the Directors Certification Program offered by Sweet Adelines International. For her contributions to the chorus, Donna was elected local Sweeet Adeline of the Year in 2008.

Donna brings a lifetime of vocal experience to the job. She has been a member of her church choir since age 12 and also directed her church choir for eight years. Additionally, Donna has directed several ensembles that placed in state and nationwide competitions.

"I have loved every moment of Sweet Adelines, ever since I joined," Donna said. "I'm very honored to serve the chorus in this position. I always have a song in my heart."

Donna has been married to her husband, Terrell, for 47 years and live in Monroe, LA. They have two children, Kimberly and Timothy, and six wonderful grandchildren.

Sallie Rose Hollis is assistant director of showmanship and visual expression.  Sallie Rose has been a member of Piney Hills Harmony and Sweet Adelines since 1989. Through the years, Sallie Rose has served as Piney Hills Harmony president, Visual Team coordinator, baritone section leader, marketing director and Script Committee chair. Previous musical experience includes playing the flute and piano.

"I found the Sweet Adelines when a wonderful, older lady in church suggested that another woman and I try out the Ruston chapter," Hollis said. "I attended a rehearsal and never looked back. Now, I've enjoyed almost two and a half decades of Sweet Adeline experience and can't imagine life without it. I grew up singing a cappella, and when I discovered alto harmony in the ninth grade, I thought I had died early and already gone to heaven."

Sallie Rose is currently the most veteran member of the chorus, having joined in 1989. In 2001 she was named the chapter's first Sweet Adeline of the Year.

Sallie Rose is married to the talented artist Hooshang Khorasani. They live in Ruston and have a vacation home in Orange County, Calif., where Sallie was a dual member of the nearby Golden Sands Chorus in Long Beach for several years. She retired from Louisiana Tech in 2008 as an associate professor journalism and assistant director of the university News Bureau; she had worked there for 34 years.