Nov/Dec 2009

Golden!"#$" GoldenIsles NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2009 Vol.2009 4 No. 4 November/December Vol. 4 No. 4

M AG A Z I N E MAGAZINE

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Twenty Forty

THE YOUNG PROFESSIONALS: CLASS OF 2009

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GoldenIsles MAGAZINE

November/December 2009

FEATURES

OntheCover

Golden!"#$" NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2009 Vol. 4 No. 4

M AG A Z I N E

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100 YEARS ON THE GRIDIRON by Bob Dart Glynn Academy’s long love of football

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MADMEN AND WOMEN OF THE GOLDEN ISLES How closely does art imitate life?

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20 UNDER 40 Bright young things of 2009

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THE IDIAT AND THE ODD-YSSEY by Harlan Hambright The journey continues THE YOUNG PROFESSIONALS: CLASS OF 2009 cover.indd 1

10/7/09 6:06 AM

Meet the 2009 Class of 20 Under 40.

Top row, from left: Matthew Coleman, Christy Trowbridge, Catherine Klein, Jason Hodges, Lindsey Mason, Candice Temple.

Second row: Senetra Haywood, Chris Thomas, Abney Whitehead, Brian Parks.

Third row: Tommy Stroud, Katie Brown, Jarrett Bridges, Patrice Havens.

Fourth row: Shannon Webb, Elizabeth Weatherly, Carter Akins, Beth Lemke, Zack Gowen, Brooks Good.

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BEHIND THE HEADLINES AT NEW HOPE by Bob Dart Part I: Death calls on a Saturday

COLUMNS

Crime scene at New Hope Plantation

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FLO ON FOOD by Florence Packard Anderson Raccoons and red velvet

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GOLDEN STYLES A few of our favorite things

12 Cover by Joe Loehle

PAR FOR THE COURSE by Thomas D. Brinson A positive impact on your game

DEPARTMENTS 54

CHRISTMAS PAST by Jennifer Brown Beware of the Christmas Elf

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THE ARTS by Jan Lane Harper Celebrating 25 Christmases of Handel’s “Messiah”

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LAST CALL by Jason Little JMac’s Pumpkin Spice Martini

2009 soloists for Handel’s “Messiah”

2 GOLDENISLESMAGAZINE.COM

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GoldenIsles MAGAZINE

Contact us: 247 Edwards Plaza St. Simons Island, GA 31522 (912) 634-8466 PUBLISHER C.H. Leavy IV EDITOR Amy H. Carter DESIGN/ART DIRECTOR Bob Swinehart DESIGN ASSISTANT Stacey Willis CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Alexandra Brinson Benjamin Galland Harlan Hambright Joe Loehle Brooke Roberts

ESTATE PLANNING “INTENTIONALLY DEFECTIVE GRANTOR TRUSTS�

ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Heath Slapikas

It is certain that many changes are around the corner regarding laws which govern estate and gift taxes.

Estate and generation skipping transfer (GST) taxes are scheduled to be repealed in 2010, but only for one year. The 2001 Economic and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act sunsets and estate and GST taxes revert back to the laws in place prior to the 2001 act. It is unknown at this time exactly what congress will do.

Many bills have been introduced and once the health care debate is settled, the next item on the agenda will be new tax legislation. Most of the bills introduced eliminate or reduce estate planning techniques which take advantage of discounting asset values and freezing the appreciation. Today is the time to take advantage of the available estate planning techniques.

RETAIL SALES MANAGER Burt Bray

One commonly used method by estate tax planners is an “Intentionally Defective Grantor Trust� (IDGT).

This technique freezes the value of assets for estate tax purposes while transferring the assets out of the estate free of any gift taxes. An IDGT is a complete transfer to a trust for transfer tax purposes but an incomplete, or “defective,� transfer for income tax purposes. Because the trust is irrevocable for estate and gift purposes and the grantor has not retained any powers that would create estate tax inclusion, the future value of the assets transferred is removed from the grantor’s gross estate on the date the trust is funded. Since the grantor retains certain powers, the trust, is treated as a grantor trust for income tax purposes, although the trust is irrevocable. Therefore, the grantor, though not a beneficiary, is taxed on all the trust’s income, even though he or she is not entitled to any trust distributions.

The IDGT can be structured to receive the gross income generated from the trust’s income-producing assets, which will accrue to the benefit of the trust’s beneficiaries. The IDGT also allows the grantor the opportunity to remove future appreciation from the grantor’s estate and at the same time maintain control over the assets.

This is only one of many techniques which may soon be eliminated. Some others include Family Limited Partnerships, Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts, Qualified Personal Residence Trusts, Life Insurance Trusts, Family Dynasty Trusts, and Charitable Trusts, just to name a few.

Moore Stephens Tiller LLC is available to assist with your estate planning. Please contact us at any of our offices to discuss further Intentionally Defective Grantor Trusts or any other estate planning options.

Please contact us soon before current tax laws are changed!

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Ben P. Lee, CPA, CGFM, CFO

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4 GOLDENISLESMAGAZINE.COM

ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE Megan Edens CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Frank Lane Golden Isles Magazine is published six times per year by The Brunswick News Publishing Co. Postmaster: Send change of address to The Brunswick News Publishing Co., P.O. Box 1557, Brunswick, GA 31521-1557. Periodicals postage paid at Brunswick, Ga. USPS-068180.

Submissions: Golden Isles Magazine is always in search of talented contributors. Unsolicited queries and submissions of art and stories are welcome. Please include an email address and telephone number.

Submit by email to the Editor, Amy Carter, at acarter@goldenislesmagazine.com or by regular mail to Golden Isles Magazine, 247 Edwards Plaza, St. Simons Island, GA 31522. Only work accompanied by a self-addressed stamped envelope will be returned.

Advertising: Information regarding advertising and rates is available by contacting Megan Edens by phone at (912) 634-8408 or by email at medens@goldenislesmagazine.com.

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EDITOR’S NOTE Amy Carter, first daughter

One day recently I was sitting at my desk, staring at the window blinds and waiting for inspiration to strike, when the phone rang. The caller said she and her husband were visiting from out of town and had picked up a copy of Golden Isles Magazine. They’d been debating between themselves whether the editor, Amy Carter, is the real Amy Carter, the president’s daughter. Rather than belabor the point, they called for clarification.

I loved that they cared enough to call, and hated to disappoint with my answer: yes, I am the real Amy Carter, I’m just not that Amy Carter.

My dad’s name is George, not Jimmy. He used to be a Democrat, but not since Carter, I think.

He’s been president of many things, including the Windsor Park Neighborhood Watch Association and the Golden Isles Sport Fishing Club, but never the United States. He likes peanut butter, but he’s never been a peanut farmer. He was born and raised right here in Glynn County as a Horton, not a Carter.

My father-in-law, on the other hand, is a Carter. He’s a Sammy, not a Jimmy, and he was once a farmer, though not a peanut farmer. He was born and raised in Bacon County; still South Georgia, just not Plains. Fun fact: his mother’s name was Lillian. (He has two sisters, neither of whom is named Billy.)

Dr. Carlton Hicks

I have never met the other real Amy Carter, but she did visit my school one day when I was in third grade. I think we passed in the hall as my class was walking to the cafeteria for lunch, but I can’t really be sure. Other than being the same age and both from South Georgia, that’s about the extent of my familiarity with the other real Amy Carter.

Lest you think I’m whining, I laugh at this question every time I get it, and that’s often. It’s kind of exciting to be mistaken for a famous person, and funny that it should come up just before this issue went to press.

My new favorite television show (I have cable again after a 10-year hiatus) is Mad Men. I love the attention to period detail; the storylines that

Amy H. Carter Editor

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• Diagnosis and treatment of eye diseases.

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Our optical features designer frames from:

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weave together real advertising campaigns and the fictitious gyrations behind their births; and Don Draper (not necessarily in that order). One night while watching, I got to thinking: just how much like real life is all of this? Find the answer in “The Real Mad Men and Women of the Golden Isles,” and meet same through the elegant photography of Brooke Roberts.

Another must-read is our annual 20 Under 40 feature, celebrating the accomplishments of young leaders in our community, our local “celebrities,” if you will, who are famous (or should be) for good reasons all of their own making. It’s always fun to be the bearer of good news, and when our nomination process produces a final list and 20 phone calls net 20 surprised and happy responses, it’s like Christmas in September.

Speaking of, the holidays are here once again.

May God bless us, every one, with a Happy Thanksgiving, a Merry Christmas, and a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.

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Coastal Area District Development Authority Cargo Portside Grill City of Brunswick Consultants in Pain Medicine | Dr. Runyan Crabdaddy’s Seafood Grill Dr. Whatley Family Dentistry Frederica House Golden Isles Office Equipment Grand View | The Halter Companies Hasty’s Communications Hatties Books Hodnett Cooper Real Estate Jack Hardman Nationwide Insurance Joe’s Japanese Steakhouse Lai Lai’s Gifts & Interiors Mary Helen Moses, Esquire McGinty Gordon & Associates Pace Builder Services of Jacksonville Pranzo Portside Renue Plastic Surgery Spanky’s Mallside & Marshside Spaulding’s Fine Menswear Stillwater | Culver & DeLoach Real Estate Sweat’s Furniture Tangles Day Spa Tidewater Plantations | Laurel Island Tolomato Partners | Oglethorpe Cottages The Law Office of Denise Esserman November/December 2009 7

FLO ON FOOD

Raccoons and Red Velvet

B

Boy, am I glad I haven’t put away my Christmas decorations yet! You see, last year when I went up into the attic to get the decorations, I was confronted with the biggest mess I’ve ever seen. It seems we had a family of raccoons take up residence in the attic. We knew we had a problem two years ago and had all the appropriate specialists trap, remove, repair and re-roof our humble abode.

Even my husband, Mike, got into the act and trapped 21 of the furry little creatures. (I told him to take them to the mainland and release them so they wouldn’t return.)

Alas, it seems we were outsmarted.

One clever creature found her way back in and proceeded to wreck the place. You are probably asking how we didn’t hear the little darling, but our house is a split level and we are at the far side. (It was a perfect design for raising three kids – peace and quite on our side – but not so good for detecting wildlife in nesting mode.)

Well, I decided that I would get some new décor, forget the mess until the holidays were over, and clean it out in ’09. I did well and managed to find some great deals, but we kind of missed the family treasures that have adorned the tree for the past 60 years or so.

Anyway, got the tree decorated, grandkids were pleased and I managed to get some nice, new

plastic storage boxes to store it all. Of course the storage boxes have been sitting in the back hall for the past year waiting for me to clean out the attic, when lo and behold, it’s Christmas again. Hooray!

The holidays are packed with traditions and as the family gets bigger the family traditions get more involved. Boy oh boy, be careful what you start! My mother’s family was very big on keeping the traditions. My mom must have been exhausted by the time Christmas rolled around, although I know she rallied for New Year’s Eve because she and dad would always

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Brian Parks

Candice Temple

YWCA of Brunswick (912) 265-4100 8 GOLDENISLESMAGAZINE.COM

Abney Whitehead

www.ywcabrunswickga.org

40

go to the Club dance (my sisters and I would enjoy the hats, balloons, and noisemakers the next morning). She would start decorating the house no later than the 15th of December; work at the church roasting and bagging nuts for a week (that was the big fund raiser project; they sold thousands of bags for the holidays); bake and cook for a huge neighborhood Christmas Eve party (held after the 11 p.m. candlelight service); and then help “Santa” erect and decorate the Christmas tree, arrange the gifts, stuff the stockings, prepare a great breakfast for all the relatives and finish with a huge Christmas Dinner for at least 25! This was the way it was until we three girls all reached the “knowing about Santa” stage. After that, the tree went up on the 23rd, but everything else remained the same.

There was always a fresh ham for Christmas Eve, served with wonderful small potato buns and mayonnaise and cranberry jelly. There would be lots of cheese and crackers, vegetables and dip and plates and plates of cookies and pastry and pies. Breakfast would always have scrambled eggs and sautéed chicken livers, and we would be allowed to have cookies and pie all day long. Christmas dinner was a formal affair with a stuffed turkey (bread stuffing cooked in the bird) as the centerpiece.

I always thought we could have posed for The Saturday Evening Post cover. Broiled grapefruit halves would start the meal, followed by a congealed lime, pineapple and cottage cheese salad or Waldorf salad, mashed potatoes, green peas, creamed onions, Brussels sprouts, and for dessert, Banbury tarts, apple pie and red velvet cake. This menu is carved in stone.

Over the years, with each new family added to the tribe, we have added new favorites: beef tenderloin, scalloped oysters, sour cream coffee cake, minced pie with hard sauce, creamed eggs and ham, squash casserole, sweet potato

“thing”, and sour cream coconut cake.

Nothing has been taken off the list, just added. I laugh when I read all of the “lowfat,” healthy recipes. Not this family!

So in the true family tradition of high fat, high calorie, “toxic” red dye, loaded with sugar, and positively delicious, I give you RED VELVET CAKE! After all, Christmas only comes around once a year! (Better make two, the years are going by quicker.)

Happy Holidays Everyone! G RED VELVET CAKE Makes one 2 layer cake 1 ½ cups granulated sugar 2 eggs 2 cups Crisco oil 1 teaspoon vinegar 2 oz. liquid red food coloring 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon salt 2 T. unsweetened cocoa 1 cup buttermilk 1 teaspoon vanilla extract In a large mixer, cream together the sugar and eggs until light and fluffy. Slowly pour in the oil in a thin stream, beating all the while. Add the vinegar and the food coloring; beat well. Stir the flour, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder together and add to the egg mixture alternately with the buttermilk. Add vanilla and beat well.

Pour into two greased and floured 9-inch cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes. Cool and frost with: 1 stick margarine 8-oz. cream cheese 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 box 10x powdered sugar 1 cup chopped English walnuts

Congratulations to Brian Parks, president and CEO, SunTrust Bank, Southeast Georgia, for being recognized as one of Brunswick’s exceptional young business and civic leaders in the 2009 Golden Isle Magazine’s “20 under 40” list.

Cream margarine and cream cheese. Add vanilla and sugar, beat well. Add nuts.

Spread between layers and on top and sides of cooled cake. Store in refrigerator.

Flo Anderson can be reached for tips and advice at flosgalley@comcast.net Flo Anderson took her first restaurant job at the King and Prince Hotel in 1971. She’s been cooking ever since. Her venues have included the Holiday Inn on Jekyll Island, The Flight Plan Café at the McKinnonSt. Simons Airport, and the Emmeline and Hessie. Her final restaurant, The 4th of May Café, endures in the Village. Flo is mother to three and grandmother to seven, all of whom live on St. Simons Island.

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November/December 2009 9

goldenstyles a few of our favorite things in the golden isles

2.To jazz up your waistline from that plain

1. Take these

eco-friendly bags, by Mixed Bags ($10, $12) to the grocery store, beach, or on your next trip! Lady Outfitters, (912) 638-1776

old boring belt, wear this bonefish needlepoint belt by Smathers and Branson. ($165) M.J. Landis Clothier, (912) 634-7605

3.Do good while shopping! TOMS

Shoes: for every pair bought, a pair of shoes is donated to a child in need. ($45) Lai Laiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Gifts and Interiors, (912) 265-8827

4.Who says bright colors are only for spring and summer?

Brighten up any fall or holiday party with this fantastic dress by Lilly Pulitzer. ($278) Cloister Collection, (912) 634-8084

5.Diamonds are a girlâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best friend;

so add these stunners to your everyday wardrobe and glitz things up a bit! ($4,625.95) Ned Cash Jewelers Jewelers, (912) 264-0012

10 GOLDENISLESMAGAZINE.COM

6. Looking for something new to hang on your wall?

Brighten up your room with this original Millie Gosh painting. ($2,200) Mix Art and Interior, (912) 638-4733

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7. It’s not just for summer.

For harsh and frizzy hair, try Davines’ smoothing Love Shampoo ($23) and Love Conditioner ($26). The Island Day Spa, (912) 638-7799

To add a little sweetness to your normal cocktail, try this fruity and delicious housemade sangria. ($5) Bonefish Grill, (912) 634-0246

10. Peddle around this holiday season in style.

This new sky blue Townie Holiday 3i is perfect for a ride on the island. ($630) Monkeywrench Bicycles, (912) 634-5551

9. Get your dinner party started and

spice up conversation with Table Topics’ Not Your Mama’s Dinner Party. ($24.50) The Market on Newcastle, (912) 554-7909

November/December 2009 11

R PFOA A Positive Impact On Your Game R THE E S R COU

by Thomas D. Brinson, PGA Head Golf Professional, Brunswick Country Club Many readers were pleased with the way I related golf to other sports in the previous issue of Golden Isles Magazine. Since that frame of reference proved so effective, think about the other sports you are familiar with as I discuss the importance and technique surrounding the golf impact position (the moment you physically hit the golf ball).

When you impact the golf ball, it is important to concentrate on getting your body into a position that will produce a solid shot. I briefly touched on this a few months ago in my Bumpand-Run article. This position includes your body being behind the golf ball and your hands in front of the ball, as illustrated in the bottom picture at right.

The position of your body during a golf swing is no different than the position you find yourself in while hitting a back hand shot in tennis, or when you hit a pitch in baseball. By keeping your body behind the ball, you allow all the energy from your down swing to be transferred to the golf ball. Imagine how hard it would be to hit a back hand shot in tennis when the ball has already passed by you; or how hard it would be to hit a baseball when it has already crossed home plate. I teach a lot of players who are trying to do just that. They are trying to hit a ball while their body

12 GOLDENISLESMAGAZINE.COM

is lunging or sliding ahead of the golf ball. The result of this is the player losing the power they worked so hard to create in their downswing.

You can work on improving your impact position by first addressing the golf ball; then without taking a swing, move your body to the impact position pictured top right. You may find that it is an odd feeling when your head and body remain behind the golf ball yet your hands have shifted ahead of it. After training your body to feel the proper impact position, these two simple keys will help you get into this position each time you swing a club: first, concentrate on swinging your hands out to the right as far as possible; second, rotate your hips as quickly as possible to clear your body out of the way.

A proper impact position will help you hit more solid shots during a round, just as it will in tennis, baseball or most other sports you can think of.

If you have any questions regarding the proper impact position, feel free to contact me at anytime. G

Email questions or suggestions for future columns to thomasbrinson@brunswickcountryclub.com

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100 YEARS on the GRIDIRON

Glynn Academy Football Celebrates a Rich History

By Bob Dart

M

My history of Glynn Academy football begins in the limbs of a tree above the goal posts and end zone and just behind the fence surrounding Lanier Field. That tree was among the first racially integrated public facilities in Glynn County. Sometimes unable to afford admission to see the Red Terrors, white boys and black boys shared free perches.

Between the ages of 5 and 12, I was frequently one of those young fans. We watched games not only of Glynn Academy but also of Risley High, the African American high school, from the integrated tree during the 1950s when racial segregation divided the South. Incidentally the tree

14 GOLDENISLESMAGAZINE.COM

was across the street from the house where my neighborhood friends, Warren and Howard Mann, grew up. Howard is now superintendent of schools in Glynn County and likely has his own memories of evenings on our tree limbs.

Then as now, a love of high school football united our community. It has been so for 100 years this autumn.

A century ago, Glynn Academy played its first football game. In what surely was the worst loss in school history, the boys from Brunswick lost 90 to 0 to the Douglas A&M â&#x20AC;&#x153;Bâ&#x20AC;? Team in its only contest of the 1909 season. Perhaps stunned by the enormity of that defeat, Glynn did not field

a team again until the 1913 season when the Red Terrors lost twice to Waycross High and once to Benedictine of Savannah but tied Valdosta High and defeated the Florida Military Academy.

Looking back over team pictures and rosters through the decades, familiar faces and family names pop up again and again.

Charlie George in the 1928 team photo looks much the same as his son, Chickie George, appears in the 1964 state champion edition of the Red Terrors. Mavromat. Miller.

Gilbert. Readdick. McClendon. Dankel.

Rose. George. Cate. Names remembered from Glynn Academy football rosters and from Glynn County history. And, yes, Dart.

I played on the 1961, 1962 and 1963 teams.

My brother, Bill, played in 1965, 1966 and 1967 and my brother, Don, in 1967 and 1968. Bill and Don were quarterbacks. A few decades would pass before Bill’s son, Matt, would follow his Uncle Bob as a lineman on the Red Terrors. Our distant cousin black Darts have also played for Glynn Academy – all of us descendants of Urbanus Dart, a founder of modern Brunswick, and all of us survivors of two-a-day summer practices behind the Prep Building.

Many of us grew up dreaming of Friday nights when we would don the uniforms of Glynn Academy. We played PeeWee and Pony and Midget leagues and Junior High

football in preparation for the fleeting glory of running onto the field through the chute formed by the band and cheerleaders. Some went on to play college football but most of us never played real football again after taking off our red and white jerseys and shedding our shoulder pads and helmets for the final time.

There have been stars amongst us: Vassa Cate, a running back in the early 1930s who scored five touchdowns in the first half against Fernandina Beach High and went on to set records returning punts and kick-offs for the University of Georgia Bulldogs. Lamar “Racehorse” Davis, an allstate running back who played in the UGA

Bulldogs’ 1942 “Dream Backfield” with Charlie Trippi, Frank Sinkwich, and Dick McPhee. Hillman Rhodes. George Rose. Tash Van Dora. Johnny Tullos. Albert White, a receiver of renown. Willie McClendon, who followed his Glynn career as running back with stardom for the University of Georgia Bulldogs and the Chicago Bears. Robert Morris. Randy Fisher. Bobby Wilkes, who set passing records. Adam Wainwright, who was an all-state punter before he became a big league pitcher.

And there have been teams that inspired legends.

Over a two-year span, the 1948 and 1949 Red Terrors won 23 of 27 games – November/December 2009 15

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mostly in routs. The 1949 team was 11-0 having scored 430 points to 63 for its opponents as it headed into the state AA championship game against Brown High of Atlanta, which was quarterbacked by Pepper Rogers. The names of players on Glynn’s 1949 team have become hallowed: Sonny George, Bill Brigman, Eddie Dykes, Bob Sherman, Quinton Slaughter, Lee Owens, Hilman Rhodes. Elton Hinson, a guard on that team, would later coach the Red Terrors.

Alas, the team that Atlanta Journal sportswriter Charlie Roberts dubbed “the mercury-heeled whiz-bangs from the flatlands of Georgia’s coastal area” was upset

by Brown 41-13.

A decade would pass before Glynn fielded a region-winning team that was undefeated headed into the state play-offs.

Led by George Rose as a junior running back, the 1958 Terrors also had a galaxy of supporting stars – Joe Moss, Joe Woodham, Jimmy Dix, Billy Cullens, Danny Youngner.

In a South Georgia championship game at Lanier Field still recalled by oldtimers, the Terrors lost 12-6 to a LaGrange High team led by running back Jimmy Burson, who would later play with Rose at Auburn.

The 1963, 1968 and 1972 teams also won region championships.

Glynn’s only state football championship would come in 1964. The team was led by quarterback Tash Van Dora, running back Johnny Tullos and center Galin Mumford, all of whom would go on to play for Georgia Tech, and by linebackers Chickie George and Nick Mavromat – both of whom followed fathers who had played at Glynn. The state championship game at Lanier Field, a 21-18 win against Avondale High, occurred during a driving rainstorm and became athletic lore hereabouts.

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But it is not by wins and losses nor by gridiron stars that a century of football is measured. It is by the thousands of young men who were molded by those decades of torturous practices behind the Prep Building. Former players for Glynn Academy have gone on to serve their country under fire in World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, Iraq and Afghanistan. Dan Kaufman, a defensive back on the 1963 team, became a two-star Army general and academic dean at West Point. We became lawyers, doctors, salesmen, manual laborers, entrepreneurs – sometimes successfully, sometimes not.

At least one of us became a journalist. We dressed out beneath signs in the locker room that said “A Quitter Never Wins and A Winner Never Quits” and “When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going” and none of us have gone through a football season – much less a life – without experiencing losses as well as victories.

Although nostalgia has eased the suffering, I doubt many of us can recall football practices as pleasant pastimes. From

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“It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are.”

- Ernest Hemingway

Bob Dart recently retired as a national correspondent in the Washington Bureau of Cox Newspapers. He has moved home to Glynn County where he grew up and where his great-great-great grandfather, Cyrus Dart, arrived shortly after fighting in the Revolutionary War. His book, a collection of his stories about the South entitled “Downhome: Dispatches From Dixie,” is available at Hattie’s Bookstore in Brunswick and Nicole’s Haircuts in the St. Simons Island Village.

Open Thursday - Monday 10am-6pm ernest h.indd 1

18 GOLDENISLESMAGAZINE.COM

August to November, we breathed in gnats during windsprints and sweated gallons as we drove blocking sleds over the sand and scant grass. The benchwarmers amongst us deserve the most praise for they endured the practices and often failed to reap the rewards of game play. Bound by pain, we united for a common goal – sometimes reaching it, sometimes not, but always striving.

And the true beauty of a century of Glynn Academy football is that boys of our community are still out there on the practice field behind the Prep Building – sweating, suffering, sacrificing, striving – following their forebears as they begin the next 100 years of glorious pursuit.

We wear our “G” jackets with pride. G

8/14/09 10:12:42 AM

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By Amy H. Carter Photography by Brooke Roberts

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What clever ideas ride that amber tide of whisky around the highball glass, droll taglines conjured in a puff of cigarette smoke.

According to the hit AMC cable series Mad Men, that’s the way great marketing campaigns were born in Camelot, where John F. Kennedy was president but the adman was king. Masters of ink and the airwaves, the self-named Mad Men created, packaged and sold the American Dream. A billboard, a page in a newspaper or a magazine, 60 seconds of air time – more than just commercials, these were covenants between seller and buyer: purchase my product and you’ll be sexier, happier, richer and more popular.

Set before the cultural revolution of the 1960s, Mad Men dramatizes the golden age of advertising, when New York City’s Madison Avenue was the center of the marketing universe. Time and technology

have expanded that universe, making it possible for modern day Mad Men and Women to serve clients all over the world from anywhere in the world – including Brunswick and the Golden Isles.

“Our client base is not just here,” says Lawrence Certain, a founding partner of Faulkenberry-Certain Advertising on St. Simons Island, the community’s longest continuously operating image shop for 23 years. “We have clients throughout the Southeast – Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee.”

Certain partnered with Ken Faulkenberry to form the agency in 1987.

Thrust into entrepreneurship not long out of college by a lingering recession, the pair counts among its stable of clients businesses that have trusted their names and reputations to the firm for 7, 8, 9, even 20 years. In the beginning, they shared the market with one or two other

agencies at a time. Today, there are at least four other major players on the scene, along with several boutique agencies. It’s intriguing, in a way, to know so many people in one’s own community who engage in a business worthy of such stylish dramatization on television. It also makes it easier to ask: is what we see on TV at 10 o’clock every Sunday night what that business is really like?

The answer is yes, and no.

“I don’t see our business in that show,” Certain says.

Behind all the smoke and cocktails, the show’s portrayal of the creative process is dead-on, says Jim Wiggins, who founded Blink Marketing and Design in Brunswick with wife Sheri.

The difference between real life and art is, inspiration is more likely to strike at the family dinner table than over drinks and smokes in the office (props that don’t

November/December 2009 21

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22 GOLDENISLESMAGAZINE.COM

feed creativity in most modern day ad agencies, especially not first thing in the morning).

Joseph David Advertising does have a wine bar in its St. Simons Island office that lends a nice mellow air to late-afternoon creative sessions with clients.

“We don’t drink hard liquor all day long like Mad Men,” Beckie Manley says with a smile. “Our sources of inspiration are far broader than the occasional glass of wine. We are inspired by truth, beauty, creativity, ingenuity and results.”

Manley, executive vice president and creative director of JDA, has been a fan of Mad Men since the series began. She says shades of the real process permeate the show, especially as the series’ third season begins to reveal more of protagonist Don Draper’s humanity with clients like Conrad “Connie” Hilton, founder of the Hilton Hotel chain (and greatgrandfather of Paris Hilton).

“Creative people can be complex.

They are dark, intense, but also very passionate,” Manley says. “That passion can be a beautiful thing if you harness it properly.”

Advertising is a sexy business, a business that – true or not – gave us the notion that sex sells. It’s a business of intimacy. Desire fuels most of the buying we do, the fulfillment of a want or a need. It’s difficult, perhaps impossible, to fully satisfy a stranger’s desires, especially with a product or service that you don’t understand.

“I was hooked on Mad Men in the first 10 minutes when Don Draper’s sitting at that bar and he’s asking the bartender, ‘Why do you smoke Old Golds? Why don’t you smoke Lucky Strikes?’ He’s crafting a message, a campaign, an idea, from the information he’s getting from the best source,” Jim Wiggins of Blink says.

“You can be creative,” Sheri Wiggins says, “but unless it hits the target market, delivers the message, it’s not going to be successful.”

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Now that you’re here enjoying Brunswick & The Golden Isles, call your friends, family and business associates and invite them to Come Coast Awhile!™ They too can enjoy our sun-drenched beaches, 198 holes of golf, tennis, fascinating historical sites, water tours aboard a working shrimp boat, dolphin tour or casino cruise ship, fishing and water sports, a new Family Fun Zone, interesting shops and galleries, and great restaurants.

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At top, Ken Faulkenberry and Lawrence Certain, FaulkenberryCertain Advertising Bottom, Beckie Manley and Mark Tilghman, Joseph David Advertising

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November/December 2009 23

Getting it there is half the fun, says Bob Broadus, account manager and business builder for the eponymous agency he owns with wife, Jennifer, on St. Simons Island.

The Broaduses once headed an agency in Atlanta, a city of many competitors and many more media outlets. It’s not particularly imaginative to ask an adman to quantify the value of his services, but Bob Broadus offers an anecdote by way of illustration. Coppertone’s radio marketing strategy years back was to uniformly buy airtime on the three highest-rated radio stations in a given market. In Atlanta, the top three stations were targeted to black listeners who had little if any need for suntan lotion.

There are as many mediums as there are messages – newspapers

24 GOLDENISLESMAGAZINE.COM

and magazines, television and radio, Internet. Each has a different audience with different needs and wants, and different means of meeting both. There’s an art to placing advertisements where they’ll produce the best results. Despite their long familiarity with conventional mediums, the Broaduses are keen on social networking – think Facebook – as a means of building brand loyalty.

Even the oldest agency in town sees the value in new venues.

“We’re old dogs learning new tricks,” Ken Faulkenberry jokes of social marketing. Nowadays, delivering art and copy to a client is as easy as pushing a button on a computer, laughs the guy who remembers when “chasing down FedEx” was the only way to get it there fast.

There’s nothing to fear from technology, they say, no threat to the status quo. A computer may deliver the message, but it still takes heart and soul to give it life.

“No computer, no telephone, no evolution of anything is ever going to replace the human spirit … the talent,” says Jennifer Broadus.

John Daniel started honing his talent before the computers took over. He’s an old-school cut-andpaste man who would not feel out of place in the vintage offices of Mad Men. An alumnus of Ogilvy & Mather (American Express, “Don’t Leave Home Without It”), Daniel speaks of “falling in love” with the coast. In February, he joined Harlan Hambright and Benjamin Galland to form H2O Creative Group on St. Simons Island. Cognizant of the market they’re in, H2O aims to be

From left, Sharon Peck, Benjamin Galland and Jonathan Havens; John Daniel, Anne Goodstein and Harlan Hambright; Jennifer Lewis and Jeff Betts, all of H20 Creative Group.

Come see us at the

GoldenIsles MAGAZINE

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1521 Newcastle Street Historic Downtown Brunswick www.ladyinwhitebridal.com November/December 2009 25

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a â&#x20AC;&#x153;mid-level agencyâ&#x20AC;? offering various imaging and branding services, he says.

The number of agencies in town might seem unusual for a community of 76,000 with few major corporate players. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This is a small market,â&#x20AC;?

Hambright says, â&#x20AC;&#x153;but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s more sophisticated than similarly sized markets in Georgia. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a fairly affluent market for its size.â&#x20AC;?

While Don Draper crafts clever campaigns for the likes of Hilton Hotels and Lucky Strike on TV, H2O brands and markets businesses like Boykin Steel and Crane out of Jesup and Coastal Landscape and Design in Brunswick.

Businesses of every size can benefit from a little professional marketing help, partner Benjamin Galland believes, a refinement of the image into a cohesive and recognizable brand. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We have some little clients who are very cost conscious and believe they shouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t spend any money, and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s very very difficult for us to help them,â&#x20AC;? Hambright says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We have other clients that are very sophisticated and spend tons of money.â&#x20AC;?

Think of the old axiom: You have to spend money to make money.

And then think of the advertising campaigns that endure to this day, even after the advertiser has moved on to a new catch-phrase, a more current spokesperson; thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the goal of Real Madmen and Women, to create a brand that lives forever. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Advertising works,â&#x20AC;? says JDAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Beckie Manley. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If you apply the correct processes â&#x20AC;&#x201C; along with a little faith and trust, a little pixie dust â&#x20AC;&#x201C; it works every time.â&#x20AC;? G

For generations, gracious hospitality and glorious history have been hand in hand at the Jekyll Island Club Hotel - at the center of Jekyllâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fabled Historic District.

Landmark Visits. In five distinctively historic settings, 157 guest rooms and suites await, including the Main Hotel, Annex, San Souci and the splendidly restored Crane Cottage and Cherokee Cottage. All complemented by beautiful courtyards, gardens and abundant recreation from croquet and pool to beach, golf and history tours.

Premier meeting facilities and seasonal childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s program, too.

Landmark Dining. Dining is a cherished tradition here, from grand to casual. Enjoy alfresco dining at the Courtyard at Crane, located within Crane Cottage. And in the main hotel, the Grand Dining Room offers breakfast, lunch, dinner and our legendary Sunday Brunch.

We Invite you to come experience a landmark.

At top, Bob and Jennifer Broadus of Broadus Advertising Bottom, Sheri and Jim Wiggins of Blink Marketing and Design November/December 2009 27

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20 40 Forty

Golden Isles, meet the 2009 Class of 20 Under 40, a group

of outstanding young people who are driven to excel and to achieve, who succeed by balancing their own ambitions with the needs of others and their community. When we asked for nominations from the community this year, the response was resounding and heartfelt; the future is brighter for having these rising young leaders poised to take the helm. Keep an eye out for the faces and the names that grace the pages to follow; they truly are the cream of the crop.

Compiled by Amy H. Carter Photos by Joe Loehle

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Twenty

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Carter Akins

Jarrett Bridges

Age: 32

Age: 32

Occupation: Assistant principal, C. B. Greer Elementary School, Glynn County Schools Education: Bachelor of Arts in English, University of Georgia; Master of Education in Educational Leadership, Georgia Southern University Family: My bride, Suzanne; our children: Lily Kate (4), Branson (3), and twins, Ruthie and Henry (7 months) What are your favorite causes? Obviously, children’s education, and with that, working with teachers to create exciting learning experiences.

Why those causes? I see so many children who simply need someone to believe in them. If I can be that person, if I can teach them how to make better choices, if I can give them the freedom to dream big dreams, then I’ve done OK. Who or what motivates you to succeed? For me, success is about significance. I am motivated by knowing that what I do and how I spend my time is significant to my family, those with whom I share life, and God. How do you define happiness? Riding in my Jeep with the top down; family movie nights; babies that sleep through the night; date nights with my bride; #1 with sweet tea at Chick-fil-A. If you could sum up the story of your life with a favorite book or movie, which would you choose and why? “The Guardian” - My life is a story of God seeking me and never letting go. And though I was never in the Coast Guard, nor do I consider myself Kevin Costner, the spiritual significance of this movie was life-changing to me ... and maybe I secretly wanted to be in the Coast Guard for the cool factor.

Occupation: Account executive, Turner & Associates Insurance Education: Bachelor of Science in Business Management, 1999, Valdosta State University; Master of Business Administration, 2001, Valdosta State University Family: Wife, Courtney Bridges; Daughter, Finley Bridges (1) What are your favorite causes? March of Dimes & American Cancer Society Why those causes? March of Dimes: My daughter Finley was a premature baby-born 5 weeks early and weighing 3 lbs. 11oz. Through the process of her birth and the week that we stayed in the hospital we were blown away at the awesome care that was provided to her. My wife and I decided to research organizations that supported and created awareness for premature births. We were impressed by the March of Dimes, and we are so appreciative of the support that they provide to premature babies.

American Cancer Society: I have two relatives who have battled cancer in the last seven years. In 2007, my first cousin lost a two year battle with leukemia. She was a 21-year-old student at Georgia Tech and she fought so hard for two years, never giving up. Also, my grandmother was a survivor of breast cancer and ovarian cancer. My family is thankful for what the American Cancer Society does for awareness and their impact on our community.

Who or what motivates you to succeed? Two distinct things motivate me to succeed. 1) God has given me my skills, talents and opportunities and I want to honor Him in all that I do.

2) Competition motivates me to succeed. I have been involved in sports all my life and I love to compete.

How do you define happiness? Happiness for me is spending quality time with my wife and daughter.

If you could sum up the story of your life with a favorite book or movie, which would you choose and why?

“Field of Dreams” - I have been involved with baseball all my life and enjoyed all of the experiences that the sport has provided me with. It has driven me to continue to focus on daily improvement in my life. I want to get better every day as a husband, father, friend, co-worker, etc. This movie has elements of faith and positive outlooks on life and those two values are extremely important to me.

November/December 2009 29

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Katie Brown

Matthew Coleman

Age: 26

Age: 35

Occupation: Associate broker, Hodnett Cooper Real Estate

Occupation: Distribution engineer, Georgia Power Company

Education: Frederica Academy and Glynn Academy for high school; University of Georgia Family: Parents, Harley and Brenda Brown; sister, Christy Brown; brother, Brad Brown; sister-in-law, Debbie; nephew, Reese What are your favorite causes? Glynn Heart Association; United Way; American Cancer Society Why those causes? Heart Disease is the No. 1 killer of women, and there is heart disease in my family. As a member of the Brunswick Junior Women’s Club we host the Red Dress Ball, an annual event in February that raises money to support the Glynn Heart Association. I support the United Way because they are involved with numerous community services that strengthen our community as a whole. I support the American Cancer Society not only because my family has been touched by cancer, but also so many people I know have had or know someone close to them with cancer.

Who or what motivates you to succeed? My parents are my biggest supporters and motivators. They sacrificed over the years to ensure my education, and there is no greater feeling than sharing an accomplishment with them and seeing that twinkle in their eyes that lets me know they are proud.

How do you define happiness? Happiness is defined by the little things in life – a smile, a sunset, being with loved ones.

If you could sum up the story of your life with a favorite book or movie, which would you choose and why?

“Breakfast at Tiffany’s”- I wouldn’t say this movie sums up my life, but I love this movie! What girl doesn’t love classic black dresses, Moon River, Tiffany’s, and New York!

30 GOLDENISLESMAGAZINE.COM

Education: General Studies Associates Degree, Georgia Military College, 1994; BS Agricultural Engineering, University of Georgia, 1999 Family: My wife, Beth Coleman; my 3-year-old daughter, Ruby; and my 1-year-old son, Sam What are your favorite causes? Disaster relief, environmental conservation/preservation Why those causes? Disaster relief is important to me because through Georgia Power I have been involved in the restoration of electricity to various communities after natural disasters have occurred. I have witnessed desperate citizens in these communities who were waiting on the most basic necessities and services. Any form of relief during these times gives the people much needed hope that the situation will improve.

Environmental conservation and preservation is important to me because I especially enjoy the environment that the Golden Isles has to offer when the rivers, marshes, roadways and woods are clean and healthy.

Thanks to the many organizations in Glynn and surrounding counties for the effort towards this important cause.

Who or what motivates you to succeed? Over the years, Beth has been my inspiration to achieve whatever goal I was pursuing. Now that we have children, I want to set an example of success for my children by being a good father, a role model, and a provider for our family. I would consider it a success to have my children be appreciative of any opportunities provided to them, motivated to succeed in reaching their goals and dreams, and to be proud of me as their role model and father.

How do you define happiness? Happiness is cooking pancakes on Saturday mornings for my family. It’s listening to Ruby’s very imaginative bedtime stories or watching Sam’s excited reaction towards me when I surprise him at school in his classroom. Happiness is my dates with Beth. It’s also enjoying my job, our home, my hobbies, and most of my responsibilities.

If you could sum up the story of your life with a favorite book or movie, which would you choose and why? I haven’t been able to bring a specific book or movie to mind that sums up my life.

With children 3 years old and under, I actually have not watched many movies or read many books in the last few years. However, if there were a movie that correlated with my life, it would need to include a combination of adventure and drama.

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Brooks Good

Zack Gowen

Age: 35

Age: 33

Occupation: Full time: senior wildlife biologist, Wildlife Resources Division, Georgia Department of Natural Resources. Part time: charter fishing guide/ seafood caterer

Occupation: Owner/general manager of Locos Grill & Pub

Education: University of Georgia, B.S. in Forest Resources Family: Wife: Shelly Good; son: J.T. Good (6 years old); daughter, Ava Grace Good (19 months old); parents, Buck and Beverly Good; sister, Laura Morelli What are your favorite causes? I can’t say that I have a favorite cause or causes. I believe in setting priorities in my lifestyle (i.e. God, family, and service to others) and letting those priorities guide my decisions and actions. While I do not always live up to my expectations, I believe that if I purposefully seek to put the needs of others above my own, my time will be well spent. I have been blessed to have access and opportunities in the great outdoors that most people do not have. I love sharing my knowledge and time with people, particularly kids, and watching their world be enriched by the experience.

Who or what motivates you to succeed?

A couple of things. The most obvious answer is those little faces that smile at me when I walk in the door each evening. I have a responsibility to my family to do the best I can do, both personally and professionally to provide them with the tools they need to succeed. I have had some great role models over the years in both family and friends who have shown me how this needs to be done. I ground my motivations and actions on a strong faith in Christianity, a close group of friends that hold me accountable, and an appreciation for the things that I am getting to do on this ride called life.

How do you define happiness? Happiness is up to you. When you step out of bed every morning, you make the decision whether or not you are going to be happy. Don’t look to other people, more stuff, or the government to make you happy. It is up to YOU. For me, happiness is a cooler full of fish, a cold beverage of choice, and a Bulldog game on the radio. Because I believe happiness is up to me, I will choose to do this as often as I can!

If you could sum up the story of your life with a favorite book or movie, which would you choose and why? Hmmm … I don’t know that my life compares well with any book or movie. My wife may say that I fall somewhere between “The Perfect Storm” and “Dumb and Dumber,” but I would sum it up like this: I live in the greatest place on earth. I have the greatest parents that ever raised a kid. I have a great group of friends.

When I was in 6th grade, I said that I wanted to be a biologist and that is what I became. Folks pay me to take them fishing. I catch alligators for fun. I manage wildlife and outdoor opportunities for the citizens of this great state. I married way above my head and have two beautiful kids. I have never seen a movie or read a book that comes close to that!

Education: Associates in Recording Arts from Full Sail University Family: Wife, Liz Gowen; parents, Jim & Faye Gowen; brother, Michael Gowen; sister, Lesli McQuigg; sister-in-law, Stacy Gowen; brother-in-law, John McQuigg; in-laws, Phillip & Sue Hausladen of Waycross; dog, Milo What are your favorite causes? Child In Crisis & Keeping Brunswick-Golden Isles Beautiful Why those causes? As a member of the Marshes of Glynn Rotary Club we do a lot with Child In Crisis, which is an organization that helps to prevent problems that affect the development of local children in need.

Being on the board of Keep Brunswick-Golden Isles Beautiful, I think it is important to keep our roads and beaches clear of litter, not only because we are a tourist destination, but because I think you should take pride in where you live.

Who or what motivates you to succeed? My wife Liz and the rest of my family.

How do you define happiness? A weekend on Sapelo with my wife and dog and a good book.

If you could sum up the story of your life with a favorite book or movie, which would you choose and why? The one character I most identify with is Konstantine Levin from “Anna Karenina.”

Not all characteristics but some aspects – his pursuit of his lot in life and the meaning of it all; how he questions his inner beliefs and all around him; his hunt for purpose in life and calling I can relate to. Also, how he finds content in manual labor and getting his hands dirty with his workers.

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Patrice Havens

Senetra S. Haywood

Age: 34

Age: 31

Occupation: Owner/director of Southport Academy, a private Christian preschool for ages 6 weeks to Pre-K

Occupation: Youth apprenticeship coordinator, Glynn County Schools

Education: Attended Georgia Southern University majoring in Business Administration

Education: M. Ed. Educational Leadership candidate (Fall 2010); M. Ed. Troy State University; BS Ed. Georgia Southern University

Family: Husband, Jonathan Havens; sons Jackson Henry (age 6) and John Abbott (age 3)

Family: Husband, Terrance Haywood; children, Terrance James, 4; Sydney Elizabeth, 2; Dymond, 14

What are your favorite causes? Children, definitely!

What are your favorite causes? American Cancer Society

Why those causes? After having my own children, I realize what a gift they really are and how important it is for them to get a great start in life. I wanted this to be our focus when we opened Southport Academy.

Why those causes? I am passionate about the American Cancer Society as cancer has been prevalent in my family. Both my maternal grandmother and mother are cancer survivors, and I’ve lost several family members to this disease. Cancer research is important in finding a cure to eradicate this disease, and a way of supporting this research is through the American Cancer Society.

Who or what motivates you to succeed? My family and also the satisfaction of focusing my efforts on something I am passionate about.

How do you define happiness? Seeing my own children, plus the children attending my school thrive. Knowing they are happy during the day while away from mom and dad and that the parents know their children are in a safe, nurturing environment and don’t have to worry.

This gives me great satisfaction.

If you could sum up the story of your life with a favorite book or movie, which would you choose and why? These days, the movie “Baby Boom” comes to mind often as I can relate to someone trying to balance work and family. It is not easy, but you have to keep everything in perspective and focus on finding happiness in the simple things of life.

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Who or what motivates you to succeed? I am motivated to succeed by my family. My husband is my biggest cheerleader! Terrance selflessly supports me in all that I do.

How do you define happiness? Happiness, to me, is the possession or attainment of what one considers good. I consider serving others over myself true happiness in that my self-gratification is found in placing others before myself. “Those who are the greatest among you should take the lowest rank, and the leader should be like a servant.” Luke 22:26 NLT If you could sum up the story of your life with a favorite book or movie, which would you choose and why? “Mission Impossible” – Without the Lord in my life, it is impossible for me to accomplish anything! He has sustained me and kept me, and He is using me as a testament to what He can do. “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13 NLT

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Jason Hodges

Catherine Klein

Age: 26

Age: 26

Occupation: Vice president, Player Relations – Crown Sports Management LLC

Occupation: Public relations manager, Sea Island Resorts

Education: - BA, Speech Communications, University of Georgia, 2005; JD, Walter F. George School of Law, Mercer University, 2009 Family: Mother, Susie Hodges; sister, Nancy Hodges; brother, Wesley Hodges What are your favorite causes? Younger people, especially kids.

Habitat for Humanity Why those causes? Younger People: I feel responsible for the influence I have on younger people. For this, I try to be a positive influence on any younger person I come into contact with. This includes helping them based on how I have been successful and on how I learned from making mistakes. Also, I love working with kids. Their energy is contagious and they are the future. From my perspective, if I can have a positive effect on a kid and they pass this on to someone else, then I will have improved the future.

Habitat for Humanity: This is important to me, because I have seen how easily a small group of people working together can provide a better place to live for someone who needs it. I also love building things. Luckily for me, I have never faced living without a house or even a nice house. If I can help provide this same luxury to someone else, then I should do it without expecting anything in return.

Who or what motivates you to succeed? The act of setting goals and accomplishing them. To me, it’s not about the destination, but the journey of doing what it takes to reach a goal. That’s what living is. Even if I don’t reach my goal, I am likely to become stronger and better for having given it a shot.

How do you define happiness? Wanting more, but needing less.

If you could sum up the story of your life with a favorite book or movie, which would you choose and why? “Big Fish.”

- I knew my dad, but only for five years. This movie made sense to me because I still learn about him through the stories his friends tell me.

Education: Bachelor of Arts in Journalism/Public Relations, University of Georgia Family: Soon-to-be husband, David Denham; parents, Brenda and Jimmy Klein of Athens; brother, Robert Klein of Athens What are your favorite causes? American Cancer Society and United Way Why those causes? My Mom was diagnosed with breast cancer when I was 15. She has now been cancer-free for more than 10 years. I believe that by supporting the efforts of the American Cancer Society and other groups, we will soon have a cure to fight, and hopefully prevent, a disease from affecting individuals, their friends and their families throughout the world. I have served on United Way of Coastal Georgia’s board of directors for just over one year. During this year, I have developed an intimate understanding of how United Way, through its partner agencies, serves more than one half of the citizens in Glynn and McIntosh counties. By giving to United Way, I know that my contribution goes toward the greatest needs in the areas of health, income and education in our community. United Way truly has the ability to make lasting changes.

Who or what motivates you to succeed?

My Dad. Growing up, my Dad always told me, “Fly, C Baby, fly.” He encouraged me at every turn to do the very best that I could do and that the sky was the limit on what I could achieve.

How do you define happiness?

Marrying your best friend. Surrounding yourself with friends and family during the good times and the bad. Warm chocolate chip cookies straight out of the oven. Laughing until you cry. Having faith. The scent of a garden rose.

If you could sum up the story of your life with a favorite book or movie, which would you choose and why? “The Bucket List.” I believe that we should always have a “bucket list.” Life is precious and, by continuously adding to our bucket list (and marking things off!), we each day work toward a life in which we are completely fulfilled.

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Beth Lemke

Lindsey Mason

Age: 38

Age: 25

Occupation: Branch manager and marketing officer, Atlantic National Bank

Education: University of Georgia

Education: B.S. Degree in Business Administration from Presbyterian College, 1993

Family: Parents, Dana and Donna Mason; younger brother and sister, Matt and Mallory Mason

Family: Husband, Matt; dog, Jager; and cat, Paddock

What are your favorite causes? The Gathering Place and United Way

What are your favorite causes? Those that focus on programs designed to help children develop into successful citizens of our community. Communities In Schools of Glynn County is especially important because of its dedication to improve the graduation rate in Glynn County.

Why those causes? These organizations equip the youth of our community with life values, offer healthy extracurricular activities and provide a network of adults and peers that serve as mentors and hold our youth accountable.

Why those causes? The positive development of our children is paramount. Not every child has the opportunities in life that many of us are fortunate enough to have, and sometimes their answer to tough times is to give up, drop out of school or find themselves down a destructive path. Once this happens, their lives can easily spiral downward. It is our responsibility to take every step we can to prevent this from happening.

Who or what motivates you to succeed? It’s not very glamorous, but what motivates me is checking things off of a list. I have multiple “want to do” as well as “need to do” lists, both short and long term. I love completing something and checking it off!

How do you define happiness? Besides riding the Blue Ridge Parkway on a Harley?

If you could sum up the story of your life with a favorite book or movie, which would you choose and why? “The Little Prince” is a book that does not necessarily sum up my life, but it is a book that I try to learn from and remember as I interact with people. It symbolizes open-mindedness. The book also reminds me in a very simple way that the best things in our lives are not necessarily the most tangibly valuable, but the things we see and enjoy every day like friends and family.

“The Little Prince” is naive and curious. He gives everyone and everything the benefit of the doubt. We all probably have room to incorporate a little of those traits into our overly-complicated lives. I know I do.

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Who or what motivates you to succeed? Some day I would like to provide for a family as my parents have done for me. Education is a priority and a lifelong process that is strengthened by experiencing new places, foods and people; therefore, I aim to travel the world.

How do you define happiness? Having everything I need, some of what I want, and enjoying it all with my family and friends.

If you could sum up the story of your life with a favorite book or movie, which would you choose and why? Being a brunette my choice of “Legally Blonde” is ironic; however, I can relate to Reese Witherspoon’s character, Elle Woods. Elle stumbles onto Harvard’s campus within a very small bubble. Throughout her time at Harvard she develops intellectually, goes on to be successful in her chosen profession, meets life long friends and finds the love of her life. The University of Georgia is where I grew into myself, met my best friends and at the end of my days in Athens I fell in love with an old friend.

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Brian R. Parks

Tommy Stroud Jr.

Age: 38

Age: 26

Occupation: President & CEO, SunTrust Bank, Southeast Georgia

Occupation: Real estate appraiser/Realtor

Education: Glynn Academy; Mercer University, BBA in Economics; LSU Graduate School of Banking Family: Wife Karen; three daughters What are your favorite causes? Brunswick YWCA, CMAP, College of Coastal Georgia, Frederica Academy, United Way & USA Swimming Why those causes? I feel a personal connection to many of the people involved in those organizations and can see results from my involvement.

Who or what motivates you to succeed? My parents instilled in me a strong work ethic at an early age. I had my first job at 13 and have been working ever since.

How do you define happiness? Waking up at 4 a.m. to go sit in a duck blind in 25 degree weather with the wind blowing 30 knots. The real happiness comes later that day when my wife lets me nap on the couch and watch football while she eggs on our 3-year-old, who keeps saying: “Daddy, wake up. It’s your turn to roll the Hello Kitty BINGO dice.”

Education: Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, Auburn University Family: Parents, Tommy and Sally; sister, Ansley; brother, Wes What are your favorite causes? Boy Scouts of America and Ducks Unlimited Why those causes? Both organizations helped to shape my life, and I hope to continue being involved with them in the future.

Who or what motivates you to succeed? My family How do you define happiness? Successfully fulfilling personal goals.

If you could sum up the story of your life with a favorite book or movie, which would you choose and why?

The movie “Rudy” because I like to cheer for the underdog. Rudy perseveres through a lot of hardships.

If you could sum up the story of your life with a favorite book or movie, which would you choose and why? “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff.” I don’t worry about what I can’t control.

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Candice Temple

Chris Thomas

Age: 32

Age: 29

Occupation: Public information officer for Glynn County Board of Commissioners

Occupation: CPA, associate member of Moore Stephens Tiller LLC

Education: B.S. in Public Relations, Georgia Southern University; Certificate of Local Government Management, University of Georgia

Education: B.B.A. in Accounting from Georgia Southern University; Masters of Accounting from Georgia Southern University

Family: Husband, Kawaski; sons, Javis & Kyle; daughter, Jordyn

Family: I am married to Margaret Thomas. We have 18-month-old twins, Maura and Brody.

What are your favorite causes? YWCA of Brunswick and Keep Arts in the Schools Why those causes? The YWCA is very diligent in their work in our community. The initiatives they support and the programs they provide give people confidence. No matter how you look at it, that is positive and I enjoy being a part of it. As for Keep Arts in the Schools, I don’t have a formal affiliation with the national movement, but this is a concept I support. I want my children to have a diverse education and feel strongly that the arts should be part of this.

Who or what motivates you to succeed? I’m motivated to succeed in two ways – by my Christian beliefs and my family values. As a Christian, I hope that my life is a testimony to others and I do my best to be a little shining light. My children motivate me to succeed every day. I am blessed to have a strong, caring and intelligent mother who set an example for what a woman can and should be. I try to emulate that for my children.

As for the successful part, it wouldn’t matter if I was a bobbin maker. I’d spin the best spool I could spin.

How do you define happiness? Happiness to me is living an authentic life. There is nothing more freeing than having people accept you for who you really are. Needless to say, my family and friends greatly impact my happiness.

If you could sum up the story of your life with a favorite book or movie, which would you choose and why? The original “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” is one of my favorite movies. Its message carries so many important lessons about life and being one’s self.

Some days, I can relate to Charlie who tirelessly searches for that golden ticket that will solve all of life’s problems. Other days I feel like Willie Wonka; I’m in control and running the show with a unique and quirky flare. I’ve met a lot of “characters” along the way who have shaped my story; for the good and for the bad. Through it all, you never know when I (or someone else) will burst out into song. I live for those moments!

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What are your favorite causes?

1. Fellowship of Christian Athletes 2. American Cancer Society Why those causes?

1. I was involved in FCA as a student. FCA uses athletics to develop young people into Christian men and women.

2. I have family and friends who had cancer and have seen its impact on their lives. ACS provides support for treating cancer and finding a cure.

Who or what motivates you to succeed? The work ethic my parents instilled in me. I have never met two harder working individuals. My wife and children also motivate me to succeed.

How do you define happiness? Happiness is recognizing and appreciating the blessings we have in life. It is not the result of obtaining what we do not have.

If you could sum up the story of your life with a favorite book or movie, which would you choose and why? “National Lampoon’s Vegas Vacation” - Although Clark Griswold had the vacation completely planned out, it was the unexpected events that were the most memorable and enjoyable. I can look at my life and say that it has been the unexpected events that have made it both memorable and enjoyable.

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Christy Trowbridge

Elizabeth K. Weatherly

Age: 35

Age: 32

Occupation: Currently, artist; formerly, park ranger

Occupation: Chief advancement officer, College of Coastal Georgia

Education: BS in Recreation Studies Ohio University, Athens, Ohio

Education: MBA, University of Texas at El Paso; BBA, Marketing Logistics, Auburn University

Family: Husband, Terry; extended family in California, France, Michigan and Ohio

Family: Children, Bramm (4) and Campbell (2); three dogs, Winston, Rommel and Norman; husband, David

What are your favorite causes?

1.) As a couple, my husband and I try to reduce our carbon footprint because we care about natural resources. We try to grow our own or buy local produce; we compost, and we recycle.

2.) Locally, I support causes that help diminish hunger, such as Sparrows Nest and Second Harvest.

3.) Wherever I happen to be traveling, I believe in supporting local businesses and fair trade products.

4.) On an international level, I support the Medical Assistance Program (MAP). Their international headquarters, located here in Brunswick, collects and distributes donated medicines to third world countries. Their volunteer program is efficiently coordinated, which makes it easy for me to volunteer weekly.

What are your favorite causes? All causes benefitting children, animals and society as a whole. Specifically, the American Cancer Society (my mother is a breast cancer survivor), St. Jude’s Hospital, and College of Coastal Georgia Foundation (everyone deserves an opportunity to explore their educational and career goals and the work of the Trustees of the Foundation enables many to do just that).

Why those causes? Supporting these causes keeps me in touch with the fact that others’ basic human needs are more important than my often-frivolous wish list. Also, when I do have kids, I believe it’s important that they know that vegetables come from dirt.

Who or what motivates you to succeed? I’ve learned that succeeding, as most people recognize it, is overrated. A few years ago, I thought success was being able to purchase my first washer/dryer set. But now, if I can make someone feel emotion with my artwork, for example, I feel that I’ve succeeded. Generally speaking, the knowledge that I am able to influence someone’s life or better my own character motivates me to succeed.

How do you define happiness? Waking up next to a companion who unconditionally loves me and still believes in my potential, no matter how rotten I’ve been the day before; walking alone through the woods on Sapelo Island, with marsh in view and brushes and canvas prodding me from my daypack; liquid chocolate, enough sleep, and no cavities, in that order.

If you could sum up the story of your life with a favorite book or movie, which would you choose and why? “Babe”- I feel that an innocently simple and gently lived life can positively impact others.

I have recently stopped trying to be the person I thought I should be and have begun to embrace the person I was created to be. (Yes, all of this from a movie about a talking pig.)

Who or what motivates you to succeed? My parents instilled a strong work ethic in me and supported me in everything I undertook. As a result of this upbringing, I am fortunate to have realized the importance of surrounding myself with people who inspire me to succeed. It must be said that my definition of success has evolved. As an adolescent, I equated success with career status and wealth whereas today, I equate success with happiness and the ability to assist others in achieving their own aspirations.

How do you define happiness? Time spent with family, friends and a great glass of shiraz.

If you could sum up the story of your life with a favorite book or movie, which would you choose and why? “The Last Lecture” by Randy Pausch is the book that I read often because it inspires me. It does not particularly sum up my life, but serves as a reminder of how important each moment of life truly is. Two phrases repeatedly resonate with me each time I read this book: 1)Brick Walls are there for a reason. They give us a chance to show how badly we want something, and: 2) Give yourself permission to dream. Fuel your kids’ dreams, too.

My parents always let me dream and never placed one of those brick walls, that author Randy Pausch references, in front of me, so I never thought there was something I could not achieve. The best thing I can do for those in my life is to show support, encouragement, and gratitude.

On a lighter note, the movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off ” has been my inspiration since the first time I heard Matthew Broderick say: “Life moves fast. If you don’t stop and look around for a while, you might miss it.”

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Shannon Janine’ Webb

Abney H. Whitehead

Age: 39

Age: 34

Occupation: Director medical records & resource management, Southeast Georgia Health System

Occupation: Attorney with Gilbert, Harrell, Sumerford and Martin

Education: B.S. Degree 1993 Medical Record Administration, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC; Masters of Business Administration 2007– Leadership and Development, Brenau University, Gainesville, GA Family: My amazing daughter, Montana V. Jackson Webb, and a wonderful mother, Jo Ann Knight Webb.

What are your favorite causes? Adult literacy is my favorite cause.

Why those causes? It is so important that every adult has the ability to read with understanding. The ability to read with understanding is imperative in today’s society. Technology and scientific advances have greatly increased the requirement that everyone has the ability to read.

Who or what motivates you to succeed? I am highly motivated by the opportunity to make a difference in someone’s life.

How do you define happiness? When you do the right thing for the right reason!

If you could sum up the story of your life with a favorite book or movie, which would you choose and why? I haven’t written it yet.

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Education: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, B.A.; Tulane University Law School Family: My husband, David, and I have three children Tess(6), Kate (4) and Smith (2) What are your favorite causes? Causes that give us the opportunity to strengthen our community where we live and work.

Why those causes? Because they improve quality of life and economic opportunity.

Who or what motivates you to succeed? The opportunity to help others.

How do you define happiness? My true happiness comes from the people in my life.

If you could sum up the story of your life with a favorite book or movie, which would you choose and why? I don’t know that there is a book or movie that sums up my life. At least with the current phase in my life of juggling three young children and a full time job, I feel a little bit like Michelle Pfeiffer in “One Fine Day” but without the glamour.

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The

Idiat

and the

Odd-yssey

The Adventures of Odyfferus through International Georgia, Episode IV

by Harlan Hambright There seems to be no end to the worldly places we can visit in this fine state, so let’s begin the fourth installment of this exciting travel feature. Our Odd-yssey, the chronicles of the stalwart adventurer, Odyfferus, resumes as he finds himself in Italy, a country surprisingly well represented in Georgia. First stop: Turin. Turin, Italy is a manufacturing city in northern Italy and is known as Italy’s Detroit. It is also home to the famous–if controversial–shroud. Turin, Georgia was originally known as Location. (Imagine the conversations that may have disrupted: Where are you from? Location. Yes, location. Yes. Yes, what? This may have been the inspiration for the famous “Who’s on First” routine.)

In the early 1900s Turin had “important mercantile and shipping interests” which are all but gone. It is the site, however, of what could easily be one of the most popular tourist sites in the whole state if the Coweta County Visitors and Tourism Bureau would wake up. Barbie Beach lies on the main highway and has probably caused accidents. The owners of the property were inspired to build it after Georgia Power killed the roses growing in the easement. The diorama changes themes with holidays and news events, but its default setting is a clothing optional beach with volleyball and Kens who may or may not be all that interested in Barbies, if you get my meaning.

The most fascinating aspect of the roadside attraction, in the context of this Odd-yssey, is the backdrop hanging on the clothesline at the rear. It is comprised of several shrouds. Well, they sure look like shrouds, and I plan to return soon with my carbon dating equipment.

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Top: One of Georgia’s most fascinating attractions, Barbie Beach, located in the heart of Turin. Above: Just just a few of the literally several pilgrims who who make make

the annual trek to pay their respects to the Barbie culture and the creator, Mattel.

Milan

Above: Milan’s once-thriving theatre district. Above right: Milan’s bustling financial district. Right: Milan’s downtown grocery store lies in ruins, a fact that one could call thoughtless, even rude.

From Turin, it is a short hop over to Milan, Italy’s second largest city and regarded as one of the world’s design and fashion capitals. If Milan, Georgia is regarded as the capital of anything, it better take advantage soon, as downtown is literally crumbling. Milan is a railroad town incorporated in 1891. The wife of the railroad executive who was constructing the town had just returned from a trip to Milan and loved it and that was the inspiration for the name. (Keeping true to Georgia standards, the name is mispronounced.)

The two blocks of buildings which comprise downtown was at one time a bustling place.

One can tell that a little thought went into the design of it: the bank has huge, stately columns, the overall scale is perfect for pedestrians,

the north end of the street is enclosed by old railroad buildings (now the police station), and the theatre used to be the community hot spot on Friday nights. Young people are not returning to Milan anymore, according to the bank president (who came out to see why someone would be photographing his bank). In fact, he hadn’t planned to himself. His father was the owner of the pile of bricks on the next block which, when they were properly assembled until recently, served as the town’s grocery store. Milan’s chief of police (who owns a store and also drove up to see why someone would be photographing his building) is also the chief of police of nearby Rhine. Milan is exhausted, so let’s go there.

Rhine was incorporated in 1891 and was

settled by Germans who were, in fact, from the Rhine River area. It, too, is on the railroad, the next stop past Milan in fact, and was quite the shipping center in the late 1800s, there being turpentine and lumber production flourishing.

The Ocmulgee River is nearby, so there’s your other ironic connection to Germany. There is a building downtown which derives from an obvious Bavarian aesthetic. The Rhine, of course, is on the other side of Germany and home to stone castles perched on cliffs overlooking the river, but whoever built it must be commended for at least getting the country right. There is also a grand Italianate villa on the main road going out of town which you don’t want to get caught photographing.

Speaking of going out of town, we are getting close to Seville, so let’s continue.

Rhine

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Seville

Seville, Spain is the artistic, cultural and financial capital of southern Spain with a population of just under 1.5 million. Its cuisine is based on seafood, olive oil and sherry, all produced in surrounding provinces. It is the primary setting of many operas including Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, Bizet’s Carmen, Verdi’s La Forza del Destino, Beethoven’s Fidelio, as well as Mozart’s Don Giovanni and The Marriage of Figaro. It is the Rossini work I would call your attention to.

Seville, Georgia was also a thriving lumber, turpentine and shipping town in the day. It became unincorporated, sadly, in 1995. There are a number of houses there today along with a beautiful abandoned church building, abandoned warehouses, and a couple of abandoned commercial and agricultural storage buildings. There is but one open business in the whole town (whose population in 1900 stood at 1,277). It is Jo Friel’s Shear Outlooks Salon. This is nearly beyond belief, but the only ongoing business concern in all of Seville is a barber. (OK, it’s a salon if you want to split hairs.)

Enough of this. Since this is the last issue of this publication before Christmas, let’s go visit a special place which is the perfect travel destination for the season.

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Bethlehem

Oh, how we can see the little town of Bethlehem lying still near Loganville, just northeast of Atlanta.

It was incorporated in 1902 and was built on the Gainesville, Jefferson & Southern railway. It is now billed as “The Christmas Town of Georgia.”

You enter the town from the north on Christmas Avenue and can turn onto Wise Men Lane, Angel or Manger Avenues, or Mary, Joseph or Star Streets. There is a Post Office here which does a brisk business in December cancelling stamps.

The town was named after the Methodist church and camp of the same name which just predate the Civil War. The predominate architectural style of the town does not make any reference whatsoever to its Biblical heritage—it is mildly Victorian, a period not generally associated with the original Nativity.

Top: This is Bethlehem after all, and though it has not been officially confirmed by Biblical scholars nor archaeologists, this modest structure could well be a (if not the) manger. I will bring my carbon date thing here after Turin. Above: Typical architecture of Bethlehem which blithely ignores its East Mediterranian heritage.

Georgia enjoys other hamlets associated with the New Testament.

One, Jerusalem, is located in Camden County near Woodbine, so let’s complete this episode there.

November/December 2009 43

Jerusalem

all photographs ©2009 Harlan Hambright

Jerusalem, the controversial capital of present-day Israel, enjoys a history spanning nearly 6000 years, making it one of the oldest cities in the world. It is Judaism’s spiritual center, is quite significant in Christianity, and is the third holiest city in Islam. Jerusalem, Georgia’s religious significance would appear to be limited to the presence of a modestly attended Baptist Church. A suburb, if you will, of Woodbine in nearby Camden County, its historical information is hard to come by, but Bailey’s Mill, an early settlement, was located here and the Bartram Trail passes close by.

In the meantime, enjoy the end of the year and remember to get you a good map or a Gazeteer and take the back roads to see and explore the real Georgia. Trust Odyfferus: you will never be disappointed! G 44 GOLDENISLESMAGAZINE.COM

This page: answer to the to Wailing a proud This page:Jerusalem’s Jerusalem’s answer the Wall, Wailing Wall, a father, and Jerusalem’s religious center. proud father, and Jerusalem’s religous center.

Harlan Hambright, a 20 year resident of St. Simons Island, is an author, nationally published architectural photographer and partner of H2O creative group. The Idiat and the Odyssey series is the result of several voyages he made this year around the world in Georgia.

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“My whole family is dead. It looks like they’ve been beaten to death. I don’t know, man.”

Guy Heinze Jr. - During 911 call

New Hope

The Story Behind the Headlines 46 GOLDENISLESMAGAZINE.COM

Bob Dart Photos by Benjamin Galland Story by

Part I: The Saturday Morning Massacre

I

t was 5:37 a.m. on the Saturday when hell came to Glynn County.

A young man wearing flip-flops, long, baggy shorts and a striped shirt came into Parker’s in the Village on St. Simons Island. He was the only customer at the time in the clean, well lit convenience store and gas station, which is open 24/7, 365 days a year. He asked for a Black and Mild cigarillo, a popular brand made in Pennsylvania and filled with flavored pipe tobacco.

Sometimes such plastic-tipped smokes are hollowed out and the tobacco replaced with marijuana. Then they’re called “blunts.”

The young man looked dead at the surveillance camera behind the counter as the clerk reached over for the cigarillo and rang up the sale. The customer pulled a wallet from his left back pocket and tossed a couple of crumpled dollar bills on the counter to cover the price of $1.12. He picked up his change and left.

The transaction took less than four minutes. Folks would later spend hours studying the store video and conclude that the customer was 22-year-old Guy Heinze Jr. The young man put his hands on the sides of his head at one point, like it ached perhaps.

Some observers of the video thought he seemed jumpy and nervous.

But it was over so fast. By 5:41 a.m., the anonymous young man was out the glass door. He would soon be heard from again.

And the world would hear his words.

~ The 911 call came in about 8:18 a.m. It was from Peggy Orlinski, who had been watching TV when the young man ran up to her home in the New Hope Plantation Mobile Home Park off U.S. 17 north of Brunswick.

“There’s a kid, a guy just came home and his whole family is dead. He’s kind of hysterical. I can’t understand. I haven’t gone over there yet,” she tells the dispatcher. “... He just came screaming over up to my dogs and my dogs will bite. He’s got a dog out there, too, that’s on the porch that may bite. I’m going to have to try to contain him.”

Guy Heinze Jr. himself gets on the phone moments later.

“Hello. I just got home. My whole family is dead,” he says.

“How many people were there?” asks the dispatcher, Leanne Viola.

“There’s like six. My whole family is dead,” he says. “It looks like they’ve been beaten to death. I don’t know, man.”

~ The victims, from top: Byron Jimmerson, Michelle Toler, Michael Toler, Russell Toler Jr., Chrissy Toler, Guy Heinze Sr., Rusty Toler and Joseph West. (Photos courtesy The Brunswick News and The Darien News) November/December 2009 47

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His in-laws arrived the night before to spend the weekend and Matt Doering had gone to the grocery store at 7 oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;clock that Saturday morning to get bread for the family to have French toast for breakfast.

When he got home, the Glynn County police chief received a phone call. His watch commander reported that five people had been found dead in a mobile home in the New Hope Plantation Mobile Home Park and investigating officers were unsure how many victims there actually were.

His French toast would have to wait. The chief told his wife, their four-year-old twins and in-laws that several people had been found dead and he had to go. Before he was completely changed to work clothes, the watch commander called back. The count of confirmed dead had risen to seven and two additional victims were alive but severely injured.

The chief of police of a coastal Georgia county was now dealing with a crime that news media around the world would soon be calling a massacre.

Reared on a small apple farm in California, Matt Doering began thinking about a career in law enforcement as a boy after his bicycle was stolen. A deputy sheriff drove by and saw him walking. The lawman stopped and asked if anything was wrong.

Young Matt said he was looking for his bike. The deputy had him jump in and drove him around on the hunt. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t find my bike but was inspired,â&#x20AC;? a grown-up Doering recalls.

At the age of 17, he enlisted in the Army and joined the Military Police Corps. His military service brought him to Georgia and he married a Southern girl. He joined the Glynn County police as a parttime patrolman in 1984 while working his way through college. It took him about 12 years to get an Associate in Criminal Justice degree from Brunswick Junior College, a B.S. in Criminal Justice from Armstrong State College in Savannah and a Masters in Police Administration from Georgia Southern University in Statesboro.

His starting annual pay as a patrolman was about $12,000. Like many cops, he had to moonlight to make ends meet. For a while, he worked security at the Emmeline and Hessie Restaurant across the Frederica River from St. Simons Island. On the force, he rose through the ranks â&#x20AC;&#x201C; detective, leader

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Glynn County Police Chief Matt Doering was thrust into the national limelight with the events at New Hope Plantation.

of the Swat sniper team, investigator supervision, watch commander, patrol division commander, internal affairs investigator, assistant chief. On Dec. 9, 2003, Matt Doering was named chief of police of a county with a population of about 76,000 people and an area of about 585 square miles, over a fifth of which is water and marsh.

Even now, after nearly six years as top cop, the chief regularly puts on a uniform and rides in a patrol car around his diverse beat of Glynn County.

“I find it very easy to lose touch with what’s going on if I just sit in my office and do paper work all the time,” he explains. “Riding, responding to calls, enforcing the law, and talking with officers and folks in the community helps me stay attuned ... I also miss doing real police work, so I get a chance once in awhile to do what I enjoy doing the most – hands-on police work. It also helps to maintain the basic understanding of what officers are faced with every day that helps me better relate to and support them.”

But no training or experience could adequately prepare any cop for the grisly scene inside the three bedroom, two bath mobile home on Lot 147 at New Hope.

“My first thought was of the families of the deceased. How awful this was going to be for them when they hear the loss of their loved ones and the circumstances. This was really terrible,” recalls Doering. “What sticks out in my mind was that we were going to have to do everything we could to solve this case that was going to be a long and difficult task.”

20 20 40 40 ~

On that Saturday, Diane Davis Isenhour was in the RV where she and her husband, Michael Todd Isenhour, live in the yard beside the house of her mother, Elease Davis. The family compound is at the end of a dirt road in the rural McIntosh County community of Townsend, just west of I-95.

“I was laying on my couch and my sister’s husband came over here and told me that the whole Toler family was wiped out,” recalls Diane Isenhour.

From the sofa, she could reach over and touch the refrigerator where magnets held up pictures of most of the victims.

Diane is the former wife of Rusty Toler, 45, who rented the mobile home in northern Glynn County where he was killed. And she is the mother of their children: Chrissy Toler, 22; Russell Toler Jr., 20; Michael Toler, 19; and Michelle Toler, 15.

Another victim, 30-year-old Joseph West, was Chrissy’s boyfriend. Guy Heinze Sr., 44, and Brenda Gail Falagan, 49, were related through Diane’s marriage to Toler. They would all die of beatings suffered in the mobile home they shared in the New Hope Plantation site. Diane is the grandmother of Chrissy’s three-year-old son, Byron Jimmerson, who was also assaulted by a blunt instrument and whose life now hung by a thread.

“I feel empty,” Diane Isenhour says later. “That was my whole family.”

She had been 23 with a four-year-old son named James when she met Rusty Toler.

“He made me laugh,” she says. On their first date, “we rode down a dirt road.”

They were married in the Church of God in Townsend. Soon afterward, she says, “we started having babies.”

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November/December 2009 49

~

The overseer’s residence at New Hope Plantation.

“If it had been anybody but Rusty, we’d have kicked him out a hell of a lot earlier,” says Joe Iannicelli.

Chrissy came first. Her mom remembers her as a tomboy and a daddy’s girl. She loved to go camping and fishing with Rusty Sr. Then came Russell Jr., called “Junior” by the family.

“He was always real quiet and didn’t like playing with other young ‘uns,” his mother says.

“Michael was a very sick baby. He had open heart surgery when he was a year old,” she says. He was later diagnosed with Down Syndrome. Michelle “was born a blue baby but she outgrowed it,” says Diane. “She was a mama’s girl. She never bothered nobody.”

The blond grandma took care of Byron Jimmerson so much that he called her “mama.”

Their daddy was a good man who worked hard to provide for his family, she says. He had a job on a dredge boat and then was a cook at Archie’s seafood restaurant in Darien. For two decades, he had worked at the Aquafine AeroInstant Drying Services operation which had a plant beside the mobile home park where he lived. The plant contracts to spray dry materials 50 GOLDENISLESMAGAZINE.COM

ranging from paint pigments to fertilizers.

After working his way up to being a foreman, Rusty Toler Sr. had been laid off several weeks before he was killed. The sagging economy had forced a temporary cutback and several other workers lost their jobs at the same time.

His ex-wife has nothing but good things to say about him as a husband and father.

“I guess it just wasn’t meant for us to be together,” says Diane Isenhour. “They were good kids but we were always looking out for them and we didn’t have time for each other. Seemed like we were never alone by ourselves.”

Rusty never remarried after his divorce.

But Diane did about five years ago.

“But those kids still wanted me and their daddy back together,” she says. “I think they figured if they were all down there together, I’d follow.”

Home for the Tolers was northwestern McIntosh County. “Down there” was the mobile home park stuck in 1,100-acre New Hope Plantation, land originally granted in 1763 to South Carolina colonist Henry Laurens by the King of England. Located off U.S. 17 just a few miles south of the Altamaha River – which serves as the boundary between McIntosh and Glynn counties – New Hope included what is now Hofwyl Plantation until 1804 when they were separated by sale.

Hofwyl is now a Georgia State Historic Site.

New Hope Plantation – including the mobile home park and Aquafine plant – is owned by Joe Iannicelli, an 80-year-old entrepreneur, inventor, chemist, civic activist, collector and amateur historian who purchased it piecemeal from partners over the past couple of decades.

“I never planned to be in the mobile home park business,” says Iannicelli.

The reluctant landlord lives on Jekyll Island and has an undergraduate degree and a Ph.D. in chemistry from M.I.T. He served a stint on the Glynn County Board of Education. He holds patents for several industrial inventions.

His hobbies include a fleet of vintage Cadillacs, a collection of rifles with stocks made from rare woods found on his travels around the world, and a restored and refurbished overseer’s house on New Hope Plantation where he sometimes stays. He had hoped to re-dyke some of the original rice fields on the plantation but was blocked by a state environmental agency. He grew up on Long Island and came to Georgia for work in the kaolin industry.

On that eventful Saturday, he received a call from mobile home park manager Gail Montgomery about the killings on Lot 147.

The single-wide rented for about $450 a month and its occupants were familiar to Iannicelli.

Rusty Toler Sr. had worked at Iannicelli’s Aquafine plant for two decades.

Despite the vast difference of their backgrounds – Toler had a hard time with reading and writing – Iannicelli had a fondness and respect for this “loyal employee.”

“He would do any job you gave him,” recalls the boss called “Mr. Joe” on the plantation. Despite Toler’s difficulty with written messages, he had been promoted to foreman and had performed his duties well.

But in recent months, the relationship had been strained. Hard times had forced Toler’s layoff. And eviction proceedings had begun.

Not only had Toler fallen behind in his rent, says Iannicelli, but “he was a good-natured man” who kept taking members of his extended family into the overly crowded mobile home.

Park rules allow no more than two people per bathroom and nine were living in the twobathroom single-wide. In addition, police had been called three times to disturbances at the mobile home and the lot was strewn with toys, trash, bikes, an unworkable lawnmower and several old boats.

An eviction hearing had been scheduled for the Monday after the killings.

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“If it had been anybody but Rusty, we’d have kicked him out a hell of a lot earlier,” says Iannicelli.

Gail Montgomery, the property manager, says an informal agreement had been struck where Toler would leave on Sept. 8. The legal proceedings would have been dropped. She says Rusty was a friendly, hard-working tenant who had tried to save money.

When his relatives kept leaving the door open, for instance, Toler protested that he “couldn’t cool all of Glynn County” and disconnected the brand-new air conditioner unit. His mobile home sat in the shade of a giant, spreading live oak draped with Spanish moss and the family made do with electric fans.

“He was doing what he could to conserve energy,” says Montgomery. “But on Father’s Day, he told us he was turning on the airconditioner and giving himself a treat.”

Behind the mobile home are some peas and squash plants, the remnants of the garden tilled by Rusty Toler to help feed his family.

Earlier in the season, there were sweet corn stalks and homegrown tomatoes so big that a single red slab could be slapped between slices of white bread with mayonnaise and salt for a sandwich.

Just because people don’t have fancy addresses on St. Simons Island or a lot of formal education, says Montgomery, doesn’t mean they’re not good folks or that gawkers should come around judging the way they lived.

Diane Davis Isenhour with a niece and Chico, the dog found curled next to her oldest son’s body at the crime scene.

~ Bobby Sumner lost two lifelong friends that bloody Saturday.

“My daughter called me that day. I had just come in from fishing. She said Shaky and Rusty and all of them got killed. I said ‘unn-uhhh.’ She said it was true. I thought it might have been a car wreck but then I started

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hearing bits and pieces of what happened. You know how it is.”

“Shaky” was the nickname they gave Guy Heinze Sr. after a tire blew off a rim at a gas station where he was working. The exploding tire “like to have killed him” and he’d been nervous ever since, explains Sumner.

All three had been friends since they attended Todd Grant Elementary School in

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Darien. Heinze and Toler were kin. Sumner and Toler drove long-haul trucks together.

They all loved to fish in the Altamaha for shellcrackers, bass, bluegills and redbreast.

Their friendship outlasted a slew of marriages. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Shakyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wife died after they split up.

Rusty and Shaky never remarried after they got divorces. Me, I got divorced and remarried five times,â&#x20AC;? says Sumner. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This one can make hoecakes and biscuits on the top of the stove. She can scale a fish, gut a hog and skin a deer. She can fry anything. I finally got lucky.â&#x20AC;?

Sipping on a cup of coffee, an emotional Sumner was remembering his buddies in a patch of shade outside the RV where he lives. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s parked behind his daughterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s double-wide, not far from the American Legion Hall on the north end of Darien. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll say two things for Rusty Toler,â&#x20AC;?

Sumner says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;He loved his children and he worked.â&#x20AC;?

Guy Heinze Sr. was more of a cutup. He was â&#x20AC;&#x153;comical,â&#x20AC;? always joking, says Sumner, who was disabled in a truck crash when a steel plate hit him as he was driving a load of cars. The two truck drivers would tease each other while watching NASCAR races together on TV on Sunday afternoons.

Sumner still has the model of Dale Jarrettâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s number 88 race car that â&#x20AC;&#x153;Shakyâ&#x20AC;? gave him. â&#x20AC;&#x153;He was a Tony Stewart fan,â&#x20AC;? recalls Sumner. â&#x20AC;&#x153;One time, Rusty and Shaky were fishing up the river when a snake fell into their boat,â&#x20AC;? laughs Sumner. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They just left the boat. One went out one end and the other out the other end. They finally got the snake out with a cypress limb.â&#x20AC;?

For awhile, Rusty and Shaky lived together in an RV campground that Sumner managed. Diane, Tolerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ex-wife, lived in another RV at the same park. They all got along, Sumner recalls. Sometimes the children would stay with their mama and sometimes with their daddy.

All three of the friends had a special spot in their hearts for Michael, Rustyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s younger son with Down Syndrome.

Even when Michael was young, â&#x20AC;&#x153;that little fellow was as strong as a bull,â&#x20AC;? says Sumner. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We all called him Mike-Mike.â&#x20AC;?

When his daddy caught a fish, MikeMike would holler, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Oh hell yes.â&#x20AC;?

When he caught a fish himself, MikeMike would yell, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Oh hell yes,â&#x20AC;? even louder.

~

Glynn County was dark and shocked when Chief Doering got home that Saturday night. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I did not see my children and my wife was already in bed,â&#x20AC;? he recalls. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The first day was a 16-hour day. It was on the second day that I had a chance to talk with my wife, but she already knew what was going on from seeing me on TV and reading the articles. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a long day and week when your wife and children see you more on TV than in person.â&#x20AC;? G

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November/December 2009 53

CHRISTMAS PAST

The Christmas Elf

by Jennifer Brown

Disclaimer: If you believe in Christmas Elves who reside in the attic and bring gifts to good boys and girls during the holiday season, you may not want to read this article.

When I was growing up, my parents traveled abroad for work. From their trips they would bring us back trinkets, thimbles, collectable spoons from England, that sort of thing.

However on one trip to Norway, my mother returned home giddy with excitement at what she’d discovered there for us. As she opened her suitcase my sisters and I were excited. What could it be? Mom pulled out four individually wrapped packages (there were four of us, my sisters and I) and laid them on the floor. We

each picked one. We gingerly unwrapped our Norse bundles. As we each reached the gift inside, there was a collective silence and four confused faces.

“Well, what do you think?” Mom asked, smiling ear to ear.

Brunswick Dermatology Dr. Edward DiPreta And His Staff At Brunswick Dermatology Give Thanks For Their Patients Of All Ages!

In our small hands we each held a doll, a Norwegian nisse doll. The dolls were about 12 inches tall with wrinkly latex skin. They each wore thick woolen sweaters and felt breeches. In addition to their itchy wintery outfits, their rubbery heads were capped with what felt like real human hair wigs. In short, they were horrifying.

Mom was unphased by our confusion. She proceeded to tell us how these were very special dolls. Apparently they were the equivalent of Norwegian good luck trolls.

It should come as no surprise that, special or not to Norwegian children, my sisters and I were American girls raised with highly coiffed

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Barbies and yarn-headed cabbage patch kids.

Needless to say, we wanted nothing to do with our Norwegian nisses. To us, they were quickly forgotten, shoved under beds and in the back of closets. Forgotten, that is, until Christmas.

“Girls, have you been hearing anything lately in the attic?” Mom asked us one day in early December.

We shook our heads.

“Well I think I’ve been hearing things in the attic. Maybe we should take a look.”

I could tell she was up to something. I, being the eldest, and of course most savvy of my sisters, knew when mom was up to something. However, she had piqued my interest and enthralled my sisters. We were putty in her hands. We went upstairs and she pulled down the attic ladder and produced a flashlight from her back pocket. Mom reached the top rung and turned on her flashlight.

What was it? What was up there?

She jumped, apparently startled at what she saw. “Girls come here, you have to see this!”

In a flash we were all pushing at the ladder like a pack of puppies.

Of course, I wrangled my way up first. I wedged in next to mom on the top step. She whispered: “I think there’s an elf in there. I just saw him. Be very quiet. I’ll just shine this light …”

As she shone the flashlight in a quick sweep of the attic I saw him! Lying under a blanket. Mom shined the light for just a brief flash on the elf. Just long enough for me to get a quick look, but not see any details. She was good like that. A master magician. At once I knew the fate of the Norwegian nisses.

The Christmas elf resided with us for the next 10 years or so. He wasn’t just for fun, he had a purpose. Each year during the month of December, the elf controlled our house with an iron fist. If we were good we might find small treats waiting for us outside our bedroom doors in the morning. If not, nothing. While on the surface, the elf was a harbinger of Christmas cheer, he was in reality a cleverly disguised ploy for a mother trying to control four children during one of the busiest times of year. Bless his little soul.

If we whined about wanting something for Christmas: “Better not let the elf hear that.”

If we yelled at each other: “What would the elf say if he heard that?”

The elf was a formidable force during the holidays, wielding power and treats over me and my sisters. Today, the elf resides in my youngest sister’s house, continuing his Christmas reign from her attic. His power lives on. Long live the elf! G

Jennifer M. Brown has recently relocated to the

Golden Isles from Athens, where she worked for the University of Georgia and Greater Georgia Traditions, a real estate investment and renovation business she owns with her husband, Gardner. Jennifer has two little ones, a daughter and son, and loves writing, reading, eating chocolate and spending time at the beach.

Memorial Ribbons Tree of Life A memorial ribbon will be placed on the lobby tree for every name received.

Lights of Love are available for a tax-deductible donation of $15 per light. Go to www.hospice.me for additional information.

Help Hospice Light up the Holidays for Golden Isles Families

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009 • 5:00-6:30 p.m.

Please help Hospice of the Golden Isles make this holiday season brighter for Hospice families in our community by participating in our third annual Lights of Love program.

Hospice of the Golden Isles will light up our beautiful multi-acre campus, located at 1692 Glynco Parkway, Brunswick, with thousands of magnificent holiday lights, creating a brilliant spectacle of hope and inspiration for all Hospice patients, families, and visitors.

Christmas Service of Remembering will be held in The Bereavement Center at 5:00 p.m.

Doves of Distinction - Dove Release at 5:30 p.m. • Refreshments • Special Remarks, Mayor Bryan Thompson at 5:45 p.m. • Special Music by Rhonda Hambright • Lighting Ceremony at 6:00 p.m.

Hospice Campus Tours will be offered

1692 Glynco Parkway • Brunswick, GA 31525

For more information, contact Caroline Talley at Hospice of the Golden Isles, (912) 265-4735, Cell (912) 506-3924 or carolinetalley@hospice.me.

November/December 2009 55

The Arts

!N )SLAND 4RADITION FOR 9EARS (ANDELªS §-ESSIAH¨

By Jan Lane Harper

)

2009 “Messiah” Soloists and instrumentalists: from left, Bob Callahan, Anne Marie Stirewalt, Rhonda Hambright, Chris Roper, Beth Jennings, Michael Jennings, Jan Lane Harper, John Harper and Barbara Meadows, director.

56 GOLDENISLESMAGAZINE.COM

n the Golden Isles, traditions flourish. Throughout the year we look forward to: the madness of a Georgia-Florida weekend, art and antique shows under the trees at the Casino, the Easter sunrise service at the St. Simons Island pier, fireworks on the Fourth of July, and Sunday night music at the Lighthouse all summer. During the Christmas season, there is the downtown parade in Brunswick, Santa’s Christmas Eve ride on the fire truck down Demere Road on St. Simons Island, and annual performances of Handel’s “Messiah.” Members of the Golden Isles Community Chorus know that their Monday evenings in November will be spent rehearsing those majestic choruses, and the community counts on hearing them the first weekend in December.

These performances of Handel’s “Messiah” had a modest beginning in the mid 1980s with a small St. Simons United Methodist Church choir whose director had huge expectations. Because Barbara Meadows was the music teacher at St. Simons Elementary, she invited a few of her teacher friends to join us, and we all had such a good time that we decided to extend the invitation to sing to the entire community. Thus began the Golden Isles Community Chorus, which has now gathered annually for 25 years to share the message of the season through this work most universally associated with Christmas.

When the call goes out, singers respond. Last year, there were 111 in the chorus. About the time the first cool breezes heralding fall blow across the marsh, Barbara asks: “Are we going to do “Messiah” again this year?” In more recent years, we’ve begun to joke that we’ll just continue until one or the other of us dies. “It’s the singers who keep us coming back,” Barbara says, “and of course Handel’s wonderful music. There’s nothing like it.”

Long-time island resident Gwen Mayberry attended the first performance and has come back almost every year. “When I attend, after missing a year or so, I pledge never to miss again,” she says. “It’s one of the most inspiring things that happens all year, and an incredible beginning for the Advent season.”

Joe Walters, a retired church musician who sang the tenor solos for many years, agrees.

“Celebrations during this season would be incomplete without Handel’s ‘Messiah,’” he says. Similar sentiments were expressed by many of the singers. Judge Orion Douglass, who also sings with the Massey Chorus, finds the music challenging and rewarding. “I just love being a part of this group.”

Gail Rivard, a retired middle school teacher who has sung every year since the beginning, wouldn’t miss. “It’s just the right way to start the season,” she says.

Another long-time singer, Eileen Hutchison, who has sung every year except the first, says: “Singing these choruses is not easy, but they have such meaning.” A relative newcomer to the group is Jean-Earle McConnell, who had been in Barbara’s chorus when she taught music at Glynn Academy.

She says: “When Jack and I retired and moved home, I jumped at the chance to sing with Barbara again.”

This year, as she has for the past 10 years, Rhonda Hambright will sing the soprano solos. Rhonda is well known not only for her acclaimed performances of this music but also for appearances with our local symphony and for her music ministry at St. Simons Presbyterian Church. Michael and Beth Jennings are returning this year for tenor and contralto; Michael is minister of music at St. Simons First Baptist Church, and Beth teaches music at Oglethorpe Point Elementary. For the first time, Chris Roper will be singing the baritone selections; he is best known for leading roles in “Annie Get Your Gun” and “Guys and Dolls,” recent Island Players productions. “We are thrilled to have these four singing the solos,” Barbara says.

“This is difficult music, and we are fortunate to have these talented folks in our community.”

As I’ve done every year, I will play the organ accompaniment. My husband John will add piano accompaniment for the choruses, and we’ll be joined by trumpeters. Bob Callahan has played every year since the trumpets were added in 1990; other trumpeters are Willie Hammett and Anne Marie Stirewalt.

Chorus members come from all parts of Glynn County and beyond. Sister Andrea Zebiegan, who moved to Jacksonville to serve as a chaplain at St. Vincent’s Medical Center, has driven up on Monday nights for the rehearsals for the past several years. “I love singing with Barbara, and I love being a part of this gift to this community,” says Sister Andrea.

It is a gift. There has never been a ticket required or an admission charged. Sometimes there are baskets for donations to help defray expenses, and since the move to Epworth, the performance has been underwritten by January Adventure Inc., an organization which sponsors seminars bringing nationally known theologians to Epworth by the Sea. At first we gave one Sunday-afternoon performance, but because we turned people away, we added a Saturday evening performance as well. Even with that, many people were turned away in 2007 at the last performance in the St. Simons UMC sanctuary.

With Barbara’s retirement, after more than 51 years in music ministry at that church, the 2008 performance was moved to Strickland Auditorium at Epworth by the Sea, where the audience filled that space to capacity.

“We are looking forward to this year’s performance,” Barbara says. “It’s hard to believe this will be our 25th time.” Rehearsals begin the first Monday evening in November and continue every Monday throughout the month. The performance will be at 4 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 6.

For Advent, these are glorious words set to magnificent music. Straight from Scripture, Handel’s “Messiah” tells the story of prophecy, of the birth of the Savior, and of the comfort of this message. In Handel’s words, “Hallelujah!” and, as repeated in the final chorus, “Amen.” G Jan Lane Harper, accompanist for Handel’s “Messiah,” has played the organ at St. Simons United Methodist Church since 1981.

November/December 2009 57

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

November - December Christ mas

EVENTS | OPPORTUNITIES | HAPPENINGS | GATHERINGS

In The Golden Isles

Brunswick:

St. Simons Island:

Nov. 27: Historic Downtown Brunswick celebrates the arrival of Santa for the holiday season and the lighting of the Christmas tree. There will be carriage rides, entertainment in the pocket parks and a reading of “The Night Before Christmas” by Mayor Bryan Thompson. Details: 265-4032.

Dec. 12: Cassina Garden Club presents its 25th Annual Christmas Tour of Homes featuring seven St. Simons Island homes showcasing unique holiday decorating ideas. Begins at the Historic Tabby Cabins, Gascoigne Bluff, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Details: www.cassinagardenclub.org

Dec. 5: Brunswick’s annual Christmas parade down Gloucester Street starts at Howard Coffin Park and ends at Mary Ross Park. Details: 265-4032.

The Coastal Georgia Historical Society holds an Open House at the Lighthouse and Santa’s Shop at the A.W. Jones Heritage Center Museum Store.

Details: www.saintsimonslighthouse.org

The Magnolia Garden Club’s Christmas Tour of Homes from 1 to 6 p.m. See elegant and festive holiday decor in nine homes and one church in historic Brunswick. Details: brunswickgardeners@gmail.com

Dec. 12-13: Glynn Art Association’s 18th Annual Christmas Craft Festival at Postell Park featuring craftsmen and artists from throughout the Southeast. Details: www.glynnart.org

Dec. 6: Mary Ross Waterfront Park fills with dozens of vendors offering gifts, arts & crafts, antiques, yard sale items, and edibles from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. for the annual Holiday Bazaar.

There will also be a farmers market on site.

Details: www.goldenislesarts.org 58 GOLDENISLESMAGAZINE.COM

Dec. 18-20: Golden Isles Arts and Humanities Association presents the annual community production of “A Christmas Carol.” Showtimes Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., and 3 p.m. Sunday matinee. Details: goldenislesarts.org

Jekyll Island: Nov. 28: The Jekyll Island Historic District rings in the holiday season with the lighting of the Christmas tree, crafts, games, children’s activities and pictures with Santa from 4 to 7 p.m.

Details: www.jekyllisland.com

Dec. 23: Families are invited to meet on the Riverfront Veranda of the Jekyll Island Club Hotel at 5 p.m. to carol at the various cottages in the Historic District, then enjoy cookies and punch.

Details: www.jekyllclub.com

Dec. 12: The Jekyll Island Club Hotel hosts a holiday feast and musical dinner theater based on Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” in the Grand Dining Room at 7:30 p.m.

Details: www.jekyllclub.com

Dec. 13: St. Nick welcomes children to Crane Cottage from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Details: www.jekyllclub.com

Dec. 19-24: Scottish bagpiper Tim Akins heralds the holiday season at the Jekyll Island Hotel and by the river daily at 4 p.m.

Details: www.jekyllclub.com

Regular Events

Nov. 6: Solo performance artist/storyteller/maskmaker Michael Cooper presents a lively show for all ages at the Ritz Theatre.

Details: goldenislesarts.org

The Ritz Theatre.

Details: www.goldenislesarts.org Nov. 13: Left Bank Art Gallery hosts the opening reception for more than 200 small jewellike paintings, and a holiday open house featuring holiday cards and paintings by Glenda Cason.

Details: leftbankartgallery.com

Nov. 21: There’s no better way to celebrate a Coastal Georgia Fall than with a good oyster roast. The St. Simons Island Land Trust Oyster Roast benefit returns to Fort Frederica National Monument this year.

Details: www.sslt.org

Nov. 8: gARTen ART pARTy fundraiser for Glynn Art Association at Ace Garden Center.

Details: glynnart.org Rhythm on the River outdoor concert at Mary Ross Waterfront park, featuring OSKAR Rockhammer. Bring a chair or blanket and a picnic to enjoy a casual evening with friends. Details: 265-4032.

Nov. 10: The Island Concert Association presents the acoustic jazz of The Noel Freidline Quintet in concert at St. Simons Presbyterian Church at 7:30 p.m. Details: www.islandconcertassociation.org Nov. 12: GIAHA presents “Underwater: The Making of the Key West Nutcracker,” a 2007 documentary, with filmmaker Karen Leonard present for audience discussion at

This upscale flea market will offer a bounty of unique treasures donated by the members of the symphony society and supporters of the symphonies, including antiques, furniture, furnishings, fine art and more. Society member and interior designer Lisa Torbett will stage the merchandise in compelling displays throughout the house. Many of the rooms showcased at the sale will be themed.

The result will look more like a decorator’s design shop than a traditional flea market.

For more information about the Golden Elephant Flea Market, contact committee co-chair Sharon Flores at 638-2412.

Dec. 7: The Coastal Symphony of Georgia presents Holiday Intermezzo, featuring works by Tchaikovsky, Szewczyk and Brahms. Concert begins at 8 p.m. in the Glynn Academy Auditorium. Details: www. coastalsymphonyofgeorgia.org Nov. 13 & 14 The Symphony Society, benefactor of The Coastal Symphony of Georgia and the Youth Symphony, will stage a special flea market event from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Nov. 13 & 14 on St. Simons Island. The Golden Elephant will be held in a former private home at 1810 Frederica Road on St. Simons Island.

Dec. 13: Winter concert performance of the Coastal Youth Symphony of Georgia at 3 p.m. in the Glynn Academy Auditorium. Details: www.coastalsymphonyofgeorgia.org

November/December 2009 59

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The American Cancer Society recently held its Victory Gala Ruby Red Ball at The Cloister Ballroom on Sea Island. Guests enjoyed dinner, dancing, live and silent auctions that raised money to fight cancer. This year’s Gala marked the 40th anniversary of the event.

1. This year’s event chairs, from left, Nicole Anderson, Allison Ross, Hillary Stringfellow and Kim Holcomb 2. From left, Martha Ellis and Lee Burton 3. Karen & Tom Brubaker 4. Michele & Dr. Timothy Jamieson 5. Larry & Janice Lamattina 6. Donna & Wayne Johnson

CONGRATULATIONS

25th Anniversary St. Simons Island

TO

Katie Brown Catherine Klein Beth Lemke Lindsey Mason Brian Parks

Christmas Tour of Homes Enhancing the Legacy: Celebrate Our Southern Heritage

Thank you for your dedication, support and leadership to United Way of Coastal Georgia!

Five Island Homes Decorated for the Holidays Plus Christmas Trees & Music at Wesley United Methodist Church at Frederica

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Tour of Homes, 11 am ­ 4 pm Bake Sale, 10 am ­ 3 pm

United Way of Coastal Georgia P. O. Box 877 Brunswick, Georgia 31520 (912) 265.1850 www.LiveUnitedNow.com

Tickets: $25.00 (advance) $30.00 (tour day)

St. Simons Island: ACE Garden Center, G.J. Ford Bookshop, Limited Editions,

Pat’s Hallmark, St. Simons Drug Co., Village Inn & Pub Brunswick: Hattie’s Books, Market on Newcastle, Pat’s Hallmark @Glynn PlaceC

Presented by Cassina Garden Club ! www.cassinagardenclub.org ! 912­638­9808

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November/December 2009 61

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Brunswick High Class of 1989 celebrated its 20th reunion over Columbus Day weekend with events at the A.W. Jones Heritage Center, Selden Park and the Jekyll Island Club Hotel.

1. From left, David Godwin, Sharell Denise Reed, Iris Atkinson, Anessa Flanders and Scott Anderson.

2. From left, Stephen Hulsey, Stacy Spaulding and Tyson Davis Golden Isles residents turned out en masse for The Big Turn Off event that marked the first time the St. Simons Lighthouse has gone dark since WWII.

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Follow us on Twitter for daily deals: jekyllisland_golf@twitter.com 62 GOLDENISLESMAGAZINE.COM

3. From left, Jerri Hager and Janis Rodriguez 4. From left, Beatriz Zimmer, Cindy & Mike Baird, Danusia Azambuja, Georgia Kellogg and Jeff Homans.

The International Seafarer’s Center’s annual International Night Out fundraiser took place under a beautiful harvest moon at Crane Cottage on Jekyll Island.

5. From left, Eleanor Berringer, Mary Hunt, Erin Clayton and Lynelle Stapleton 6. From left, Bill & Pat Barry and Jeanne Earle & Jack McConnell

GOLDEN ISLES DINING 4TH OF MAY CAFÉ DOWNTOWN 1618 Newcastle St/Historic Downtown Brunswick (912) 262-5443 Classic Southern cuisine served in a warm and friendly environment in historic downtown Brunswick. Our menu includes a wide variety of soups, salads, sandwiches, seafood, and of course our daily list of at least 8 different veggies. Plus, look forward to our farmer’s market veggie of the day. Stop in on Sunday to enjoy our brunch buffet and don’t forget to inquire about our catering and banquet services.

BARBERITOS 250 Golden Isles Plaza/ Brunswick 509 Ocean Blvd / St. Simons Island (912) 261-2840 • (912) 634-2812 Barberitos proudly serves its patrons with Southwestern cuisine that is fresh and healthy! The produce arrives daily, yielding only fresh, homemade menu items to its customers including burritos, tacos, salads and more. Catering any event is our specialty! Two locations serve your area.

GNATS LANDING REDFERN VILLAGE / ST. SIMONS ISLAND

(912) 638-7378 A “Flip-Flop Friendly” environment for Beach goers and locals! Relax in and enjoy some good ole’ American fare.

Menu of daily specials, fresh seafood, salads, sandwiches, fried pickles…not to mention the $8,000 Margarita…are all beyond “Beach Casual”.

JMAC’S 407 Mallery Street/ St. Simons Island (912) 634 - 0403 The Best on the Georgia Coast since 1991! Regional dishes with a worldly flair. Seafood, steaks and chops incorporating the finest ingredients.

Hawaiian Butterfish, New Zealand Lamb, Diver Sea Scallops, American Red Snapper, Coastal Georgia Shrimp & All Natural Beef. Creative & innovative nightly specials! Entrees $13-$32. Full Bar & extensive wine list. Casual attire welcomed. Reservations 912-634-0403.

Mon - Sat. 6-10pm. www.jmacsislandrestaurant.com. Live Music Friday & Saturday.

LATITUDE 31 1 Pier Road/Jekyll Island (912) 635-3800 At Latitude 31 you can enjoy radiant sunsets and experience the Golden Isles’ premier dining destination. We offer the best service and finest food, in a casual atmosphere. Experience the wonders of nature at The “Rah” Bar which features Georgia Wild Shrimp, Dungeness Crab, Oysters, and our Famous Low Country Boil. Additionally we offer seasonal entertainment.

OLE TIMES COUNTRY BUFFET 665 Scranton Road/Brunswick (912) 264-1693 Ole’ Times Country Buffet is “Home Cookin’ the Way Mama Does It!” Voted #1 in Southern Cooking and Best Country Buffet in South Georgia and North Florida for the last 8 years running.

FOX’S PIZZA DEN 1435 Newcastle Street (912) 265-4490 There is only one like us and it’s downtown! Visit our retro atmosphere and enjoy hand-tossed crust topped with a large variety of fresh meats, veggies and cheeses. We also offer “Wedgie” sandwiches, strombolis, salads, wings and homemade lasagna. Great wine and cold beer!

November/December 2009 63

,AST #ALL

Pumpkin Spice Martini Courtesy of Jason Little, bartender at JMac’s 2 oz. Pumpkin Spice Vodka (recipe follows) 1/2 oz. Bailey’s Irish Cream 1 Tablespoon Eagle Brand Splash Frangelico Ground Cinnamon or Cinnamon Stick (for Garnish) Shake vodka, Bailey’s, Eagle Brand, and Frangelico over ice. Strain and garnish with cinnamon stick or ground cinnamon Pumpkin Spice Vodka 1 liter vodka (reserve bottle for storage) 1 medium pie pumpkin peeled, seeded and cubed 3 vanilla beans 7 whole cloves Combine ingredients in air-tight container. Store in cool area for 5 days. Strain through fine-meshed sieve and pour back into original bottle.

64 GOLDENISLESMAGAZINE.COM

Pumpkin Spice Martini

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