Planes, Trains & Heroes: A Story of Warner Robins and the Robins Region

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ISBN: 978-1-944891-67-1
Library of Congress Card Catalog Number: 2019954602
Planes, Trains & Heroes: A Story of Warner Robins and the Robins Region
author: Dianne Dent Wilcox
executive editor: Marsha Priest Buzzell
contributing writers for “Sharing the Heritage”: Garnette Odom
Brenda Thompson
cover design: Robert Elliott
HPNbooks
chairman and chief executive officer: Jean-Claude Tenday
publisher and chief creative officer: Bernard O’Connor
president: Ron Lammert
project manager: Brenda Thompson
administration: Kristin Williamson
book sales: Joe Neely
production: Colin Hart
Evelyn Hart
Craig Mitchell
Christopher D. Sturdevant
Steve Althouse
Special thanks to Jenny Maas, Museum of Aviation.
2 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

CONTENTS
4 FOREWORD
8 CHAPTER ONE Before Warner Robins
14 CHAPTER TWO Community Connections
30 CHAPTER THREE Competition
32 CHAPTER FOUR Churches
36 CHAPTER FIVE Commerce
44 CHAPTER SIX Schools
50 CHAPTER SEVEN Quality of Life
52 CHAPTER EIGHT Growth
54 CHAPTER NINE The Future
58 WARNER ROBINS HEROES
70 WARNER ROBINS IN PRINT
72 AFTERWORD
73 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
74 WORKS CITED
76 SHARING THE HERITAGE
126 SPONSORS
127 ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Contents ✦ 3

FOREWORD
“Every Day in the U.S.A. is Armed
Forces Appreciation Day”—the motto
of Warner Robins.
History is what we were and what we are. Planes, Trains and Heroes: A History of Warner Robins treats
history like snapshots, documenting significant facts and important happenings. It captures images,
stories and commentaries for 2018, the seventy-fifth anniversary of a growing metropolitan region. No
history is a complete history. Rather, each history is another perspective. This author loves Georgia—a
vibrant state with historical importance to America's stature globally. Growing up beneath the flight path
of B-52s and F-15s leaves an impression. So does each individual. Planes, Trains, and Heroes looks at history
based on facts, and the stories of people who live here. A few remember Watson Boulevard “when
it was a dirt road,” the sound of Miss Nola Brantley’s school bell, a wooden train depot repurposed as a
church sanctuary, base gate guards dressed in 1950s uniforms for an Air Force anniversary, a horrific
September 11th, several Little League World Championships, and Butch, the Georgia Bulldog.
During the years 1943-1944, the Georgia Southern & Florida Railroad replaced a wooden depot
at Wellston with a larger brick structure. The wooden structure was moved and became the first
sanctuary for First Presbyterian Church. Known today as the E. L. Greenway Welcome Center, the
newer brick depot is the centerpiece for a growing historic village which includes Miss Mildred’s
Country Store and the Elberta Depot built in 1918. Elberta is a community named for the peach
produced in this area that withstood transport to markets on the eastern seaboard. Georgia is known
for its peaches and part in the great Norfolk Southern Rail System.
Warner Robins “is located in northern Houston County…and consists of over 35.82 square miles,
approximately 66,500 people and is home to Robins Air Force Base, Georgia's largest industry. It is
in the heart of Georgia's agricultural belt and boasts an ideal climate” (Warner Robins Police
Department). Warner Robins, the city which grew from Wellston and York, is one of the
fastest growing cities in the nation thanks to the continued efforts of its citizens and its role in
national defense.
The City of Warner Robins emerged because the United States ramped defenses for World War II. Most
expected the town to fade away after that war. It did not. The end of military activities in Korea and
Vietnam did not end Warner Robins. The Cold War and desert wars did not end growth in the area, either.
4 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

“ COLD WAR CHILD” BY DIANNE DENT WILCOX
The earth trembled as a B-52 emerged from a fog bank—its wings spreading to both extremes of the horizon. The apparition
confirmed my worst fears. It was the end of the world, a chilling realization for a child on a Christian academy campus.
Conditioning began in first grade with a screeching siren and Mrs. Grace instructing us to tuck ourselves beneath wooden laminate
and metal desks. Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather re-enforced paranoia by showing young girls running down country roads, their
clothes burning off their bodies. Worse, they were making their way through throngs of emotionally detached cameramen. Daddy
ranted, “If God doesn’t judge the United States, He will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah,” and others said, “Don’t worry
about it. The Russians will attack Robins Air Force Base first. We’re already dead. You’ll never know what hit you.” Some children
wore dog tags so that their bodies could later be identified. As the giant air craft passed over my school, I prayed not for safety, but
for an eternal home in heaven. The earth seems so temporary when the nuclear bombs fly over playgrounds. I thought about the
yellow and black signs for fallout shelters downtown. It’s a long way down town.
One of the many civilian workers
employed at Robins Air Force Base.
Foreword ✦ 5

Top: Warner Robins City Hall.
Middle: A B-52D Stratofortress on
display at the Museum of Aviation.
Bottom: The modern flightline at
Robins Air Force Base.
6 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

The United States and its children survived
these struggles and so did Warner Robins, a city
that repurposes itself with each need and each
opportunity. It’s now an International City in
which individual citizens speak a minimum
fifty-five languages.
Above: The E. L. Greenway Welcome
Center greets visitors and future
Warner Robins’ residents.
Bottom, left: A welcome sign at the
Warner Robins Convention & Visitors
Bureau, featuring some of the fiftyfive
languages spoken by area
residents.
Below: A plaque honoring Butch the
Georgia Bulldog.
Foreword ✦ 7

CHAPTER ONE
B EFORE W ARNER R OBINS
Remnants of a stone wall believed to
be constructed by early Native
Americans. Houston County, Georgia
was home to Native American nations
for thousands of years.
Early morning mist rises from the creeks and rivers of Houston County, Georgia, as thousands of
workers commute to Robins Air Force Base and the technology hubs and businesses that support her.
Strategic from the day people found this unique area, the land and water guards our free nation.
Prehistoric Uchee, Hitchiti, and people of the Weeden Island culture once roamed forests filled with
life-giving water, wild game, and edible plants. They followed herds of buffalo and the seasons, which
provided food and shelter. Archeological evidence shows an extensive trade network, accessed by trails
and waterways. Muskogee-Creeks followed. Legends state they came from the west, again drawn by
Georgia’s sheltering forests and accessible waterways. Indigenous groups moved to other areas or were
conquered or absorbed. This, of course, foreshadowed the fate of The Great Creek Confederacy as
Europeans later followed the same paths, this time from the east. Native trails became European and
then United States roads and highways. Later, Americas took to the skies and Warner Robins, Georgia
was born.
The area is still environmentally rich. Robins Air Force Base, as do other federal institutions, tracks
and protects its locale. Biologists identified upland forest, wetlands, natural sand dunes, “400 plant, 39
mammal, 110 bird, 60 fish, 34 reptile, 26 amphibian, and 411 insect species” here (“Robins AFB and
78 ABW Heritage Pamphlet”). The city is centrally located: 100 miles from Atlanta, 111 miles from
Athens, 150 miles from Augusta, 95 miles from Columbus, 11 miles from Macon, and 165 miles from
Savannah (Guide to the Robins Region Georgia 3).
Although Christopher Columbus comes to mind as the discoverer of America because of the
schoolhouse rhyme “In fourteen hundred and ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean
blue,” people met him when his ships arrived in San Salvador. The key phrase is people met
8 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

him. Columbus, living in the era of Guttenberg’s
printing press, brought European attention to a
New World. Estimated populations of
indigenous peoples living in America before
Columbus’ arrival range from 2.1 to 18 million.
In the Warner Robins area, these peoples
include the mound builders known as
Mississippian or Master Farmers, the Uchee,
Hitchiti, Weeden Island Culture, Muskogee-
Creek and others. Their oral histories, passed
from generation to generation, were lost much
to decimation of their populations by exposure
to European diseases. Only archeological
records remain that researchers piece together
upon each discovery.
When the U.S. government acquires an
area for development, researchers conduct
archeological studies. This occurred at Macon’s
Ocmulgee National Monument. The work there
set the stage for archeological surveys at Robins
Air Force Base:
In December of 1933 Dr. Arthur Kelly arrived
at Ocmulgee Old Fields in Macon, Georgia to
Above: A fragment of a stone wall
built by early Native Americans.
Houston County, Georgia, has been
home to Native American cultures for
thousands of years.
Below: Clockwise, from top, left): Rose
chert, a shard of Kasita red pottery,
paleo fossils, and a chunk of pottery
from the Mississipian or earlier
Woodland culture.
PHOTOGRAPHED COURTESY OF OCMULGEE
NATIONAL MONUMENT.
Chapter One ✦ 9

Archeology on Big Indian Creek, 2017.
begin large-scale archaeological excavations
with the assistance of over 200 men from the
Civil Works Administration. The excavations
were expected to take two months, but were
extended again and again utilizing labor from
various Depression-era programs, such as the
Works Progress Administration (WPA), the
Federal Emergency Relief Administration
5:16 (FERA), and the Civilian Conservation
Corps. (Site Bulletin: “Civilian Conservation
Corps at Ocmulgee National Monument”
1937-1942.
These men, between the ages of 17 and 23,
lived in military-style camps and conducted one
of the largest archeological surveys in U.S.
History. Ocmulgee’s Site Bulletin notes that “In
1941 some of the CCC enrollees’ duties transferred
to nearby Camp Wheeler, an infantry
training facility” and “On December 7, 1941 one
era ended and another began.” The same was
true for Wellston/Warner Robins. In the 1940s,
archeologist Charles Andrews led the surveys at
Robins. Andrew’s team found artifacts from the
Paleo, Archaic, Woodlands, and Mississippian
peoples of pre-Columbian America at Robins.
In 2017, Georgia’s Department of
Transportation sponsored Archeology on Big
Indian Creek on South Houston County’s Highway
247, near the Pulaski County line. Archaic people
camped here during their hunting and working
trips. They traveled by dugout canoe on creeks
and on the Ocmulgee River, about two miles from
this site. The ancient sand dune provides an undisturbed
area for ongoing archeological study. On
March 23, 2018, the group posted “The first sample
dates the site to the Middle Archaic Period (ca.
6000-3000 B.C.). The material used to achieve this
date was a burned acorn shell that was recovered
from 50 to 60 cm below datum. The second is
from the Late Woodland Period (ca. A.D. 650-
1050) and was recovered from soot that was found
on a fragment of sand-tempered pottery. The pottery
was collected from 20 to 30 cm below datum.”
Georgia’s Department of Transportation will locate
the new bridge so that future study is possible.
This section of highway is not an ancient trail,
though. It was built specifically for workers to
access Robins Air Force Base.
When early setttlers migrated to middle
Georgia, they immediately recognized the area for
its strategic value. Remains of a man-made stone
wall sit atop Brown’s Mount, now in Bibb County.
An obscure reference to a stone wall in Houston
County led to rediscovery of a defensive work
near Grovania. It is on private property. Although
difficult to see using ground level photography,
the wall crests a natural ridge over a creek and
circles, forming small strongholds on the highest
outcroppings of that ridge. The distance between
strongholds is appropriate for pre-historic
defense. Topographical studies would show more.
So, Middle Georgians of pre-history determined
that our area was one to defend.
10 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

FROM THE PEOPLE
“My granddaddy, Ernest Hugh Holleman, Sr., was drafted for the army during World War I
and was to report to Fort McPherson in Atlanta. He went to Echeconee to catch the train to
Macon then to Atlanta. When he reached the train station, he learned that the war was over and
that he could go home. It was November 11, 1918.”
- Steve Holleman
“In 1942, I worked in Macon in the long distance department of the telephone company.
There were only two circuits for long distance calls to Wellston at that time.”
- Janie Townsend
Several of the Mississippian mounds at
Ocmulgee National Monument feature defensive
trench work. These first Georgians took full
advantage of natural assets, such as high-ground
visibility, as well as creek and river transportation.
In 1690, the British established a fortified trading
post, whose archeological footprint is on the
grounds of Ocmulgee. Located on the Lower and
Middle Creek trading paths, it operated until
burned in the Yamassee War of 1715. Upon the
establishment of the United States, both George
Washington and Thomas Jefferson eyed the
southwestern frontier, Georgia’s Ocmulgee River.
By 1806, Fort Hawkins towered above the
Muskogee-Creek sacred grounds and represented
the Manifest Destiny philosophy of its new
government. The ancient trading path became
known as The Federal or Garrison Road. A
Pictorial History of Robins Air Force Base, Georgia
summarizes what happened next:
Houston County was created from land
ceded to the State of Georgia by the Creek
Indians in the Creek Treaty of 1821. The treaty
was negotiated at Indian Springs, which is now
a state park in Butts County, above Macon.The
Upper Creeks rejected the treaty but a delegation
of Lower Creeks, led by controversial half-white
Chief William McIntosh, signed it.McIntosh was
not only a Creek Chief but a Brigadier General,
USA, a first cousin of Governor George M.
Troup, and a rich man with numerous slaves.
He had three wives, two red and one white, but
attended the Methodist Church when he
visited his cousin, the Governor, in
Milledgeville. Milledgeville was the state capitol
in those days. A second Creek Treaty (1825)
negotiated at Indian Springs, in which McIntosh
ceded another slice of Indian land, cost him his
life. He was shot and scalped by a party of Creek
warriors. It didn’t change anything.The remaining
Indians of the Southeastern United States
were rounded up in the 1830s and moved to
what is now the state of Oklahoma. (1)
A Land so Dedicated describes the rationale
behind the forced removal of Native
Americans— what the Cherokee call “The Trail
of Tears” and the Muskogee call “The Trail on
which They Cried”—this way:
Ironically, it was the civilization of the tribes
and not their savagery that now most frightened
the Georgians. Both the Creeks in the South and
the Cherokees in the north were setting up
‘states’ asserting their sovereignty of the land.
Their lifestyle had taken on many aspects of
other pioneer settlers except that they would not
acknowledge the jurisdiction of Georgia’s government
over their tribes. (Nelson 40).
Next came farming, then trains. A few
pre-1950 structures remain in Houston County,
and the historic rail lines have merged into
Norfolk Southern.
By the time of the Civil War, both the
Confederate and Union soldiers used the Old
Federal Road. In fact, they engaged on what was
once the site of Fort Hawkins and what is now the
Ocmulgee National Monument in The Battle of
Dunlap Farm. By 1917, and in the same general
area, the United States chose author Harry Stillwell
Edwards’ family farm, Holly Bluff, for the site of
World War I Camp Wheeler and trained about
Chapter One ✦ 11

Above: Most of the railroad tracks
in Houston County have been
consolidated under the Norfolk
Southern Railroad.
Top, right: An early locomotive.
Below: The historical marker at
Elberta Depot Historic Center.
83,000 troops on its 21,480 acres. Later, “On
October 12, 1940, Congressman Carl Vinson’s
office announced that Camp Wheeler would be
rebuilt and was scheduled to be ready for operation
by March 15, 1941. The camp’s first commander
was Colonel A. R. Emery for whom Emery
Highway was later named” (Maffeo). During five
years of operation, 217,878 soldiers trained on the
Camp Wheeler firing ranges and 4,700 prisoners
of war worked through camps operating under its
administration. At this same time, Cochran Field
operated near the Bibb and Houston County line
on Echeconee Creek, and the United States Army
Air Corp began exploration of a larger base establishment
in Middle or South Georgia. This was the
result of a Macon policy of offering free land for
defense installations to create jobs for the area. It
helped Macon gain a naval ordinance plant (operated
by Reynolds Metals), “an infantry replacement
camp (Camp Wheeler), and an Army Air Corps
pilot training facility (Cochran Field)” (5).
12 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

Mildred’s Store.
According to A Pictorial History of Robins Air Force
Base, “In 1939, there were twenty-one Army air
installations in the continental United States. By
the end of 1941, there were 114 completed or
under construction—including the one which is
now known as Robins Air Force Base [1982]
(Prologue). The Air Corps was renamed the Army
Air Forces on June 22, 1941.
Chapter One ✦ 13

CHAPTER TWO
C OMMUNITY
C ONNECTIONS
Bond Minutewomen, 1945.
The New Georgia Encyclopedia explains that “For nearly fifty years the farm community was known
as York, after the federal post office located in a country store.” Then the Georgia Florida Railroad
arrived “to connect the rail line between Macon and Perry. It changed everything. The chief engineer,
William H. Wells, became friends with a plantation owner, Henry Feagin, Jr., who donated [land] on
which to build a train station. When the job was completed, Feagin named the station and the
community Wellston, after Wells. For the next sixty years the area remained a whistle stop
surrounded by dairy farms, corn fields, peach orchards, and pecan groves” (New Georgia
Encyclopedia).
A Feagin family story indicates that in 1865, after Union forces captured Confederate President
Jefferson Davis in Irvinville, Georgia, the delegation traveled north and camped near the Feagin
home: “Two of the Davis daughters [Davis’ family followed him in a separate party during the escape
but reunited for the trip north] accepted Judge Feagin’s offer of hospitality and lodging for the night.
The Feagins sent refreshments to the former president and his wife. The events of that night were
recalled by President Davis many years later [1887] as he was making a tour of Georgia” (4).
Another event that sparked excitement in Wellston happened on May 18, 1899. A newspaper
article, in the files at the Warner Robins Convention & Visitors Bureau titled “Fire at Wellston,”
reports, “The town of Wellston, this county, barely escaped destruction by fire last Tuesday afternoon.
Sparks from a passing engine caused the fire. The G.S. & F. [Georgia Southern & Florida] railroad
woodshed and rack, a quantity of word, and a freight care were burned. The depot building, and Mr.
Watson’s store were in great danger, and their contents were removed. Hard work prevented the
depot from catching, and the other buildings were thus saved. The afternoon trains were
considerably delayed.”
During the Great Depression, Georgia leaders looked for ways to provide jobs and build the economy.
Hitler's rise spurred employment in the defense industry.. A collaborative effort began which involved,
the City of Macon, Congressman Carl Vinson, and Bostwick Watson, among others: “The City of Macon
14 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

and Bibb County purchased 3,108 acres from…
local farm families for just over $97,000 and
donated the property to the army air forces in
August 1941” (New Georgia Encyclopedia).
This acquisition was a continuation of
Middle Georgia’s efforts to bring jobs and people
to the area by making defense jobs available.
Women helped raise money for the war
effort. They worked in factories and held
positions in the armed forces.
When the Air Force base arrived, it signaled
changes for the Feagin family. A Pictorial History
of Robins Air Force Base says that,
The land which is now the site of Robins Air
Force Base was assembled from numerous
individual property owners but much of it was
once a part of the Feagin Plantation. In fact, the
grave of Henry Feagin (1795-1842) is on Robins
Air Force Base in the tiny cemetery on 10th
street, in the block between E and F streets. His
home, ‘The Oaks,’ was also on Robins Air Force
Base and was still in existence when the base was
built. For a time, during World War II, it was
used as the enlisted men’s Guest House. In 1966,
the house was sold and moved away from
Robins AFB (2).
Guide to the Robins Region Georgia says, “The
thriving city that is now Warner Robins was
once a small town known as Wellston, which
housed 50 residents and served as a train stop
for local farmers in the early 20th century. In the
1930s, the U.S. government entertained the
thought of building an Army Air Corps Depot in
metro Atlanta; that is, until [a Middle Georgia
partnership promoted] Wellston [and] promised
to build the depot cheaper and faster than its
urban competitor could” (3).
Members of the Feagin family remained in
Warner Robins and later gained employment on
the base.
Groundbreaking for Robins Air Field
occurred across a dirt road “in September
[1941]. Wellston town leaders, led by Bostwick
Watson and his brothers, helped win the
contract, at least in part, by donating land for
the town’s first school and other civic buildings.
[These] leaders also obtained a promise from
Wellston Housing Company to construct 2,000
affordable homes in 1942 and more later” (New
Georgia Encyclopedia). Nashville, Tennessee;
Atlanta, Dublin, Albany, Milledgeville, Cordele,
and Vienna, Georgia” were “also interested in
the new Air Corps facility” (Head 3). Atlanta,
who favored an Ellenwood site, and Macon,
who favored the Wellston site, were the final
two who competed for this contract. Wellston
(later Warner Robins) won.
As progress on the new base began, issues of
housing the civilian population arose. Macon
planned to build housing for workers in Bibb
Top, left: Nurses at Robins Air Force
Base during World War II.
Above: A photograph of the first
official blue Air Force uniforms.
Chapter Two ✦ 15

Above: Much of the property
originally designated for the
Robins Air Field belonged to the
Feagin family.
Top, right: A telegram from Carl
Vinson announcing the selection of
Wellston, Georgia, as the site of a new
Air Corps depot in 1941.
Below: A train passing
through Avondale.
and Houston counties. First base commander,
Col. Charles E. Thomas, Jr., “met with the Macon
Chamber of Commerce shortly after his arrival in
Middle Georgia in early November 1941. He
listened to the report of progress [on housing
construction] and he wasn’t impressed. What he
said must have left the Maconites stunned. Not
only was the available housing insufficient, but it
was being built in the wrong place. He wanted it
across the highway from the depot—not in Bibb
County, but in Houston County. In fact, he
wanted a city for civilian workers with movie
theaters, drugstores, fire protection, and
sidewalks” (A Pictorial History of Robins Air Force
Base 25). Macon proposed moving its planned
housing to southern Bibb County across from
Cochran Field, but wartime shortages dictated
two things. First, housing must be adjacent to
Robins Field because automobile tires became a
rationed item to support military use. Second,
other shortages meant that housing would be “a
subdivision around which a city would grow”
instead of the planned city Thomas envisioned
(25). The Wellston Housing Company began its
first 250 houses in Robins Manor on July 30,
1942. Many are still in use today. The official
name change from Wellston to Warner Robins
occurred September 1, 1942, and the base
“became the Warner Robins Army Air Depot on
October 14, 1942” (A Pictorial History of Robins Air
Force Base 26).
16 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

Top: Workers with Flint Electric.
Middle: The gas station in Wellston.
Bottom: A map of Wellston.
Chapter Two ✦ 17

Top: First School in Wellston
Middle: Examples of early
base housing.
Bottom: Homes and neighborhoods
originally built as base housing are
being used today by Warner Robins
citizens.
And so, the daily commute began and growth
became a way of life.
More than one community grew from York and
Wellston to become part of Warner Robins during
the 1940s. Jody Town is still a little south of
Robins main gate in the Second and Third Street,
Linwood Drive area. African-American workers
and their families settled here near Memorial
18 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

Top: Commercial Circle.
Middle and Bottom: Early base
construction.
Chapter Two ✦ 19

Park. A major form of entertainment was baseball.
Gabrielle Dawkins interviewed Marvis Roberts for
a 2016 news piece called “Jody Town Community
Reunites Again.” In it she quoted Mr. Roberts as
saying, “‘This was our home park now. Memorial
Park. This is where we played all of our games.
On the weekend…the only thing in Jody Town
was baseball.’” He emphasized baseball saying,
“‘We had our own bus. We had a traveling set of
uniforms. We were real organized’” (qtd. In
Dawkins). Jody Town had the Rams and the Jets
and several players moved from there to the
major leagues. Jerome Stephens was on one of the
teams. Not only did his family help build the
base, they helped establish educational
opportunities for the community. For Dawkins’
news piece, he said, “It’s great to see people I’ve
not seen in a long time. It’s a joy to see them.”
Top: This postcard shows both the
Wellston and Warner Robins
postmarks and is addressed to Gene
Espy. Mr. Epsy was the second person
to through-hike the Appalacian Trail
and wrote The Trail of My Life about
that experience. At publication of
Trains, Planes and Heroes: A
History of Warner Robins, Mr. Espy
lived in Macon.
Middle: The Robins Air Force Base
front gate, c. the 1940s.
Bottom: The Robins Air Force Base
front gate, c. the 1950s.
20 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

Left: The Robins Air Force Base front
gate, c. the 1960s.
Below: A meeting in Sam Nunn’s
office to discuss extending
Russell Parkway.
In 1971, the Central of Georgia Railroad
merged their 1951 purchase of the Savannah &
Atlanta, into the Central of Georgia. This included
the Brinson Railway, which began in 1906. Its
connection, the Savannah & Atlanta appeared in
1915. The Central Rail Road & Banking Company
of Georgia began construction in 1835. It was
controlled by Illinois Central from 1909-1948 and
by Frisco from 1956-1961. In 1963, the Central of
Georgia became a subsidiary of Southern.
Southern and Central of Georgia also merged in
1971. The Georgia & Florida Railroad formed
from four shorter lines in 1906, was bought by
Southern Railway in 1962, and became part of
Southern’s Central of Georgia Railroad in 1971.
In 1981, the Elizabeth City & Norfolk
Railroad, founded in 1880, became Norfolk
Southern. Southern bought it and merged it
with Carolina & Northwestern in 1974. They
separated the two in 1981 so that the Norfolk
Southern name could be used for the merger.
Also in 1981, Norfolk Western purchased the
Illinois Terminal Railroad Company, which
started as a streetcar system for Champaign-
Urbana in 1890, then moved away from interurban
transport to freight by 1956.
In 1982, the Southern Railroad joined Norfork
& Western to become part of the greater Norfolk
Southern Corporation. Chartered in 1850 as
Norfolk & Petersburg and grouped with Atlantic,
Chapter Two ✦ 21

Watson Boulevard.
Mississippi & Ohio in 1881. South Carolina Canal
& Railroad, 1833, joined the newer Southern
Railway in 1894. This eventually included
Alabama Great Southern; Cincinnati, New Orleans
& Texas Pacific; New Orleans & Northwestern.
Norfolk & Western acquired several railroads
before they all became Norfolk Southern.
The Norfolk Southern Railway was
established December 31, 1990, after Norfolk &
Western became a subsidiary of Southern.
Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway began in 1873,
merged into a successor of Norfolk & Western –
a Norfolk Southern subsidiary in 1988, but was
sold in 1990 to a group reusing the Wheeling &
Lake Erie name.
Consolidated Rail Corporation was formed in
1976 after the failure of Penn Central and
acquisition of six smaller roads. In 1998,
Norfolk Southern and CSX purchased and
divided the Conrail, beginning operations in
1999. The Conrail brand now represents a local
freight provider.
22 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

FROM THE PEOPLE
“In March of 1946 my father, Joe Dembowski, was transferred to the Army
Air Forces base at Wellston Air Depot (presently Warner Robins AFB). My
family, dad, mother, older brother, sister, and I were flown to the base in a
small military plane. I was five months old at the time. I think I have a picture
of mom holding my sister, dad holding my brother, and the pilot holding me.
It was after the war, and my mother, Mary Dembowski, told me it was like a
frontier ghost town, with many houses just abandoned with furnishings left
in them. People would go and take what they needed from them.
“Soon afterwards, when dad was sent to Japan to serve with the Army
of Occupation, mother stayed in Warner Robins with us three toddlers.
After he returned, they chose to make Warner Robins our home. Joe and
Mary quickly became leaders in their church and the community, giving
back to the town they called home. Among the boys in her Boy Scout den,
were a future governor and an astronaut. Joe was to Boy Scouts what
Mary was to Girl Scouts. Both influenced generations of Warner Robins’
children through their examples and caring.
“Mary taught girls that we could be anything we wanted to be, if we
worked at it. She taught independence and self-esteem, and she modeled
what it meant to be a strong woman, inspiring generations of women. When
her own girls were gone from the home, she established a Girl Scout Troop
with the young women at the Sheltered Workshop working the Junior Girl
Scout program. Those young ladies, who were often only on the receiving
end of giving, learned that they, too, had worth to give and share with others.
“Mary was instrumental in teaching at least three generations of local
youth how to swim, first at the old dormitory pool, then as director of
swimming for Parks and Recreation Department for the city. At the same time, Joe, also a Red Cross certified water safety instructor,
taught adults to swim in the evening. Before swimming pools were common place and easily accessible, many never had the opportunity
to learn to swim. Both were community heroes, vested in the worth of every person and dedicated to challenging them to reach high
and persevere through any difficulties. A classmate shared with me at my high school fifty-year reunion that ‘They believed in me when
I didn’t believe in myself, and so I tried, and found out I could! I am forever grateful they were part of my upbringing!’
“Warner Robins was a great place to grow up. Pleasant Hill Road was on the far edge of town. I have memories of riding as fast as
I could down that hill to get up enough speed to make it to the top of the next where it dead-ended onto Green Street. We picked
wild blackberries where the Galleria Shopping Center is today and gathered pecans from stately trees in the old dormitory area at the
corner of Green Street and Davis Drive. We had an old farm fire bell high on a 4-by-4 pole in our back yard, and the house rules were
that when it rang, we had five minutes to get home. I guess you would call us ‘free range kids’ today. We knew we had to be home
when the street lights came on. I delivered papers for The Warner Robins Sun, a weekly paper. We had an old Willy's Jeep Station
Wagon, and on summer Sunday afternoons, Daddy would drive slowly along Highway 247 from the main gate to the seven bridges
section looking for discarded soda bottles. We would take them home, wash them out with soapy water and small pebbles for agitation,
and redeem at the grocery store for the deposit money. Regular soda bottles were worth two cents, and the big Canada Dry bottles
were a nickel. That change was saved in a Liberty Bell bank and was used to fund mini vacations--day trips around the state.
“I remember when the Cuban missile crisis happened, the base closed mid-afternoon, and everyone was sent home with
instructions to watch the CBS Evening News and be ready to get back to base within thirty minutes if called. Those next weeks and
months were tense times at the base and in the homes, especially because we were within presumed range of those missiles and a
possible target.
“Mary Dembowski lived to age ninety-three and was a member of the Pioneers Club in Warner Robins. You had to have lived
there by 1950 to belong.”
- Joan Dembowski Pottinger
Chapter Two ✦ 23

WELCOME NEIGHBOR TO THE “ CITY OF FRIENDSHIP”:
DIRECTORY WARNER ROBINS, GEORGIA FASTEST GROWING CITY
“Just before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Army Air Force began to build at Wellston, Georgia; then an unincorporated
village of less than fifty people, what is now Warner Robins Air Material Area, then known as Wellston Air Depot.
“Immediately after the bombs fell on Pearl Harbor activities changed to high gear! Contractors with their personnel and equipment
flocked in from all points of the compass. The personnel was typical of the times and undertaking; mostly good people, but
containing the expected number of the rougher element, of both sexes. All sorts of equipment, from the largest to the smallest was
moved to the site over the single-track railroad and the narrow dirt road, which is now the modern four-lane highway to Macon.
“All types of businesses sprang up, principally along what is now First and Second streets. These early business enterprises
embraced everything from fortune tellers in tents and jalopy automobiles to the uncovered wooden movie show, which is now the
RAMA Theatre. In its early days this theatre resembled, from the outside at least, a country nickelodeon of forty or fifty years ago.
“Troops were moving to the air field which attracted the usual number of so-called ‘camp followers.’ Order was maintained in
the town by one deputy sheriff, Mr. W. W. Martin, civilian guards and Military Police from the air base. To afford the city fathers
a place to house those arrested, the air base erected a barracks building on North Second Street. This building served as city hall
and jail. The first prisoner confined in the jail released himself by the simple expedient of kicking out a board and just walking
away. However, he finally became so drunk that his recapture was very simple.
“To meet housing needs, Fickling and Walker, the FHA, Mr. L.B. Eleanor and do-it-yourself ‘carpenters’ were rapidly turning
watermelon and peanut patches into what is now known as Zeigler Housing Units, The Manor, Eleanor Homes and Dormitory
Area. Many of these structures were unique and interesting, especially those constructed from packing crates and scrap lumber.
“In the meantime, those hardy souls who could really rough it utilized all sorts of makeshift living quarters. Except for the
absence of horses and six shooters, Wellston at that time very much resembled a gold rush boom town of frontier days.”
Wellborn Cemetery, located just south of the
Russell Parkway entrance to Robins Air Force
Base, provides a final resting place for several
early Warner Robins area families. Names include
Booth, Bryant, Floyd, McBride, Scarborough, and
Wellborn. Wellborn Mills was closer to the
Ocmulgee and gave its name to the area early on.
The Gazetteer of the State of Georgia mentions that
Wellborn Mills had a post office in 1837 (from A
Pictorial History of Robins Air Force Base 3). The
village appears on the 1847 Bonner Map as the
nearest town to present day Warner Robins. Mrs.
Members of a Warner Robins baseball
team, along with city and county
officials. Baseball teams were a source
of pride for local communities like
Jody Town.
24 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

FROM THE PEOPLE
“I am Charlie Scott, Jr. and was born August 6, 1942 in Grovania,
Georgia/Houston County to parents Charlie Scott, Sr. and Annie Mae Scott. I am
the oldest of twelve children. My father was a Southern Railroad employee. Later
the name changed to Norfolk Southern Railroad. As a boy growing up in
Grovania, I went to school in Methodist and Baptist churches. All schools were
segregated. Later we went to a one room school building with grades 1-7 in the
same room. We just used different books. Grovania had a post office. All mail
was general delivery. The locomotive stopped to pick up people and mail.
Grovania had Ellis Grocery Store, the train depot, and a cotton gin. It was a
farming community. We lived in Railroad Section houses. There were four
houses and one larger house for the foreman. My father, Charlie Scott, had a
brother who lived in one of those houses. He had another brother, Cornelius
Scott, Jr., who lived in section houses in Kathleen and worked for the same
railroad. All section houses closed in the early 1950s and all three brothers
moved to Warner Robins. They bought land where Scott Boulevard is today. I’ve
had three brothers work for the railroad: Calvin, Lamar, Kendal and Terry still
work for Norfolk Southern.”
- Charlie Scott, Jr. (undated from files at Warner Robins Convention and Visitors Bureau).
Top: Lieutenant Charlie Scott.
Middle: The children of Lieutenant
Charlie Scott (from left ro right):
Charlie Scott, Jr.; Willie Frank Scott;
Willie Matthew Scott; Jessie Lee Scott;
Calvin Scott; Mary Lois Scott Riley;
Vera Scott Walton; Edward Scott;
Elverna Scott Cherry; Emma Jean
Scott; Terry Scott; and Lama
Kendall Scott.
Bottom: Grovania, Georgia.
Chapter Two ✦ 25

FROM THE PEOPLE
“Our family moved to Warner Robins in 1979, and one of the main reasons was for my brother and I to attend Central
Fellowship Christian Academy. My dad later got a job at RAFB.”
- Joy McCammon
“In 1994, my family moved to the Warner Robins/ South Bibb County area. I left in 2000 to attend college, and immediately
after earning a commission in the AF, I was sent to RAFB in 2005 for my first duty station.”
- Ben Elton
“Castle Air Force Base in California closed [in 1995]. I landed here. Warner Robins Police Department hired me two days before
Gwinnett Police Department offered.”
- Tommy Williams
“We moved to Warner Robins in March 1996. Chris, my step-dad, was part of the new JSTARS unit at RAFB. Then, in 1998,
he did his Korea tour for a year. When he came back, we were supposed to get transferred to another base. Because I was a senior
in high school, they let him stay at Robins. I have since moved to the Atlanta area, but he and mom still live in Warner Robins
and do not have any plans of moving.”
- Emily Denny Bishop
“Sam and I moved here in 1968 when he was stationed at Robins Air Force Base as Squadron Commander of the base hospital.
We were here three years and away for two when he got his CPA license. Then we moved back here and never left.”
- Dianne Ward Dean
“My family came to the Warner Robins area in 1983. Dad researched options and decided this is where he wanted to retire
from the Air Force. His decision was precipitated by his receiving orders to Minot, North Dakota. As an officer with twenty-five
years in, he was able to secure a transfer to Robins. He retired six months later and ended up doing another twenty years on base.
My entire family is from Ohio, and I was having Deliverance-type visions when we first got here. I have since fallen in love with
the South, and Georgia particularly. I don’t want to live anywhere else.”
- Lee Vanosdol
“In 1999, Dad worked civil service at Kelly Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. When they were told it would be shutting
down, my parents thought Warner Robins would be a nice place to raise us with the coast, Disney, and the Blue Ridge and Smokey
mountains close by.”
- Vanessa Smith
“I started work as an Industrial Engineer at Robins AFB in 1971.”
- Lou Crouch
“Our family moved to the Warner Robins area twice, in 1985 and in 1993. Both times were due to the Air Force assigning us
to Robins Air Force Base.”
- Patti Ferrell Bedford
Charity Wellborn Bryant’s tombstone, in the
Wellborn Cemetery, notes that she migrated to
Houston County, Georgia from Wake County,
North Carolina. She died here in 1909.
Shiloh Cemetery, on the line separating
Houston County from Peach County, was lost to
its community, but now is found. A church
building sat on the site from 1831–1961. Mr.
Reggie Holloman was one of the last survivors of
that congregation. He attempted to keep the
cemetery, which was lost because the older
road was severed by modern subdivision
26 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

Wellborn Cemetery is the final resting
place for many area families.
Chapter Two ✦ 27

construction. Late in his life, neighbors, a
community college, and other organizations
stepped in to help.
A CONVERSATION WITH
REGGIE HOLLOMAN ABOUT
HISTORIC SHILOH CHURCH
AND CEMETERY
I joined [Shiloh] church in 1942. I was born
in ’37. They used to christen the infants in the
Methodist church, you know. I started down
here to church ever since I can remember.
We went to church here all through World
War II. I tore it [the church building] down, me
and my farm crew. Part of it was fat lighter—put
together with wooden pegs, and it never had a
coat of paint on it. It had rough boards—
this wide (12 to 18 inches). The inside was
painted. It was painted white. It had that
beaded ceiling and wooden shingles. It was a
big old church with two doors. The ladies
went in on one side, and the men went in on the
other side. It never had electricity, no plumbing.
The fact is, they didn’t even have restrooms.
When we had church down there, people would
go out in the woods. They’d say, “I got to go to
the bushes.”
That old tree, right there, when it was
smaller, it had rings in it where you tied the
horses. They’d take ‘em loose from the buggies.
Of course, that was a little before my time.
But, the tree still had them old rings in it. The
tree just growed over em and all. I’d be scared to
get in there with a chain saw. You’d probably hit
one of those iron rings. A lot of times, they’d
have a feed bag, and feed the horse while they
were in church.
We had services once a month, because we
were on a circuit church, with Byron and
Powersville. We’d have church on this Sunday;
and next Sunday, if you wanted to go to church,
you’d go to Powersville. The pastor, I believe,
was named Smith. You’d come to church
about dinner time, or right after dinner, and stay
all evening. Every now and then, we’d have
dinner on the grounds. At one time it was a big
church, but by the time I was born, it was
playing out.
One of the families who joined Shiloh
Church was Statham. They were from North
28 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

Opposite: Gravestones in
Shiloh Cemetery.
Carolina. Part of the family came here when they
opened this territory up. Down there, they had
a ferry that crossed the river. On some of
these old maps, you’ll find that ferry. Part of the
family came here when they opened this
territory up. If it wasn’t for the people buried
here, there wouldn’t be a Byron or a Warner
Robins, Georgia.”
Above: In the mid-nineteenth century
parishioners at Shiloh Church would
tie their horses to the trees outside
the church. This tree would have iron
rings hammered into their trunks.
Bottom: Members of the Shiloh
Cemetery Team from Georgia
Military College.
Chapter Two ✦ 29

CHAPTER THREE
C OMPETITION
Teams from Warner Robins won the
Little League World Series in 2007,
2009 and 2010.
Warner Robins’ birth ties directly to competition. In competing for more Middle Georgia jobs after
the Great Depression, the City of Macon stepped into competition for new defense contracts which led
to the reopening and strengthening of Camp Wheeler (1917-1919 and 1940-1946), the development
of Cochran Field (1941-1945), the establishment of the Naval Ordnance Plant (1941-1965), and the
birth of Robins Air Field in Middle Georgia (established 1941). Then, a competition for housing
erupted, the City of Macon believing that housing should be in South Bibb County, and a new base
commander, Colonel Charles Thomas, believing that housing must be in Houston County adjacent to
the base. Thomas and Warner Robins won that competition, and the first named public school in
Warner Robins was named for Thomas’ son, Charles Thomas III, who was killed in a training accident.
That sense of competition remains. Warner Robins hosts championships for Little League and
brings home World Series trophies of its own, produces state and national champions in high school
athletics, sends players to professional sports, sends winners of the Miss Warner Robins pageant to
Miss Georgia, Miss America, and to Miss Universe pageants, and sends politicians to service at the
state, local, and worldwide levels. It goes further, though. Beyond competition lies a deep sense that
people make a difference in the world. The competitors and heroes, listed in this chapter, use their
strength to build communities and make the lives of others better. Each has a personal platform:
education, Children’s Miracle Network, disaster relief, Special Olympics, and the list goes on and on.
A community college student said, “I’m always looking for an opportunity to serve.” By the time he
finished his two-year degree at Warner Robins’ Georgia Military College campus in 2018, the young
international student earned over 500 hours of community service. This spirit is what keeps Warner
Robins moving forward. Of the military bases and support units listed in this chapter, only one
remains active, and that’s Robins. The spirits of competition, readiness, and service continue to
contribute to the viability of Robins Air Force Base and the continued growth of Warner Robins.
There’s a long-standing claim that Claude Lewis invented the game of tee-ball in Warner Robins
in 1958. Whether tee-ball was first played here or not, the city maintains a Little League tradition
that few other cities match. In 2007, Warner Robins defeated a team from Japan to win the Little
30 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

Little League softball team won the Little League
Softball World Series in 2009, and then again in
2010. In 2011, when the baseball team returned
to the World Series, SBNation reporter Jeremiah
Oshan stated, “Warner Robins Little League
has been here before. In fact, the team from
Georgia has now represented the Southeast
Region in the Little League World Series three
times over the last five years” (“LLWS 2011:
How Warner Robins’ Little League Baseball
Team Got Here”). Although the team did not
win in 2011, they came close. Jake Fromm, a
2018 quarterback for the University of Georgia,
pitched in that series.
Top: Miss Warner Robins Burma
Davis won the crown of Miss Georgia
in 1968.
League World Series. The baseball team played
on national television before “tens of thousands
of spectators,” got to meet President George W.
Bush, and they appeared on The David Letterman
Show (Kovac, Jr.) In 2008, the Little League
International Board of Directors chose Warner
Robins as the Southeast Region Headquarters of
Little League Baseball. Its beautiful stadium
began hosting games in 2010. Then the softball
team came to bat. The Warner Robins American
Middle and bottom: Warner Robins is
home to the Little League International
Southeastern Regional Headquarters.
Chapter Three ✦ 31

CHAPTER FOUR
C HURCHES
Sacred Heart Catholic Church has
served the community since 1945.
Warner Robins, Houston County, and Middle Georgia are part of the United States’ Bible Belt. Area
churches were established following agreements with Native Americans. Mission work began earlier.
Hernando DeSoto brought missionaries in 1540. Namesake of Hawkinsville Road—which runs
between Robins Air Force Base and the city of Warner Robins—Benjamin Hawkins, allowed
Moravian missionaries to teach at his Flint River Indian Agency before 1812. He brought them from
Old Salem, North Carolina to teach weaving, but allowed them to teach the Bible after hours. It is
impossible to trace the origins of Christianity in the south, and therefore, impossible to form an
inclusive list of churches. Here is a partial list of historic churches in and around Warner Robins and
their organization dates:
• Henderson Baptist Church, 1821
• Haynesville Baptist Church, 1824
• Henderson Methodist Church, 1824
• Shiloh Methodist Church, 1831
• Asbury Chapel, 1835
• Wesley Chapel Methodist Church, 1840
• Lane’s Chapel, 1841
• Pleasant Hill Primitive Baptist Church, 1845
• Henderson Methodist Church as Wesley
Chapel Methodist Church, 1858
• Hickory Grove Baptist Church, 1872
• Elko Baptist Church, 1890
• Sandy Run Baptist Church, 1892
• Grovania Methodist Church as Haneyville
Methodist Church, 1893
• Centerville Baptist Church, 1900
• Bonaire Baptist Church, 1909
• Cochran Field Baptist Church (on Cochran
Field Army Air Base) now Central Fellowship,
1942
• Sacred Heart Catholic Church, 1945
• All Saints Episcopal Church, 1950
• Memorial Heights Baptist Church, 1954
As population and diversity grew, so did the number and diversity of churches. Most of the
historic churches still hold regular worship services. Again, an inclusive list is not possible, but here
32 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

is a partial list of newer churches in and around
Warner Robins in 2018:
• A New Beginning Church of God
• Abundant Life Church of God
• Adams-Smith Tabernacle A.M.E.
• Central Baptist Church
• Christ Chapel
• Christ Sanctified Holy Church
• Christ the Redeemer Anglican Church
• Christ United Methodist Church
• Christian Fellowship Baptist Church
• City Church
• Covenant Presbyterian Church
• Crosspoint Baptist Church
• First Baptist Church
• First Presbyterian Church
• First United Methodist Church
• Friendship Baptist Church
• Harvest Church
• Inglesia Cristiana Remanso de Paz
• Inglesias Bautista la Cruz de Cristo
• Mt. Nebo Primitive Baptist Church
• New Hope International
• New Life Seventh-Day Adventist Church
• Oakland Baptist Church
• Second Baptist Church
• Southside Baptist Church
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
• The River Church
• Trinity United Methodist Church
• Warner Robins C.M.E. Church
• Warner Robins Church of Christ
• Warner Robins Hispanic Four-Square Church
• Warner Robins Korean Church
• Word in Season Ministries
According to Dr. William P. Head, historian
for the 78 ABW, “The need for an Air Corps
installation in Georgia grew out of a change of
policy in the War Department. Prior to World
War II, the servicing of military aircraft was a
relatively minor business. The dramatic success
of the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) in France
and the Balkans (southeastern Europe) forced
the Army to take a hard look at building a
modern air force. This growth of air power
confronted the Amy Air Corps with increased
responsibilities in the areas of supply and
maintenance. One result was the need for more
air depots to service the additional aircraft.
Pertinent to our story is the fact that one of
these was planned for the southeastern United
States” (Through the Camera’s Eye: A Photographic
Survey of the Origins of Robins Field, 1941-1945).
The name of what most Middle Georgians
call Robins Air Force Base changes with its
mission. On June 16, 1941, “Congressman Carl
Vinson sent a telegraph from Washington [D.C.]
to local civic dignitaries, led by Macon Mayor
Charles Bowden, announcing that the U.S. War
Department had selected …Wellston, Georgia,
as the location of a new southeastern Army Air
maintenance and supply depot” (“Robins AFB
and 78 ABW Heritage Pamphlet”).
Through the Camera’s Eye: A Photographic
Survey of the Origins of Robins Field, 1941-1945
says that, “The land was located along the
unpaved Hawkinsville Highway (today Georgia
State 247), approximately 16 miles south of
Macon. Rail facilities were near, the site being
across the highway from the Wellston (modern
day Warner Robins) station” (Head). At that time,
Wellston consisted mainly of the Carter Dairy
Farm, Wellston Train Stop, Thompson’s Café, a
gasoline station, and area farms. Groundbreaking
for the new defense depot occurred September 1,
1941. Then, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor
on December 7. Construction accelerated.
Workers completed the first section of flight line
Robins Air Force Base
headquarters, 1953.
Chapter Four ✦ 33

Opposite: Presidents Lyndon B.
Johnson, Richard Nixon, Jimmy
Carter, Bill Clinton, and George W.
Bush are among the world leaders
who have visited Robins Air Force
Base over the years.
by April, and the first aircraft arrived for
maintenance by May of 1942. Although the
United States had entered World War II, local
dignitaries wanted a dedication of the former
dairy farm turned military installation. On
September 1, 1942, they encouraged base
commander Col. Charles E. Thomas to hold a
ceremony and to name the base for his mentor,
Brigadier General Augustine Warner Robins:
“Gen. Robins was commander of the Materiel
Division (near Dayton, Ohio) from 1935—1939”
(Head). In his speech Col. Thomas said, “I doubt
that any single individual has had any more to do
with the development of what we now know as
the Air Service Command than Brigadier General
Augustine Warner Robins.…It is most gratifying
that such an important project bears the name of
one who held supply and maintenance functions
so close to his heart, and who inspired many
improvements in the performance of these
functions” (“Robins AFB and 78 ABW Heritage
Pamphlet”). The base grew to be Georgia’s
“largest industrial facility” by the end of World
War II (“Robins AFB and 78 ABW Heritage
Pamphlet”). General Robins’ wife and daughters
attended the dedication ceremonies, and
dignitaries continue to follow their footsteps to
Robins. These include former first lady Madame
Chiang Kai-shek of China, President Anwar El-
Sadat of Egypt, Prime Minister Menachem Begin
of Israel, Vice Presidents Dan Quayle and Al
Gore, and Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson,
FROM THE PEOPLE
“The following is about what I was told by my parents who moved here to Warner Robins from Ohio in 1943. The original
Sacred Heart Church corner stone still marks the 1945 year it was built. Before that time Masses were celebrated in the USO hall
attached behind the Warner Robins City Hall building, which was replaced by the Nola Brantley Memorial Library in 1976. My
first recollection of Sacred Heart Church was that of the brick church that seated about 200 people before the choir loft was built
around 1957.
“The architectural design with the exposed beams and floor plan is very similar to the St. Peter Clavier Church built probably
about the same time in Macon. I remember the Sundays of my parents driving my two older brothers and younger sister to Mass
from Cochran Field to Sacred Heart Church on what was then a two-lane highway from Macon to Warner Robins. Before the Catholic
schools in the area were built, some of the parishioners would travel to Macon on Sunday and bring the Sisters of Mercy to and from
Warner Robins to teach Sunday School (Catechism) along with other lay ministers of the parish in the old barracks building that was
moved to the church grounds before Sacred Heart School was built in 1956. That old wooden building served as school and later
the activity hall for several ministry organizations. I was fortunate to go through the forth and fifth grades at St. Joseph School when
it was first built on High St. in Macon. The Presentation Sisters had arrived from Ireland in time for the new Sacred Heart School to
start in 1956. I was in the seventh and eighth grades and in the second graduation class of Sacred Heart School.
“My first experience with airplanes was when we lived in Cochran Field shortly after the war shut down the Army training
base. I would ride on by brother’s handle bars to the air field between the hangers and watch the prop driven planes land and
taxi up to the terminal. I was then six and couldn’t believe the size, sound, and power of those airplanes. This was well before jet
airlines came into service. As it was with most citizens of Warner Robins, we occasionally felt the effects of the now defunct C-
124, nicknamed “old shaky,” would make its flight pattern over our house. The term “shake, rattle, and roll” came into use long
before Chuck Berry wrote his lyrics. One evening my dad was flying back from Ohio in his single engine Cessna. He had said
before he left that he would circle the house on Shirley Drive in Warner Robins as a signal to meet him on return to Cochran
Field Airport. We kids were all excited as he tipped his wings and mom was shouting to get in the car. Where were the cell phones
back then? On just about any day at Mass you could hear the propeller engines running up, and the train horn blasting from the
trains that ran along the rails east of the city. The propeller sounds of the past have changed to the sounds of jet engines, and the
startling sonic boom, “sound of peace.” The train horns sound the same from the diesel train engines.
“However, I must confess my racing on an unexpected occasion down to the track to see a very rare steam engine chug by.
Their whistles have a very distinct sound. My experiences with trains and planes really were not that involved until I became an
adult, mainly following the footsteps of my brothers in service to the Air Force. Yes, they are my heroes. But that’s another story
covering another country and assigned duty stations. It’s still good to have settled in good ole Warner Robins, Georgia.”
- John Wagner, Sr., 2018
34 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

Richard M. Nixon, James E. “Jimmy” Carter,
George W. Bush, and William Jefferson “Bill”
Clinton of the United States.
According to Guide to the Robins Region
Georgia, “The base was a turning point in
Wellston’s history, increasing the population,
reputation, and, in a sense, bringing the
hibernating community to life…. Today, Warner
Robins is called ‘The International City’
and enterains a growing, diverse population
and culture” (5).
Chapter Four ✦ 35

CHAPTER FIVE
C OMMERCE
The April 1953 tornado.
Virtually wiped off the map by a catastrophic April 1953 tornado, which “left in its wake 18 dead,
350 injured, 1,000 homeless, and $10 million in damage,” Robins has grown from its original
4,000 to 6,935 acres (A Pictorial History of Robins Air Force Base, 62). Today, its runways accommodate
“the largest aircraft in the world including the C-5B, C-17 [and on March 28, 1997] the NASA
Space Shuttle piggybacked on a Boeing 747” (“Robins AFB and 78 ABW Heritage Pamphlet”). Robins
AFB, Georgia “remains one of the nation’s greatest defense assets” (“Robins AFB and 78 ABW
Heritage Pamphlet”).
In 1929, the Great Depression hit the United States. Unemployed men took to the highways as
hobos. Two of these men walked into the store at U.S. Highway 41, the North-South corridor of the
nation, and Dunbar Road. The men told Lester David Holleman (b. 1875), the store owner, “We are
going to rob this store. If you stay behind the counter, you will be fine. If you follow us, we will kill
you.” When they started out, Holleman pulled his shotgun from beneath the counter and followed
them into the yard. They killed him there. There is still a store in the same spot today. Holleman is
buried in historic Shiloh Cemetery behind today’s Eagle Springs Elementary School.
Today, commerce has moved from small country stores to nationwide chains and military logistics.
Over 21,000 civilian and military personnel work at Robins Air Force Base. According to the Georgia
Public Library Service projections for 2018, more people work at Robins Air Force Base than live in
sixty-six of Georgia's 159 counties.. The Guide to Robins Region Georgia says that “Today, Robins Air
Force Base consists of almost 7,000 acres and is the largest industrial complex in Georgia” (68). The
base impacts the economies of twenty-five Middle Georgia counties and is roughly bounded by the
Ocmulgee River, Highway 96, Highway 247, and Echeconee Creek. Across 247, Norfolk Southern
Railway runs north and south. “Currently, more than 120 aerospace companies maintain facilities in
the Robins Region to provide aircraft repair, avionics, electronics, engineering, procurement, and
36 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

Left: Damage caused by the 1953
tornado.
Below: Pleasant Hill Primitive
Baptist Church.
logistics support” for the base (Guide to the
Robins Region Georgia 69). Immediately west of
the railroad tracks lies the city of Warner
FROM THE PEOPLE
“The streets named off Pleasant Hill Road
are named for my family members. The
Stalnaker family owned about half of this
town. We have been here since it was called
Wellston. My father had a business called
Rolovalve. It was where Home Depot is now.”
- Chuck Hulon
Chapter Five ✦ 37

Above: Bloodworths Grocery, 1958.
Right: A patriotic water tower.
Robins. The 1950s style depot acts as Warner
Robin’s Convention and Visitors Bureau and
plans for a new visitors’ center at Interstate I-75
and Russell Parkway are underway.
The 21st Century Partnership is “a 501c3
dedicated to the long-term vitality and
sustainability of Robins Air Force Base [that
works] closely with RAFB officials, regional,
state and national chambers, development
authorities, and community partners to foster
regional development” (21st Century
Partnership). Composed of civic and business
leaders, retired military members and other
concerned citizens, the group works “to
enhance the military value of Robins Air Force
Base and economic development in Middle
Georgia” (21st Century Partnership). The
website for 21st Century Partnership shows a
2017 Economic Impact for Robins Air Force
base at 22,257 personnel employed, $177
million awarded in “Contracts to Houston
County Firms,” and an increase of $11 million
in total economic impact over 2016.
From the 21st Century Partnership:
During the 1993 Base Realignment and
Closure (BRAC) process, Robins Air Force Base
38 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

FROM THE PEOPLE
FROM THE PEOPLE
“I remember when they built Carrol’s.
Watson Boulevard was two lanes, then they
added two more to make it four.”
- Grady Stokes
“When we went to Houston Mall, we got
rolls of pennies to throw into the fountain.
We were dirt poor, but it was a fun activity!”
- Jennifer Lauren English
Left: The City Council, 1949.
Below: Commercial Circle.
Chapter Five ✦ 39

Houston Mall.
FROM THE PEOPLE
“I walked Houston Mall with my mother-in-law the morning I went into labor, then went
back to school to teach afternoon classes. I didn’t feel well. The school nurse realized what was
happening and sent me straight to the doctor.”
- April Moyer Lunceford
“I remember going to Belk’s to get new shoes with my mom. I can still vividly see the green carpet
of Houston Mall in my mind.”
- Sarah Curington Eno
“I loved going to the mall bookstore!”
- Karen Fowler
“My family and I had great times shopping at Houston Mall. I remember buying penny loafers,
Bee Bops, and a store with a soda fountain.”
- Debra Parkman Elliott
“My favorite place in Houston Mall was Orange Julius.”
- Cindy McCullough Gentry
40 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

Above: A Warner Robins Chamber of
Commerce ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Left: Carrols was a Warner Robins
mainstay for many years.
TOP EMPLOYERS IN WARNER ROBINS
Robins Air Force Base 24,500
Houston County Board of Education 2,355
Houston Healthcare 2,267
From Guide to the Robins Region Georgia, p. 79
Chapter Five ✦ 41

Above: The old railroad station is now
the E. L. Greenway Welcome Center.
Right: The Homer J. Walker, Jr.,
Civic Center.
was added to the BRAC list for evaluation…a
shock to the entire Middle Georgia region, as well
as to the entire State of Georgia. At the insistence
of Senator Sam Nunn, the 21st Century
Partnership was hurriedly formed to defend
Robins and thus the Middle Georgia region during
the official BRAC process. That massive
organizational effort was spearheaded by
community leaders such as George Israel, Bob
Hatcher, Paul Nagle, Ralph Nix, Eddie Wiggins,
Sherrill Stafford, Jack Steed, and many others…
with the sage counsel of Senator Sam Nunn. The
military value of the base, and community was
once again evaluated in BRAC 2005. As in BRAC
1995, not only did Robins survive, but actually
gained mission during BRAC 2005.Fortunately,
the 21st Century Partnership continued to defend
and evoke positive actions to ensure the continued
viability of the base. But equally important, the
organizational structure, mission, and approach
have matured tremendously, vaulting the
partnership to the elite class of defense community
42 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

support organizations in the Nation and certainly
in the State of Georgia. This transformation began
with a dramatic shift of philosophy. That is the
best way to defend Robins is from an offensive
standpoint vs. a defensive standpoint. The
objective was straightforward—make Robins and
Middle Georgia so attractive to decision makers for
assignment of military missions that the base
would expand and become so vital to the Nation’s
defense posture, it would always be in a position
to accept and execute new missions vs. just
fighting to keep jobs in Middle Georgia. This
approach caused focus and solutions to issues
like encroachment; education; affordable/suitable
housing; child care; health care; air quality;
workforce development; transportation access;
quality of life for assigned personnel; cost of living;
cost of operating an installation in Middle Georgia;
capacity to grow; base-community partnerships;
public private partnerships’ collaboration with
sister Air Force industrial operations; helping
Robins execute their strategic plans; etc. The
transformation in philosophy also led to
organizational structure changes. While the
original board structure has virtually remained in
place, retired senior military officers were added as
advisors; Executive Directors were added; a
formal office front was established; a 501c3
was created; then we transitioned to a CEO/COC
construct…. Under the current staffing the focus
will be developing a strategy and action plans that
build on National, State and local layers, focusing
on ensuring not only the continuing viability
of Robins AFB in the future but working to
bring more missions and jobs to the Middle
Georgia area.
Above: Warner Robins City Hall.
Below: A 747 carrying a space
shuttle. Robins AFB’s runways can
accommodate the largest aircraft in
use today.
Chapter Five ✦ 43

CHAPTER SIX
S CHOOLS
Warner Robins’ growth led to a merger of communities that the early founders did not expect.
At one point, the city limits of Warner Robins, Byron, and Fort Valley converged. This involves
major interaction between Houston and Peach counties. Perry and Warner Robins addresses may be
across a highway from each other. Bonaire reaches to Warner Robins, Robins Air Force Base, and
Kathleen. Kathleen almost reaches Perry and Haneysville. Haneysville and Grovania share common
ground. Warner Robins surrounds Centerville. Planes, Trains & Heroes lists all schools that fall under
the Houston County Board of Education. It includes colleges with a physical campus in Warner
Robins, and the private academies that serve Houston County students. This list is not complete, as
different educational options are continually growing. However, the list is representative of options
available in 2018.
The Houston County Board of Education serves the following schools:
• Bonaire Elementary School
• Bonaire Middle School
• C.B. Watson Primary School
• Centerville Elementary School
• David Perdue Elementary School
• David Perdue Primary School
• Eagle Springs Elementary School
• Feagin Mill Middle School
• Hilltop Elementary School
• Houston County Career Academy
• Houston County Crossroad Center
• Houston County High School
• Huntington Middle School
• Kings Chapel Elementary School
• Lake Joy Elementary School
• Lake Joy Primary School
• Langston Road Elementary School
• Lindsey Elementary School
• Matt Arthur Elementary School
• Miller Elementary School
• Morningside Elementary School
• Mossy Creek Middle School
• Northside Elementary School
• Northside High School
• Northside Middle School
• Parkwood Elementary School
• Pearl Stephens Elementary School
• Perry High School
• Perry Middle School
• Quail Run Elementary School
• Russell Elementary School
• Shirley Hill Elementary School
• Thomson Elementary School
• Tucker Elementary School
• Veterans High School
• Warner Robins High School
• Warner Robins Middle School
• Westside Elementary School.
HOUSTON COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL BEARS
Houston County High School’s students have won numerous state and national championships.
• Athletics: Baseball, state championship, Class 5A, 2012-2013; Softball, state championship, 1995;
Wesley Steiner, state champion in discus, Class 6A, 2017-2018; and Kyah Plummer, state
champion in triple jump, Class 6A, 2017-2018
• Literary: State champions, 1993 (tie)
• Future Farmers of America: State championships, dairy judging, 2005-2006 through 2014-2015,
2016-2017 and 2017-2018
• SkillsUSA: Thomas Ireson, state championship, 2018
• Technology and science: Christopher Saetia, state top award in computer-aided design in architecture:
2018; Harshvardhan Singh, Science and Engineering State Award winner, 2018
44 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

• Communication: Dhruvesh Patel, state
champion, Gateway Optimist International
Club for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing
communication content, 2018
• Art: Alisha Raza, All-State Art Symposium
state finalist, 2018
Future Business Leaders of America: Nivedha
Soundappan and Sasha Lee, national first
place, emerging business issues, 2016
• Family, Career and Community Leaders of
America: Mary DeTota and Dalton Vasquez,
state champions, first in chapter service
project display, 2018; Abigail McDowell,
Shewta Patel, and Jaidan Beal, state
champions, first in chapter review
display, 2018; Cori Calvert and Cassidy
Hindman, National Gold Award, chapter
in review display, 2017; Illiana Esquivel
and Laurel Gaskin, National Gold Award,
chapter in review display, 2017; Lawson
Smith and Maryah Booker, National Gold
Award, chapter service project display: 2017;
Cori Calvert, Kelli Gunerman, and
Brayden Santos, National Gold Award,
chapter in review display, 2016; Elizabeth
Deal and Nikita Shetty, National Gold
Award, environmental ambassador, 2016;
Shivani Patel and Isabella Trauth, National
Gold Award, chapter in review portfolio,
2016; Bobbie Melden and Logan Vasquez,
National Gold Award, national programs in
action, 2016
Notable Houston High School alumni include
Brandon King, former cornerback, National
Football League (NFL); Kyle Moore, former
defensive end, NFL and Canadian Football
League (CFL); Jake Fromm, Gatorade Player of
the Year for football (2015) and quarterback at
the University of Georgia (2017-present); D. L.
Hall, pitcher, Baltimore Orioles (2017-present);
Jessica Burroughs, drafted as the first overall
pick in the 2017 NPF Draft, becoming the first
player from the ACC to be drafted at number one
for softball; and Steven Moore, Gatorade Player
of the Year for soccer (2015).
NORTHSIDE HIGH
SCHOOL EAGLES
Northside High School’s students have won
numerous state and national championships.
• Athletics: Girls basketball, state champions,
Class AA, 1966-1967 and 1967-1968; Football,
state champions, 2006, 2007, and 2014; Girls
track, state champions, 2014; Cassondra Hall,
state champion, 400 meters, 2014; Ta’kera
James, Cassondra Hall, Toleah Martin, Tia
Williams, and Toneah Martin, state champions,
1,600-meter relay, 2014; Becky Dyson, state
champion, discus, 1995; Kevondre Hunt, state
champion, 300-meter hurdles, 2013; Braxton
Golden, state champion, shot put, 2018; and
DaShawn Farber, state champion, wrestling,
2017 (132 lbs.) and 2018 (138 lbs.)
• Literary: State champions, 1968, 1969, 1976,
1978, 1981, 1982, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1992,
1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2003,
2004, 2007, 2008, and 2013
• One Act Play: State champions, 2006,
2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014,
and 2016
Northside High’s notable alumni include Kal
Daniels, former left fielder, Major League
Baseball; Corey Harris, former safety, NFL; Abry
Jones, defensive tackle, Jacksonville Jaguars
(2013-present); Steven Nelson, cornerback,
Kansas City Chiefs (2015-present); Chansi
Stuckey, former wide receiver, NFL; Robert
Davis, wide receiver, Washington Redskins
(2017-present); and David Perdue, U.S. senator
PERRY HIGH
SCHOOL PANTHERS
Perry High School’s students have won
numerous state and national championships.
• Athletics: Boys’ basketball, state champions,
1947, 1949, 1953, 1956, 1959, 1962, 1963,
1964, and 1966
• Literary: State champions, 1961 (B), 1962
(B), and 1966 (A)
• One Act Play: State champions, AAAA, 2009,
2013, and 2015
• FFA: State champions, meat evaluation:
2007-2008; state champions, senior meat
evaluation, 2010-2011 and 2014-2015; state
champions, junior meat evaluation, 2014-
2015; state champions, senior nursery
landscaping, 2010-2011 and 2014-2015;
state champions, grand champion heifer and
steer, 2014-2015; national champions,
nursery landscaping, 2007-2008 and
Chapter Six ✦ 45

2014-2015; and national champions,
floriculture, 2010-2011
Notable Perry High School alumni include
Casey Hayward, cornerback with the Los Angeles
Charges (2016-present); Dontarrious Thomas,
former linebacker, NFL and United Football
League (UFL); Kiwaukee Thomas, former
cornerback, NFL and CFL; Al Thornton, former
forward, NBA, who currently plays professionally
in Japan; Kanorris Davis, former safety and
linebacker, NFL; David Coffey, former outfielder,
MLB; Deborah Roberts, television journalist;
Larry Walker, Jr., Georgia state representative;
and Sam Nunn, United States senator.
VETERANS HIGH
SCHOOL WARHAWKS
Veterans High School’s state and national
championships include:
• Athletics: Cheerleading, state champions,
AAAA, 2012-2013 and 2013-2014; Malik
Broughton, state champion, track & field,
AAAA, 2013; and Francis Morrisey, state
champion, wrestling, AAAA, 2018.
• Literary: Margaret Higginbotham, state
champion, essay, 2014-2015
• FFA: State champions, meats team: 2014-
2015, 2016-2017, and 2017-2018; state
FROM THE PEOPLE
“Of the hundreds of students I’ve been blessed to help through their middle school, high
school, or college classes, a surprising number came from foreign countries. One middle school
student’s Nigerian mother met his U.S. Air Force father and they moved here. For Warner Robins
and Middle Georgia, this is common. A friend from Spain met her husband, from New York,
while he was stationed abroad. They now live in Warner Robins and she completed the process
to become a United States citizen. What I did not expect were numbers of international students
without military connections.
“A Cuban family came to the United States by boat. The student in a Warner Robins classroom
was too young to remember much of the journey; but remembers the constant crashing of waves,
the tension of adults seeking freedom in a new land, and the joy of stepping on solid ground
once more. A Nicaraguan woman told me that as an infant and child, her father gave her gifts of
18-carat gold jewelry, for each birthday or event, and trained her to wear all the pieces all the
time. When a different regime took the country, her family fled to the United States with ‘only
the clothes on their backs’ and the jewelry they wore. This gold jewelry helped them establish
new lives. A Nigerian teacher needed additional United States college credits to teach French in
Houston County, a standard language in her home county. She had family in Warner Robins who
could sponsor her into the United States. A student from Venezuela helped us in the college
offices on a work/study program while she earned a degree. Her primary language was
Portuguese. Our college offers a Student Leadership Award for which a student must complete
100 hours of community service during his or her a two-year degree program. The Vietnamese
student completed 500 hours. A U.S. Marine, in my class, explained how he came from
Columbia for a new life. My co-worker grew up in Korea and a student from India taught me
how many languages are spoken there. He spoke three of them. A Warner Robins business family
came from Lebanon. They now sponsor one of our college scholarships.
“After the attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., on September 11, 2001, a high school’s
assistant principal told me that his job was to convince parents of Middle Eastern students that
their children were safe to return to school. Frightened parents kept their children at home, but
most returned to classes within a few days. Others chose the homeschool option. Of course, at
the college level, we are seeing more and more homeschooled students from all ethnic groups as
parents choose the option to personally ‘Train up a child in the way he should go.’
“So, Warner Robins is diverse, and that diversity enriches the community.”
- Dianne Dent Wilcox
46 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

FROM THE PEOPLE
“Riding the Nancy Hanks train from Macon to Atlanta in 1962 was quite an
exciting experience. The train started in Savannah, passing through Warner Robins
on its way to board in Macon. We each received a box lunch, and like ‘worldly
women,’ we rode to Atlanta and spent the day shopping at Rich’s Department Store.
At that time Rich’s was located near the train station in downtown Atlanta. These
were such fond memories that still exist: ‘New doesn’t always mean better.’
“Another memory includes the train station at Elberta Road off Highway 247.
Hidden underneath a horrible looking building at this railroad crossing was the
original ornate train station from the past. This was converted into and expanded
as a salvage yard surrounded by military cast off equipment. Just a few years ago I
noticed that the building was being demolished, and you could see the beautiful woodwork being exposed. I’m sure I was not the only
person to notice this. So, I called into the local newspaper to make them aware of a hidden treasure during the massive cleanup. The
station has now been relocated to the Watson Boulevard entrance off Highway 247 along with other antique memories located in front
of our beautiful law enforcement center. My thoughts are personal, but the thoughts and memories of those who have now gone before
us are the heroes of Warner Robins. Their thoughts turned a small bump in the road into a thriving city it is today. Whether it was the
wonderful nuns and priests of Sacred Heart, our business and civic leaders, and neighbors of yesterday, we are products of their visions
and they are our heroes. I don’t know what ‘getting there’ means, but the journey has been grand!”
- Diane Wagner 2018
“My neighbor said they would take the Nancy Hanks to the capitol for a grade school field trip. He was born in 1956. By the
time I went to grade school, our field trip was to the Rama Theater”
- Karen Sisk 2018
“There were two engines called the Nancy Hanks. The memories here refer to Nancy Hanks II pictured on the Atlanta billboard
above. Riding the Nancy Hanks was a field trip tradition to the point that she was honored in the Warner Robins Christmas Parade.
My personal memory of the train was an ABC Kindergarten trip (Macon) to Grant’s Zoo to see the famous gorilla Willie B and to
Riches for ice cream cones decorated like circus clowns. Later, when I was in sixth grade, Mama took my brother and me out of
school to ride the Nancy Hanks II to Atlanta during her last week of operation. Then, passenger travel by train ended for Middle
Georgia.”
- Dianne Dent Wilcox 2018
Above: A billboard featuring the
Nancy Hanks II train.
Left: A float honoring the Nancy
Hanks in the Warner Robins
Christmas Parade.
Chapter Six ✦ 47

FROM THE PEOPLE
“My journey to Warner Robins began by being born in New York City, which continued by following my grandparents south
to Gainesville, Georgia five years later then to Atlanta for two years. My dad heard of a military base below Macon was hiring
veterans and knew, that for his family’s sake and livelihood, Warner Robins was the place to be. As a WWII veteran, his experience
and knowledge in electronics made him a good fit for the job. He knew he should leave the big city for this unknown land. Daddy
was hired and lived in a dormitory temporarily, along with other men coming to an area which lacked housing. The dorms were
located on North Davis Drive in 1954. Eventually these were used for Scout Troops, college classes, etc. until demolished. Dad
lived there through the year returning to Atlanta on Friday evening and back on Sunday evening. My mom and the three children
stayed in Atlanta until the school year ended to see if this new land of opportunity was all my dad had hoped it would be.
“To my mom and other women arriving in Warner Robins, the area did not offer much of anything to write home about. They were
truly pioneers and true heroes of their time. I was ten and the original Sacred Heart Church was already built.My first memory of
Warner Robins and Sacred Heart Church is still embedded in my mind. I was wearing a nylon dress to church on a blazing hot summer
day with no air conditioning. My puff sleeves on my dress became full of gnats. It was a horrible experience. My mom took me out of
church and removed my dress, never to be worn again anywhere in Warner Robins. I survived, but with lasting unpleasant memories.
“My first year of school here was grade five at Lindsey. It was a welcoming school with a wonderful principal, David Perdue,
who went on to being the Houston School Superintendent. My fifth-grade teacher was Max Croft who went on to Northside High
School to be its principal. By my sixth grade, Sacred Heart School opened its doors in an old Army wooden barracks. With the
beginning of this zealous endeavor, the nuns from Ireland were sent across the ocean to teach the Catholic students here. They were
the Presentation Sisters and were truly embarking into the unknown. These Sisters were true trailblazers. They had arrived wearing
wool, full-length habits, covering head-to-toe to live in a house with no air conditioning. These were heroes to all who came to
know and love them. Their tasks were daunting as American children were more rambunctious than their Irish counterparts.
“Today, here at Sacred Heart School, we no longer have nuns. They definitely shaped our minds and hearts with love of God
and our fellow man to become stellar members of society. The school went through to the eighth grade, and continues to do so,
kindergarten included. Sacred Heart Church and School has been a part of Warner Robins from basically the beginning of the
town’s conception, and still continues to grow with a new church and school. It has a large active parish with many programs and
Christian Service Center in the heart of the original downtown area.”
- Diane Wagner 2018
champions, ag sales, 2011-2012 and
2017; state grand champions, barrow, 2014-
2015; and state champions, floriculture,
2010-2011
PRIVATE
SCHOOLS
Private schools serving Warner Robins
include Warner Robins Christian Academy,
Sacred Heart Catholic School, Central
Fellowship Christian Academy, Christian
Fellowship Academy, The Westside School, and
Mt.DeSales Academy.
COLLEGES
Colleges with campuses in Warner Robins
include Central Georgia Technical College,
Georgia Military College, and Middle Georgia State
University. Other colleges offer extension or online
programs. Mercer University and Fort Valley State
are also choices for students in the area.
FROM THE PEOPLE
“I moved to the United States five years ago from Cuba, and Warner Robins has been my home since then. My sponsor family
lived in Miami a few years. They wanted to get away from the city and find a peaceful place to live. I believe Warner Robins was
the best choice they could have made because it has filled me with joy and peace.”
- Haydee Acosta
48 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

Watson Boulevard, 1976.
Chapter Six ✦ 49

CHAPTER SEVEN
Q UALITY OF L IFE
The headquarters of the Warner
Robins Police Department.
In 2017, “Houston County Sheriff Cullen Talton [became] the longest serving active sheriff in the
state of Georgia” (Ford). The Houston County Government’s webpage article “Meet the Sheriff” says,
“Cullen Talton was elected Sheriff in 1972 after serving the citizens as a county commissioner. As the
chief law enforcement officer of the county, Sheriff Talton manages a full-service agency with over
300 personnel providing patrol, traffic, investigative functions, court services, and detention
facilities. In addition, the Sheriff's Office is responsible for the E-911 center which receives calls and
dispatches for all law enforcement agencies, fire departments, and medical services in the county.”
He told reporter Latasha Ford, “It makes me feel good to know I have the support of the citizens
of Houston County for [so many] years…. It’s been an honor for me to serve as sheriff of
Houston County.”
“The Sheriff Office's goal is to protect life and property, enforce the laws of the State of Georgia,
apprehend violators of the law, repress crime, preserve social tranquility and safety, prevent civil
disorder, provide service to the courts and provide humane safekeeping to all persons confined to the
detention facility” (“Meet the Sheriff”).
Retired Chief of Police Dan Hart served the City of Warner Robins for thirty of his thirty-one years
in law enforcement. He believes that the people of the community enhance the quality of life here.
In 1973, retired Chief Hart says the Warner Robins Police Department “consisted mainly of a patrol
division, a few detectives, and a public relations officer.” Now, Hart says, “it has developed into a full
service professional law enforcement agency providing services in patrol, traffic, criminal
50 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

investigations, drugs and intelligence, crime
scene investigation, evidence processing, special
response teams, school resource, police K-9,
and [maintains] an excellent on-going training
program.” In 2018, Hart continues to serve the
community as volunteer coordinator for the
Museum of Aviation.
Police Chief Bret Evans works to see that
Warner Robins’ “policing philosophy balances
traditional and innovative…methods,” and
supports the city’s view ‘that community
problems are most successfully addressed and
alleviated by working in partnership with the
community” (“Warner Robins Police
Department”). He signs his emails with a G.K.
Chesterton quote: “Fairy tales do not tell
children the dragons exist. Children already
know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children
the dragons can be killed” which says that
problems arise, but problems can be solved. Of
his life in Middle Georgia, Evans says, “My
family and I moved to Warner Robins in 1980
when the Air Force transferred us here. I
attended Northside and then went to Georgia
College in Milledgeville. I started with the
Warner Robins Police Department in 1987, and
I married my high school sweetheart, Tammy, in
March of 1987. Many of the same mentors that
I had in high school are still mentors today, not
just for me, but for many leaders in Houston
County. It’s the people who make Houston
County and Warner Robins a great place to live.
When we first moved here, Warner Robins had
a single zip code and only two phone number
exchanges, 922 and 923. As a matter of fact, you
could dial either two or three (the last digit of
the exchange number zero followed by the final
four digits when making a call. I remember
Warner Robins Police Department much smaller
but very progressive for an agency its size. I
enjoyed working in almost every aspect of the
agency, as well as growing through the
promotional process, before being appointed
chief in 2003. December of 2017 marked
fourteen years that I have been honored to serve
as the chief of a wonderful, professional law
enforcement agency.”
FROM THE PEOPLE
If you live in Middle Georgia and play tennis, Kerry Bacon may have
taught you the love of the game. He has been teaching for over forty-one
years and has taught more than 20,000 students. More than 100 of them
have played college tennis. Mr. Bacon graduated from the University of
Georgia. After he graduated, he taught tennis to others at his own Kerry
Bacon Tennis Camp. He also was the men’s and women’s head coach at
Mercer University in the 1980’s and 1990’s. In 1975, he was asked to teach
summer tennis camps at Houston County Recreation Department. There
were only four big courts at that time. Over the years, Warner Robins has
added courts at Ted Wright Parks, Shirley Hills, Westside and Miller
Elementary Schools. The love of tennis continues the need to add more
courts in Warner Robins. His tennis camp students love and respect him. He
is patient and makes the game fun. Carys Fonner has attended his summer
camps since she was eight. She is now in eighth grade and on the Tattnall
Academy Junior Varsity tennis team. Kerry Bacon taught her mother
Elizabeth Fussell Fonner when she played in Warner Robins. Carys says
when she wears a Kerry Bacon tennis camp T-shirt that people of all ages
stop her and tell her he also taught them tennis lessons. Warner Robins is
blessed to have this tennis legend.
- Patricia Fussell
Kerry Bacon (right) and Carys Fonner.
FROM THE PEOPLE
“It’s good to see past students doing so
much for the city. I think I taught half the
people on city council, the mayor, half the
people on the police force, and even the
chief of police”
- Linda Faraone
Chapter Seven ✦ 51

CHAPTER EIGHT
G ROWTH
Norfolk Southern trains are a
common sight in Warner Robins.
Warner Robins continues to grow and build despite economic highs and lows. The newest growth
is west to Byron and south to Perry. A local police officer says, “The population doubles each day as
commuters come into the city.” The city website says, “In 1943, by an act of the Georgia Assembly,
the new community of Warner Robins was officially chartered and incorporated. Both the base and
the community have grown hand-in-hand since that time (“Warner Robins, Georgia”). Built to
support the U.S. military efforts in World War II, “The Korean conflict resulted in the base being
suddenly reactivated and people began pouring in again. The growth and construction that followed
made Warner Robins a boomtown. The sound of the air hammer and sight of new buildings and
homes hasn’t ceased since…. Today, Robins Air Force Base is firmly established as the largest Air
Force base in the South, as well as Georgia’s largest single industry” (“Warner Robins, Georgia”).
Jacob Reynolds, in a 2017 pre-mayoral race piece for WMAZ-TV said, “Since 2000, Warner Robins
has grown by more than 13 square miles, and the population has increased by roughly 25,000”
(“Candidate Weigh in on Warner Robins’ Growth and Annexation).
In 2017, Forbes Magazine named Warner Robins one of “The Best Small Places for Business and
Careers.” The magazine provide the following statistics.
• Metro population: 190,200
• Major industries: Defense, healthcare
• Gross metro product: $8.9 billion
• Job growth (2016): 2.7%
• Cost of living: 8% below the national average
52 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

HOUSTON COUNTY BY THE NUMBERS
• County population: 150,033
• Warner Robins population: 73,490
• Perry population: 15,457
• Centerville population: 7,575
• Percentage of population married: 48.3%
• Houston County land area: 375.54 square miles
• Median home value: $132,400
• Average commute time: 21.1 minutes
• Median age: 31
Source: Guide to the Robins Region Georgia p. 5
• High school atttainment: 87.6%
• College attainment: 26.8%
• Graduate degrees: 12.2%
Forbes’ profile for Warner Robins says,
“Warner Robins is home to the Museum of
Aviation honoring the history of military
aviation. It is located next to the air force base.
The museum contains exhibits on military
memorabilia, airplanes and ground vehicles, the
Tuskegee Airmen and Operation Desert Storm.
It is the second-largest aviation museum in the
country. When the U.S. Air Force was founded
in 1947, the base was named Robins Air Force
Base; the logistics headquarters was originally
named the Warner Robins Air Materiel Area and
today is called the Warner Robins Air Logistics
Center. The base is the state’s largest employer
in one location; it has more than 25,000
personnel, mostly civil servants” (“The Best
Small Places for Business and Careers”).
Growth in industry also continues. Once,
just a whistle stop on a country railroad, today’s
trains are part of the Norfolk Southern
Corporation formed as smaller railroads
merged. Today, according to www.nscorp.com,
“Norfolk Southern Corporation is one of the
nation's premier transportation companies. Its
Norfolk Southern Railway subsidiary operates
19,500 route miles” and according to one of
Warner Robins Police Department employees,
“A train comes by the new police station
about every five minutes.” It still passes between
the Warner Robins Depot and Robins Air
Force Base.
A Norfolk Southern caboose.
Chapter Eight ✦ 53

CHAPTER NINE
T HE
F UTURE
A F16A Fighting Falcon on display at
the Museum of Aviation.
Newcomers to Warner Robins often ask one question: “What does EDIMIGAFAD mean?” They see
this on painted on buildings, posted on billboards, highlighting a patriotic display on a new water
tower, and sculpted into shrubbery.
Robins Air Force Base “is one of the major economic forces in our community. The local saying
‘Every Day in Middle Georgia is Armed Forces Appreciation Day’ (EDIMIGIAFAD) is one that shows
our great pride in being home to the largest air force base in the South as well as Georgia’s largest
industrial complex” (Guide to the Robins Region Georgia 3).
Currently, the Museum of Aviation at Robins Air Force Base is considered one of the top museums
in its category. Discussions about an aviation museum began earlier, but “civic leaders, assisted by
base officials, incorporated the Southeastern Museum of Aviation Foundation under the laws of the
State of Georgia on 11 February 1981” (Head and Truluck). Stated objectives were:
•. To preserve the heritage and tradition of military and civilian aviation in the Southeastern United States.
•. To foster the study of aerospace history in the Southeastern United States.
•. To stimulate espirt de corps by telling the military and civilian aviation story through displays of
historical significance.
•. To support the Air Force recruiting program and enlistment by informing the public and youth
of the Southeastern United States through educational exhibits which present the history of the
Air Force.
•. To foster the economic growth of Middle Georgia, the State of Georgia and the Southeastern
United States. (qtd. in Head and Truluck)
Then, on “18 December 1981, museum planners submitted a detailed ten-year museum
development plan to WR-ALC and AFCL Public Affairs officials” to be located “on forty-three acres
on Robins AFB adjacent to Georgia Highway 247 and south of Gate 14” (Head and Truluck). The
museum opened three years later and gained immediate public attention. By 1989, it was ranked in
Georgia’s top historic sites. Then,
54 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

inductees were: General Robert L. Scott;
Benjamin T. Epps Sr. of Athens, recipient of the
first Georgia Aviation Pioneer Award; Corporal
Eugene Jacques Bullard of Columbus, the first
black military aviator in World War I; Lieutenant
Guy. O. Stone, the World War I pilot whose
collection began the Museum; Hazel Jane Raines
of Waynesboro, the first woman in Georgia to
receive a commercial pilot’s license; retired Air
Force Major General and World War I air ace
and World War II Air Commander of the VIII
Fighter Command, Frank O’Driscoll “Monk”
Hunter of Savannah; and retire Navy
Commander Hamilton McWhorter III, the first
naval carrier ace in World War II, who later
became a double ace.” (Head and Truluck)
“…on 19 April 1989, in a brief ceremony at
the State Capitol in Atlanta, Governor Joe Frank
Harris signed into law House Bill 110, which
created the Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame and
made the museum its home. The hall was
created to honor aviation leaders who made
outstanding and lasting contributions to aviation
history in Georgia or as Georgians. A banquet
honoring the first seven inductees was held at
the RAFB Officers’ Club on 26 August 1989. The
An exhibit which opened May 3, 1997 gained
further national attention: American’s Black
Eagles—Tuskegee Pioneers and Beyond. Lt.
Cols. Charles “A-Train” Dryden and Herbert
“Gene” Carter participated in a panel discussion
and question and answer session in the Century
of Flight Hangar. Today, the Museum of Aviation
highlights historic aircraft outside, and then
inside specialty hangers. It includes the Georgia
Aviation Hall of Fame and the Robert L. Scott
Vistascope Theater in addition to exhibits of
historic events and stories of the people who
lived them. The Museum of Aviation at Robins
An early aircraft on display at The
Museum of Aviation.
Chapter Nine ✦ 55

Above: A Fairchild Republic A-10
Thunderbolt II.
Below: A Rockwell B-1B Lancer.
Air Force Base “welcomes thousands of visitors
annually, making it the third most-visited
museum in the Department of Defense, and one
of only seven aviation museums in the U.S. to be
accredited by the American Association of
Museums” (Guide to the Robins Region Georgia
21). It features “more than 70 aircraft, missiles,
and cockpits dating from a replica of an early
1896 glider to modern era aircraft such as the B-
1B bomber, the SR-71 Blackbird, the U-2 Dragon
Lady, and the F-15 Eagle” (Guide to the Robins
Region Georgia 23). The Museum of Aviation at
Robins Air Force Base also displays “a Flying
Tigers P-40 Warhawk, a B-25 Mitchell bomber,
and a P-51 Mustang” along with an “EC-135
once used by General Norman Schwarzkopf in
Operation Desert Storm….a Vietnam War-era F-
4D Phantom MiG killer, an A-10 Thunderbolt,
an F-105D Thunderchief, a C-130E cargo
aircraft, and an MH-53 special operation
helicopter that saw sustained combat operations
in the Middle East” (Guide to the Robins Region
Georgia 24). Its primary function involves
educational programs with community groups,
regional primary and secondary schools,
technical schools, colleges, teacher training,
living history, and aerospace workshops.
Incorporated January 1, 1943, the City of
Warner Robins now claims a population of
66,588 in a total area of 22.9 square miles
(Georgia.gov). Population doubles during the
Robins Air Force Base workday and during peak
shopping times, as the city draws employees
and customers from counties in middle and
south Georgia. Often called “The City with the
Most Red Lights,” those traffic lights are now on
56 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

Above: A Sikorsky MH-53 Pave Low.
Left: A General Dynamics
F-111E Aardvark.
timers to manage the flow of daily traffic. A new
mass transit van service began in 2017, and further
mass transit options are in discussion.
Watson Boulevard, once a two-lane dirt road, as
of the early twenty-first century, has seven lanes
and extends from the base to Interstate 75.
Russell Boulevard also extends from Robins Air
Force Base to Interstate 75.
Chapter Nine ✦ 57

WARNER ROBINS HEROES
BENJAMIN
HAWKINS
Carl Vinson.
In 1794, George Washington appointed
Benjamin Hawkins (1754-1816) Indian Agent
for “tribes south of the Ohio River.” Hawkins
chose a fort site overlooking what is now the
Ocmulgee National Monument, a sacred place
for the Muskogee-Creek nation in 1805, and
fort construction occurred in 1806. The fort
served as area defense, but primarily was a place
of commerce and payment of annuities to
natives per treaty agreements. During the War of
1812, activities increased at Fort Hawkins.
Andrew Jackson picked up 1,400 militia men
here for one of his campaigns. Colonel Hawkins
recruited 1,000 Muskogee Creeks to fight and
for the United States. He moved into and out of
Native villages during the war, enlisting White
Sticks to support the United States and helping
maintain peace with Red Sticks who supported
Great Britain. As Fort Hawkins’ primary functions
moved back to trade, only two to three
people remained posted there. It was decommissioned
in 1828. The U.S. boundary moved
to the Flint River by 1820, so a village of United
States settlers established a community near the
old fort and then founded Macon along the
Ocmulgee. After establishing Fort Hawkins,
Benjamin Hawkins moved to the Flint River to
conduct treaty negotiations and education. He
lived the remainder of his life at the agency,
now in Crawford County. Hawkins believed that
the survival of natives depended upon their
ability to assimilate into U.S. society. He oversaw
instruction in farming, carpentry, and
weaving. He balanced the needs of natives and
settlers. Pressure for land began to build
in Georgia, but it was only after his death, in
1816, that the United States removed natives to
the West.
CARL
VINSON
Carl Vinson, “the father of the two-ocean
navy,” led the national effort to place an Air
Force base in Middle Georgia. A prompter of
strong national defense, Vinson was born in
Milledgeville in 1883, attended Georgia Military
College, and graduated from Mercer University
Law School in 1902. He practiced law, and then
entered state and later national politics. Robins
Air Field was planned before the United States
entered World War II, largely because “twenty
months before the Japanese bombed Pearl
Harbor…Vinson steered two bills through
Congress. The first called for expanding naval
aviation to 10,000 planes, training 16,000 pilots,
and establishing 20 air bases; the second speeded
naval construction and eased labor restriction
in the shipbuilding industry…. In 1964 U.S.
President Lyndon B. Johnson awarded Vinson
the Presidential Medal of Freedom—the highest
award that a president may bestow upon a
civilian. U.S. President Richard Nixon honored
Vinson in 1973 by naming the nation’s third
nuclear-powered carrier for him” (Cook). Vinson
served in the United States House of
Representatives for over fifty years under presidents
Wilson, Harding, Coolidge, Hoover, F.D.
Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and
Johnson. He lived to be ninety-seven. Carl
Vinson’s great-nephew, Sam Nunn, continued
the family’s legacy in Congress. Today, The
University of Georgia’s Carl Vinson Institute of
Government trains new leaders for the nation.
58 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

OPAL DENT LASSITER SMITH
Opal Dent Lassiter Smith was a Rosie’s Riveter
who came to Middle Georgia for a defense job.
She loaded detonator caps at the Naval
Ordnance Plant south of Macon with other
young women who lived in supervised dormitories
at Wesleyan College’s Music Conservatory.
She remembers the dorm mother encouraging
the women to attend dances at the USO and to
“be nice to the young soldiers because they are
just as homesick and frightened about the war as
you are.” On July 4, 1942, Opal married C. G.
Smith at Camp Wheeler. As he went off to World
War II, she returned to her work loading munitions.
At closing each day, she and others pushed
small rail cars on narrow gauge tracks into earthen
bunkers to prevent explosions. The building
in which these women worked had a detachable
roof. Opal says, “That was so the roof would go
straight up if there was an explosion during our
work day. The explosion would annihilate
everything in the building, but it wouldn’t
destroy the structures around it.” At Robins,
Rosie’s Riveters performed aircraft maintenance
and other tasks.
ADA JACKSON LEE
Ada Jackson Lee helped found the Warner
Robins Christian Methodist Episcopal Church.
She was born on the Feagin property which
became part of Robins Air Force Base. She
became politically active early. She helped integrate
the Warner Robins. Latasha Ford wrote a
Houston Home Journal article about Mrs. Lee in
2017. In it, she quotes Ada Lee: “The freedom
you see here in Warner Robins, my family
helped bring what we have here.” Her wish for
future generations is that they show respect for
themselves and each other, grasp their educational
opportunities, and find value in the
church. One of her final quotes in the article
says, “We need to be our brother’s keepers as
we” once were (qtd. In Ford). Mrs. Ada Jackson
Lee worked for The City of Warner Robins, to
help people, most often from Jody Town, move
from substandard housing into better homes for
twelve years. Then she worked with the recreation
department. She was active in the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored
People (NAACP) and Southern Christian
Leadership Conference (SCLC). She is a Warner
Robins hero.
ROBERT
L. SCOTT
Robert L. Scott, World War II hero and
author, was born on April 12, 1908, in
Waynesboro, Georgia and died on February 27,
2006, in Warner Robins, Georgia. He wrote God
Is My Co-Pilot, Flying Tiger: Chennault of China,
and The Day I Owned the Sky. He helped found
The Museum of Aviation, which is now the second
largest of its kind. After Scott began his lifelong
dream of flying, he delivered air mail as
part of a United States Army Air Corp experiment
devised by President Franklin D.
Roosevelt, and later, General Claire Lee
Chennault “made Scott the commander of the
renowned Twenty-third Fighter Group. By
February 1943 Scott, having shot down at least
thirteen Japanese aircraft, was sent home to
make speeches and sell war bonds” (Head). Also
in 1943, “the Pentagon brought him back to the
United States for a nationwide tour exhorting
war-plant workers to greater efforts. Near the
end of that tour, Colonel Scott was asked by the
Scribner publishing house to relate his experiences
in a book. But he had only three days to
do so before he had to report to Luke Field in
Arizona as its new commander, so he simply
spoke his recollections—90,000 words—onto
wax cylinder recording devices” (Goldstein).
Goldstein’s New York Times article goes on to
say that Scott’s “recollections became God Is My
Co-Pilot, which provided the American home
Above: Opal Dent Lassiter Smith.
Below: The Robert L. Scott Exhibit
Hangar at the Museum of Aviation.
Warner Robins Heroes ✦ 59

FROM THE PEOPLE
“I got to spend some time with Gen.
Scott while I volunteered at the Aviation
Museum in high school; he was as great a
patriot in person as he was in legend.”
- Jason Merideth
of Georgia Highway 247 named in his honor. In
2003, he was presented with a Governor’s
Award in the Humanities by the Georgia
Humanities Council” (Head).
Above: Robert L. Scott’s P-40
Warhawk.
Below: General Courtney
Hicks Rogers.
front a vivid account of aerial combat and
received outstanding reviews.” The New Georgia
Encyclopedia says, [it] is still regarded as a classic
wartime memoir. Warner Brothers bought the
rights to the book and made a move of the same
name starring Dennis Morgan as Scott. It premiered
[at the Grand Opera House] in Macon
on February 21, 1945” (Head).
Scott, recipient of multiple medals to
include a Commendation Medal, Silver Star,
Distinguished Flying Cross, and Air Medal,
remained active even later in life. In 1984, Scott
"flew a F-16 Falcon jet fighter, and in 1995 an
F-15 Eagle. In 1997, on his eighty-ninth
birthday he flew in a B-18 Lancer supersonic
bomber. During the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta,
Scott carried the Olympic torch along a section
COURTNEY HICKS HODGES
True heroes often work just below the public
radar. Born in Houston County, Georgia on
January 5, 1887, General Courtney Hicks Hodges
led the United States’ World War II First Army
onto the beaches of Normandy first, out of the
terror of Normandy first, into Paris first, into
Germany first, across the Rhine first, to meet the
Russians first, and to recapture “more ground in
Europe than any other unit” (Perry Area
Historical Museum). He attended both the
surrender of Nazi Germany and the Japanese
Empire. At West Point, Hodges was “found
deficient in math,” so he left and entered the
army as a private. He is the first to start as private
and rise to general. Courtney Hodges served with
honor from 1906 to 1949, earning a
Distinguished Service Cross and Silver Star in
World War I, and three Army Distinguished
Service Medals in World War II. Perry, which was
Hodges' hometown, named General Courtney
Hodges Boulevard in honor of this Houston
County hero. He served with George Marshall,
George S. Patton, and Omar Bradley. General
Courtney H. Hodges died on January 16, 1966
and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
JAKE
FROMM
The University of Georgia’s 2017-2018
Number 11, Jake Fromm, played football at
Warner Robins High School, where he was
designated a USA Today High School All-
American in 2016. At Georgia, he was named
2017 AP SEC Co-Newcomer of the Year, 2017
60 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

Coaches’ Freshman All-SEC, 2017 Coaches SEC
Freshman of the Year, and to the 2017 USA
Today Sports Freshman All-American Team, and
2017 ESPN Freshman All-American Team. But,
football is not Jake’s only sport. He played as
pitcher in the 2011 Little League World Series to
crowds exceeding 30,000. William Jacob
Fromm, born July 30, 1998, majors in finance at
the University of Georgia. The Telegraph calls
him, “a confident player, someone who thrives
on competition. Whether it is a game or practice,
[his] approach to football doesn’t change” (Butt).
BOBBIE DIANE EAKES
Bobbie Diane Eakes was born to a Warner
Robins Air Force family on July 25, 1961. Miss
Warner Robins 1981. Miss Georgia 1982, and a
top ten competitor in Miss America 1983, Eakes
has sung on American Bandstand and at The Grand
Ole Opry, but is best known for her roles on All
My Children (1970), The Bold and the Beautiful
(1987), and Sordid Lives (2000). She loves
fashion, fitness, singing, and charity work. In
2018, Bobbie Eakes and her husband, actor
David Steen, live in Palm Springs, California.
BETTY
CANTRELL
presence in Warner Robins is what makes our
community so great. I’ll never forget the feeling
I had when I came home to Warner Robins for
the first time after winning the title of Miss
America 2016. My homecoming was nothing
short of incredible. From the parade, to the
outpouring of love and support from the
community, to getting a street named after me,
this town has made me feel so loved and
supported. I am so excited to see where Betty
Cantrell Boulevard will be!”
Above: Betty Cantrell, Miss America
2016, touring with the USO.
Below: Karl McPherson oversaw the
hiring of more than 100,000 civilian
employees at Robins Field, including
skilled employees to handle the base’s
aircraft repair needs.
Betty Cantrell, born September 1, 1994, says
“My family came to Warner Robins in 1966
when my grandfather, Boyd T. Cantrell, took a
civil service job at Robins Air Force Base, shortly
after retiring from the military. He served in
World War II, Vietnam, and Korea. Growing up
in a small town has definitely helped keep my
feet on the ground throughout my success in
life. I love the feeling of coming from such a
tight-knit community. The support of its
citizens is just incredible. I love seeing people’s
faces when I them that I came from Warner
Robins. Most people have never heard of it.
Then, I get a chance to educate people on the
charm and warmth of a Middle Georgia
community. Being a part of what puts Warner
Robins on the map means the world to me. I feel
like Warner Robins is constantly growing and
improving itself; whether it’s new restaurants,
stores, or recreational centers. Robins Air Force
Base has always been a source of growth in the
community, and I think, having that military
KARL
MCPHERSON
“Mr. Karl McPherson (1912-1975) was born
in Cuthbert, Georgia on March 5, 1912 and
graduated from the public-school system of that
city. He afterward attended Abraham Baldwin
Warner Robins Heroes ✦ 61

Above: Some of the many employees
hired by Karl McPherson.
Right: Nora Brantley.
Agricultural College, George Washington
University Law School, and Woodrow Wilson
School of Law. Mr. McPherson entered civil
service in 1935 as an employee of the Federal
Power Commission, first in Washington, D.C.,
and then in Atlanta. He later transferred to the
U.S. Civil Service Commission in Atlanta. He
came to Macon in 1941 to establish a Board of
Civil Service Examiners for the hiring of civilian
employees for Camp Wheeler. He could not
have known that he would spend the rest of his
career in Macon. In late 1941, Mr. McPherson
was assigned the task of hiring civilian
employees to staff an installation under
construction at Wellston, Georgia. To obtain the
thousands of skilled industrial workers required
for a depot situated in a primarily agricultural
areas was a monumental undertaking and the
biggest challenge of his career. McPherson,
himself, would later admit ‘I didn’t think we
could do it.’ Four hundred technicians were
hired at other air depots and thirteen hundred
workers, hired locally, were trained at existing
depots before the one at Wellston was
completed. Those seventeen hundred skilled
workers played a major role in training the
others. The Signal Corps also conducted
intensive training for its employees at Robins
Field and Bibb County established a school
where hundreds of engine and aircraft
mechanics were trained. As McPherson would
later recall, ‘We tore apart one old single engine
aircraft so many times that it hung loose when it
was assembled.’ Mr. McPherson, though he fired
the first Robins employees and would hire more
than 100,000 in his career, was not an employee
of Robins Field in the beginning. He left the
Civil Service Commission to become cvilian
personnel officer at Robins Field on February
16, 1942. He was Chief of Civilian Personnel
until his retirement on February 20, 1970, as
well as deputy director of personnel from the
time the position was created in 1945. Mr.
McPherson died on November 17, 1975. The
story is widely told that many of the early
employees of Robins Field thought, that since
McPherson hired them, he must be the big boss.
When asked where they worked, they would
say, ‘at Mr. McPherson’s airfield.’ And, in a sense,
it was” (undated from files at Warner Robins
Convention and Visitors Bureau).
NOLA
BRANTLEY
Miss Nola Brantley is one of Warner Robins,
Georgia’s heroes. Mary Ella Davidson Pollett
wrote an introduction to nominate Miss Brantley
for the Houston County Teacher Hall of Fame in
2007. It says, “There were [once] no schools in
Wellston, a wartime town, later named Warner
Robins, GA. [Later] Army barracks were set up
on the government dormitory area called ‘On the
Hill.’ High school students went to Bonaire High
62 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

School. The only high school in Houston
County, other than Perry High School.” Brantley
taught in this “army duplex barracks from
September 1942 through January 1943. About
1947, Warner Robins had three schools…
Thomas, Watson, Rumble. Grades one through
three went to Thomas School and grades four
through seven went to Watson. All high school
students went to Rumble” (Pollett).
Pollett goes on to say, “From all standards,
Nola Brantley was a true educator, a professional,
loyal, conscientious person who made children
the first priority…. When I think of Nola
Brantley, I remember a kind, gentle lady, with an
inner beauty, twinkling eyes, and a smile. She
made [the] world a better place in which to live.”
Columnist Skip Korson wrote of Nola Brantley
that “Talking to her was not just pleasant” and
that she “learned so much about history” when
she interviewed her. Brantley told her that she
was “proudest- and the whole city should be- of
the establishment of the library” (Korson). That
same library was named renamed the Nola
Brantley Memorial Library in 1981, one year after
Miss Brantley’s death.
Brantley “recalled that the [Women’s] Club
president in 1948, Mrs. Jay Goldstein,
contributed some of her own books [to help
establish ‘We also had book teas to collect
books,’ said Miss Nola. ‘We had 1,100 [books]
when we opened.’ The librarian was paid 50
cents an afternoon when the library was located
temporarily in a room of the old city hall. After
a brief 13 weeks, the library was forced to close
– the room was needed for re-establishment of
the USO” (Korson). Brantley relayed one more
story to Korson: “A little boy came in to return
a book before closing and said, ‘See, this is my
place and when the library opens again, I want
this book back.’” The library was reestablished
in 1950.
“Miss Nola Brantley was born in Laurens
County, Georgia, graduated from Eastman High
School, received her Bachelor of Science degree
from Georgia State College for Women, and
obtained her master’s degree from the University of
Georgia.” She “taught school in Laurens, Bleckley,
Webster and Meriwether counties. She moved to
Warner Robins in 1942. From 1943 to 1944 she
taught fifth grade and served as acting principal for
the Warner Robins Elementary School. In 1944,
the name of the school was changed to Charles E.
Thomas III School, and Miss Brantley was named
as principal. [The school was named for first base
Above: Thomas School.
Bottom, left: Nola Brantley’s bell.
Bottom, right: The floor plan for the
Nola Brantley Public Library.
Warner Robins Heroes ✦ 63

The historical marker for the Pearl
Stephens School.
commander, Gen. Thomas', son Charles E.
Thomas III who died in a training accident]. Miss
Brantley served as principal until her retirement in
1969” (Granum). Of Thomas School, Brantley told
Korson, “Ours was a wartime school. It didn’t
come equipped in those days with visual aids and
other equipment. It was a building with desks.”
Gervaise W. Perdue, wife of David A. Perdue, Sr.,
wrote that Brantley “loved children” and managed
people well. She said that “There was never any
dissension among the faculty. When Miss Brantley
saw one, two or three teachers gathered together in
the hall, she would walk up and tactfully say, ‘The
bell has rung, girls! [referring to her teachers]. The
children are waiting.’ We understood that language
and complied! She actually ‘rang a bell!’” (Perdue).
After World War II, Brantley and the Warner
Robins Woman’s Club turned their efforts to
establishing a public library. Several ladies
donated their own books, and the group held
tea parties and other fund raisers.
Miss Brantley was not inducted into the Hall
of Fame. The selection board noted that her
primary function was as principal, so she did
not qualify for the Teacher Hall of Fame. She
does, however, qualify as a hero for Planes,
Trains and Heroes: A History of Warner Robins.
More than one article or letter writer referred to
her “twinkling eyes.”
PEARL
STEPHENS
Pearl Stephens cared about education in her
community and donated land to create a new
school for African-American children. The
county, then, provided her with teachers, books,
and building construction. Her work was so
significant that when the school moved from
Feagin Mill Road to its newer location, the county
kept the name Pearl Stephens and named the
entry Pearl Stephens Way. Currently, the school is
FROM THE PEOPLE
“As we went forth through the early years of our education, we did recognize that we had very good and outstanding teachers
at Pearl Stephens Junior High School. As we rested from our 1965 summer times in Jody Town and Union Grove, it was time to
prepare for continuation of our education. We left our family at home, heading to integrate the school system of Houston County,
from Perry and Warner Robins. As students that were taught by teachers who showed their love; it was an encouragement to do
your best and be your best at all times. We had good community leaders such as Silas Smith and Oscar Thomie, who did their
best to make sure we receive the best education in Houston County. During the summer months, we had to learn how to go to
school with white students by riding a bus from Warner Robins to Macon, Georgia. They sent us up to attend Mercer University.
We had to attend classes that were taught by the school’s instructors. After the summer months, we started preparing our minds
to be students at Warner Robins, Northside and Perry High Schools. We didn’t prepare to ride any buses from Jody Town, but
our parents or family members would drive us to the school and drop us off at the front of the school. After a time, we would
walk from Jody Town to the high school. We didn’t feel welcome in the school after one of the meetings with the superintendent
who said, ‘I don’t know why you are comping up here; you get the same books these students get.’ The superintendent didn’t
realize that just about every one of the books were destroyed and that the backs of the books and many pages were missing. There
were a total of nineteen students who made a change in their lives to move toward the integration of Warner Robins High School.
I’m not sure of the number of black students that made the move to Northside and Perry.”
- Willie Leonard Garman (undated from files at Warner Robins Convention and Visitors Bureau).
64 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

off South Davis Drive, but in 2018 there is
discussion of a new school with her name. Her
family still works to keep the legacy intact. The
Pearl Stephens Memorial Scholarship Foundation
web page says: “Pearl Stephens was an educator,
advocate and visionary with a goal to enhance the
educational experience for children. Because of
her efforts, was inducted into the Middle Georgia
Association of Black Journalists Trailblazers Hall
of Fame in 2004, the Houston County Teacher
Hall of Fame in 2008 and the Warner Robins Hall
of Fame in 2012. On May 17, 2014 a monument
was erected at the site of the original school. On
September 10, 2017 Pearl [Jackson] Stephens
became one of the first to be featured in The
Tubman Museum and Historic Macon
Foundation exhibition: Untold Stories Macon’s
African History. A resolution was adopted in our
state archives making her a permanent part of the
history of Georgia.”
JOHN
E. ELLIOTT
Col. John E. Elliott’s (1931-2000) “military
career spanned over 31 years, involving 21 moves,
with overseas tours in Newfoundland, Vietnam,
Taiwan and the Philippine Islands. He had over
5,500 flying hours as a navigator and command
pilot. John was an Air War College graduate and
earned a masters degree from Troy State University.
His decorations include the Legion of Merit with
one oak leaf cluster, Bronze Star, Humanitarian
Service Medal and Air Medal with oak leaf cluster”
(“In Memorial USNA 1956 John Earl Elliott”).
Later, he “initiated action [as Director of
Contracting and Manufacturing on RAFB] to
expand consolidation of requirements by
modifying the JO23 Automated Purchase System.
Previously, the preparation of an automated ‘low
density’ purchase request was limited to a single
line item. Based on the modification, multiple line
item ‘low density’ purchase requests are
mechanically generated. This program was
implemented command wide in 1981. It greatly
reduced workload within the contracting
directorate and resulted in significant savings for
the government” (A Pictorial History of Robins Air
Force Base 238). When Georgia Military College,
founded in 1879, established an extension campus
on Robins Air Force Base, the college chose John
Elliott as its first director. Always on task, he saw
the mission of GMC on RAFB as serving the
military and civilian workforce of the base. The
college grew beyond his dream and attracted
students from the civilian population of Warner
Robins, as well. After 9/11, GMC continued its
operation in “The Library” on base [Building 905],
but moved “across the fence,” into a new office
complex on land formerly used by base
operations. Today’s Elliott Hall on the Warner
Robins Campus is named in his honor. Known as,
“The Grand Gentleman of GMC,” the colonel’s last
words to faculty member and author, Dianne
Dent-Wilcox, were “Keep on keeping on.”
Although his final illness limited verbal
expression, no one questioned his experience,
wisdom, operating budget, or that he was eternally
on mission. John Earl Elliott was a 1956 graduate
of the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis,
because the United States Air Force Academy,
founded 1954, was not yet open at the time
Colonel Elliott began his academic career in 1953.
Again, this shows early history of a modern air
force. Today’s Georgia Military College in Warner
Robins also manages campuses at Dublin and
Eastman, with a student body numbering between
1,600 and 2,000. The Warner Robins Campus is
part of an urban renewal project for the city.
Colonel Elliott was a hero on both sides of the
RAFB fence.
DR. DANIEL OLIVER FUSSELL
Daniel Oliver Fussell was born in Telfair
County, Georgia on March 8, 1935. His parents
were Annie Belle Harris and Dr. John Kingsberry
Fussell. When he was ten years old, he and his
parents were on their way to Macon to shop.
While traveling down the road, he observed
Boeing B-29s parked closely together as far as he
could see. They marked the end of World War II.
On the left he saw the train station and a few stores
on Front Street. He said he did not know there was
a town there. He also did not know he would later
live in this city known as Warner Robins with his
family and practice Internal Medicine for thirty
years. Fussell received his Bachelor of Science
degree from the University of Georgia and his
medical degree and residency in internal medicine
from the Medical College of Georgia. Dr. Fussell,
his wife Patricia, and their daughter, Kathryn,
arrived in Warner Robins on September 15, 1969.
Warner Robins Heroes ✦ 65

Dr. Dan Fussell.
Their daughter Elizabeth was born in Warner
Robins in 1970. Dr. Fussell came to Warner
Robins as the first internal medicine specialist. He
inserted the first pacemaker in Warner Robins and
organized the first functional intensive care unit in
what is now known as Houston Medical Center.
This allowed critically ill patients to remain in
Warner Robins for their care. He was practicing
medicine a few years when he was called by a
physician in Perry, Georgia about a patient with a
cardiac blockage. Dr. Fussell inserted a temporary
pacemaker. This required the patient to be
transferred to the hospital in Warner Robins for
monitoring. The ambulance was an older style
with a low clearance and could not transport a
patient needing IV fluids. Robins Air Force Base
supplied a military ambulance with the height to
transport the patient to Warner Robins. Dr. Fussell
retired from the practice of medicine on March 30,
2000. During his time in Warner Robins, he
watched the town flourish as the hospital grew
larger, the medical staff increased, and physicians
offered more services. In a restaurant one day, a
lady walked to Dr. Fussell’s table. She said, “You
resuscitated me three times when you could have
walked away. You didn’t. Thank you!”
Paul Hibbits would call himself one of a multitude
of torchbearers; but under his leadership, the
“American Association of Museums (AAM),
Washington, D.C.…granted the Museum of
Aviation Flight and Technology Center at Robins
Air Force Base full accreditation,” which only
about five percent of thousands of United States
museums hold. On August 5, 2005, a letter arrived
from Accreditation Commission Chair, Martin
Sullivan saying, “The Commission determined that
your institution meets the high standards
established by the Accreditation Program and the
museum field. The institution has demonstrated
this through its completion of a rigorous process of
self-study and reviews by a Visiting Committee of
its peers and the Accreditation Commission.”
Hibbits served as a college extension director on
RAFB for Georgia College and State University and
as a board member for Flint Electric Membership
Cooperation. He is a Middle Georgia hero.
DR. DAN
CALLAHAN
Dr. Dan Callahan served as a medic in World
War II, then completed his medical training.
One of the first doctors to practice in Warner
Robins, he served the community for over fifty
years. According to The Telegraph, Callahan
created the acronym “EDIMGIAFAD,” which
Warner Robins now uses as an official motto:
“Every Day In Middle Georgia Is Armed Forces
Appreciation Day.” Callahan helped start Happy
Hour Service Center, which provides training
and jobs for developmentally disabled adults,
and he actively supported RAFB. He received
the Exceptional Service Medal from the Air
Force. Callahan also served on the boards of
the Museum of Aviation, Houston County-
Middle Georgia Red Cross, Houston County
Association for Exceptional Citizens, the Warner
Robins Area Chamber of Commerce, was a
member of the Rotary Club, worked with the
Air Force Association, and attended Sacred
Heart Catholic Church.
DAVID
PERDUE
PAUL
HIBBITS
Many people helped bring the Museum of
Aviation from an idea to a reality. Former Director
On June 7, 2018, WMAZ-TV reporter Jacob
Reynolds presented and posted an article, titled
“U.S. Senator David Perdue Assures Robins will
be a Force for Decades to Come.” Reynolds says,
66 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

“This comes after the Air Force announced an
Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS) will
come to the Base in the near future. The 21st
Century Partnership believes this new mission
“will put Central Georgia on the leading edge of
military technology.” When operational, it will use
current and emerging technologies in “surveillance
and reconnaissance information” directly to
commanders and “is the first management system
of this kind anywhere in the Air Force.”
Full implementation may take a decade or
more, which helps secure the position of Robins
Air Force Base to national security and makes the
future of Warner Robins, Georgia a brighter one.
HENRIETTA
MCINTYRE
Henrietta McIntyre (1924 – 2016) grew up in
Lincoln County Georgia. She moved to Warner
Robins in 1944 to work at Robins Air Field.
Through the years, she worked with the
“Community Chest, now known as United Way,
…Pilot Club, Robins Jaycettes, Little League
Auxiliary, Pink Ladies Auxiliary, Civitan,
American Red Cross, Air Force Association,
Special Olympics, and Christmas in April” (The
Telegraph). She served five terms on Warner
Robins’ City Council and was active in
Sacred Heart Catholic Church. Henrietta
McIntyre served as acting mayor of Warner
Robins from 1993-1994 and was inducted as
an inaugural member of the Warner Robins Hall
of Fame.
RANDY
TOMS
Randy Toms, while serving as a Warner
Robins firefighter, wanted to increase his service
to the city. With that in mind, he returned to
school as a non-traditional student, completed an
associate degree at Georgia Military College’s
Warner Robins campus and then was elected
mayor. He says “It was service in protecting and
serving our country, and then our city, that led
me to run for mayor. We all know that Warner
Above: EDIMGIAFAD—“Every Day
In Middle Georgia Is Armed Forces
Appreciation Day”—the official motto
of Warner Robins, was created by Dr.
Dan Callahan.
Below: Henrietta McIntyre in 1944.
Warner Robins Heroes ✦ 67

Robins is the best possible place to live, work and
raise a family. Even Business Week and CNN
Money have put us on their best places to live list”
(Mayor Randy Toms on Facebook). He goes on to
say, “I was born here, raised here, and my wife
Jane and I raised our own two children here.
After serving as an airman in the U.S. Air Force, I
came back to Warner Robins and recently retired
after serving our great city for twenty-seven years
as an officer and chaplain in the Warner Robins
Fire Department. I was also honored to serve as
the chaplain for the Georgia Association of Fire
Chiefs” (Mayor Randy Toms on Facebook).
LARRY
WALKER
Houston County native Larry Walker
represented Georgians from 1972 until 2004.
He was majority leader of the Georgia
House of Representatives for sixteen of
those years. Today, as a founding member
of the law firm Walker, Hulbert, Gray & Moore,
he “represents individuals, small businesses,
corporations, and banking institutions in all
aspects of real estate, commercial transactions,
civil litigation, estate and probate, personal
injury and wrongful death matters” (“Larry
Walker Founding Partner Walker, Hulbert,
Gray & Moore, LLC”). He continues to
serve on “the University System of Georgia
Board of Regents as an at-large member” and
writes for The Telegraph and James Magazine
on “family, everything Southern, reading,
politics, and, of course, folks” (“Larry Walker
Founding Partner”).
LARRY WALKER III
State Senator Larry Walker III represents
Georgia’s 20th District. Elected in 2015, he
“serves on the Agriculture and Consumer Affairs,
Appropriations, Health and Human Services, and
Insurance and Labor standing committees. He is
also a member of the joint House and Senate
Agricultural Exposition Authority Overview
Committee, the Agriculture Education Advisory
Commission, and he serves as administration
floor leader for Governor Nathan Deal” (“Georgia
State Senate: Senator Larry Walker III”). Houston
Magazine named him “a top 10 leader under 40,”
in 2004, and the Macon Telegraph listed him as
one of 14 to watch in 2014” (“Georgia State
Senate”). Senator Walker also serves on the board
of The Museum of Aviation.
RICHARD
RAY
Richard Belmont Ray “began his political career
in Perry, Georgia, serving as a member of the city
council from 1962 to 1964, and as mayor from
1964 to 1970. It was as mayor that he first worked
with Sam Nunn by appointing him to an advisory
panel on race relations, an association that would
last for the rest of his career. When Nunn was
elected a U.S. senator in 1972, Ray went to
Washington with him to be his administrative
Richard Ray represented Georgia’s
Third District in Congress from 1983
to 1993.
68 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

assistant. He held this position until 1982, when
Ray ran for office himself following Representative
Jack Brinkley’s retirement” (“Richard Ray Papers
Biographical Note”). He represented Georgia’s
Third District in Congress from 1983 until 1993.
Ray’s participation on the Armed Services
Committee was important to Georgia’s Fort
Benning and Robins Air Force Base, which are
major economic contributors in the Third District.
Ray also helped establish Plains, Georgia as a
historic district “to honor [Plains/Archery native]
former President Jimmy Carter” (“Richard Ray
Papers Biographical Note”). Topics covered in Ray’s
papers include discussions of “tax reform,
balancing the federal budget, defense sending,
Georgia military bases, Georgia business, and
development projects in the Third District”
(Richard Ray Papers Biographical Note”). He lived
from 1927 until 1999.
SAM
NUNN
Samuel Augustus Nunn was born on
September 8, 1938 in Macon, Georgia but
represented Houston County and Middle Georgia
during his distinguished political career.
Graduating from Georgia Institute of Technology,
Emory University, and Emory Law School, Nunn
served with the United States Coast Guard until
he ran for and won a seat in the Georgia General
Assembly in 1968. He ran for and won a seat in
the United States Senate in 1972 and served
until 1996 as member and chair of the Senate
Armed Services Committee and Permanent
Subcommittee on Investigations. According to
the New Georgia Encyclopedia, Nunn’s “passion for
foreign policy and military affairs led him to
concentrate on global issues, particularly issues
concerning the proliferation of weapons of
mass destruction in the world” (Pavri). This
impacted Middle Georgia’s promilitary stance and
helped in the continued growth of Robins Air
Force Base. Nunn also “sponsored legislation in
1989 that encouraged great citizen participation
in the service of the country by offering
educational benefits, including federal loans and
scholarships, in return for up to two years of
public service in a ‘civilian service corps’ or
in the military” (Pavri). He continues active
involvement in global issues, teaches in
the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at
Georgia Tech, and serves on boards of several
major corporations.
SONNY
PERDUE
George Ervin “Sonny” Perdue, born in Perry,
Houston County, Georgia on December 20, 1946,
served as Georgia’s Governor from 2003-2011, and
in 2018, serves as United States Secretary of
Agriculture. Once a Democrat, Perdue “switched to
the Republican Party before governing Georgia for
two terms from 2003 to 2011. He has a strong
agricultural background, having grown up on a
farm and earned a doctorate in veterinary
medicine. As governor of Georgia, he also took
conservative stances on immigration and voting
rights and drew national headlines for holding a
public vigil to pray for rain in 2007 amidst a
crippling drought” (O’Keefe and Eilperin).
Confirmed in 2017, Perdue now leads “a sprawling
agency with a $155 billion annual budget and close
to 100,000 employees. This makes it one of the
largest federal departments, and one that includes
branches ranging from the U.S. Forest Service to
the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
(APHIS) and duties ranging from co-publishing the
U.S. Dietary Guidelines to running the school
lunch program (O’Keefe and Eilperin).”
FROM THE PEOPLE
Roberta Wallace Jolley, while working in
Warner Robins, saw a man enter her
building. She asked, "May I help you?" and
efficiently handled the business side of
their transaction. In a moment, she turned
and said, "Excuse me, but you look
familiar. Were you governor? He langhed
and replied, ‘Call me Sonny.’”
Sam Nunn served in the U.S. Senate
from 1972 to 1996.
Warner Robins Heroes ✦ 69

70 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES
WARNER ROBINS IN PRINT

Warner Robins in Print ✦ 71

AFTERWORD
The past should teach us how to handle the future: “I was on base, teaching for Georgia Military
College in Building 905, on the morning of September 11, 2001. Someone, I couldn’t tell you who,
stopped by my office and said, ‘You need to come to the T.V. now.’ I arrived in one of the base offices
in time to see the second airliner hit the World Trade Center. Shortly thereafter, someone said, ‘We
have ten minutes to get off the base before they lock it down.’ We heard reports, and it doesn’t matter
now whether they were true or not, that a commercial airliner was headed for Robins and that the
authorities could not get a response from the onboard crew. The day was as intense as any I’ve
experienced. I spent it glued to the television and that is not my normal mode of operation. At a
meeting in downtown Macon the next day, I remember that people were nicer than before, more
polite; it seemed that cultural differences faded. We really were the United States for a while. Two
weeks later, when I returned to work and drove through the new serpentine access to Robins Air
Force Base, I did so beneath a guard holding a machine gun atop a Hummer. The moral of this story
is that when the worst happened, RAFB and the City of Warner Robins were ready. I was one of
thousands of non-essential personnel who were off the base in ten minutes. The sleepy and primarily
Civil Service base came to immediate military readiness. The city and surrounding areas focused on
plans for assisting in any way possible. Then, Georgia Military College had a small extension campus
on base serving about 200 students. After 9/11, the City of Warner Robins partnered with us to place
a city campus on land once used for military housing as part of an urban redevelopment plan.
Growth exploded. Today, Dublin and Eastman extension campuses work under the Warner Robins
campus with a student population approaching 2,000.
The reclaimed military housing area is a modern business park with ponds, walking trails, labeled
plant life, and its own population of wild geese. One of the trails passes a beautiful olive tree
honoring Barbara Shaheen, another proactive citizen who left a scholarship to build Warner Robins
for the future.
Middle Georgia is an area that adapts, overcomes, and succeeds.
72 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Haydee Acosta
Archeology on Big Indian Creek
Emily Beck
Patti Ferrell Bedford
Emily Denny Bishop
Mark Bohnstedt, Nola Brantley Library,
Warner Robins, Georgia
The Ron Bohnstedt Family
Marsha Priest Buzzell
Lonnie Davis
Debra Parkman Elliott
Jennifer Lauren English
Sarah Curington Eno
Bret Evans
Karen Fowler
The Willie Leonard Garman Family
Cindy McCullough Gentry
Linda Farone
Patricia Fussell
Steve Holleman
Joy McCammon
Ocmulgee Archaeological Society
Joan Dembowski Pottinger
Dianne Ward Dean
Dodge County Public Library Staff
Ben Elton
Vanessa Smith
Lou Crouch
David Gorman
William P. Head
Dan Hart
Toby Hill
The Reggie Holleman Family
Chuck Hulon
Roberta Wallace Jolley
Ashley Killbrew
Ken Lance
Opal Dent Smith Lassiter
Ellie Loudermilk
April Moyer Lunceford
Betty Cantrell Maxwell and Spencer Maxwell
Beth Conley McLaughlin
Jason Merideth
Nola Brantley Public Library Staff
Booker O’Brien
Ted Ramsdell
Alice Flagg Smith
Grady Stokes
Randy Toms
Janie Townsend
Lee Vanosdol
Ginny Weaver
Diane Wagner
John Wagner, Sr.
Erik Walton
April Renfro Warren
Dara West
Tommy Williams
PHOTO PERMISSIONS GRANTED BY
Nola Brantley Public Library
Perry Area Historical Museum
RAFB Office of History
The Museum of Aviation
Warner Robins Convention and Visitors Bureau
Acknowledgements ✦ 73

WORKS CITED
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Georgia: University Press of the South, 1982.
“Bobbie Eakes: Biography.” IMBd. Accessed March 12, 2018.
“Bobbie Eakes: Miss Georgia 1982.” After the Crown. March 30, 2014. Accessed March 12, 2018.
Butt, Jason. “Far From Unprepared UGA QB Displays ‘It-Factor’ to Teammates.” The Telegraph, September 4, 2017. Accessed March
13, 2018.
“Civilian Conservation Corps at Ocmulgee National Monument 1937-1942.” Site Bulletin, Ocmulgee National Monument. U.S.
Department of the Interior. Accessed June 5, 2018.
Cook, James F. "Carl Vinson (1883-1981)." New Georgia Encyclopedia. 21 February 2018. Web. 11 June 2018.
Crenshaw, Wayne. “He Created EDIMGIAFAD and Happy Hour Service Center.” The Telegraph. December 6, 2016. Accessed June
23, 2018.
Dawkins, Gabrielle. “Jody Town Community Reunites Again.” 13WMAZ. May 28, 2016. Accessed July 12, 2018.
Dixon, Claire M. Warner Robins: The Second 25 Years. Alpharetta, Georgia: Wolfe Associates, 1993.
Evans, Brett. Interview, March 1, 2018.
Ford, Latasha. “A Jewell of the Community.” Houston Home Journal, March 1, 2017. Accessed July 12, 2018.
Ford, Latasha. “Sheriff Cullen Talton Sworn in for 12th Term.” Houston Home Journal, December 24, 2016. Accessed March 12, 2018.
“Georgia State Senate: Senator Larry Walker III.” Accessed March 13, 2018.
Goldstein, Richard. “Robert Scott War-Hero Author Dies at 97.” New York Times, February 2, 2006. Accessed March 12, 2018.
Granum, Eleanor R. “Letter of Recommendation to Houston County Teacher Hall of Fame,” April 2007. On file at Nola Brantley
Memorial Library, Warner Robins.
Guide to the Robins Region Georgia. Robins Regional Chamber. St. Simons Island, Georgia: 365 Degree Total Marketing, 2017.
Hart, Dan. Interview, December 2, 2017.
Head, William and Diane H. Truluck. A History of the Museum of Aviation at Robins AFB, The Crown Jewel of Georgia. ffice of History,
Warner Robins Air Logistics Center, Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, October 1997.
Head, William P. A Photographic History of Robins AFB, 1941-2016: 75 Years of Power Projection. 78 ABW History Office.
Head, William P. “Robert Scott (1908-2006).” New Georgia Encyclopedia. Accessed March 12, 2018.
Head, William P. Through the Camera’s Eye: A Photographic Survey of the Origins of Robins Field, 1841-1945. Office of History, Warner
Robins Air Logistics Center, Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, 1988.
“Henrietta McIntyre Obituary–Warner Robins, GA.” The Telegraph. “Henrietta McIntyre Obituary–Warner Robins, GA.” August 9,
2016. Accessed August 3, 2018.
“Houston County, Georgia.” Government Website. Accessed March 12, 2018.
“In Memorial USNA 1956 John Earl Elliott.” Accessed March 13, 2018.
“Jake Fromm.” University of Georgia Football Roster 2017. Accessed March 13, 2018.
Korson, Skip. “Personally Speaking: Woman’s Dream of a Library a Reality.” The Daily Sun. Nola Brantley Memorial Library History
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Kovac, Jr., Joe. “10 Years Ago They were Little League Heroes. Now They’re All Grown Up.” The Telegraph, August 25, 2017. Accessed
June 15, 2018.
“Larry Walker Founding Partner Walker, Hulbert, Gray & Moore, LLC.” Accessed March 13, 2018.
Maffeo, S. Michael. “Camp Wheeler” Site Bulletin, Ocmulgee National Monument.
“Mayor Randy Toms.” City of Warner Robins, Georgia Directory. Accessed March 12, 2018.
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Mooney, Chris and John Wagner. “Who is Sonny Perdue?” Accessed March 12, 2018.
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O’Keefe, Ed and Juliet Eilperin. “Trump Picks Sonny Perdue for Agriculture Secretary.” Washington Post, January 19, 2017. Accessed
March 12, 2018.
Oshan, Jeremiah. “LLWS 2011: How Warner Robins’ Little League Baseball Team Got Here.” SBNation, August 16, 2011. Accessed
June 21, 2018.
Pavri, Tinaz. “Sam Nunn (b. 1938).” New Georgia Encyclopedia. December 16, 2003. Last edited by NGE Staff on April 7, 2015.
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Perdue, Gervaise W. “Letter of Recommendation to Houston County Teacher Hall of Fame.” April 2007. On file at Nola Brantley
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Reynolds, Jacob. “U.S. Senator David Perdue Assures Robins will be a Force for Decades to Come: 21st Century Partnership and
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Works Cited ✦ 75

SHARING THE HERITAGE
Historic profiles of businesses, organizations,
and families that have contributed to
the development and continued growth of
the Warner Robins Region
76 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

First United Methodist Church of Warner Robins ..................................................................78
Mercer University School of Engineering and Mercer Engineering Research Center .....................80
Heart of Georgia Hospice..................................................................................................82
Sacred Heart Catholic Church and School ............................................................................84
Southern Lighting ............................................................................................................86
Wellston Decorating .........................................................................................................88
American Legion Post 172 .................................................................................................90
Family Dental Associates ..................................................................................................92
Georgia Military College...................................................................................................94
Central Georgia Periodontics and Dental Implants ................................................................96
Jimmy Spinks, State Farm Agent ........................................................................................98
Clean Control Corporation ..............................................................................................100
Golden Key Realty .........................................................................................................102
Flint Energies ...............................................................................................................104
Buzzell Plumbing, Heating and Air Conditioning.................................................................106
Middle Georgia State University.......................................................................................108
Combined Employees Credit Union....................................................................................109
21st Century Partnership ................................................................................................110
Vision Savers, Inc. .........................................................................................................111
Northrop Grumman ........................................................................................................112
Waddle Surveying Company, Inc. ......................................................................................113
Physicians for Women, PC ...............................................................................................114
Sushi Thai Restaurant ....................................................................................................115
Griggers Wealth Management...........................................................................................116
Meadowdale Learning Centers..........................................................................................117
Custom Cable Assemblies ................................................................................................118
Museum of Aviation........................................................................................................119
Perry-Houston County Airport Authority ...........................................................................120
Warner Robins Convention & Visitors Bureau .....................................................................121
PeachState Hospitality....................................................................................................122
Robins Regional Chamber ................................................................................................123
Yelverton Jewelers..........................................................................................................124
Lammert Inc. ................................................................................................................125
S PECIAL T HANKS TO
Academy of Dance
438 South Pleasant Hill Road
Warner Robins, Georgia 31903
478-922-6220
www.academyofdancewr.com
National Exterminating Company, Inc.
107 Westcliff Boulevard
Warner Robins, Georgia 31903
478-922-1410
www.nationalexterminating.com
Strato, Inc.
1836 Watson Boulevard
Warner Robins, Georgia 31903
478-923-4225
www.stratoinc.com
Davis Printing Company
1240 Watson Boulevard
Warner Robins, Georgia 31903
478-929-4938
www.davisprintingwr.com
Phillips Furniture
1734 Watson Boulevard
Warner Robins, Georgia 31903
478-922-6117
www.phillipsfurnitureinc.com
Word in Season Ministries
1520 Feagan Mill Road
Warner Robins, Georgia 31088
478-224-9476
www.mywism.com
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 77

FIRST UNITED
METHODIST
CHURCH OF
WARNER
ROBINS
Top: The pipe organ was installed in
1980 and at Christmastime is
surrounded by colors and symbols
of the season celebrating the birth
of Jesus.
Bottom: Celebrating Easter with the
church family–a welcoming
congregation at a church that offers
programs and opportunities for
all ages.
The origin of the Methodist Church in
Warner Robins, Georgia, dates back to 1892,
when small societies of Methodists were
meeting in the little towns along the Georgia
Southern and Florida Railway line. On
September 25, 1894, a church site located on
Cherry Street (now known as Watson
Boulevard) between Third Street and Fourth
Street was deeded to the Trustees of the
Methodist Episcopal Church South at Wellston,
Georgia (the predecessor of Warner Robins).
Church records from 1895 to 1904 show
growth and decline of these church societies
along the railway. By 1930, the Methodist
church in Wellston closed because of dwindling
membership and disrepair of the building.
The 1941 selection of Wellston, Georgia, as the
site for the construction of an Air Corps depot
brought new growth to the area and a revival of
the Methodist Church. On August 31, 1941, the
first service for the re-established Methodist
Church at Wellston was held at the Community
House across the street from the church’s previous
location. On September 17, 1943, the Trustees of
Wellston Methodist Church purchased land on
Davis Drive in their city, which was now known as
Warner Robins. The first service for the Methodist
Church of Warner Robins was held at the new
building on Davis Drive on January 30, 1944. The
building was destroyed by fire two weeks after the
opening service. After the fire, services were held
in Thomas Elementary School until the burned
building could be renovated. At the April 3, 1952,
meeting of the Board of Stewards and Trustees, a
motion was made and carried changing the name
of the church from the Methodist Church of
Warner Robins to First Methodist Church because
another Methodist Church was being formed in
the area. On Christmas Eve 1967, when the first
service was held in the current sanctuary, the
name on the front of the church showed “First
Methodist Church” for the United Methodist
organization had not yet been formed. In April
1968, the Methodist Church united with the
Evangelical United Brethren Church and became
known as the United Methodist Church, and the
church that began as the Methodist Church of
Wellston, Georgia, became known as First United
Methodist Church of Warner Robins, Georgia.
First United Methodist Church and the city of
Warner Robins have undergone many changes
through the years. The history of the church
reflects the history of the community. First
Methodist played instrumental roles in the
78 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

formation of other Methodist churches in the
community, including Northview, Trinity,
Centerville, and Christ. First Methodist has
sponsored a church bazaar/marketplace since
1968, flea markets since 1990, and consignment
sales since 2011. They organized the first
church-sponsored Boy Scout troop in 1956,
opened the first weekday preschool and
kindergarten (Cheerful Cherubs) in September
1950, televised worship services since July 1974,
installed the city’s first pipe organ in 1980,
opened the doors to a clothes closet from 1971
until 2013, provided food for families through a
food closet from 1983 until the opening of the
food pantry in 1991, fed the hungry in the soup
kitchen since August 1990, and provided shelter
and support to families since 2010.
The history and heritage of First United
Methodist Church is a firm foundation upon which
the future grows. The church offers programs and
opportunities for all ages. The church family
demonstrates the power of God’s work through
spiritual leadership, faith, community, love and
outreach by making a difference here and around
the world.
First United Methodist Church is located at
205 North Davis Drive in Warner Robins. Call
us at 478-923-3737 or visit our website at
www.welcometofirst.org for directions, service
times, and much more.
Top: First United Methodist Church,
located at 205 North Davis Drive in
Warner Robins, Georgia, has been an
integral part of the community since
before Warner Robins was formed.
Below: The stained glass windows
installed in October 1998 depict
scenes in the life of Jesus Christ. The
people of the church share the power
of God’s work.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 79

MERCER
UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF
ENGINEERING
AND MERCER
ENGINEERING
RESEARCH
CENTER
Top: Mercer University President Dr.
R. Kirby Godsey and Warner Robins
Air Logistics Center Commander
Major General Cornelius Nugteren
sign a memorandum of understanding
to make the base a satellite campus
for Mercer’s new School of
Engineering, which welcomed its first
class in 1985.
Below: Dr. Carroll Gambrell (center
left) and Dr. R. Kirby Godsey
(center right) with the inaugural
faculty of Mercer University School
of Engineering.
.
From the time Major General
Cornelius Nugteren took command
of Warner Robins Air
Logistics Center in September
1982, he sought to remedy a
shortage of engineers on the base.
Mercer Engineering Research
Center Executive Director Andi
Mitchell remembers Nugteren as a
man with a remarkable gift to tie
communities together, and as
such, he was a member of both
the Warner Robins and Macon
Chamber of Commerce.
Melvin Kruger, who served as
president of the Macon Chamber of Commerce,
offered to accompany Nugteren to the office of
then-Mercer President Dr. R. Kirby Godsey.
Upon Kruger’s introduction of these two
visionary leaders, they soon developed a plan
to provide the base—and all of Middle
Georgia—with a local source of engineers and
engineering research.
Mercer and the Macon Chamber of
Commerce jointly sponsored a five-month study
of current and projected needs for various types
of engineers. The results supported Nugteren’s
view that the region did not have the educational
programs to meet the needs of the base, nor
the needs of other industries targeted for economic
development.
In December 1984, Mercer’s Board of
Trustees approved plans for an engineering
school, and four months later, Dr. Carroll
Gambrell, former executive vice president and
provost of West Coast University in Los Angeles,
California, was hired as its dean. Mercer welcomed
its first class of engineering students in
the fall of 1985.
Nugteren and Godsey also signed a memorandum
of understanding to make the base a
satellite campus for the new engineering school
and provide for faculty to teach both undergraduate
and graduate courses in Warner Robins.
The goal for the first year was to have twenty
military personnel, civil servants and dependents
enrolled in each course on base with an
additional 50 to 100 freshmen in the engineering
program on the Macon campus.
Currently, the School of Engineering
has more than 800 students enrolled in its
bachelor’s and master’s degree programs.
To date, Mercer has awarded more than
2,000 degrees to engineers in the fields of
biomedical, computer, electrical, environmental,
industrial and mechanical engineering,
as well as industrial management,
technical communication and engineering
for development.
The School of Engineering has provided
more entry-level engineers to Robins
Air Force Base than any other school, and
nearly half of its living alumni reside in
Middle Georgia.
In July 1987, less than two years after
the School of Engineering opened its
doors, Mercer Engineering Research
80 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

Center (MERC), the applied engineering and
research arm of the University, opened with
three employees in a strip shopping center
located on Watson Boulevard in Warner Robins.
The Center’s purpose was–and still is–to provide
locally available engineering and scientific
services and critical specialized technical skills
to supplement the Warner Robins Air Logistics
Complex and other customers.
The Center’s first contract for $8,400
involved reverse engineering and providing
schematic and wiring diagrams, fabrication
drawings, parts and material information, performance
specifications and test procedures to
support the manufacture and quality control of
an intercom terminal board for the U.S. Air
Force (USAF).
Today, MERC continues to work to sustain
virtually every aging aircraft in the USAF
fleet. Major projects include rotary wing engineering
support, C-130 Functional System
Integrity Program support, aging bomber electronic
warfare support and C-5/HH-60 avionics
reverse engineering.
Over the last three decades, MERC has developed
a highly qualified professional staff, complex
tools and test equipment, and extensive
technical capabilities in the fields of aircraft
structural analysis and design, flight test instrumentation,
reverse engineering and prototyping,
laboratory structural testing, electronic warfare
software algorithm development, web deployed
applications with integrated database access,
industrial engineering, logistics, and reliability
and biomedical engineering.
The Center has employed a total of 279
engineers, and currently staffs more than 190
engineers, scientists and other employees in a
113,000-square-foot, state-ofthe-art
facility on Osigian
Boulevard. To date, MERC has
received nearly $500 million
in contracts, including support
for twenty different models
of USAF aircraft and one
Navy submarine.
“The School of Engineering
and the Mercer Engineering
Research Center are important
examples of how Mercer
University has engaged the
educational, cultural and economic well-being
of this region as a part of its primary mission.
Both the School and the Center have made and
continue to make transformative contributions
that expand the reach of the University’s influence
through research, while enhancing the
work of Robins Air Force Base, the Department
of Defense and Warner Robins and enriching
the economic and cultural foundations of
Macon,” said Godsey.
Nugteren retired from the Air Force in 1988,
but his impact on Mercer and MERC would not
come to an end. In August 1996, he joined the
staff at MERC as a senior adviser, a role he
would fulfill for the next nineteen years.
“He was a wonderful mentor,” recalled
Mitchell, who was the third employee hired by
MERC and has been instrumental in the establishment
and success of the Center. “He instilled
in us the discipline of customer service in supporting
the warfighter.”
Top: Mercer Engineering Research
Center currently operates in a
113,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art
facility on Osigian Boulevard in
Warner Robins with a staff of more
than 190 engineers, scientists and
other employees.
Below: Mercer Engineering Research
Center works to sustain virtually
every aging aircraft in the United
States Air Force fleet. Major projects
include rotary wing engineering
support, C-130 Functional System
Integrity Program support, aging
bomber electronic warfare support
and C-5/HH-60 avionics reverse
engineering.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 81

HEART OF
GEORGIA
HOSPICE
Top: Camp Wings is held annually
and is open to all children who have
lost a loved one.
“Heart of Georgia Hospice is the
Hospice with the Big Heart.” Their logo–
a heart nestled within an outline of the
State of Georgia not only epitomizes that
motto, but perfectly describes what many
patients and families have known since
the organization was founded in 1984.
“The staff was so nice and caring.
They made my daddy’s final days as
comfortable as possible for him, and for
us,” proclaims one of a host of
five-star reviews on the organization’s
Facebook page.
“Wonderful, great, fantastic, in other
words, angels,” echoes another. “If we
needed something, they were there.”
Heart of Georgia Hospice has been
there for thousands of patients and their
families spanning more than three
decades. Back in 1984, a group of compassionate
residents saw a need and
cared enough to fill it by creating the
county’s first hospice organization.
“There were no other hospice providers
in Houston County at that time,” said
Dawn Rozar, the executive director of
what was once called Hospice of Houston
County and today remains the county’s only
nonprofit, Christian-based hospice. “Even with
limited funds, the organization grew steadily
from the start.”
In fact, it was growth that prompted the
organization to officially change its name to
Heart of Georgia Hospice in July 2006 to better
reflect its expanding service area, which has
encompassed a forty-five-mile radius of the
home office in Warner Robins since 1998.
Today, Heart of Georgia’s service area includes
Houston, Bibb, Bleckley, Crawford, Dooly,
Macon, Peach, Pulaski, Taylor, and Twiggs
Counties. The organization works diligently to
be a good hometown neighbor to all, providing
comprehensive care and comfort to terminally
ill patients and their families, without regard to
race, creed, sexual orientation, ethnic background,
or religious beliefs.
They provide care in the homes of patients as
well as in assisted living facilities, nursing
homes and also operate an Inpatient Care Unit
inside Perry Hospital at 1120 Morningside
Drive. Opened in 2003, the Heart of Georgia
Inpatient Care Unit is a six-bed unit that serves
those patients who need a higher level of care
than can be provided in a home setting.
Heart of Georgia is guided by a communitybased
board of directors and is supported by a
team of professional staff and dedicated volunteers,
including the likes of “Huggin’ Hazel”
Colson. Named for her propensity for passing
out hugs, Huggin’ Hazel, who turned ninetyone
years young in 2018, has been a nurse for
more than seven decades and has been the face
of Heart of Georgia Hospice since she was hired
82 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

in 1987. She says it has never seemed like a job
to her.
It is apparent that all of her co-workers–
whether volunteer or paid–feel the same. They
love their jobs; they are fully invested in helping
others; and they have the heart and the knowhow
to do so.
“When it comes to caring for our patients
and families, we go outside of the box,” says
Human Resources Manager Sherry Robinson.
“We go beyond typical hospice care with a
number of complementary programs such as
the My Story Program, the Veteran’s Honor
Ceremony, a Christmas Memorial Service, and
the Heart of Georgia Hospice Casserole
Ministry in which we partner with churches
and individuals to deliver hundreds of
casseroles to our patients’ families each year.
And, we never send a bill.”
Even after a patient passes away, Heart of
Georgia’s certified counselor is available to help
those left to grieve, free of charge, regardless of
whether their loved one used Heart of Georgia
Hospice services or not. For youth, Camp
Wings is a free bereavement camp founded by
the organization in 2000. It is held annually
each fall and staffed by more than seventy-five
trained counselors, social workers and volunteers
who work to help bereaved children
understand that their feelings of sadness
and grief are normal. The camp includes an
array of activities from group therapy sessions to
plenty of arts and crafts, outdoor activities and
great food.
As a nonprofit organization committed to
never sending a bill to its families, Heart of
Georgia depends heavily on and is very thankful
for its volunteers as well as monetary and item
donations, which staff and fund day-to-day missions.
Item donations produce income via two
thrift stores owned and operated by the organization.
Touted by the organization as having the
lowest thrift prices around, shoppers are invited
to watch the Thrift Store Facebook page at
www.facebook.com/hoghospicethriftstore for
daily sales items.
For more information on how to utilize Heart
of Georgia Hospice programs, how to become a
volunteer or donate money or goods, visit
www.heartofgahospice.org or stop by the office
at 103 Westridge Drive, Warner Robins. You
may also call 478-953-5161.
.
Above: 2017 Camp Wings’ campers
and staff gather for a group photo
after three days of outdoor activities
and games such as low-ropes courses,
jumpy houses, hayrides, horseback
riding, pet therapy and campfires, just
to name a few!
Below: Heart of Georgia has two thrift
stores–one located at 1851 Watson
Boulevard and the other at 311
Highway 49 North in the Peach Shops
at Byron. Both generate money that
stays in the community and benefits
our patients, their families and the
community. All donations are tax
deductible!
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 83

SACRED HEART
CATHOLIC
CHURCH AND
SCHOOL
“Sacred Heart Parish seeks to live its
Catholic tradition and to build a community
of faith through worship, education, stewardship,
Christian service, and evangelization in
order to share God’s love for all people.”
The first Sacred Heart Church was dedicated
in 1945 to serve the fifteen families already
residing in this area and the 200 new Catholic
families who moved here to support Robins
AFB. Sacred Heart was one of the first churches
to move out of the Base USO and build their
own worship space. Today, Sacred Heart is still
located in downtown Warner Robins, worshipping
in our third church and has over 1,200 registered
households.
In 1955, in an effort to meet the Catholic
needs of new military families, Colonel King on
Robins AFB and Reverend McDonough from
Macon successfully opened the doors to Sacred
Heart Catholic School. The first classes were
held in military barracks to an estimated ninety
students. Through the dedication of the
Presentation Sisters, generous parishioners, and
school families, Sacred Heart has enjoyed a
steady enrollment for almost seventy years.
Sacred Heart ministers to parishioners and to
the local community. Since 1984, the Christian
Service Center, CSC, has been the primary arm
through which Sacred Heart has served our
community neighbors. As a result of the generous
support of Sacred Heart parishioners and
other community churches and organizations,
the CSC is able to assist those in need. In Fiscal
Year 2017, the CSC provided over 2,800 families
critical support of food, clothing and emergency
financial assistance. The
impact of the CSC is the creation of a
contagious spirit of giving, which
was illustrated when an anonymous
donation was made from a former
CSC client for $200 to help other
families in need.
Sacred Heart is a Parish where all
are welcomed. Being located in
Warner Robins, the International
City, Sacred Heart has always
embraced diversity and built a
Christian community that is blessed
and enhanced by many cultural
influences. Sacred Heart has a number
of ministries that celebrate our
diversity such as the Black Catholic
Ministry and the Korean Prayer
Group. As the number of Hispanics
increased in Houston County, Sacred
Heart took steps back in the 1980s to
support their spiritual needs. The
Hispanic ministry has grown from
humble beginnings of twenty to thirty
faithful occasionally celebrating
84 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

Mass in Spanish to now 450 to 500 parishioners
celebrating the Mass in Spanish weekly.
Quarterly Vietnamese Masses are offered at
Sacred Heart. Our church community worships
together in love and respect.
Sacred Heart continues to show its commitment
to Warner Robins through an investment
of over $18 million dollars in new facilities over
the last fifteen years in the Commercial Circle
area. On March 3, 2007, the church dedicated
its present sanctuary. Because of the generosity
of Sacred Heart parishioners, the mortgage was
burned May 2014. As members of Sacred Heart,
we enjoy the faithfulness of the parish every
time we use the facilities to pray, worship and
serve as a community.
In November 2015, the Parish broke ground
for a new school, social hall and parish office
and in January 2017, all school and church
operations moved into the new state-of-the-art
facilities. This unification of the school and
parish promises to preserve the original mission
of the Presentation Sisters who supported the
school from 1956-2003. That mission, as given
to them by their foundress, Nano Nagle, is “to
teach, to touch the future and the future of the
Church in a very special way.”
With the recent updated and expanded
facilities, Sacred Heart is ready to serve the
spiritual and educational needs of the Warner
Robins community for years to come. We
welcome the community to tour our beautiful
church and educational facilities, send their
children to school at Sacred Heart, and worship
with us. For more information, call the office
at 478-923-0124.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 85

SOUTHERN
LIGHTING
In 1986, contractor Bill Schwanebeck was
building homes in Warner Robins and purchasing
lights from Burgess Carpet and Lighting
Company. However, when
that company was sold and
moved to another location, he
saw a need in the community
for a new lighting store.
Starting his own lighting
store allowed him to continue
building custom houses and
recommending and supplying
the lighting needs for customers’
new homes. He saw it
as a great opportunity and
immediately went to work.
He, and Annelle Ray, the
lighting specialist at Burgess,
began combining ideas to
start a new residential lighting
store and started Southern
Interiors & Lighting, opening
in May 1987.
While the new company
basically began on a shoestring
as many do, there were
no computers to better track profit-and-loss,
inventory, etc. According to Bill’s wife, Gale,
“Everything was handwritten. Then, little by little,
as the technology era arrived, they invested
in computers and have replaced them as the
need changed. Our computer program has been
customized to our needs; and, all items are
scanned when received; and again, before they
are sold. We purchased a forklift years ago that
relieved us of manually loading and unloading
the products we sell.”
86 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

When the store first opened, Southern
Lighting sold light fixtures, furniture, and
framed pictures and mirrors. Today, it specializes
only in lighting fixtures and accessories for the
home. “When we opened, there was no delivery
van–builders were responsible to come by the
store and pick up the light fixtures they had purchased.
When the builders or electricians could
not make it to the store, Bill’s pick-up truck was
used for deliveries. The store now has two delivery
vans and delivers complete house orders of
light up to a fifty to sixty-mile radius,” she adds.
As the business grew, so did Southern
Lighting. During the past thirty years, since the
company’s birth, it has expanded its showroom
three times, and added a new warehouse for
storage of all the lights and fans. For many
years, it has furnished the lighting products to
St. Jude Homes being built in Warner Robins.
The company is also a member of the Robins
Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Perry
Chamber of Commerce, and the Home Builders
Association of Warner Robins. Southern
Lighting also believes in giving back to the community
that supports them. For a number of
years, it has held a Christmas luncheon feeding
up to 300 people including builders and others
in the building industry. Each year in January, it
sends its lighting specialists to Dallas, Texas to
attend the Lighting Show where all the new fixtures
and fans are displayed.
When Southern Lighting first opened, it had
three employees, which grew to eleven before
the downturn in the late 2008.
Today, there are 6 employees, with
4 in sales and 2 in the warehouse,
receiving and delivering light fixtures.
One employee has been with
the company for 30 years, one for
23 years, and another for 15.
Owners Gale and Bill believe it is
vital to give something back to the
community that has been so supportive
of their business through
the years. The owners are proud of
its philanthropy efforts by giving
back. They contribute to Habitat for
Humanity at Christmastime, and
support the efforts of Genesis
Houses for qualifying individuals.
Gale says “Southern Lighting showroom
has the largest selection of lighting fixtures
in Middle Georgia.”
Of course, word-of-mouth is the best marketing
tool for any business; but, Southern Lighting
backs up their efforts with newspaper, magazines
and television advertising. Customers have
come to rely on Southern Lighting, often coming
back to upgrade their lighting and homes.
“We are optimistic about our future and feel
that the customer service we offer, combined
with our reputation in the community, have positioned
us well for the future,” Gale and Bill agree.
Southern Lighting has been at the same location
for thirty-plus years at 2508 Moody Road in
Warner Robins and on the Internet at
www.southernlightingga.com.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 87

WELLSTON
DECORATING
“Home is where the heart is” and that is
exactly where Wellston Decorating began its 32
year-old story: in a home. Wellston Decorating,
named for Wellston Depot, was the brainchild
of Billie Carriker and Don Brooks. In 1986,
Billie and Don started their home decorating
business in Billie’s home on Becky Drive. Each
room in the Carriker home served as an area
for the business: bookkeeping in the living
room, the dining room served as the display
area, wall paper was checked in and stored
in the breakfast room and laundry. Don served
as the manager, Trent Carriker served as
assistant manager, Billie served as interior
designer, Ann Brooks served as bookkeeper and
Ken Brooks and Russ Carriker served as stock
boys. Even then, family was at the heart of
Wellston Decorating.
Later that same year, the business relocated
on Memorial Day to a building at 2510 Moody
Road. During this time, Wellston specialized in
Devoe Paint, Shaw Carpet, Sunwall Wallpaper
and Delmar Mini-blinds. New employees, Keith
Gibbs (paints) and Betty Farnan (designer)
joined the family business soon after the
business relocated. The business soon expanded
and after 7 years, the business relocated to the
old Ace Hardware building on Moody Road
where the business stands today. Billie’s parents
(Mop and Pop) traveled from North Carolina to
help remodel the building.
At this time Debra Butler joined the family as
an interior designer and the following
companies’ products soon made an appearance
in the store: Mohawk and engineered floors
such as Armstrong, Mannington and Tarkett.
Soon the floor styles changed to ceramic
floors and Shaw, Daltile and Enser products
were added to the growing inventory. At
one point, Wellston sold over two hundred
patterns of wallpaper but customers’ tastes soon
changed and Wellston discontinued selling
wallpaper. Painted walls are the trend today and
Wellston sells hundreds of paint colors to suit
everyone’s tastes.
Today Wellston employs two full-time
decorators: Tara Gilpin and Megan Crosier.
Debra Butler, who has been with the business for
88 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

twenty-five years, now specializes in window
treatments. Bookkeepers through the years have
included Sharyn Mays, Ellie Smith, Gina Wall
and Penny Hales is the present bookkeeper.
Mark Hales is the head of the warehouse.
Through the years Wellston served as a
gathering place in the morning for painters
and contractors before they headed to work
for the day. If you happened to stop by in
the morning, you could join painters and
contractors for a quick cup of coffee and
catch up on the business of building and
decorating homes and businesses. Many times
soup lunches and fish frys were held at the store
and painters and contractors would come back
for lunch!
In 2008, with the economic uncertainties,
Wellston Decorating experienced its challenges.
The dream Billie and Don envisioned struggled
to continue but with determination, faith, and
courage, the business persevered and is thriving
today. In 2013, Don and Ann Brooks retired and
Billie and Trent bought Wellston Decorating.
Today Trent Carriker is manager and Kenneth
Brooks serves as assistant manager. Billie drops
by on a regular basis to help out as needed
and visit with customers. Over the past thirty
years, Wellston has strived to live up to its
motto, “Home of Service”. Top-notch service
and quality products are still the hallmarks of
Wellston Decorating.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 89

AMERICAN
LEGION POST
172
American Legion Post 172 began November
19, 1943 when a group of veterans residing in
Warner Robins began the process of obtaining a
charter from the Legion’s national headquarters
in Indianapolis, Indiana. While awaiting word
from Indianapolis, the original organizers elected
their first Executive Board on January 24,
1944, and named the infant Post after Arthur
Leonard Johnson Jr., the first Warner Robins
man to lose his life during World War II.
In the years between 1944 and 1945, the
new Post made itself a part of the fabric of
Warner Robins by undertaking a combined
effort–along with the town and Robins Air
Field–to provide programs designed to help prevent
“juvenile delinquency” in the children of
Warner Robins whose parents and guardians
were working fulltime as part of the war efforts.
To that end, they created and formed clubs and
athletic organizations for the town’s teens to
enjoy when not in school. At least one of those
organizations still exists. Boy Scout Troop 120,
the Post’s first sponsored Scout Troop and Cub
Scout Pack, which post members officially
founded on February 23, 1944, is today the oldest
Boy Scout troop in Warner Robins.
After the end of World War II in 1945
through the onset of the Korean War in 1950,
Post 172 undertook several actions in support
of the community, its veterans, and their families.
They drove voters to the polls for various
local, state and national elections; continued to
support scouting; and bestowed Legion awards
upon deserving Warner Robins and Bonaire students.
Christmas gift distributions to patients at
Robins Field Hospital as well as to the children
of low income families were performed annually
during this time.
Other activities and programs were also
established as the Post continued to support the
citizens, especially the youth, of Warner
Robins–from organization of an American
Legion junior baseball team in 1946 to teaming
up with local elementary schools’ PTAs to secure
a hot lunch program for students. Academic and
athletic awards and scholarships also became a
part of the growing list of efforts by the Post and
included active participation in the American
Legions Boys State program in early 1948.
Coordinating with the Lions Club, Post 172
co-sponsored the “School Boy Patrol” by donating
helmets, raincoats, belts, and whistles. Until the
program ended in 1958, boys were sent to School
Boy Patrol Camp to help insure the safety of
Warner Robins students. Aid in voter registrations,
Armistice and Memorial Day services, and
support of veteran affairs on the state and national
levels, as well as aid to needy children and families,
were also supplied by the Post.
When a violent tornado ripped through
Warner Robins on April 30, 1953 claiming the
lives of nineteen and injuring hundreds, the
Post home was severely damaged along with
many other structures in the storm’s 300-yardwide,
two-mile-long path. Many Post 172 members
donned their Legion caps and joined with
local police to rescue and aid tornado victims
until the National Guard and other state and
county agencies arrived to help.
The American Legion Department of Georgia
also requested that all Legion Posts in the area
provide support to recovery efforts for victims of
the tornado as well. Though a victim itself, Post
172 threw its full support into the task before
tending to its own rebuilding efforts. The Post
provided financial aid and also collected and
distributed food, clothing, cooking equipment
and utensils through its Ladies Auxiliary whose
members manned various distribution points
throughout the city.
Between 1954 and 1961, Post 172 maintained
its efforts as a member of the Warner
Robins’ community, while initiating new programs
and filling new needs. Increased aid to the
90 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

Dublin VA Hospital was seen, and the Post 172
Honor Guard was formed in 1954 to assist the
Air Force base in meeting the burgeoning need
for firing squads for funerals and ceremonies.
In addition to the established Legion awards
and scholarships for local athletic and educational
communities, the Post also participated in
a special polio drive in 1954, and worked with
other civic organizations in support of the
March of Dimes, the Community Chest, Red
Cross, cerebral palsy efforts as well as to dozens
of local families in need.
In 1958 and 1959, Post 172 coordinated with
local radio station WRPB by broadcasting weekly,
half-hour shows, which responded to phone-in
questions concerning local veterans and other
services of interest to veterans and the local community.
A follow-up show was aired in March of
1959 recognizing the Legion’s fortieth birthday.
With the growth of both Warner Robins and
Robins Air Force Base in the 1960s, Post 172
also grew and has continued to support both the
city and the base throughout the years. A new
and larger facility was built in 1994, allowing
the Post to meet the growing needs and activities
of the community. The Post also added to its
veteran family, giving rise to the Ladies
Auxiliary, Unit 172, the Sons of the American
Legion, Squadron 172, and the Legion Riders.
In addition to the support of local veterans,
Post activities today also includes support of the
Dublin VA Hospital and a Veteran’s Home in
Macon. An active Post Honor Guard still provides
military honors for funerals of veterans when
requested, flag ceremonies that include the raising,
retiring and proper disposal of the American
flag, and military honors and recognition performances
at Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day
ceremonies sponsored by the city. Each Memorial
Day, the Post pays homage by placing 1,500 flags
on the graves of local veterans recognizing their
contributions to our nation, state and city.
Veterans, both retired and active duty, also
receive recognition annually. In addition to providing
complimentary meals four times per year
to local veterans, the Post also blesses active
duty Air Force personnel with gift certificates
and other support as deemed appropriate during
the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons.
The Ladies Auxiliary assists the Post and the
community by collecting items needed by veterans
at the Dublin VA Hospital and then visits the
hospital and it patients to distribute the items.
Support of a wide variety of Posts activities also
characterizes the Auxiliary’s mission for the
community as a whole.
The Sons of the American Legion is another
integral part of the greater Post 172 family.
Members regularly assist and participate in all
Legion activities, especially fundraising and participation
in the Honor Guard and American
Legion National Programs.
The American Legion Riders are the latest addition
to the Post 172 family and provide a visible
and honorable service to the Post’s growing range of
veteran activities and ceremonies. They frequently
join in motorcycle events–along with other veteran
rider’s groups such as Patriot Guards–to not only
escort fallen military members, but also ride hundreds
of miles each year to support and protect the
families of our fallen heroes.
American Legion Post 172 welcomes all eligible
veterans, retired military personnel,
National Guard and reserve personnel as well as
current active duty members to become members
of its family. The Post is located at 1345
Radio Loop Road in Warner Robins, Georgia
31088. The mailing address is P.O. Box 484,
Warner Robins, Georgia 31099 and the phone
number is 478-923-9238. You may contact the
Post online by emailing alpost172@gmail.com
or visiting www.alpost172ga.org.
Written by Skip Schwanfelder and
Dave Winward
Post 172
May 21, 2018
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 91

FAMILY DENTAL
ASSOCIATES
The original offices of Family Dental
Associates in Warner Robins.
Family Dental Associates is more than words
emblazoned on the sign at 328 Margie Drive in
Warner Robins. It is the epitome of this
sixty-five-year-old dental practice where family
treats family.
“We strive to treat all of our patients like
family,” says Dr. J. Alex Bell, Jr., the second of
the now three-generation dental practice.
“Treating others the way we want to be treated
drives everything we do and has since my
father founded the practice in 1954.”
Fresh out of Emory University’s School of
Dentistry, Jack Alex Bell, Sr. was just the third
dentist to hang out his shingle in Warner
Robins. A native of Mariana, Florida, and a
former flight engineer who served in the U.S.
Navy during World War II, he moved here with
his wife, Lala Maxine. They both became
involved in the community, while he became a
student of its history as well.
“Dad loved this community and was
fascinated with how quickly it grew,” Bell, Jr.
said, adding that his father enjoyed doing
research, interviewing people and collecting
photographs and historic documents on the
area. “He loved giving presentations to local
clubs and organizations and was pleased to
donate much of his collection to the city for its
archives.”
But, Bell, Sr. was more than a respected
dentist and local history buff. He was also an
active community leader and, as such, became
a part of the very history he eagerly studied.His
own annals include being a lifetime member of
the Noon Optimist Club, a Warner Robins
Civitan Club “Citizen of the Year,” and
president of the local chamber when its first
office building was constructed. He was a
member of the boards of Houston County’s first
technical school and United Givers Fund, and
was president of the Warner Robins
Touchdown Club. He served as the Exalted
Ruler of the local Elks Lodge and oversaw the
construction of its first lodge, and was a
member of the Tyrian Lodge No. 111 Free and
Accepted Masons. He was also active in the
Houston County Carving Club and First United
Methodist Church and was an accomplished
aerobatic pilot coached by Georgia Aviation
Hall of Famer Gordon Bella.
Although he retired in 1985, he remained
independent and active well into his nineties,
continuing to serve the community by
volunteering at the Warner Robins Methodist
Food Pantry. He found much joy in giving
handmade wooden cars and bible verses to
hundreds of children who visited the pantry. He
passed away in 2015.
92 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

Though his father never pressured him, Dr.
J. Alex Bell, Jr., says he always knew growing
up that he would follow in his dad’s footsteps.
And, following his graduation from the Medical
College of Georgia’s School of Dentistry in
1982, that’s exactly what he did.
“I saw how much dad always enjoyed being
a dentist—it’s a profession in which you get to
help people and work with your hands; it’s
medicine, engineering, science, art, creativity
and technicality, all rolled into one,” he said.
“But, the people are by far the best. I’m always
happy getting to know patients and their
families and am honored to serve them.”
In addition to a passion for dentistry,
people and family, Bell, Jr. also inherited his
dad’s love for aviation and actually soloed his
first plane when he was just fifteen years old.
He recently added “helicopter pilot” to his
aviation resume; proof, he says, that you can
“teach an old dog new tricks!”
And, like his father, Bell, Jr., also has a son
who followed in his footsteps.
Dr. Jack Alex Bell, III, joined Family Dental
Associates in 2013, after graduating from the
Medical College of Georgia’s School of Dentistry
and completing a one-year residency. Also a parttime
faculty member at Georgia Regents
University’s College of Dental Medicine, he
specializes in dental surgery, dental implant
placement, IV conscious sedation, advanced
dental prosthetics, treatment management in
medically compromised patients. He also
introduced Family Dental Associates to 3D
dentistry as well as the Solea Dental Laser—a
soft and osseous tissue laser which allows a
virtually noiseless and anesthesia-free experience
for the vast majority of dental procedures.
“Along with our other talented dentists—
Doctors Ken Colson and Brandon Burleigh—
Jack has brought some remarkable skills, new
services and techniques to our practice,” said
Bell, Jr. “It is incredible the doors that new
technology has opened. We can now use a 3D
digital scanner to take an impression and use
that to customize crowns, dentures, partials
and implants right here in our in-house lab.”
Speaking of in-house labs, Family Dental
Associates’ Excel Dental Lab is one of only 330
accredited labs in the United States.
Additionally, the practice is one of only three in
Georgia utilizing Solea Laser technology.
“We definitely have some of the most
advanced hardware available in dentistry today,
but our most precious and valuable asset is and
always will be our software—our people,” said
Bell, Jr., “They—and our wonderful patients—
are the ones that make us who we are.”
For more information on Family Dental
Associates, please visit www.dralexbell.com.
Three generations of the Bell family
have guided Family Dental Associates
for the last sixty-five years (from left
to right): Dr. Jack Alex Bell, Sr., Dr.
Jack Alex Bell, III, and Dr. J. Alex
Bell, Jr.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 93

GEORGIA
MILITARY
COLLEGE
Georgia Military College opened at Robins
Air Force Base in 1989. In 2003, the Warner
Robins Campus was established with Elliott Hall
and then expanded in 2005. Boylan Hall opened
in 2011, and the students keep coming.
During the early years on Robins AFB, under
the leadership of Director COL John Elliott, GMC
only offered classes for a few dozen active duty
military and civil service employees. As course
and degree offerings expanded, students
responded; by the early 2000s, GMC needed a
building to call its own. Today, GMC’s Warner
Robins Campus is located off of North Davis Drive
at 801 Duke Avenue. The campus has nearly
fourteen hundred students and boasts one of the
largest dual enrollment programs in the state.
GMC-WR continues to offer convenient schedules
for traditional and non-traditional students with
day, evening, weekend and online classes. Class
sizes remain small for better instruction and
tuition still includes the use of textbooks.
On campus, Boylan Hall serves as a starting
point for new students with Admissions,
Financial Aid, and the Bookstore. Elliott Hall,
primarily an academic building, includes the
Advising and Testing Center, Registrar, Library,
tutoring, classrooms and labs. GMC still offers
services and classes on Robins AFB.
94 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

“When I started looking for a college, I
wanted something that would be affordable
and close to home, and my best friend
recommended GMC. When I started
GMC, I was really excited about the small
class size, and how you could really
develop a relationship with your
instructors, and I didn’t miss out on the
college experience. I was able to be as
involved as I wanted to be. “
- Alexandria Sampson, GMC graduate
and registered nurse:
“I didn’t know what to expect when I
first started college. I was in my late forties,
and I had not been to school in a long time.
I was anxious about starting the process, but
when I went to the school to inquire about
attending at Georgia Military College,
everybody was so nice. Every instructor,
and every professor I had was understanding
and accommodating of the non-traditional
student. It was an incredible experience.”
- Randy Toms, GMC graduate and
mayor of Warner Robins:
“I found out about Georgia Military College through my old high school. I learned that GMC
was regionally accredited, which means that their credits would transfer to any institution I
might consider next. Staying local was important and helped me build a transfer GPA. This
campus is community based. You meet so many people out in the community. We often work
with community events and leaders. When I was in high school, my grades were decent; but
when I came to Georgia Military College, the professors really worked with me one on one, and
I felt like a student rather than a number. It’s just a community based school. At GMC, you feel
like you really matter.”
- Will Cooper, GMC Graduate and Georgia College & State University student
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 95

CENTRAL
GEORGIA
PERIODONTICS
AND DENTAL
IMPLANTS
Left: Dr. Russell G. Eyman.
Right: Dr. Vinamra Bhasin
Warner Robins’ Russell G. Eyman has
thoroughly enjoyed the best of two professional
careers. After graduating from Emory
University’s School of Dentistry in 1969, he has
been on the fast track in periodontics and
emerging dental technology including implants.
In addition, he has served as a commissioned
officer in the U.S. Air Force (USAF).
Before he began private practice, he joined the
Air Force as a captain. Later, as a major in 1976,
he completed his residency in periodontics at
Wilford Hall USAF Medical Center, and was
transferred to Robins AFB in Warner Robins.
With the assistance of the Warner Robins
Chamber of Commerce, the Houston County
Dental Society, U. S. Senator Sam Nunn, Eyman,
who had risen to the rank of lieutenant colonel,
received permission to begin treating civilian
patients in Macon, Georgia, in 1978. A year
later, he resigned his regular commission and
joined the USAF Reserve and began a fulltime
practice in Macon. The Warner Robins office,
albeit small in size, opened in 1981.
“We were fortunate because we had a good
staff and worked well together,” he said
reminiscing about the early days. He recalls that
hygienists Jill Luzzi (who joined the practice in
1978), Jane Toms (1984), Dawn Tilley (1989),
and Susan Joiner (1993) worked in less than 900
square-feet of space, sandwiched between two
Warner Robins landmarks – Whiting’s Gift Shop
and Freeman’s Children’s Shop. Unbelievably, the
five managed to stay out of the others’ way, and
are still with Central Georgia Periodontics and
Dental Implants today.
Even in small quarters, there were four
treatment rooms and a supply and sterilization
room. The waiting room, about 10-by-12 feet, had
a picture window facing Watson Boulevard; and a
“shotgun hall” led to other rooms. The business
office, for instance, had a built-in counter/desk
facing the waiting room and one chair. Treatment
rooms were lined on the right side of the hall.
Dr. Eyman laughs as he talks about the
treatment rooms because the dental chairs had
to be in the upright position for patients to enter
and exit. His office was the top of a copy
machine with no desk or chair. When Eyman
and his team vacated the Watson Blvd location
the owner decided to remodel. When the roof
was removed the walls fell. This confirmed the
teams’ long-held suspicion that “the termites
holding hands were holding the walls together.”
The 1980s brought welcome changes. The
office grew from a two-day work week to three;
and eventually, four. Especially relevant was 1987
when Dr. Eyman became the Dental Advisor to
the USAF Reserve Surgeon General’s office and
promoted to the grade of colonel. That same year
dental implants were introduced into Eyman’s
practice (the technology was not widely used at
that time). Because of the lack of educational
96 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

opportunities into implant procedures in the
early days, Eyman’s team organized, promoted,
and sponsored an annual dental implant seminar
for area dentists and their staffs.
In 1989, Central Georgia Periodontics and
Dental Implants moved into its current office on
Carl Vinson Highway; and as the millennium
approached, it grew and matured. It underwent
extensive remodeling in 2002. Central Georgia
Periodontics became one of the busiest and most
respected periodontal and implant practices in the
state. Dr. Eyman attributes the success and growth
to the team of hygienists who contributed so
much from the early days, on. “They’re all good,
loyal, dedicated and knowledgeable about the
now-accepted technology of implants,” he adds.
In 2007, the practice experienced a truly
transformational event when Dr. Vinamra
Bhasin, B.D.S., D.M.D., M.H.S. joined the
practice. As Dr. Eyman has wryly observed, “He
soaked up everything I could teach him in three
years and took off from there. He is truly one of
the most gifted surgeons I’ve seen with fifty
years’ experience in military and civilian settings.
That says a lot.”
In 2010, a major modification of the building
doubled office space and completely changed the
look of the building. New members joined the
team, including Anita Kimberly, Marsha Hall and
April Wimberly in reception; Loretta Pitts,
surgical assistant; Debbie Harkins, Sandra Giles,
and Kelli McCard, hygienists; and Kathryn
Sremaniak, hygienist/surgical assistant; and Nikki
Wilke, assistant.
Dr. Bhasin continually imports new
technology; and he and Dr. Eyman acquired the
first in-office CT scanner in middle Georgia. The
practice is also the only dental office in Mid-
Georgia with a Millennium Dental Laser. Dr.
Bhasin also directed the purchase of X-NAV which
permits “real-time” CT-guided implant placement.
There are fewer than sixty of these in the world.
Dr. Bhasin has also pursued week-long training in
Budapest and Lisbon.
The practice has long, deep roots that is
focused on the relentless pursuit of the latest and
best technology and skills to support the needs
of the Warner Robins community and greater
middle Georgia area.
Above: Central Georgia Periodontics
and Dental Implants is located at 225
Carl Vinson Parkway.
Below: The doctors and staff of
Central Georgia Periodontics and
Dental Implants.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 97

JIMMY SPINKS,
STATE FARM
AGENT
For some, “if these walls could talk” is
just a catchphrase. But, in the case of Jimmy
Spinks, the walls of his State Farm office
located at 1410 Russell Parkway tell a most
captivating story.
From the moment one crosses the agency
threshold, a vast collection of plaques, certificates,
photos and mementos chronicle Spinks’
life and career. From top agent awards spanning
a stellar four-and-a-half decade career with
State Farm to plaques honoring his service to
the community as an active member and leader
of organizations such as the Warner Robins
Chamber of Commerce, the Warner Robins
Noon Optimist Club and local Jaycees as well
as Centerville United Methodist Church, just to
name a few.
Interspersed throughout is a bounty of
framed photographs of friends, co-workers and
family. Photos of Patsy, his wife of more than
fifty years who he met while attending Warner
Robins High School and married not long after
graduating; photos of their three boys—Brad,
Greg and Dean—two of who have followed his
footsteps into the insurance field and one who
serves in an executive leadership role for
Facebook’s Global Culinary operations.
And then there are the grandkids, six in
all—two sets of twins, Carson and Carter and
Katie and Kyle, and the oldest of the brood,
Conner and Clayton, the latter who has also
chosen insurance as a career after learning the
ropes from his grandfather and father. Like his
own father, Brad, Clayton currently serves
as a claims handler for another major
insurance provider.
Spinks’ desk and bookshelves also don keepsakes
that tell of his passions and purpose—a
replica of a motorcycle just like the one he
enjoyed riding across country with his brotherin-law
and other biking pals in his younger
years; a photo of his sons’ first car on which
they worked on together; a photo card of
Barney and the gang from the Andy Griffith
show, a show that Spinks still watches every
day to wind down. He laughs as he proceeds to
tell about the silly antics Barney was up to in
the last episode.
There is even a framed photo of Spinks sitting
in his very first office, a space he rented for
$50 a month. His first calculator, a Texas
Instruments’ Data Math, which his mother gave
him when he opened that first office, holds its
own next to other memorabilia.
Born in Macon, GA the same year the town
of Wellston was renamed Warner Robins,
Spinks moved to Warner Robins with his family
in 1947 when just three years old. He went to
98 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

school here, married his high school sweet
heart and, although he continued his education
at Georgia Southwestern and the University of
Georgia, he never ventured far from home.
Spinks credits his college roommates who were
all going to school for careers in insurance for
igniting his own interest in the field, though he
didn’t make an official move until 1973.
“For my first 17 years out of college, I
worked in and managed a retail clothing business,
but when the opportunity to become a
State Farm agent came about in September
1973, I was ready,” Spinks said, crediting his
brother-in-law and friend for making the State
Farm introduction. “I located my office on what
was then known as Watson Road, now Russell
Parkway and have remained within a few
blocks of my original location since.”
One of the very first businesses to locate on
Russell, Spinks says he often got asked why he
was setting up on an old county road. What
they didn’t know, he said, was that he had sat in
on a briefing prepared by UGA for the chamber
and city that suggested the city build up a
direct connector from the interstate to the base.
Russell Parkway was that connection and
Spinks was happy to become one of the first
businesses to endorse it as such.
His first office was a rented space about the
size of his personal office in his current State
Farm building. He bought an old military-style
metal desk and a filing cabinet from a traveling
used furniture salesman and set up shop and
watched as, within five years, other businesses
and offices began to spring up on the new baseinterstate
connector.
His own business growing, Spinks soon began
looking for his own property and he found it in a
former nursery, also on Russell. He worked out of
a temporary mobile home office located on the
property for a couple of years before teaming up
with a local pharmacist to build his first office
complex. Business still booming, he continued to
add on and eventually purchased a former doctor’s
office that he redesigned himself and has
remained his office since.
Today, Spinks has six others working alongside
him, five other agents as well and a receptionist
who is also working on her license.
Together, they represent State Farm and the
many clients they serve well.
For more, call the office at 478-923-5579 or
visit online at www.jimmyspinks.com.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 99

CLEAN
CONTROL
CORPORATION
Above: Steve Davison in Clean
Control Corporation’s lab.
Below: Clean Corporation is located
at 1040 Booth Road in Warner
Robins, Georgia.
Steve Davison worked for Southern
Railway after high school; and wanting to
do something different in 1980, started
Mobile Wash of America, a successful
government janitorial contractor focusing
on cleaning. The need for superior cleaning
products and escalating chemical
costs prompted him to develop technologically-advanced,
cost-effective cleaning
solutions. He wanted to develop fewer
products that did the work of the many
different ones he carried with him on various
jobs. At his encouragement, he and Cory
Hammock, a friend and chemist, set out to
achieve that goal. “It was more of a convenience
for me to reduce the amount of cleaners I carried
on every job than it was a pure cost-containment
effort,” says Steve. “I was trying to
simplify the job, thinking there must be a better
way.” The two set out to find the solution for
which they were searching and mastered it in a
most unbelievable way while developing other
super concentrated cleaning products, too.
Their focus was to develop a highly effective
product that was concentrated and would meet
the challenges in nursing homes and healthcare
facilities. In 1980, there were few commercial
products available that could rid facilities of odors
from bed pans, soiled linen and night gowns.
Colostomy bag odors and the “cancer smell” of
patient rooms were an entire category unto themselves.
Steve and Cory’s extensive research on specific
human biological odors and the need to disinfect
and make specific areas welcoming to
patients, staff, and visitors alike eventually led to
the “Tub Trials,” as they refer to it. To get the
project underway, they utilized available raw
materials and mixed the first batch of OdoBan®
in Steve’s own bathtub. This led to many products
after initially being tested on baby diapers.
Steve realized that he could not continue his
cleaning business, and develop and market
OdoBan, so he sold the contract cleaning business
and started Clean Control in 1990 to
devote time to developing products that were
vastly needed in patient care facilities. After several
years of talking with Sam’s Club corporate,
they finally agreed to carry OdoBan® as a trial
in 1991 at the Macon, Georgia’s Sam’s Club. Just
four years later, the OdoBan® product was carried
nationwide in Sam’s Club, which enabled
Clean Control to expand with additional products
and line extensions. Clean Control has
been able to expand and grow the company
because of the willingness of Sam’s/Walmart to
take a chance on a small, local manufacturer
more than twenty-seven years ago.
Steve says, “Opportunities like this one only
happen in America!” Starting as a small business,
his basic philosophy has been to go one
step further. “We didn’t just make a deodorizer;
we developed an odor eliminator and
disinfectant that cleans. We didn’t just make
something to mop up the grease; we developed
bacterial solutions that would eliminate grease–
the basis for our bacterial line.”
Today, the OdoBan® brand of products is
recognized worldwide as a leading solution for
odor elimination and disinfecting. Clean
Control’s customer base has grown to serve various
market segments including household
consumer, as well as wholesale, industrial, commercial,
and institutional customers around the
globe. A line of hunting products was launched
about twenty-two years ago called OdoBan
100 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

Outdoors. Steve said the name did not ‘grab
you’ so we re-branded them as Lethal® Hunting
Products and they are now the premier line of
scent eliminating hunting products.
Steve, the father of five, is adamant about
success. “I start my day at 4:30 a.m. and after
saying my prayers and thanking God for my
success, I’m ready to tackle the new opportunities
and challenges. I tell people all the time,
that if I can do this, so can they. Don’t let
anybody take your dreams from you. Anything
is possible.”
Below: Steve Davison proudly displays
OdoBan at Sam’s Club. OdoBan is
sold at Home Depot, Walmart, and
many other retail locations.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 101

GOLDEN KEY
REALTY
Above: Gwen Giles (left) and Jean
Chapman (right).
Below: (Fromt left to right) Lauri
Gassman, Jean Chapman, Jan
Labadie, and Gwen Giles.
Gwen Giles sits in the conference room of the
Golden Key Realty office located on South
Houston Lake Road in Warner Robins. There
isn’t a meeting going on this morning; just
a quick sit-down with a writer interested in
the real estate company that has become
a household name during its forty years
of existence.
Right away, it becomes apparent that sitting
in one place for too long is out of the ordinary
for this high-spirited dynamo blessed with
boundless energy and a spirit to help people.
Still, she proves a most gracious and humble
host with story after story that makes swift work
of explaining the success of Warner Robins’ first
woman-owned real estate company.
First and foremost, she credits God, who
planted in her a “mind for math” and, eventually,
real estate. Secondly, she points to having a likeminded
co-founder as well as a multi-talented
team who live and work by the Golden Rule, the
company’s core philosophy.
“We have always treated each other, and
most importantly, our clients, the way we want
to be treated—with great respect, care and
consideration,” Giles said.
Although owning a business was never really
on her radar, she and longtime co-worker and
fellow Realtor Jean Coleman longed for the
opportunity “to do business our way” and, in
1979, opened Golden Key with just four agents
and a receptionist in a small office at the end of
Hospital Drive.
“Jean and I had different strengths, but were
cut from the same cloth with the same morals,
principles and goals,” said Giles, her tone
turning nostalgic as she speaks of her business
partner who passed away in 2009. “An agent
could come to each of us and we always gave
them the same answer. We were always in sync.
She was my soul sister and the best business
partner I could’ve hoped for.”
From the start, Golden Key defied odds and
surpassed expectations. Even with staggering
interest rates and a CPA’s warning that it could
be up to two years before the business would
become profitable, Golden Key has operated in
the black from month one. They have survived
challenging economic times, financial setbacks,
an office fire, embezzlement and forgery, and,
yet, have never closed their doors or borrowed a
single dime. Nor have they abandoned the
Golden Rule, which Giles believes is the main
reason the company’s client roster is filled with
repeat clients and personal referrals.
It’s also the reason the company is one of the
county’s most successful real estate companies
with 24 licensed agents and 10 administrative
personnel. It’s why customers have asked them
to manage more than 350 rental properties and
why, as a company, they closed a recordbreaking
$52.75 million in 2017 and were on
course to shatter records in 2018 as well with
$43.5 million already closed by the end of July.
As growth demanded, Golden Key’s offices
moved several times over the years, ultimately
102 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

landing at 526 South Houston Lake Road in 2012
after an office fire in the space they were renting
left them without a home. They temporarily
moved in with another real estate company,
Freedom Realty, while work started on the
unfinished shell that was to be their future home.
“It was basically four exterior walls with dirt
floors, and yet, I was able to design the interior
just as I wanted it and two builders worked
together to have it move-in ready in just four
months,” Giles said. “It was so unbelievably fast,
I knew it was all God!”
As for the future, Giles has no plans to retire
just yet. She says her business is her testimony
and she plans to keep doing what she’s doing
“until God tells me I’m done.”
And, when that day comes, she says she will
joyfully leave the business in the capable hands of
her daughter-in-law, Tammy Giles. An Associate
Broker, Realtor, and Real Estate Negotiation
Expert, Tammy has worked alongside her
mentor/mother-in-law for three decades. Giles’
grandson, Coy, became a Realtor with the
company after graduating college in 2016.
“Tammy was my assistant before she was my
daughter-in-law and, like Jean, we have always
been in sync,” said Giles, who celebrated fifty
years of marriage with husband Larry Giles in
September 2017. Gwen and Larry have two
sons—Mark, who lives in Atlanta with his wife,
Jeanne; and Michael, who lives in Warner
Robins with wife Tammy. Michael and Tammy
have three sons—Coy, Grayson and Riley.
“Coy says real estate is in his DNA and he’s
not far off,” Giles continued, laughing as she
confesses to whispering that he “would one day
become a real estate agent with grandmama”
into his ear throughout his early years.
“I guess I pre-programmed him. I just wish I
had done it with my other two grandkids,” she
said, laughing heartily, before turning the
conversation in a more reflective direction.
“Looking back, I can clearly see God’s hand
leading, guiding, and occasionally pushing us
along this marvelous journey. My prayer now is
that all who associate with Golden Key—today
or in the future—recognize and give thanks for
all that God has created and allows us to be a
part of. Thank you Warner Robins and Houston
County for allowing us to be of service and for
being a part of our continuing story. To God be
the glory!”
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 103

FLINT
ENERGIES
✧
Above: The first Flint Electric
Membership Corporation office in
Warner Robins opened in 1949 on
Watson Boulevard.
Below: In 1952, co-op leaders (from
left) Barney McDaniel, Thurman
Whatley, Nash Murph, Royce Pratt,
M. S. Vinson, John Polhill, Deke
Giles, Sam Tankersley, and Floyd
Tabor, watched as Warner Robins’
mayor C. B. “Boss” Watson
ceremonially flipped the switch to
illuminate the town’s major
thoroughfare, Watson Boulevard.
Incorporated in 1937, Flint Energies is a notfor-profit,
member-owned electric cooperative
that provides energy services to residential,
commercial, industrial and agricultural
members in parts of 17 middle Georgia
counties. The cooperative serves more than
91,000 meters, making it the 38th largest of the
nation’s nearly 1,000 rural electric cooperatives.
In the 1930s, only one in 10 of the nation’s
farm families had electricity. Only farms running
alongside the wires carrying electricity from city
to city had the possibility of a “hook up.” Dim
oil lamps provided the only indoor light, there
was no running water and backbreaking chores
were accomplished solely by manual labor.
Emory Parr was tired of raising chickens in the
dark. The owner of Crowell Poultry Farm knew
many of his neighbors shared his frustration. In
1935 he decided it was time to act.
Parr and neighbor, Howard Neisler, first
investigated erecting a private generating plant
and transmission line to serve 17 consumers
along a four-mile stretch of the Old Federal Wire
Road, but the $7,000 pricetag was unaffordable.
Undaunted, Parr next approached existing
utility companies about providing power, but
was turned down. Investor-owned and municipal
electric utilities were reluctant to serve rural areas
because it wasn’t financially feasible to extend
lines to people outside the city limits.
Parr eventually learned that farmers in
communities all over Georgia were gearing up to
build power lines by forming electric
cooperatives – utilities owned and governed by
the rural residents using the electricity rather
than profit-motivated investors.
On March 5, 1937, a community meeting
was held in Crowell to garner support for a new
electric cooperative. With their neighbors’
encouragement, Parr, Neisler, Leonard Cooper,
Floyd Jarrell and George Young attached their
names to an application for a charter to
incorporate a rural electric cooperative. Those at
the meeting voted to call it Taylor County
Electric Membership Corporation (EMC). About
a month later, on April 23, the charter was
granted and the co-op was officially in business.
The five charter members became the first board
of directors and elected Parr as president, Neisler as
vice president and Cooper as secretary-treasurer.
They immediately applied for and received Rural
Electrification Administration (REA) funds to build
104 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

the first fifty miles of lines to bring power to the
people of northern Taylor County.
As farms became energized, word spread about
how electricity improved farmers’ lives and work.
Interest in rural electrification spread rapidly
throughout middle Georgia, and applications from
neighboring counties came flooding into the
Taylor EMC office. In August 1938, the co-op
received a REA loan for $419,000 to construct
an additional 495 miles of line in Macon,
Peach, Houston, Crawford, Talbot, Marion,
Chattahoochee and Taylor counties. With the loan,
Taylor EMC became the second largest cooperative
in Georgia by the close of 1939.
At this rate of growth, it didn’t take long for
Taylor EMC to be an inadequate description of the
co-op’s service area and membership. During the
annual meeting in January 1941, members voted
to change the cooperative’s name to Flint Electric
Membership Corporation, a title derived from the
river flowing through much of the service area.
While most rural electrification efforts around
the nation came to a halt as manpower and
materials were redirected to the World War II
effort, Flint EMC’s system expanded significantly.
Much of the growth sprouted from tiny Wellston,
a train whistle stop in northern Houston County
that consisted of only six houses and a
combination service station/general store.
A small airfield near the community was chosen
as the site for a major military installation, the
Wellston Air Depot at Robins Field (later Robins
Air Force Base). Boarding houses, cafes, store and
gas stations sprang up to serve thousands of
construction workers, followed by a wave of
military personnel, who converged on the area.
The demand for electricity in Wellston
increased right along with the population. An
investor-owned utility selected to furnish power
to the airfield passed on the chance to build
distribution lines to provide electricity to the
homes and businesses in the fast-growing
community. The investors saw the venture as
unprofitable since the base would likely close
after the war and residents would move on.
Flint EMC, which had built lines in 1939 to
serve the handful of residents in the community,
answered the call for help. The co-op agreed to
bring power to Wellston’s swelling population.
In early September 1942, Flint EMC employees
began expanding the co-op’s electricity
distribution to supply power to five hundred
houses for defense workers.
Almost overnight, Wellston, renamed Warner
Robins in 1943, went from a six-house village to
being Georgia’s sixth largest city. The investorowned
utility’s projection that Robins Air Force
Base would close after the war proved wrong.
Warner Robins—still powered by Flint EMC
doing business as Flint Energies these days—
remains a thriving city with an economy that has
diversified well beyond its military beginnings.
For several decades, it was the largest city in the
U.S. served by an electric cooperative.
After more than eighty years, Flint Energies
continues its efforts in community service and
economic development, because vibrant communities
mean better quality of life for co-op members.
The original founders have all passed on, but
their legacy endures. The lines they helped build
still bind together our communities. The cooperative
business they founded remains committed to
serving the best interests of its members in the
delivery of safe, reliable, affordable electricity.
~Contains excerpts from The Lines That Bind.
✧
Above: In 1953, dedicated Flint
EMC employees restored power to
thousands in less than two days
after a devastating F4 tornado
ripped through Warner Robins,
causing 19 fatalities, 350 injuries
and $10 million in damage that left
1,000 homeless.
Below: Scores of Warner Robins
children have learned to play baseball
and learned life lessons on Flint Field.
Among the first was former Georgia
Govenor Sonny Perdue (front row,
fourth from left), who said, “Playing
Little League baseball is one of my
fondest memories as a child. I
learned fundamentals of the game
such as teamwork, sacrifice and
determination that I have taken with
me throughout life.”
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 105

BUZZELL
PLUMBING,
HEATING AND
AIR
CONDITIONING
This is a sample caption.
With experience under his belt and a desire
to own his own business, Warner Robins
resident Sam Buzzell founded Buzzell
Plumbing, Heating and Air Conditioning
(HVAC) in 1974 and set up shop in a small
store-front on First Street in his hometown.
While the company is still family-owned and
operated, it has long outgrown that first storefront
and is today a multi-million dollar fullservice
plumbing and HVAC company with
multiple showrooms, including one in its new
Warner Robins headquarters building and
another in neighboring Macon.
Young Bob, Sam’s son, grew up in the
business and shares his father’s vision for the
company. In 2001, he officially joined his father
as co-owner, and has since taken over full
ownership and operation of the company. Sam
still has his fingers in the business, though, and
works as a mentor and consultant to his son and
employees. He is always available to help in the
areas where he has expertise.
While the early company was built on HVAC
and plumbing for the homeowner only, today
Buzzell takes pride in offering both residential
and commercial customers affordable pricing as
well as quality work conducted by reliable
employees and vendors. In addition to fullservice
heating, air and plumbing, the company
now also offers specialized products such as
indoor quality air control and water filtration
systems as well. They provide services for both
existing structures and new construction for
home owners, home builders and commercial
customers alike.
Offering a wide variety of services and
products is what enables us to meet the needs of
all of our customers, regardless of the size of the
job,” says Bob. “Our company vision is to
provide reliable and custom service to all, while
balancing price, efficiency, and lifespan to give
each of our clients the very best value in the
timeliest manner.”
Indeed, it doesn’t matter the plumbing or
HVAC need. If a customer needs new
installation, system upgrade, regular
maintenance or repair, the team of qualified
technicians deliver sustainable, energy efficient
and cost-effective solutions that improve
everyday life as well as to offer mechanical
services to the community with cost-effective
products that utilize renewable energy.
“We recognize the impact of energy efficient,
reliable and effective temperature control on
a homeowner’s budget or company’s bottom
line. It’s important to the customer and it’s
important to us,” Bob said, adding that the
company has an on-call team available 24/7 to
handle emergencies.
“We also understand that when a customer
has a problem with the heating system, air
conditioner, or any type of plumbing, they need
it solved ‘now.’ There’s nothing worse than
having the furnace inoperable on the coldest
day of the year; or the air conditioner on the
blink on the hottest of days,” he said.
Just as it does for homeowners and
homebuilders, Buzzell provides customized
solutions in plumbing, heating and air services
to companies and organizations of all sizes
throughout the mid-state, from locally owned
106 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

usinesses to large corporate entities, whether
new construction or existing structure. The
company’s longevity in the market ensures all
its customers customized solutions that rely
on experience.
Both commercial and residential clients can
also trust Buzzell to always offer customized
recommendations and innovative products with
meticulous workmanship as they specialize in
industry leading brands such as Carrier Rinnai
and Moen.
Need financing? Through its relationship with
Wells Fargo Financial National Bank and as a
participating Carrier dealer, Buzzell is able to
offer a variety of flexible options for financing
new Carrier products or systems. With approved
credit through Wells Fargo, customers can enjoy
convenient monthly payments, competitive
interest rates and flexible financing terms.
As for future, Buzzell Plumbing, Heating and
Air is poised and ready to continue serving
Middle Georgia with the same family values and
exceptional service for which it has become
known over the past forty-five years.
What’s more, both Bob and Sam say they
intend to keep the business in the family for
generations to come, with Bob’s young son,
Robert, next in line.
And, that makes the Buzzell extended family,
a.k.a. the staff, very happy as they say the family
atmosphere is a big part of what separates
Buzzell from other companies.
To learn more about Buzzell Plumbing,
Heating and Air, please visit www.mybuzzell.com
or visit in person at the Warner Robins
showroom located at 4811 Russell Parkway or
the Macon showroom at 1809 Hardeman
Avenue. Showroom hours are 8 a.m.-5 p.m.
Monday through Friday in both locations. The
phone numbers to call are 478-449-0242 in
Warner Robins or 478-992-1992 in Macon.
Above: Bob Buzzell.
Below: The Buzzell Plumbing,
Heating and Air Conditioning
showroom at 4811 Russell Parkway
in Warner Robins.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 107

MIDDLE
GEORGIA
STATE
UNIVERSITY
Top: Thomas School, built in 1944-
1945, is named in memory of Army
Air Force Second Lieutenant Charles
Thomas III, a West Point graduate
who was lost at sea during a training
flight in May 1942. His father,
Colonel Charles E. Thomas Jr., was
the first commander of the Wellston
Air Depot.
Bottom: Nursing students attend
classes in Oak Hall’s STEM wing,
which supports degree programs
related to science, technology,
engineering and math.
Warner Robins and Houston County are pivotal
to the history of Middle Georgia State University.
In 1970, what was then Macon Junior
College—now Middle Georgia State University—
began offering courses at the Robins Resident
Center as part of a University System of Georgia
(USG) program established at Robins Air Force
Base at the request of Air Logistics Complex
(ALC) Commander, Major General A.J. Beck.
In 1991, the college began serving area residents
through its Warner Robins Center, located
in leased space in the Advanced Technology
Park. Finally, in 2003, with strong support from
local and state officials, the college opened a
permanent Warner Robins Campus on Watson
Boulevard, approximately a half mile from the
main gate at Robins AFB.
A permanent college campus was exactly what
then Mayor Donald Walker and the Warner Robins
City Council were hoping for in 2001 when they
invested $762,000 in the historic Charles Thomas
(Elementary) School—one of the community’s oldest
buildings—and donated it to Middle Georgia
State’s governing body, the USG’s Board of Regents.
In 2002, then-Representative Larry Walker
and other members of the central Georgia legislative
delegation secured a $5 million state
appropriation to modernize the Thomas School
(preserving the architecture, including arched
exterior windows, corridor breeze sashes and
familiar white cupola with rooster weather vane
on the roof) and build an additional facility on
the same site for a high-tech, full-service campus.
The former Thomas School—now called
Thomas Hall—is still the “front door” of the
Warner Robins Campus, which remains a vital
part of Middle Georgia State University.
Middle Georgia State continues to expand the
campus, adding in 2018 a STEM wing to Oak
Hall to support courses and degree programs
related to science (including nursing and health
sciences), technology, engineering and math.
As of 2018, the Warner Robins Campus consists
of Thomas Hall, the Academic Services
Building and Oak Hall. Middle Georgia State’s
Office of Graduate Studies also is based at the
Warner Robins Campus.
108 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

COMBINED
EMPLOYEES
CREDIT UNION
As the leadership of Combined Employees
Credit Union (CECU) prepared to celebrate the
organization’s fiftieth anniversary in 2019, they
paused to express gratitude for the eight forward-thinking
individuals that started it all on
October 6, 1969 with just a vision and a combined
deposit of $200.00.
“It’s always noteworthy when an organization
reaches the half century mark, but to do so having
grown from a few founding members and
$200 to more than 3,300 members with assets
of over $11.5 million is truly remarkable,” said
current President and Chief Executive Officer
Robert Glore, Jr., stopping a recent interview to
individually name and show reverence to the
founders–Homer Walker, Thomas McMinn,
Sara Gunter, George Barfield, W.H. Rape, Billy
Parker, William Wisse and Claude Lewis. “They
and the leaders who have followed deserve
much credit for having such vision and giving
us such a strong foundation.”
A not-for-profit entity owned and operated by
its members, CECU was initially named the
Warner Robins Employees Credit Union and was
founded to serve employees of the City of Warner
Robins and its elected and appointed officials.
With its first office located in City Hall, the new
credit union ended its debut year with assets of
$39,000. After amending the charter in 1972 to
include employees and elected and appointed officials
of Houston County, employees of the
Houston County Hospital, and family members of
eligible members, assets soared to over $250,000.
Growth continued throughout the 1980s and
1990s as other entities in the region were invited
to join and the credit union’s name was ultimately
changed to Combined Employees Credit Union.
CECU purchased its first office building at 106
South Houston Road in 1999 and its present headquarters
location at 593 Russell Parkway in 2010.
Today, CECU is sponsored by the Houston
County municipal authority, has nine employees,
and is governed by a voluntary board of directors
elected by members. Its growing membership
includes employees, retirees and family members
of the Houston County Commissioners, Houston
Healthcare Complex, city governments of Warner
Robins, Americus, Oglethorpe, Montezuma,
Centerville, Marshallville, Perry and Fort Valley,
as well as the Fort Valley Utilities Department,
Peach County Commissioners, Macon County
Commissioners, Cornerstone Medical Associates,
The Imaging Center and The Phoenix Center.
It provides many of the same products and
services offered by other financial institutions,
but with one major difference–as a not-for-profit
entity insured by the National Credit Union
Administration and the National Credit Union
Share Insurance Fund, all earnings are returned
to members in the form of high-interest savings
and low rate loans and new services, according
to Glore.
“We have found success in staying true to our
roots and founding philosophy of ‘people helping
people’ and are committed to building lifelong
relationships and providing our members
with financial services that help them afford
life,” Glore concluded.
For more information on Combined
Employees Credit Union, visit online at conbinedecu.com,
or in person at 593 Russell
Parkway or call (478) 929-5700.
Combined Employees Credit Union
fifty years of serving those that serve.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 109

21ST CENTURY
PARTNERSHIP
Top: Eddie Wiggins, Chairman of the
21st Century Partnership.
Bottom: Bill Powell, 13 WMAZ
Meteorologist.
During the 1993 Base Realignment and
Closure (BRAC) process, Robins Air Force Base
was added to the BRAC list for evaluation…a
shock to the entire Middle Georgia region, as
well as to the entire State of Georgia. At the
insistence of Senator Sam Nunn, the 21st
Century Partnership was hurriedly formed to
defend Robins and thus the Middle Georgia area
during the critical BRAC process.
This massive organizational effort was spearheaded
by community leaders such as George
Israel, Bob Hatcher, Paul Nagle, Ralph Nix,
Eddie Wiggins, Sherrill Stafford, Jack Steed, and
many others…with the sage counsel of Senator
Nunn. The military value of the base, and community,
was once again evaluated in BRAC 2005.
As in BRAC 1995, not only did Robins survive,
but actually gained missions during BRAC 2005.
Fortunately, the 21st Century Partnership
continues to defend and invoke positive actions
to ensure the continued viability of the base.
That is: the best way to defend Robins is from an
offensive standpoint vs. a defensive standpoint.
The objective was straightforward–make Robins
and Middle Georgia so attractive to decision
makers for assignment of military missions that
the base would expand and become so vital to
the Nation’s defense posture, it would always be
in a position to accept and execute new missions
vs. just fighting to keep jobs in Middle Georgia.
This approach caused focus and solutions to
issues like encroachment; education; affordable/suitable
housing; child care; healthcare; air
quality; workforce development; transportation
access; quality of life for assigned personnel;
cost of living; cost of operating an installation in
Middle Georgia; capacity to grow; base-community
partnerships; public private partnerships;
collaboration with sister Air Force industrial
operations; and helping Robins execute their
strategic plan.
Focus for the future is a strategy and action
plan that builds on National, State and local layers,
ensuring not only the continuing viability of
Robins AFB in the future but will work to bring
more missions and jobs to the Middle Georgia
area. Robins Air Force Base will remain an important
component in Middle Georgia, and 21st
Century Partnership will support them both.
110 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

When Doctors N. Lyle Lastinger and Clayton
A. Smith first hung out the Vision Savers’ shingle
in Warner Robins on November 1, 1990, they
had one clear vision—to offer superior eye care
and eye wear in a friendly environment to the
people of Warner Robins and Houston County.
Today, almost three decades later, they have
not only realized that vision, but have far surpassed
it. With Warner Robins the flagship,
Vision Savers, Inc., now has four additional
locations in Eastman, Dublin, Macon and
Forsyth. Each location has a retail optical
shop and optometrists’ office, and several have
in-house labs.
“We have come a long way in the past three
decades,” said Connie Holland, the company’s
chief executive officer and a member of the original
Vision Savers team. “In the beginning, I
color-coded our accounts payable to indicate
who would get paid that week. Today, we not
only have five successful locations and twenty
full-time employees, but we also have patients
that come from far away to see us.”
Dr. Lastinger also takes care of the vision
needs for crews from Marvel Studios of Georgia
and AMC’s The Walking Dead, as well as famed
professional wrestler, Dave Bautista.
“We call Dr. Lastinger our ‘Eye Doctor to the
Stars’. We often close our offices and take our
staff to lunch and a movie, not only to support
our studio clients, but also to build on the family-hometown
atmosphere that is so important
to us,” said Holland.
Both natives of South Georgia, Lastinger and
Smith quickly became friends while learning the
ropes at an optical shop in Moultrie, Georgia.
Fresh out of college and having graduated ahead
of his class, Lastinger first bought an interest in
a practice in Tallahassee, Florida, and also
worked in practices in Thomaston and Macon.
Smith—still in optometry school at the time—
worked with Lastinger during breaks and it was
not long after he graduated that the two decided
to go into business together.
“They wanted to make decisions that would
allow them to take the very best care of their
patients,” Holland said, adding that they chose
Warner Robins because of its hometown feel
and growth potential.
It looks like they made the right decision as
Vision Savers, Inc. is just large enough to take
care of all their patients’ eye care needs, yet
small enough to be the hometown optical
shop. They love serving their patients, many of
whom started out with them as small children
and now bring in their own kids. They also
love being a part of a hometown with such a
bright future.
“We are thrilled with the renewal and
rebuilding going on in Warner Robins and are
eager to be a part it. What a ride this has
been so far! And, we are just getting started,”
Holland concluded.
Be sure to stop in and visit them in the Publix
Shopping Center at 2203 Watson Boulevard or
online at visionsavers.biz. The phone number is
478-328-3937.
VISION SAVERS,
INC.
Top: Connie A. Holland, CPA.
Above: N. Lyle Lastinger, O.D.
Bottom: Clayton A Smith, O.D.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 111

NORTHROP
GRUMMAN
At Northrop Grumman, innovation is not
just an idea–it is a way of life. With 85,000
global employees in all fifty states and in more
than twenty-five countries, our leading global
security company strives to attract and retain
the best employees.
For almost ninety years, Northrop Grumman
has provided systems and services to
government and commercial customers
worldwide to address emerging challenges
critical to the defense of the nation and our
allies. Our company offers an extraordinary
portfolio of capabilities and technologies that
enable our team to deliver innovative systems
and solutions for applications that range from
undersea to outer space and into cyberspace.
Northrop Grumman has successfully
delivered support to crucial national security
programs at Warner Robins for over
thirty years from embedded software
development to operational flight programs
sustainment and avionics modeling and
simulation. At Robins Air Force Base in Warner
Robins, Georgia, our workforce of
approximately 550 employees work to support
the operational E-8C Joint Surveillance Target
Attack Radar System (Joint STARS) fleet and the
RQ-4 Global Hawk, and provide more than
3,700 repairs annually.
We provide an inclusive work environment so
our talented employees collaborate to share
diverse ideas and perspectives. We are all united
in our mission to help solve our toughest
customer challenges and remain committed to
advancing the warfighter’s mission.
Our commitment has enabled the creation of
significant technology-based jobs in Warner
Robins. Our company’s passion for producing
world-class systems to enable Warner Robins to
continue to develop economically is matched
only by our employees’ enthusiasm for
supporting our community.
Employees volunteer in the Warner Robins
area in support of Science, Technology,
Engineering and Math programs (STEM), and
engage in events such as the Warner Robins
Georgia Museum of Aviation Foundation Gala
and the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life.
In addition to our volunteer efforts, we are proud
of our charitable contributions throughout the
state of Georgia, as well as university partnerships
with the Georgia Institute of Technology and the
University of Georgia.
Northrop Grumman is honored to be a
member of the Warner Robins community, a
great place for our employees to live, work and
contribute to the defense of the nation as well as
make a difference in the lives of our neighbors.
112 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

WADDLE
SURVEYING
COMPANY, INC.
Ten years after WWII ended, Theodore W.
Waddle, Sr. was working at Robins AFB as a
drafter. A young newlywed, “Ted” was also surveying
and drafting on the side with the hope
that work would enable him to acquire his surveying
and engineering license.
Friend Charlie Williams wanted to help Ted
get his license to handle the surveys he planned
for proposed projects, mainly subdivisions. He
did, and along with the help of Stan Boor, Tom
Hunt and Tommy Walker, Ted started his own
business, with Azealia Park his first project. They
were followed by Walker Park, Statham Way,
Golf Course, and Barrington Hall in Macon.
Using the talent of Attorney Bill Wisse, Claud
Westbrook, and Barbara Waddle; Ted formed the
company of Waddle Surveying Company, Inc.
Waddle Surveying assists individuals and
companies seeking property surveys and engineering
services. It surveys the land; stakes it for
property lines and poles to be set for utilities,
running lines, and easements.
The business primarily does the surveying
and engineering for subdivisions, business
structures and residential developments. In
addition, it operates a side business for printing
copies of plats or other diagrams for people.
Waddle Surveying has five employees who
do loan plats for subdivisions, surveys for golf
courses, apartments, lot lines for fences to be
erected, etc.
Ted sold a third of the business to Griff
Clements, a former employee and registered
land surveyor. In the mid-1980s, Waddle
bought the stocks he had sold Clements when
Clements went out on his own. “Our son, Ted,
Jr. became vice president some years ago and
president in 2014. My wife, Barbara remains
secretary of the company,” says Ted.
Ted and Barbara were married in 1949 in
Stearns, Kentucky and moved to Warner Robins,
Georgia in 1951, a year after their first child,
Ted, Jr., was born. Donna, Debbie and Tim were
born in Macon, but Warner Robins is “home.”
The couple has been active in many community,
school, scout, and political endeavors.
Top: Ted and Barbara Waddle family
Thanksgiving, 2016 at the family
home.
Bottom: Representative Theodore
(Ted) W. Waddle, Sr., Georgia State
Legislature, District 113, 1973-1991.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 113

PHYSICIANS FOR
WOMEN, PC
The doctors and certified midwives of
Physicians for Women, P.C. Standing
(from left to right): Dr. Vijaya Vella,
Dr. Manoj Shah, Dr. Thekkepat
Sekhar, and Dr. Sarah Stanescu.
Seated (from left to right): Cindy
Foster, CNM, and Holly Cross, CNM
Women throughout Middle Georgia rely on
Physicians for Women in Warner-Robbins for
high quality obstetrical and gynecological care.
The highly qualified staff includes Dr. Manoj
Shah, Dr. Thekkepat Sekhar, Dr. Vijaya Vella,
and Dr. Sarah Stanescu, as well as midwives
Holly Cross and Cindy Foster and a dedicated
support team.
Physicians for Women provides highly
professional services in the fields of gynecology,
obstetrics, and midwifery, and procedures
and imaging.
Dr. Manoj Shah is Board Certified in
Obstetrics and Gynecology and completed his
post-graduate training at the Henry Ford
Hospital in Detroit, Michigan. Dr. Shah, who
has lived in Warner Robbins since 1985. Made
history as the first physician in Houston
County to serve as president of the Medical
Association of Georgia. His special interests
include urinary incontinence, uterolvaginal
prolapse, cystocele, rectocele, menopausal
symptoms, laparoscopic minimally invasive
surgery, and infertility. Dr. Shah’s three children
were educated in the Houston County School
System. He is very active in the community and
sponsors teacher awards, as well as supporting
the Science Fair.
Dr. Thekkepat Sekhar is Board Certified in
obstetrics and gynecology and has been in
practice with Physicians for Women since 2001.
He completed his residency in obstetrics and
gynecology at St. Francis Hospital in Evanston,
Illinois, and is fellowship in pelvic surgery also
at St. Francis.
Dr. Vijaya Vella is Board Certified in
obstetrics and gynecology. She completed her
internship and residency at Temple University
Hospital in Philadelphia. Dr. Vella skillfully
takes care of women throughout their lifetime.
She is particularly adept at management of highrisk
pregnancies, surgical and non-surgical
management of utero-vaginal
prolapse, and minimally invasive
techniques for performance of
hysterectomy.
Dr. Sarah Stanescu completed her
training in obstetrics and gynecology
at MedStar Washington Hospital
Center and Georgetown University
Hospital in Washington, D.C. She
joined Physicians for Women in 2017
and welcomed her son, Felix, in
2018. Dr. Stanescu believes in
empowering women in their own
care. She has particular interests in
contraceptive counseling, PCOS,
abnormal bleeding, and evidencebased
labor management.
Also on the staff at Physicians for
Women are two highly trained and
experienced midwives, Holly Cross
,CNM and Cindy Foster, CNM. Holly
has a master’s degree in nursing science
from Frontier Nursing University and is
certified in midwifery by the American College
of Nurse Midwives. Cindy graduated with
honors from Frontier Nursing University with a
master’s degree in Nursing and received her
certification from the American Midwifery
Certification Board.
At Physicians for Women, each patient is
treated with compassionate care and the latest
in diagnostic and surgical techniques. Whether
it’s a simple pregnancy or a complicated
disorder, patients can depend on the doctors
and nurses at Physicians for Women for the very
best treatment.
Physicians for Women is located at 1021 N.
Hoouston Road in Warner-Robbins. To learn
more, please visit www.pfwobgyn.com.
114 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

As workers buzz about finalizing preparations
for the dinner crowd, customers begin to file
into Sushi Thai Restaurant in Warner Robins.
Owner Gigi Villareal-Tebbe looks around and
smiles, her passion for her restaurant and
customers evident.
She points to a young couple with a fouryear-old
in tow. That couple, she says, has been
coming here since they started dating. The child
even has her own regular order now, a
California roll or octopus sashimi.
At the hi-top table, several college students
are celebrating the start of their senior year; and
at the corner booth, two businessmen are
discussing business. At the sushi bar, a group
clad in fatigues appear at home as they sip on
cocktails and enjoy what they describe as “the
best sushi in Middle Georgia.” Gigi excuses
herself to give a big hug to one of the soldiers
who has just returned from Iraq.
And then, there are the newlyweds who
requested to be seated in the loft, the most
romantic spot in the restaurant; the very place,
in fact, he had popped the question one year
ago today.
“People ask me why I love this place. This is
why,” says Gigi, herself a regular at the restaurant
from the time it opened in 2003 until she
purchased it in 2006.
A former California and Manila, Philippines
resident and flight attendant who traveled the
globe for almost twenty years, Gigi says that she
chose Warner Robins after visiting a relative.
She was looking for someplace with “more trees,
less traffic and plenty of friendly people” and
Warner Robins fit the bill.
Having given up flying to raise her family,
Gigi put her pre-med degree to work, serving
many years as an Administrator for a large
Middle Georgia medical practice. She continued
working that job by day and the restaurant by
night until the end of 2015 when she decided to
focus solely on the restaurant. Growing up, her
children enjoyed working beside her at the
restaurant and still lend a helping hand when
she needs it. Now a lawyer, her eldest helps
her out with legal issues, and the second is an
in-demand graphic artist who helps her with
her marketing and menu designs. Her son,
Gianni, helps her run the family business and
currently serves as the main sushi chef alongside
Sushi Thai’s executive chef Jason Belanio and a
full team of highly-skilled and experienced
chefs preparing authentic Thai and Japanese
cuisine daily.
Fully renovated in 2016 and designed by
Gigi to have a “more open, warm and inviting
atmosphere,” Sushi Thai Restaurant became the
“talk of the town” after it re-opened. It seats
approximately 200 people and features two
function rooms for private and business
functions complete with HDMI flat screen
TVs. It is located at 2624 Watson Boulevard,
Unit D, in Warner Robins and is repeatedly
voted “Best of the Best” by readers of the
Macon Telegraph year after year. For more
information, please visit www.sushithaiwr.com
or call 478- 923-0898.
SUSHI THAI
RESTAURANT
Sushi Thai Restaurant is located
2624 Watson Boulevard, Unit D, in
Warner Robins.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 115

GRIGGERS
WEALTH
MANAGEMENT
This is a sample caption.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF MODESTO
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.
Local native William “Billy” Griggers always
knew he wanted a career helping people.
Getting there though took determination,
recognizing advantageous job opportunities,
and learning the business from the ground up.
He was willing to put in the time and effort,
however, and in 2006, founded what is today
known as Griggers Wealth Management.
Located at 314 Corder Road in Warner Robins,
Griggers Wealth Management (GWM) is a fullservice
planning and investment firm, which
specializes in providing clients with
individualized portfolio management, retirement
planning, and estate planning as well as tax
reduction strategies. The company also engages in
business consulting, particularly helping business
owners select the most effective and beneficial
retirement plans. As of 2018, the company
manages over $120 million in assets for clients.
“Wealth management is the process of
investing your wealth and developing strategies
to put your money to work for you,” said
Griggers. “Whether an individual, family or
business, we understand that each client has a
different situation and it is our responsibility to
help each one find the strategies they need for
their unique situation; to work toward
protecting what is important to them.”
Griggers added that he and the GWM team
are proud to have the strong backing of LPL
Financial, a national broker/dealer with which
he has a longstanding association. In fact, LPL
Financial was actually the broker/dealer
Griggers selected in 2000 when he launched his
own independent financial firm, the predecessor
of today’s GWM. An LPL Registered Investment
Advisor Representative with LPL Financial and
its financial advisors offer GWM clients a wide
array of investment advisory programs and
services and, in so doing, have a fiduciary
responsibility to act in each client’s best interest
and to make full-and-fair disclosure of all
material conflicts of interest.
Prior to starting his own business, Griggers
attended and graduated from Mercer University
with a Bachelor of Business Administration
(BBA) in management and a Master of Business
Administration (MBA) in finance. After
college, he spent almost two decades
honing and sharpening his knowledge of
investments, insurance and financial planning
at a number of respected local institutions
such as Prudential Securities Corporation,
SunTrust Bank, GE Capital and, finally, First
Liberty Bank.
It was after First Liberty was sold in 1999
that he decided to open his own investment
firm. Colleague Russell Pierce signed on in the
very beginning, while Hillary Mathews came
on board in 2005. Following a long career
with CB&T Bank, Julia Granade rounded out
the team in 2012 when the company
became Griggers Financial Services, LLC. In
2013, the company began doing business as
Griggers Wealth Management, a name Griggers
feels better reflects the ever-expanding scope
of business.
As for the future, Griggers says he looks
forward to his son, James, a finance student at
Mercer University, joining the business fulltime.
He and the entire GWM team also look
forward to continuing to grow the business
based on the company’s founding principles of
traditional values, hard work, loyalty,
uncompromising quality, personal service and
community involvement.
For more information, call 478-225-6750 or
visit www.griggerswealth.com.
Securities and advisory services offered
through LPL Financial, a registered investment
advisor, Member FINRA/SIPC.
116 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

More than sixty years ago, Vera Williams
Dunagan’s love of children and her passion to
help them get a great start in life prompted her
to develop the Meadowdale Learning Center in
Warner Robins.
She started the center in 1957 as a daycare
facility on Meadowdale Drive that has since
grown into a thriving family-owned business.
Later, North Davis Drive was opened. Vera
retired in 1971; and, her son, Olen with wife Pat,
and their three sons (Wade, Russell and Kelly)
moved from Birmingham, Alabama to take over
the business, contributing greatly to its growth.
Following Vera’s death in 1975, Olen and Pat
built and opened Meadowdale Learning Centers
on Elberta Road in 1977, Moody Road in 1981,
and Leverette Road in 1993. Wade and Donna
Williams built and opened Houston Lake Road
center in Perry in 1990. When Olen and Pat
retired in 2006, Wade and Donna, along with
Kelly and Michelle bought the business; and,
Kelly and Michelle built and opened the Feagin
Mill Road location in 2016.
Meadowdale’s centers also provide a
curriculum-based learning program in each
classroom, using the High Scope and Creative
Curriculums. It provides an individualized
curriculum for children from six weeks-of-age to
eleven years of age. In addition, it offers GA Pre-K
for four-year-olds, and nutritionally-approved
breakfasts, lunches, and snacks for all.
The staff is required to be Child Development
Associate (CDA), Technical Certificate of Credit
(TCC), and bachelors and master’s degrees. All
staff is highly screened and has first aid and CPR
training. They also undergo national fingerprint
screening prior to employment.
Meadowdale Learning Centers has served as
an icon for childcare for sixty-one years in
Georgia. Its facilities have been honored by
multiple generations who have placed their trust
and care of their children to Meadowdale. It is
the oldest childcare business in Warner Robins,
and one of the oldest existing businesses. It
attributes its success to Vera’s passion to “go
above and beyond the regulations of the state
of Georgia.” It has earned the highest of
accreditations from National Association for the
Education of Young Children (NAEYC), National
Early Childhood Program Accreditation
(NECPA), and the Georgia Centers of Distinction
Award. More recently it has become a “Quality-
Rated” center.
Meadowdale Learning Centers have grown
into a valuable and responsible component of
the Warner Robins community. For additional
information on Meadowdale Learning Centers,
please call 478 953 5101 or 478 953 1200.
MEADOWDALE
LEARNING
CENTERS
Above: Vera and Lacy Dunagan in
front of North Davis Drive location
in 1960.
Below: Feagin Mill Road location
opened in 2016.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 117

CUSTOM CABLE
ASSEMBLIES
Although its customer base and footprint is
now global, Custom Cable Assemblies, Inc., is a
family business in the truest sense.
It was built from the ground up by husbandand-wife-team
Joe and Thérèse Di Diego and has
expanded exponentially with the addition of a
second generation of Di Diegos as well as a
number of long-time employees that have become
more like extended family than employees.
Specializing in providing its growing customer
base with all types of flexible, semi-rigid and semiflexible
coaxial cable assemblies, Custom Cable
Assemblies (CCA) actually got its start in 1985 on
Long Island, New York, where the Di Diegos lived;
however, when an opportunity to further advance
the business in Warner Robins came about in
1989, they packed up the business and their four
young sons and journeyed nearly a thousand miles
to the place they would soon call home.
The company was incorporated as a Georgia
company in January 1990 and started out with
a lean, but dynamic workforce of three—Joe
and Thérèse Di Diego and their first-ever
Georgia hire, Randy Francis. Now the
company’s quality/process manager, Francis
celebrates his thirtieth anniversary with CCA in
2019. Another longtime employee, Tina Ward,
joined the company in 1996 and currently
serves as lead technician and inspector.
As teenagers, even the Di Diego’s sons—
Christopher, Paul, Brian, and Anthony—
pitched in, working diligently during school
breaks and holidays. Anthony, however, was the
only one who chose to make CCA his career and
joined the company full-time in 2001.
Joe and Thérèse are quick to credit their
veteran employees as well as their sons as central
to their company’s success after its relocation to
Warner Robins. They also point to son Anthony
and his wife, Anne, as being instrumental in the
explosive growth the company has experienced
over the last two decades. Anthony Di Diego,
now a full partner in the company, doubles as
sales and production manager, while Anne, who
joined on in 2003, serves as inventory manager
and is fondly describe by the CCA family as the
company’s “right hand.”
Outgrowing its facilities twice over the years,
the company currently has a 7,000-square-foot
manufacturing facility and home office located
at 105 Whiting Way in Warner Robins. It
employs fifteen full-time staffers and serves
clients in the U.S. Department of Defense and
other areas of government as well as clients in
the aerospace, telecom, wireless and scientific
industries worldwide.
And, yet, it remains a family business; a family
business that may very well be training up its
third generation as Anthony and Anne Di Diego’s
teenage children, Allie and AJ, follow in their dad’s
and uncles’ footsteps spending their summer and
school vacations learning the CCA ropes.
Together, all the Di Diegos and the CCA
family plan to keep growing and serving their
clients as well as the Warner Robins community;
a community which has become their home and
the canvas upon which they have created a
successful local business with a global impact.
For more information on CCA, please visit
www.customcableinc.com.
118 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

MUSEUM OF
AVIATION
On July 8, 1980, the Air Force approved the
establishment of a museum at Robins Air Force
Base. The first Museum building opened to the
public in November 1984 in a surplus building
brought from Dobbins Air Force Base in Marietta,
Georgia. Another aircraft hangar was added in
1990 and in 1992 a new three story “Eagle”
building was revealed. The Museum of Aviation
Foundation then raised money to add the
60,000-square-foot Century of Flight Hangar in
1995 and the newest 60,000-square-foot Scott
Exhibit Hangar in 2008.
Today, the Museum of Aviation in Warner
Robins, Georgia, is one of the largest aviation
museums in the United States and the major U.S.
Air Force Heritage, Exhibit and Education Center
in the Southeast. The Museum is the second largest
museum in the U.S. Air Force and one of only ten
aviation museums in the United States to be
accredited by the American Alliance of Museums.
The Museum sits on fifty-one acres adjacent
to Robins Air Force Base. In addition to four
large exhibit buildings with over two hundred
thousand square feet of exhibit and education
classroom space, the museum has a restoration
hangar, an archives building, a carpenter shop
and a large aircraft-parts storage building.
Admission is free and the museum is open 9
a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, 362 days a year.
The Museum has a large collection of
approximately eighty-five historic U.S. Air Force
aircraft, missiles and cockpits dating from a
replica of a 1896 glider to modern aircraft in
today’s U.S. Air Force inventory. Just a few
notable aircraft include the actual SR-71 that set
the world absolute speed record of 2,193 mph, B-
25, B-29, B-52 and B-1B bombers as well as an
UH-1F “Huey” climb in.
The Museum Foundation operates interactive
world-class education programs through its
National STEM Academy which focuses on
science, technology, engineering, mathematics
(STEM) and history. Opportunities for learners
ages four through adult are conducted both on
school sites and at the Museum of Aviation. An
average of fifty-six thousand students and teachers
take part in National STEM Academy education
programs each year.
Above: A F-15A “Eagle” on display at
the Museum of Aviation.
Below: The Museum of Aviation is
located at 1942 Heritage Boulevard
next to Robins Air Force Base. Please
visit www.museumofaviation.org for
more information.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 119

PERRY-
HOUSTON
COUNTY
AIRPORT
AUTHORITY
Above: PXE strives to promote general
and business aviation and provide
facilities and services to meet current
and future needs.
Below A pair of CH-53 Super
Stallions waiting on the tarmac.
The world was at war in July 1942, and the
military was in the midst of building its
airpower to fight the enemy. After the founding
of Robins Air Force Base, a need was cited for a
training facility off base. (It was feared that
pilots who were in training would interfere with
the necessary aircraft operations at Robins.)
Opening in July 1942, the airport was an
auxiliary training facility for Army pilots. After
WWII ended in 1945, the City of Perry obtained
the field and developed it into a municipal
airport, opening in May 1947.
In March 1971, Georgia General Assembly
created the Perry-Fort Valley Airport Authority. The
property was ninety percent in Peach County and
ten percent in Houston County, which set off a tax
nightmare. In March 1994, the Assembly created
the Perry-Houston County Authority, annexing the
airport property into the City of Perry.
A temporary trailer served as the first
terminal, with the present terminal being built
in 1999. The runway was updated in 2002 to its
present size of 100 feet by 5,000 feet to
accommodate larger aircraft.
PXE, as the airport is known, is located on
approximately 500 acres in Houston and Peach
Counties. Eight employees dispense 100,000
gallons of aircraft fuel annually. Total aircraft
operations total more than 20,000 annually.
The organization has grown at a healthy rate
with fourteen aircraft based there in the late 1970s
to eighty-seven in 2018. There were ten open T-
hangers available in in the late 1970s. Today, there
is approximately 180,000 square feet of hanger
space with 10 open t-hangars, 56 closed t-hangars,
and 8 corporate hangars. PXE strives to promote
general and business aviation and provide facilities
and services to meet current and future needs. A
new terminal is being planned, with upgraded aircraft
and vehicle parking; as well as extending the
runway for general aviation aircraft.
PXE is headquartered at 200 Myrtle Field
Road in Perry, Georgia and on the Internet at
www.pxeairport.com.
120 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

WARNER ROBINS
CONVENTION &
VISITORS
BUREAU
Warner Robins, Georgia has proven to be a
great place to land as our neighbors across the
railroad tracks at Robins Air Force Base frequently
comment. It has been named the “most affordable
city in Georgia,” by liveability.com because of its
quality of life, nationally known aviation history,
Robins Air Force Base, Museum of Aviation,
Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame, award winning
education system, and good health index. The city
has grown in seventy-five years to offer walking
trails, golf courses, attractions, a local history
museum, continuous live Little Theatre,
Community Concerts, award winning sports
programs, ballet and everything you expect to
experience in an energetically thriving community
looking to the future.
In 1989, the Mayor and Council of Warner
Robins launched the City Promotion Committee
which was funded to create and promote events.
The effort was so successful that soon the
Warner Robins Convention & Visitors Bureau
(CVB) was officially created and remains in the
business of promoting Warner Robins beyond
the city limits as a destination. The CVB manages
and coordinates the tourism attraction and
marketing efforts while reaching out to tour
operators, meeting planners, both business and
leisure travelers and other visitors to Warner
Robins. The vision of the CVB Boards of
Directors over the years has contributed to
tourism product development and consistent
rising visitation translating to millions of dollars
in tax revenues collected locally and for the state.
In fact, tourism is one of the largest
industries in Georgia generating $63.1 billion
according to the latest reported figures from
U.S. Travel Association. Today in Houston
County 2,131 jobs are supported through the
tourism industry and a whopping $237.09
million was spent locally last year by tourists!
The CVB Board and staff are honored to have
partnered with Planes, Trains and Heroes: the
Story of Warner Robins and the Robins Region,
1943-2018 to commemorate the city’s seventyfifth
anniversary. We salute all the men, women
and families over the years—both civilian and
military—who each left their imprint on what
truly has become “a city of destiny”
Above: Caboose SOU X556 was
donated to the Warner Robins CVB
and is available to give visitors a
glimpse of the region’s railroad history.
Below: The E. L. Greenway Welcome
Center at 99 Armed Forces
Boulevard North. Please visit the
Warner Robins CVB online at
www.WarnerRobinsVisitorsCenter.com.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 121

PEACHSTATE
HOSPITALITY
Top: The Fairfield Inn & Suites by
Marriott Warner Robins is located at
221 Margie Drive.
PHOTOGRAPH BY BRENDA THOMPSON.
Middle: The Courtyard Warner
Robins is located at 589 Carl
Vinson Parkway.
PHOTOGRAPH BY BRENDA THOMPSON.
Bottom: Candlewood Suites Warner
Robins is located at 110 Willie
Lee Parkway.
PHOTOGRAPH BY BRENDA THOMPSON.
Entrepreneur Danny Patel founded PeachState
Hospitality in 1989 with a sixteen-unit,
independent motel in Montezuma, Georgia. Since
then, Patel has developed over fifty franchised and
independent hotels throughout the southeastern
United States. Among them are three hotels in
Warner Robins, Georgia.
The AAA Three-Diamond Fairfield Inn &
Suites by Marriott Warner Robins is located near
the Air Force Base, Little League International
Southeast Region Headquarters, Museum of
Aviation, Lane Peach Orchard, Macon State
College and Middle Georgia Technical School.
With easy access to I-75, I-16, and Highway 41
in Mid-Georgia, the hotel features seventy-four
spacious guest rooms and luxurious suites with
large, wireless work area for business guests,
complete with meeting room, ideal for small-tomedium
meetings.
In addition, rooms include a forty-inch TV,
microwave and refrigerator. Or, enjoy a hearthealthy
breakfast, compliments of the “house.”
Another desirable lodging facility is
Courtyard by Marriott Warner Robins. Larger
than the Fairfield Inn, it features 106 rooms
with refrigerators and Smart Televisions. It
provides wireless Internet access to keep
business guests “in touch” with their business
associates. Bathrooms have complimentary
toiletries and hair dryers. It has all the features
of home including telephones, desks, coffee/tea
makers; and fitness equipment to help keep
guests healthy while on the road. These include
an indoor pool, spa tub, and a twenty-four-hour
fitness center.
Food is served daily in the restaurant, and
breakfast is cooked to order for a fee. Those in
a hurry need only to visit the hotel’s coffee
shop/café. At the end of the day, you can relax
with a drink in the hotel’s bar/lounge.
Whether guests are traveling for business or
pleasure, they can bask in the comfort of one of
Candlewood’s spacious, welcoming suites; get
down to business at an executive desk and enjoy
easy communication with a speakerphone,
voicemail and complimentary high-speed
Internet access. Or just relax in a comfy recliner
and listen to a favorite CD or DVD from the
hotel’s free lending library. If cooking is on the
agenda, you can cook up a home-style meal in a
fully equipped kitchen or barbecue a steak in
the outdoor grill area after picking up food and
provisions at Candlewood Cupboards, the
onsite convenience store.
PeachState Hospitality’s mission statement is,
“Delivering Meaningful Experiences.”
122 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

They are in the business of business and have
been since a group of forward-thinking Warner
Robins entrepreneurs and businessmen got the
ball rolling back in 1949, just six years after the
town of Warner Robins was incorporated.
Although the name has since been changed
from the Warner Robins Chamber of Commerce
to the Robins Regional Chamber to better reflect
its scope and reach, the local chamber was officially
inked into existence on November 5, 1949
by Georgia’s then Secretary of State Benjamin W.
Fortson, Jr.
Four days later, the first officers were elected
by twenty local men who attended an inaugural
organizational meeting. In addition to 11
directors, Daniel K. Grahl, publisher of The
Warner Robins Press, was elected as the
chamber’s first president that November 9th.
Meetings were initially held at Warner
Robins City Hall where the chamber shared an
office with the United Givers Fund until 1961
when the organization built its own building
located at 1420 Watson Boulevard.
Today, Robins Regional Chamber represents
roughly eight hundred member businesses and is
located at 1228 Watson Boulevard in Warner
Robins, its modern façade a fitting face for a continually
growing organization dedicated to promoting
better economic climate and assisting with
business growth throughout the city and region.
“Our Chamber serves as an advocate for the
business community by being the voice of
business to government at all levels,” said current
President and CEO April Bragg as the organization
celebrated its seventieth anniversary in November
2019. “Whether you are a small business with one
employee, or a large corporation, the Chamber
helps provide you with access to government
officials and keeps you informed on important
legislation that could impact your business. Our
organization serves to link businesses, military
organizations and individuals together through
collaborative partnerships and initiatives to
strengthen the Robins Region’s long-term
economic vitality, business success, job creation
and quality of life.”
To learn more about the Robins Regional
Chamber and its many benefits, programs and
resources they offer, such as the Eggs & Issues
Breakfast Series and their exemplary leadership
development programs, please call 478-922-
8585 or visit www.robinsregion.com.
ROBINS
REGIONAL
CHAMBER
Top, left: Community and base
leadership gather together at
Chamber Eggs & Issues.
Top, right: Leadership Robins Region
Retreat at Rock Eagle
Bottom, left: Youth Leadership Robins
Region with Governor Brian Kemp.
Bottom, right: Growing our
community one business at a time.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 123

YELVERTON
JEWELERS
Above: Darrell Yelverton, then
and now.
Below: Yelvertown Jewelers is located
at 98-A S Houston Lake Road in
Warner Robins.
Yelverton Jewelers has marked many
significant moments in peoples’ lives, from
birthdays and anniversaries, to marriage
proposals. At Yelverton Jewelers we have the
privilege of bringing you the very best customer
service provided in a warm and comfortable
family atmosphere.
Working in the jewelry industry since 1984,
Darrell Yelverton desired to open his own
store, together in 1997 Darrell Yelverton and
Wayne Crow opened their doors with preowned
equipment and cases in 700 square
feet. Two and a half years later, in 2000, they
moved to their 1,800-square-foot current
location which now has two on-staff jewelers
and ten employees.
Darrell Yelverton has
mastered the art of custom
designing jewelry of all types.
Customers describe an idea,
then Darrell and staff produce it,
giving close attention to detail
and uniqueness. Adding to the
sketch drawing in 2013, he
introduced a computer aided
design CAD CAM. This tool
allows customers to visualize
their designs in 3-D and take
part in the design process.
Almost all repairs are done on
the premises. Yelverton Jewelers
prides themselves with the most
technology advanced workshop in the Middle
Georgia area, recently adding a laser welder.
Yelverton Jewelers caters to a loyal customer
base with the smallest needs to the larger
orders, with clients all over the United States
and around the world. As our customers
move away from the area, they often wait
to have their jewelry repaired or custom made
when they visit Warner Robins. Many will
email requests with purchases or items they
want made.
Darrell Yelverton has earned his diplomas in
diamonds and color stone from GIA
(Gemological Institute of America). His son,
Gatlin Yelverton, is preparing to take over the
family business by pursuing his GIA studies,
completing his classes on pearls, diamonds,
and applied jewelry professional degree.
Darrell’s daughter, Callee Yelverton, has helped
by working in the store for the past four years,
as well.
Darrell belongs to the Warner Robins
Chamber of Commerce and Better Business
Bureau and support many local charities. He sits
on the board of directors for The H.A.L.O.
Group of Middle Georgia, is actively involved
with champions for children program with
Middle Georgia Easter Seals, and also works
with Central Baptist youth ministry.
Moving from Mobile, Alabama, at a very
young age, Darrell has lived in Warner Robins
since 1966. Graduating from Northside high
school and working in retail his whole life, he
truly knows everyone. He believes this helps in
owning a business because he has personal
relationships with his clients.
124 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

Since its origins in 1973, as a small regional
publishing company based in San Antonio,
Texas, Lammert Inc. has been in the business of
helping its customers tell their stories in the
most compelling and powerful ways possible.
Working with a wide variety of clients—from
corporations to civic organizations to individuals
and families, Lammert Inc. emerged as a force in
the publishing industry.
The company initially produced specialty publications,
such as an office building directory for
the North San Antonio Chamber of Commerce,
and a pictorial roster for the San Antonio Bar
Association. Over the last four decades, Lammert
published hundreds of directories, maps, and
magazines for chambers of commerce and civic
groups across the country.
In the mid-1990s, Lammert created a new division,
Historical Publishing Network (HPN), and
focused on producing hardcover coffee table-style
history and cityscape books. The first of these was
Fire and Gold: The San Francisco Story. In the ensuing
years, Lammert perfected the sponsored-book
model of publishing.
Conceived around the idea of an ultra-high
quality hardcover chronicle of a city or county’s
past, these exceptional books were also designed
to raise funds for a sponsoring organization—typically
a chamber of commerce or a historical
preservation group. They utilized a unique advertising
mechanism, known as company profiles—
business and institutional histories, which were
purchased by organizations wishing to tell their
individual stories, and placed in special sections of
the books.
As of 2018, Lammert had published more
than 140 titles using the sponsored-book
model, while raising hundreds of thousands of
dollars for its many sponsoring groups.
Having carved out its position in the market for
turnkey design, production, and marketing of
photography-rich coffee table books through
HPN, in 2018 Lammert Inc. signaled a new focus
with the launch of its new division, HPN Custom
Media & Publishing (HPN-CMP).
HPN-CMP remains a one-stop source for
custom media, including turnkey book design,
writing, editing, and production, as well as
offering an enhanced range of customized
services, including print, digital, and photo and
video media solutions, as well as related website
design and events management services.
Employees, customers, partners, and shareholders
all value a credible story which unites the
organization’s past to its present and to its future,
enhancing its community standing and brand reputation,
or celebrating a significant anniversary,
milestone, or similar event.
The unique mix of talents and expertise
brought to bear in a HPN project culminates in a
remarkable creation—a breathtaking, photo-rich,
coffee table book.
The book may be complemented by a
dedicated website, digital “flip-book,” and/or by
related events to commemorate a historical
milestone, introduce or promote a product or
brand, or to present an organization’s annual
report with more impressive visuals. As a gift to
associates, partners, current and prospective
employees, clients, and civic officials, the book
serves as a powerful marketing tool.
For more information, or to inquire about
producing your own publication, please visit
www.hpncustommedia.com.
LAMMERT INC.
DBA
HPNBOOKS &
HPN CUSTOM
MEDIA &
PUBLISHING
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 125

SPONSORS
21st Century Partnership ...........................................................................................................................................................110
Academy of Dance .......................................................................................................................................................................77
American Legion Post 172............................................................................................................................................................90
Buzzell Plumbing, Heating and Air Conditioning .......................................................................................................................106
Central Georgia Periodontics and Dental Implants........................................................................................................................96
Clean Control Corporation.........................................................................................................................................................100
Combined Employees Credit Union ...........................................................................................................................................109
Custom Cable Assemblies...........................................................................................................................................................118
Davis Printing Company ..............................................................................................................................................................77
Family Dental Associates ..............................................................................................................................................................92
First United Methodist Church of Warner Robins.........................................................................................................................78
Flint Energies .............................................................................................................................................................................104
Georgia Military College...............................................................................................................................................................94
Golden Key Realty......................................................................................................................................................................102
Griggers Wealth Management .....................................................................................................................................................116
Heart of Georgia Hospice .............................................................................................................................................................82
Jimmy Spinks, State Farm Agent ..................................................................................................................................................98
Meadowdale Learning Centers....................................................................................................................................................117
Mercer University School of Engineering and Mercer Engineering Research Center ......................................................................80
Middle Georgia State University .................................................................................................................................................108
Museum of Aviation ...................................................................................................................................................................119
National Exterminating Company, Inc. .........................................................................................................................................77
Northrop Grumman ...................................................................................................................................................................112
PeachState Hospitality ................................................................................................................................................................122
Perry-Houston County Airport Authority ...................................................................................................................................120
Phillips Furniture.........................................................................................................................................................................77
Physicians for Women, PC..........................................................................................................................................................114
Robins Regional Chamber ..........................................................................................................................................................123
Sacred Heart Catholic Church and School ....................................................................................................................................84
Southern Lighting ........................................................................................................................................................................86
Strato, Inc. ...................................................................................................................................................................................77
Sushi Thai Restaurant.................................................................................................................................................................115
Vision Savers, Inc.......................................................................................................................................................................111
Waddle Surveying Company, Inc................................................................................................................................................113
Warner Robins Convention & Visitors Bureau ............................................................................................................................121
Wellston Decorating .....................................................................................................................................................................88
Word in Season Ministries............................................................................................................................................................77
Yelverton Jewelers ......................................................................................................................................................................124
126 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
D IANNE D ENT W ILCOX
Dianne Dent Wilcox uses research, memories, and photographs to capture history. An
award winner in history, writing, and education, Wilcox taught ten years of middle and
high school English, taught twenty years at Georgia Military College’s Warner Robins
campus, and now works at GMC’s Eastman campus. She serves as Humanities Division
Chair, fielding emails to instructors of English, art, music, theatre, religion, philosophy,
communications, French, German, Spanish, and creative writing across Georgia.
In 2018, she published Georgia Patchwork: Pictures and Personalities of 159 Counties and
is excited to have contributed to Warner Robins’ seventy-fifth anniversary piece, Planes,
Trains & Heroes.
About the Author ✦ 127

Marsha Priest Buzzell, Warner
Robins Convention & Visitors
Bureau director.
On March 5, 1943 a bill passed through the Georgia State Legislature incorporating a
new municipality in middle Georgia. Originally known as York, then Wellston, the
community was officially named Warner Robins after General Augustine Warner Robins.
What was described in Atlanta newspapers as “a city of destiny”, the citizens and work
force today can proudly celebrate the 75th Diamond Anniversary of “keeping them flying
since 1943”.
Planes, Trains & Heroes is a tribute to the Warner Robins community whose reputation
for Southern hospitality is legendary by living the motto Every Day in Middle Georgia
is Armed Forces Appreciation Day – EDIMGIAFAD! It began when troops and civilians
arrived, often by train, to serve at what is now Robins Air Force Base. A rural Georgia
farming community grew from supporting the World War II effort into one of the largest
industrial complexes in the state.
Today, the historic train depot is the E. L. Greenway Welcome Center, whose namesake
was instrumental in the planning and zoning of the City of Warner Robins. It stands on
the corner of Watson Boulevard, named after C. B. “Boss” Watson, the first mayor (1943-
1950), and Armed Forces Boulevard (formerly First Street) directly across from the Main
Gate of Robins Air Force Base. Standing as a legacy, the property is listed on the National
Register of Historic Places and includes the Elberta Depot Heritage Center, the authentic
Mildred’s Country Store, and a historic Southern Railroad Caboose.
The book project is a partnership of the City of Warner Robins, the Warner Robins
Convention & Visitors Bureau, the Museum of Aviation, Robins Air Force Base, Robins
Region Chamber of Commerce and the Warner Robins Oral History Project. An
advocate of preserving Georgia’s history, culture and folklore, author Dianne Wilcox
continues the story Planes, Trains & Heroes. Truly the rest is history.
We salute the men and women of the United States Armed Forces. Thank you and your
families for your service and sacrifices as defenders of freedom.
128 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES

ISBN: 978-1-944891-67-1
$34.95
Historical Publishing Network