David Tufts has had two specific second chances in his life, and he has clearly made the most of both of them.
Tufts, a lifelong resident of Gray, has served on city council for a total of 34 years but over a 38-year period. His service was interrupted i n 1991 when Charlie Ridley ran against him.
“I guess with my time in, I got complacent and didn’t campaign like I should have,” Tufts acknowledged last week. “He won by four votes.
“It taught me a lesson. I just figured everybody was going to vote for me,” he said. “I had been in three terms. It taught me a lesson. There are just some things you don’t take for granted.”
Tufts returned the favor four years later.
“I won the seat back and been there ever since,” he commented.
Tufts’ other second chance came eight years ago. His first wife, Barbara, died from a lingering illness in 2014.
“She had sarcoidosis,” Tufts recalled. “There was no cure for it. A pulmonologist looked at it, said there was nothing more he could do and recommended we get a transplant.”
It took two attempts for the transplant to be successful, but soon thereafter, Barbara Tufts was diagnosed with cancer and died, more than eight years after she was first diagnosed. She left behind two grown children and a somewhat lonely widower.
“I just couldn’t see myself living alone,” Tufts, 69 at the time, recalled. “The children were grown and had started their own life. I met this young lady from Atlanta, and we dated for a while.”
That ‘young lady’ was Norma, 58.
“Norma’s children were all grown, and she said, ‘I will just move to Gray.’ So, she did.
“The children didn’t have any problems with it,” Tufts said. “They were glad that I did that.
Her kids and my kids get along well.”
Norma works with an auto salvage company doing title work, her husband said, adding that she probably is going to retire after one more year.
One could actually argue that those episodes were Tufts’ second and third chances. He was diagnosed with polio at 19 months of age.
“All of a sudden, I stopped walking,” he shared. “I went to the clinic in Tuskegee, Alabama. I went there for nine months.
“When I came home from there, I had to use crutches,” he said, noting that today he still has a distinct limp.
The left leg was the one affected, and Tufts explained that it started growing more slowly than the right.
“The doctors did some surgery on the right knee so it would slow the growth in the right leg, so there wouldn’t be such a difference in the height of each one,” he pointed out.
“It never really affected me until I was walking one day, I went by this window, and I saw myself limping. I was used to it and didn’t realize I was walking with a limp,” he said with a laugh.
“From that point it seemed like it was something that was different now. This is the way people see me.
“But it never really affected me,” Tufts went on. “I would hate going to school in this environment (today) with some of the hazing and all the stuff that goes on, with the teasing and all the stuff that goes on. But, it wasn’t there.
“My parents didn’t treat me any different than the other kids,” he recollected.” Nobody treated me any different than the other kids. And, I didn’t act like anything was different. Just lived a normal life.”
A large part of that life has been devoted to serving the citizens of Gray. Tufts, who retired from the Georgia Department of Labor after 32.5 years of service, has seen the changes in the small town.
“We have definitely gone from that blinking traffic light to a very nice metropolis,” he commented. “We have been able to keep up with the times. We have had people aware of Gray; they wanted to come here and live. Others wanted to come and develop the land that was here.”
One of those who helped spur that growth through development was the late Bill Lucado.
“He had a major role in the growth,” the city councilman reasoned. “He saw a need and an opportunity to start the development, and everybody else followed suit. And, they’re still doing it. I would owe the growth to his efforts.”
Tufts acknowledged that Lucado was instrumental in getting mixed drinks in the city on a referendum ballot, and the measure passed by two votes. Lucado opened the first restaurant that offered alcohol with meals, and Tufts said he believes there are now five establishments that sell liquor by the drink.
More recently, the council authorized another referendum.
“The last election we decided we were going to try to do package stores, and that lost by one vote.”
Tufts recalled when the city approved an ordinance that would allow the sale of beer and wine packages to go before the mixed drink issue arose. The owner of the town’s only convenience store at the time, Handy Andy, requested a license.
“Jimmy Roberts, mayor at the time, had his application for beer and wine filled out. He put his application on the table and left the room, and we looked at each other,” Tufts said with a laugh. “And, we decided to go ahead and do a yes vote to let it happen.
“People said that was going to be our last term serving on council,” Tufts commented. “But, it didn’t affect us at the next election.”
Two problems that have plagued Gray over the years in its attempt to handle the growth are water and sewage. That is about to change, particularly with sewage disposal.
“We’re just about ready to get our new addition online,” Tufts said, noting that testing is nearly done. “It will double our capacity.”
The city’s leaders are always trying to find new sources of water to reduce the amount purchased from the county system.
“We’ve got a test well that we’re trying to bring online. And,” Tufts added, “we’re looking at some other places as well to try to get water.”
Tufts said, despite the water and sewage issues, Gray is still a popular destination.
“People want to come to Gray,” he declared. “You’re close to just about everything you’ll need. They just feel like it’s the place to go to raise children. We’ve got a good school system, and we’re working with the Board of Education and county commissioners.”
A supportive government agency has been extremely beneficial to the city’s economic development, Tufts pointed out.
“With the Downtown Development Authority (DDA), we’ve been able to acquire properties, renovate them, get them ready to rent. Every one we put on the market, it’s rented before we even get it ready.
“We’re trying to create a downtown,” he added. “And it’s working.”
Tufts was asked, considering his view of where the city is now, will his name be on the ballot next year?
“I don’t know,” he acknowledged. “I’ve been trying to give it some serious thought. I think I have proven myself, and I don’t think there’s anything else I can do – where we are right now – that I can do.”
Tufts said he would like to see someone interested enough step up and get involved.
“I just feel like that since I didn’t have opposition all those times over the years that I was doing a good job. People supported me and re-elected me.” Tufts paused. “I just feel like sometimes, it’s time to move on and give someone a chance with some ideas.
“I am 77 now, and my ideas don’t go as far. Now it’s the idea of being home at a certain hour,” he laughed.
