Jones County History & Heritage held its 17th annual Hamilton-Williams award dinner Feb. 12 at Trish Ann’s restaurant in Haddock.
This award — named after Jones County historians Annie Bowen Hamilton and Carolyn (Carrie) White Williams — is presented to someone in the community who demonstrates a commitment to further the preservation of the county’s historical assets.
President Earl Colvin welcomed everyone, and after enjoying a wonderful meal, Colvin asked History and Heritage member Christine Daniels to present this year’s award.
Before presenting the award to Debbie Lurie-Smith, Daniels shared some information about Debbie who came to Jones County from Louisville, Kentucky, in 1995. After jobs as a school traffic guard and at City Hall, she found her true calling at The Jones County News as the office manager. Over the years, she took on reporting duties ,which eventually became her main responsibility at the News.
In 2007, Debbie and her son, Josh, who was a guest at the dinner, purchased the newspaper and moved the operations to its current location on Stewart Avenue. In 2017, they sold the newspaper to Smith Communications of Eatonton. Debbie continued to work at the News as editor and reporter and Josh became Managing Editor of Smith Communications. Debbie’s other son, Steven, was unable to attend the dinner. He and his family live in Texas, and he works at the Houston Space Center.
Historical preservation takes many forms, and one of the most important has been done by Debbie and her staff by weaving historical information into the newspaper each week. This has included publishing many articles about Jones County History and Heritage and the Old Clinton Historical Society, bringing accomplishments and activities of these organizations to the attention of the community. Her weekly recognition in the News of a local veteran honors these citizens who have served our country over many years. Each quarter, the News has an insert magazine called Jones Living, which always has a feature on some segment of the county’s history.
Debbie expressed how much the award meant to her and talked about her love for Jones County and its history. She told about interviewing both Annie Hamilton and Carrie Williams for whom the award is named, which makes this recognition even more meaningful to her.
Two members of her staff, Jennifer Gibson and Sharon Ruff, were in attendance and Debbie gave them credit for keeping her on track and making the production of a weekly newspaper happen. Debbie assured the group that she loves her job and plans to continue her reporting and support for historical preservation.
