(Author’s note: Most weeks I write a feature article spotlighting a different individual. This week I offer some unusual and/or interesting snips and tidbits from stories you may have read in the past.)
Local prominent attorney Charlie Newberry once, among other many activities, played the violin. Not sure I am sorry I missed that! He also climbed trees in his yard to take photos of his property to record any changes. Guess he considered himself a tree-hugger.
Bart Jackson and assistant Superior Court Clerk Fran Greene ran against each other for the Clerk’s position in 1988. Jackson won and served until his retirement in 2019. He ‘won’ later, however, when he and Greene married in June of 2024. And, maybe she believed the old adage, ‘if you can’t beat them, join them.’
Debbie Lurie-Smith, Editor of The Jones County News since 2006, first worked with the City of Gray when she moved here. “I was a traffic cop,” she said. “I stood on the corner when the school buses came by. I wore the Smoky the Bear cap.” The editor as of September of 2024 had written more than 7,000 news stories. Talk about having a story to tell!
Byrd Selby enjoyed knitting and made hundreds of baby blankets to give away. She won three state knitting titles, the last one when she was 92. Almost like saving the best for last.
Former Bank of Gray executive Cheryl Thomas has a lot to celebrate this time of year: “I got married December 30, so that killed Christmas, New Year’s and birthday,” she said. Thomas turns 81 Jan. 1, 2026.
Hay House executive director Aubrey Newby began playing the piano at age 8 and started playing at Bradley Baptist when he was 14. The 1977 JCHS graduate later moved to Gray Methodist and was still playing there in 2024.
Appliance salesperson and repairman Larry Haskins quit school after the eighth grade but served 33 years on the Jones County Board of Education. He was asked to serve on the board by the late long-time school superintendent Lint Jordan. He obtained his GED in 1989.
Shirley Beck was one of the most successful racers at the Figure Eight Raceway in Jones County. She won many races in T-99 at the former dirt track raceway. I wouldn’t challenge her at an intersection.
Lonnie Smith Jr. has been entering barbecue contests since 2004, and as of late January of 2025, his team had competed in 225 events with 64 championships to show for it. That’s pretty hot!
Beth Hamrick said in an interview that she and fellow horse lover Earlene Hamrick would ride horses from Gray to Jonesco Golf Course when there was still had a beach on the small lake. She said the two would unsaddle their horses and let them eat grass while she and Hamilton enjoyed sunbathing. Around 4:30 they would mount up and head home. Guess they enjoyed horsing around.
Cecil Patterson coached baseball 12 years at JCHS, compiling a 250-65 record, four trips to the state’s final four and one state championship. The baseball diamond was named Cecil Patterson Field in his honor. He believes the state title was the first for a men’s team at the school. Not bad for a country boy from Haddock.
Bruce Stanford has gone from Jones County deputy to deputy director of the Law Enforcement and Emergency Management Agency division of the state’s department of agriculture. He reported in his interview in July that the state of Georgia produces about 33 million pounds of chicken a day, 33 million, he repeated. That’s a lot of chicken houses.
County Commissioner Wendy (Brown) Vaughn said that once she and best friend Tonya Coulter obtained their drivers’ licenses, they earned their certification to assist in responding to calls with the rescue unit in Jones County. They did that age 16, she said. That is better than two teenagers out joyriding.
Local paralegal and horse enthusiast Jane Whitehead shared in her interview that her horse had gotten stuck in her pond. That incident was confirmed in the interview of large animal rescue expert Rebecca Husted, primary instructor and owner/ president of Technical Large Animal Rescue Inc. Husted has traveled around the globe teaching groups on the proper and safe way to rescue large animals. Getting that horse out of the lake had to be a weighty issue.
New Damascus Baptist minister Rev. Wilbur Greene started singing early in life, and both he and his future wife, Jennifer Richardson, sang in that church’s adult choir as youngsters. The minister also shared that he was from Hog Creek in Jones County. Anyone who has ever heard of that locale please contact me.
Former Jones County High basketball star Ronnie Hinson once worked for a convenience store, then bought and operated a vending company successfully for years before opening a ‘thrift’ store on Gray Highway. Sonrise Ministries now serves hundreds of needy people with food and offers clothes as low as $1. He reported that the store, which was expanded from a few hundred to over 15,000 square feet, now sees as many as 300-400 customers on any given Saturday.
Retired school teacher Elaine Greene reported that she met the late Otis Redding a couple of times in a local convenience store after he bought property in Jones County.
She said he gave her tickets to his concert in Macon. Redding, though, was not her idol.
Anyone who knows Greene knows she is an Elvis Presley fanatic. She shared that she has been to the late singer’s home, Graceland, in Memphis during Elvis Week 17 times. She also said she and a friend took a one-day trip to Memphis the day Elvis postal stamps went on sale. They stood in line that day at the local post office to get their stamps. That surely must qualify as a fanatic.
Nursing home administrator Chap Nelson has been into wood-carving with a chainsaw for years and previously hosted the Chaptacular Chainsaw Carving Bash in Bradley that attracted thousands of visitors. He started the fundraiser in 2007, and it ran until COVID hit in 2019. He actually has a 25-foot sasquatch on his property that still attracts visitors year-round.
Jones County and Middle Georgia attorney Ashley Brodie and her finance, Sean Brodie, also an attorney, used a little imagination to announce what was supposed to be their engagement. They invited friends to an engagement party to share their news. A video was played for the group, and it showed the couple in New York City, eventually making their way to the Brooklyn Bridge, where they were married. Her mother was the only person who knew what had happened.
Gray Police Chief Adam Lowe is an avid hunter and has been on many trips to enjoy his passion. One he vividly recalls is to Nicaragua, where law enforcement officers drew down on him while he was in the field. Even though Lowe immediately dropped his gun, one police officer put a gun to his forehead and thumbcocked it. Lowe said after that he put his passport in his safe and said, “I think you’ll be safe there to expire little buddy.”
Jones County attorney Bert King remembers meeting Herschel Walker at a copier in the library at UGA while a student there. He also recalls paying for a ticket just to be in the lottery to win a ticket to the Sugar Bowl the year Georgia won the 1980 National Championship. King’s ticket number was pulled, and he attended the contest. For some, that was better than Mega Millions.
Longtime County Commission Clerk Charlotte Wilson, for whom a conference room at the Government Center is named, served under many commissioners. She said some were more contentious than others. With one particular board, she remembers when they were meeting upstairs in the courthouse due to renovations. She recalled one particular occasion where matters got so heated one board member threatened to throw another out the window. We assume he didn’t.
There have been many other spotlights. I estimate about 70 thus far. I am constantly looking for an interesting story. If you know of someone you think would be a good candidate, don’t hesitate to let me know. My email address is greenmooreiii@gmail. com.
Happy New Year!
