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4A I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I dawsonnews.com
Wednesday, July 24,2019
The pavilion is set to be demolished to make way for the new family pavilion.
Come join Lumpkin Campground of
Dawson County, Georgia as we celebrate
189 consecutive years of worship!
Lumpkin
Campground will
be holding services
From July 22
Through July 28,2019
With the first service being Monday night at 7:30pm and
continuing thereafter at 11:00am and 7:30pm each day.
Sunday, services are 11:00am and 7:30pm.
ties. We’ll serve Meals on
Wheels there that’ll go
out. We’ll serve a daily
meal. We’ll have a fel
lowship room and it’ll
just be our day-to-day
activities.”
Plans for the new facili
ty include a multipurpose
room for lunch and spe
cial events, a game room
with computers, a confer-
ence room, an
Alzheimer’s respite care
room, a movie room, a
commercial kitchen and
lots of storage space.
“We’re blessed having
two facilities named after
two truly great women,”
Pruett said. “It’s so great
to see what is happening
in this park.”
Expanding the senior
center isn’t the only excit
ing news for Veterans
Memorial Park. The
groundbreaking ceremo
ny also signified the con
struction of a new family
pavilion to replace the
current pavilion near the
senior center.
Parks and Recreation
Director Matt Payne pro
vided an update on the
revitalization project
underway at the park,
which includes the new
state-of-the-art pavilion
as well as a multipurpose
field.
“Our Field 3 up here,
that’s going to be moved
down. We’re going to
have a big, beautiful
multi-purpose field that’s
The planned pavilion and senior center will fea
ture extensive stonework on the exteriors.
Left: Ground officially
breaks on the new Pauline
Stephens Ivey Senior
Center July 18 at Veterans
Memorial Park. Pictured
from left are Dawson
County Commission
Chairman Billy Thurmond,
Parks and Recreation
Director Matt Payne,
District 3 Commissioner
Tim Satterfield, Pauline S.
Ivey estate trustee Betty
Ann Bagley, Senior Center
Director Dawn Pruett,
District 4 Commissioner
Julie Hughes Nix, District
1 Commissioner Sharon
Fausett and District 2
Commissioner Chris
Gaines. Below: Seniors
of the Margie Weaver
Senior Center gather on
the back patio of the cen
ter to watch the ground
breaking ceremony.
Photos by Jessica Taylor
Dawson County News
going to be right there.
We’ll be able to do an
enormous amount of dif
ferent things there, and of
course our big nugget in
this is going to be our
brand new pavilion. We
are so excited about the
pavilion,” Payne said.
Payne said the current
pavilion has held a lot of
great memories for those
in Dawson County, but
that while some might be
sad to see it gone, it
served a great purpose.
“We’re just so excited
to be able to serve the cit
izens of Dawson County
the way that they deserve
to be served,” Payne said.
Thurmond said he’s
looking forward to when
“we actually walk in these
new facilities and get that
opportunity to put those to
good use for everybody
that lives here.”
“I’m excited. I’m proud
to be a Dawson Countian.
I hope you are as well.
It’s a great community to
live in,” Thurmond said.
“I was blessed to be here
my whole life and to get
the opportunity to work
with the citizens of this
county for my whole life.
I cherish that. I cherish
that as one of the greatest
things that I’ve ever had
the opportunity to do.”
FROM 1A
Senior
and its citizens where
we’re beginning the con
struction on the Pauline
Stephens Ivey Senior
Center and the renovation
of our Veterans Memorial
Park,” Dawson County
Commission Chairman
Billy Thurmond said.
“That covers the gambit
of our citizens from our
senior citizens down to
our very youngest, and
we’re excited about this
opportunity that we have
and all those that have
helped us.”
The new senior center
has been in the works
since the spring of 2017
when Betty Ann Bagley,
trustee of the Pauline S.
Ivey estate, called direc
tor of the senior center
Dawn Pruett with a gen
erous offer.
“She called me. I was
in Kroger getting grocer
ies or something for the
center,” Pruett recalled.
“We talked and we talked
about family and we rem
inisced and then she told
me she had some money
to give us.”
Pruett said she never
expected to receive close
to one million dollars for
the construction of a new
senior center and expan
sion of its programs.
“I thought she might
give us $100,000. Well
believe me, I’m Baptist. I
was in tears when this
lady gave us $944,000,”
Pruett said.
Ivey died at the age of
97 in 2014. Bagley, who
is Ivey’s second cousin,
has worked to give 95
percent of Ivey’s estate
back to the citizens of
Dawson County.
“She was a great lady,”
Pruett said. “She loved
Dawson County and as Betty
Ann said ‘she loved her peo
ple, very, very much.’”
Plans for the Pauline
Stephens Ivey Senior
Center show a new 4,800
square foot expansion to
the right of the existing
Margie Weaver Senior
Center. The single-level
facility will be connected
to the existing center with
a covered breezeway.
“This Margie Weaver
Center will always be the
Margie Weaver Center.
This is what our plans
are. We’re going to hold
all of our exercise, activi
ties here, our art and
expand for all kinds of
future things we can offer
our seniors,” Pruett said.
“Our new center will be
for our day-to-day activi-
NATURES HEALTH STORE
— -P- F Tir~ -i- - —~ ——■-=*■ —-
Celebrate Our
28th Anniversary!
Store Wide Sale
Entire Month of July!
Mon-Thur 10-6,
Fri 10-5, Sat 11-3
We will be closed July 4 th , 5 th , & 6
:th
54 Lumpkin Campground Rd S, Ste 130
Dawsonville, GA • 706-216-1035
Melodie Cunningham
Lumpkin Campground is located just off
Highway 400 on Lumpkin Campground Road
behind North Georgia Premium Outlet Mall.
Everyone Is Welcome To Attend
Pie ase call Bethel United Methodist Church at 706-216-6220 for more information.
