About Lake Oconee news. (Greensboro, GA) 199?-current | View Entire Issue (March 17, 2017)
Page A8 Lake Oconee News Friday, March 17,2017 ATHENS/OCONEE Carter named president of St. Mary’s Hospital St. Mary’s Health Care President and CEO Don McKenna recently an nounced that Montez Carter, current president of St. Mary’s Good Samaritan Hospital and vice president operations of St. Mary’s Health Care System, has been named to the position of president of St. Mary’s Hospital. Carter will oversee oper ations and strategy execu tion for St. Mary’s Hospital. McKenna will continue overseeing St. Mary’s Health Care System, which includes hospitals in Athens, Greensboro and Lavonia as well as its large physician network, a regional home health care/hospice services agency, Highland Hills Obituaries The deadline for obituaries is 1 p.m. Monday. Funeral homes may send notices to obits@lakeoconeenews.us. Sherrie Denise Head Leavell March 9,2017 Sherrie Denise Head Leavell, age 48, of Union Point died Thursday, March 9, 2017, at her res idence surrounded by her loving family. Funeral services were Monday, March 13, 2017 ,at Grace Fellowship in Greensboro with Dr. Jimmy Long officiating. Interment followed in Greenview Cemetery. Serving as pallbearers were Keith Mayo, Darin Mitchell, Josh Hegwood, Will Leavell, Carl Randolph Leavell and Rick Ward. Sherrie was born in Monroe Sept. 29,1968, and was the daughter of the late Charna Lee Callahan Huff and Eugene Huff. She spent her early years in Monroe, where she received her education. On May 28, 1994 she married William Leavell, Jr. in Madison and they made their home in Greene County. Sherrie worked for Holiday Cleaners until she became sick. She was a homemaker who was a kind and giving wife, mother, grandmother and friend. While family was the focal point of her life, Sherrie also enjoyed church, fishing, reading and helping others. She had a heart of gold and truly loved the Lord. She was a member of Grace Fellow ship in Greensboro. Survivors include her husband, William Leavell, Jr. of Union Point; four daughters, Nikki Hegwood and husband Josh, Amanda Manion and husband Ben, and Beth Manders all of Monroe and Heather Vandiver and husband Rodney of Rutledge; two sisters, Judy Mitchell and husband Darin and Kim Mayo and husband Keith, both of Rutledge; two brothers, Jeff Head of Madison and Joe Sargent of Monroe; five grandchildren, Jake Hegwood, Emily Hegwood, Addison Manion, Justin Johnston and Sadie Vandiver and a number of other rel atives and many friends. McCommons Funeral Home, 109 W. Broad St., Greensboro, GA, 706-453-2626, had charge of arrange ments. Visit us at www.mccommonsfuneralhome.com to sign the online guest register. May those who have lost a loved one find strength in the love of family and in the warm embrace of friends. McCommons Funeral Home Callaway Funeral Home, and Georgias Lake Country Crematory “Over 100 Years and 5 Generations of Family Funeral and Cremation Service” FUNERAL HOMES - MONUMENTS - PREARRANGEMENTS - CREMATORY 706.453.2626 706.486.4138 109 W. Broad St • Greensboro, GA 30642 208 N. Rhodes St • Union Point, GA 30669 mccommonsfuneralhome.com • lakeoconeecrematory.com* callawayfuneralhome.com Lake Oconee’s Onsite Crematory BERNARD’S ,Y FUNERAL CARE CM ^ “Service as good as its promise ’* (706)485-4494 Eatonton, GA wwwhemardsfamifyfuneralcare.com FuneralHome et fuend of t&e fewtiity if.williamsfuneralhome.net 306 N. Jefferson Street Eatonton, GA 31024 706-485-3303 4 Vha & <m & 706.485.4144 “We will be there for you like a member of the family” www.viningivyhill.com / 1 t HH H FUNERAL HOMES Professional Funeral Services EATONTON GA 706-485-3281 MILLEDGEVILLE GA 478-452-2780 Funeral Home < -& Crematory (on site crematory) www.williamsfuneralhome.net 1670 North Jefferson Street Milledgeville, GA 31061 478-452-2148 Village retirement commu nity with assisted living and memory care and numerous outpatient facilities. “With our continued growth, we need to support our ministry in the most efficient and effective manner,” McKenna said. “Montez has demonstrated his ability to lead with integ rity, compassion and vision. His experience, knowledge of the communities we serve, and understanding of our Mission will support the continued growth of St. Mary’s.” “I am excited about this new opportunity and look forward to working with Don, our Board, medical staff and colleagues in this new role,” Carter said. “These are challenging times in the health care industry, but St. Mary’s is well positioned to continue to expand the services we offer our community and elevate our already high level of quality and safety even further.” Carter grew up in Mis sissippi and worked in pharmacy before transition ing into hospital leadership. He joined St. Mary’s in October 2010 as vice pres ident of operations. Shortly thereafter, St. Mary’s began negotiating to acquire the hospital in Greensboro, now known as St. Mary’s Good Samaritan Hospital. Carter was tapped to lead the highly successful acquisi tion, integration, market de velopment and construction of a modern replacement hospital. St. Mary’s is part of the Trinity Health System ministry of care. Montez Carter Going off the grid One summer night, a few years before Mama died, I tried to call her but there was no answer. An hour later with still no answer, I was pacing the floor and debating whether or not to jump in the car and take the 22-minute drive to her house. “If she doesn’t answer this time, I’m gettin’ in the car,” I muttered to myself. I always had the premonition that death would come suddenly for Mama - it eventually did - so I was concerned whenever I couldn’t reach her. She answered. “Where have you been?” I asked in a tone mixed in both relief and aggravation. “Oh, I was just outside piddling in the yard and I forgot to take the phone,” she replied nonchalantly. It never, not on one occasion, bothered Mama if she had caused any of us worry. I guess she figured she had worried enough about all of us over time so payback was fair play. There were two things I could never teach Mama: Carry the cordless phone when you go outside and ask me to get your thyroid prescription refilled before you’ve been out of it for seven days and starting to get “swimmy headed.” Both always resulted in an argument but the latter could be particularly vexing and not particularly Chris tian-like. I bring up this time of 12 years ago because we’ve become a society where we think that everyone should be available, on demand, at any time. I returned my sister’s call one day and she said immediately, “Where have you been? I’ve been trying to reach you. I tried both your home phone and then I called your cell.” “Well, I washed my hair then I dried it. I’ve been out of touch for 20 minutes.” This is true. And, then it turned out not to be anything earth shaking like someone was dead or close to it. One night over dinner with friends, we were dis cussing how “run ragged” we all are and how we never get caught up. One of our friends, the president of a major university, opined, ‘You know what I think it is? E-mail. There’s so much of it and it requires so much attention with the questions and requests.” A couple of months later, I Ronda Rich Dixie Divas was reading a memoir by one of Nashville’s most suc cessful songwriters, Bobby Braddock (co-writer of the song considered by many to be the No.l country song of all time “He Stopped Loving Her Today”), and he men tioned in passing how much he used to get done in the 1970s and 1980s. “I’d write 10 songs a month, take va cations, party and I read a lot.” That statement coupled with what my friend said about email, convinced me. All this communication is strangling our work and lives. I’m going off the grid. Every day by 11 a.m., I’m finishing with emails and texts and my cell phone is being turned off. We still have a land line so you can call that if you need me but chances are I won’t be home. You’ll probably find me in the sitting area of our barn, tucked in with my laptop - there’s no WiFi there - writing and being generally productive. It’s my favorite place on the Rond- arosa. There’s the smell of rich timber wood and the company of two horses and a miniature donkey - usually with briars stuck to their unkempt manes - sticking their heads through the stall doors and looking pitiful in hopes of getting sweet feed. The rescue cats, who are all named after SEC schools (with the exception of the ginger who is named Archie Manning), wander in and out, while the dogs sprawl on the sofa and chair. It’s peaceful there. No one has a question I need to answer or a problem I need to solve that will derail my work schedule. Just like Mama, I’ll probably be piddling with no phone nearby. Ronda Rich is the best-selling author of What Southern Women Know (That Every Woman Should). Visit www.rond- arich.com to sign up for her free weekly newsletter. Belton Continued from A4 problems. By incentiviz- ing arable and timberland around military installa tions, this shields them from encroachment and possible closure. There are also environmental and con servancy benefits, includ ing providing endangered species natural habitats to live in, as well as protecting clean water sources. The TCH Mini Storage Buildings major areas Georgia has invested in so far are the Townsend Bombing Range between Moody Air Force base and Fort Stewart, the massive maneuver areas around Fort Benning and Fort Stewart itself, and the runway apron near Robins AFB. To date, Georgia has protected some 137,000 acres for our military, and plan to add another 40,000 acres in the coming years. However, Florida has pro tected a whopping 718,000 acres and North Carolina has spent over $1 billion on 1,400 projects to do the same. Obviously, Georgia needs to be aware of these very competitive procure ments of our rival states. Fortunately, a senate bill passed the House this year that will increase our efforts in this arena. My school transparen cy bill passed the Senate Education Committee this week by another unani mous vote. I was also very pleased to host the House Economic and Agricul tural Committees to visit our new Safari Park, our new Farmers Market and several old homes. I also visited Shire, where they are starting to create their pharmaceutical product that will help burn victims and rare protein deficien cy-related diseases. This $1 billion facility encompass ing over one million square feet will eventually employ over 1,500 people. As an aside, I came across this interesting fact concerning healthcare outcomes in Georgia. You should be pleased to know that according to 2016 County Health Rankings, Morgan County is in the highest category for overall health outcomes and health factors in Georgia, equal to counties to our north and much better than our neighbors to the west, south and east. I hope you will continue to pray for me as I serve you under the Golden Dome. You can contact me at 706-372-4114 or dave- beltonll2 @gmail.com lew - Residential - - Industrial - Commercial - Gated & Secured 10x15 10x20 10x25 r Guaranteed Lowest Price MO Caiwor— Move in special 417 Pea Ridge Eatonton, GA 706-485-9979 I’ve changed my mind. Now what?” 1 Now, make a decision you’re comfortable with. Whether you’re having second thoughts about your prearrangement policy or with whom you’ve made prearrangements, changing your mind is never an inconvenience. To discuss all your service options, including transferring prearrangements, call us. We’re happy to assist you. FUNERAL" HOME - A friend of the family - 306 N. Jefferson Ave. Eatonton, GA 706-485-3303 Get breaking news online! www.lakeoconeenews.us
