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
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Village retirement commu
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“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
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