Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 2C
THE JACKSON HERALD
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2009
Roberts. Cofield wed Dec. 5
Rhonda Dianne Roberts,
Commerce, and Gary
Daniel (Danny) Cofield,
Commerce, were united in
marriage on Dec. 5, 2009,
at Brockton Road Baptist
Church.
The bride's parents are
Dennis and Mary Roberts,
Commerce. She was given
in marriage by her father
and the matron of honor was
Tracey Sorrow. The brid
al attendants were Tammy
Cain, Kayla Brown and
Georgia Roberts. Samantha
Roberts was the flower girl.
The groom’s parents are
Elaine Cofield and the late
Marvin Cofield, Maysville.
The best man was Chris
Thurman and the groom’s
attendants were Woody
Brown, Dennis Robert III
and Taylor Coile. Zack
Sorrow was the ring bearer
and the candle lighters/ush-
ers were Todd Brown and
Justin Lynch.
The officiating minister
MR. AND MRS.
COFIELD
was the Rev. Jesse Mealor.
Music was provided by
Celeste Baynard and the
bride’s book attendant was
Crystal Hodges.
A reception was held in
the Brockton Road Baptist
Church fellowship hall. The
servers were Kim Harp,
Angel Cain, Jack Sorrow
and Danny Cain.
The couple took a wed
ding trip to Las Vegas, Nev.
They reside in Commerce.
McGinnises
to mark 63rd
anniversary
Hoyt andFrances McGinnis,
Jefferson, will observe their
63rd wedding anniversary on
Dec. 24, 2009. When asked
how they have had such a
long and happy marriage, they
state: “We’re still holding on
to the best thing we ever found
— God and each other.”
MR. AND MRS.
McGinnis
birth announcements
Savannah Nicole Carlan
Jeremy and Angela Carlan, Maysville, announce the birth of a
daughter, Savannah Nicole Carlan, on
Dec. 11, at Northeast Georgia Medical
Center, Gainesville.
The grandparents are Bobby and
Vera Scroggs, Mt. Airy; and Melvin
and Becky Carlan, Maysville.
The great-grandparents are Leoner
Butler and the late Claude Butler, Alto:
the late Virgil and Hattie Scroggs,
Demorest; Mae Carlan and the late Hoyt Carlan, Maysville;
and Clarence Cagle and the late Sarah Cagle, Lula.
Jacob Callaghan Foley
Josh and Bethany Foley, Athens,
announce the birth of a son, Jacob
Callaghan Foley, on Nov. 13 at St. Mary’s
Hospital, Athens.
The grandparents are Greg and Betty
Hudgins, Macon; Larry and Kay Duke,
Jackson; Despy Foley and Harold Reece,
Suwanee; and John Foley, Duluth.
FOLEY
Square dance classes offered
To begin Jan. 5 in Nicholson
TEAM SQUARES, Nicholson, will offer square dance
classes beginning at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 5, at the Nicholson
Community Center, 129 Lakeview Drive.
The first two weeks, Jan. 5 and Jan. 12, are free.
Beginning with the third week, the cost is $5 per lesson.
Callers Willis Cook and Ken Perkins will teach the class.
For more information, contact Elizabeth Williams at 706-
757-3747 or Brian Boardman at 706-296-7264.
Community Connection receives federal grant
A $1 MILLION grant in
federal stimulus funds was
awarded to a collaborative of
ACTION, Inc, Community
Connection of Northeast
Georgia, and the Institute
for Nonprofit Organizations
in the UGA School of Social
Work.
The local program, titled
“Building Community
Services that Grow Local
Economies,” will be used to
improve the capacity of non
profit agencies in Barrow,
Clarke, Elbert, Greene, and
Jackson counties.
Over the two-year grant
term, 60 secular and faith-
based nonprofits will
receive one-on-one techni
cal assistance and training
designed to improve their
services to individuals who
need jobs and training.
Topics will include the
capacity building areas of:
organizational development,
program development, lead
ership development, col
laboration and community
engagement, and evaluation
of effectiveness.
Thirty of the 60 nonprofits
will receive financial assis
tance through a competitive
subgrant process. Subgrants
will average $20,000.
The first Request for
Proposals (RFP) has
just been issued, and an
Applicant Workshop will be
held at the Athens-Clarke
County Public Library on
Wednesday, January 6, from
10 a.m. to noon to discuss
guidelines and answer ques
tions on the application pro
cess.
For more information, and
to register for the Applicant
Workshop, contact Project
Director Jennifer Cantwell
at cantwelljenn@gmail.com
or 706-546-8293 ext 40 or
706-424-8635.
Christmas continued from page 1C
GEORGE AND JOYCE STARK
tell me he would be always be
watching, so I’d go round and
round the house, but I never
did catch him. Santa Claus was
different then. You were more
proud of it because you didn’t
get as much in the year.”
Mr. Ray said his fam
ily had what he calls “regular
Christmas.”
“I was the youngest of six and
nobody broke the secret (about
Santa),” he said. “It wasn’t until
I was in fifth grade at school,
my teacher told us. I guess she
wanted to set us straight. That
was at North Jackson, I was one
of the first kids to go there.”
Mr. Ray now lives in
Braselton, but grew up in
Pendergrass, moving to
Hoschton with his family when
he was 15.
“I got married at 22 and
moved to the ‘big city lights’ of
Braselton,” he said.
CHRISTMAS
WITH FAMILY
For Joyce and George Stark of
Nicholson, their best Christmas
wasn’t one from childhood, it
was 10 years ago in 1999.
Both originally from Ohio,
the couple had lived in Georgia
five years at the time.
“The best Christmas was
1999, down here,” Mrs. Stark
said. “He had had a stroke and
open heart surgery in the sum
mer and we had three kids and
all five granddaughters here with
us. You couldn’t even move for
the gifts. The kids were all over
Grandpa and helped him get
back his memory. All the girls
had to see Grandpa. It wasn’t
a white Christmas, but it was a
nice Christmas.”
“Yeah, yeah it was,” Mr. Stark
agreed.
Growing up in Ohio, the
Starks had cold and snowy
Christmases.
“When I was a child, there
were so many of us we each got
one gift,” Mrs. Stark said. “There
were eight of us children. One
year, we got one used bike to
share. I was 5. The girls usually
got a doll and the boys got a car
and that was Christmas. There
were no presents in between
times, we couldn’t afford it.”
Mr. Stark also had a family
of 10 — eight children — and
said Christmas was always a
great time.
Mrs. Stark’s family would go
to Christmas Eve mass and then
to Christmas morning church,
and Santa would come.
“Back then, kids didn’t seem
to mind going to church on
Christmas,” she said.
The Starks came to visit a
relative in Georgia in 1994 and
ended up making the decision to
move, to escape shoveling snow.
One young daughter moved with
them, and they continued to visit
their other children “up North”
or have them come South. In
Christmases past, all five chil
dren would be at home for the
holidays. This year, the couple
will celebrate with their young
est daughter, who now has a
home of her own in Jackson
County.
For the 15 years since they
moved here, Mr. Stark has
dressed up as Santa Claus for
the children at Center Baptist
Church, and said he looks
forward to it each year. Last
week, he was looking forward
to being Santa Claus on Sunday
at church, and said he had even
dressed up as Santa for Cracker
Barrel before.
“He dressed up as Santa here
(Jackson County senior center)
two years ago, and all the ladies
went crazy,” Mrs. Stark said.
“He’s been Santa Claus all over
the place.”
TRADITION OF
DECORATING
When Jean Biffle
Edwards of Commerce
was growing up on
a farm in Tignall,
Wilkes County, her
family made its own
Christmas decorations.
Through the years,
Mrs. Edwards and
her own family have
continued the tradition
of putting up many Christmas
decorations, and her Commerce
home boasts ornaments and
items her family has had for a
long time.
“I was one of five girls,” she
said. “My Daddy always said he
had six bosses.”
Her father was German and
her mother was Irish, and they
were “strict, but very good.”
“My Daddy’s daddy came
from Germany and settled in
Georgia,” she said.
“My family always liked to
decorate,” Mrs. Edwards added.
“In school we made paper chains
for our tree, and then after chores
at home we would sit by the fire
place in the lamplight and string
popcorn. Daddy would gather
pine cones for us to use. Santa
Claus would come. We didn’t
have much — fruit and hard
candies, and Mama would make
cakes and pies.”
Mrs. Edwards does remember
one year when her sister got
a bicycle. When she rode her
sister’s bicycle, her sister threw
a lit firecracker at her and it
went down her shirt. That was a
memorable Christmas!
Another memorable Christ
mas came when she was older
and had been married to Milton
Whitner for 10 years. After
years of thinking they would
have no children, their son was
bom December 20. They had
another son two years later.
“He (her husband) was the
head machinist at a plant in
Wilkes County and he was
asked to decorate there, and then
he would come home and deco
rate,” Mrs. Edwards said.
In later years, after
her husband’s death, one
of Mrs. Edwards’ sons
worked as foreman on
the construction of one of
the first truck stops built
at 1-85 in Commerce. He
talked her into moving
there after he secured her
an interview with the flo
ral design department at
The Pottery. Mrs. Edwards had
owned a nursery and florist shop
for years (she continues now to
raise and show hybrid daylilies)
and got the job at The Pottery.
She worked there for five years,
helping to make box loads of
bows at Christmas time.
She married the now late
David Edwards in Commerce,
and said she has had a “long and
happy life.”
“My son decorates for me
now at Christmas,” she said.
“We’ve had a lot (of the deco
rations) for years, but we still
enjoy them.”
EDWARDS
Santa continued from page 1C
and again as Captaine Christmas in the
17th century. He did not succumb to the
17th century puritan efforts to do away
with such characters and was found again
in the Victorian Christmas revival, such as
in Dickens’ “Christmas Carol.” In artwork,
the early Father Christmas is portrayed as
thinner in his pointed hat and long robes,
carrying his tree along as he goes a-visiting.
In the 1870s, however, Father Christmas
began giving gifts and became more and
more like the American Santa Claus until
the two were virtually interchangeable.
Santa’s American image was further
established through years of Thomas Nast’s
illustrations in Harper's Weekly during
the Civil War and onward into the 1880s.
Through the years and with various art
ists, Santa’s image was honed and refined.
Santa as a selling tool became more jolly
and round in his red suit. Coca Cola’s
Santa artwork of the 1930s was particularly
image-setting.
Today in America we still have the jolly
Santa in red and white, the embodiment of
an economic rainmaker of sorts. Apparently
he is turning his reindeer and sleigh across
Europe, as well, although much of Europe
still celebrates St. Nicholas in advent, in
early December around the anniversary of
his death, thus leaving Christmas for Baby
Jesus.
Sources: The St. Nicholas Center and
Livius.org
Jana Adams Mitcham is features editor of
The Jackson Herald.
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