Newspaper Page Text
November 16, 2022
Page 5B
t Reporter
Revered educator Beatrice Freeman passes at age 90
By Dr. Margie Bryant
campbellmargie@hotmail.com
Educator Beatrice Reeves Freeman's
demise on Nov. 4 at the age of 90
caused our Culloden community a
deep void of sadness. She
was the last surviving
faculty member of the
Starr Public School in
Culloden.
Along with her moth
er, Annie Reeves, she
resided with the Hamp
ton family to teach at
Starr Public School in
Culloden. According
to the Monroe County
Board of Education,
from September 1955
through June 1956, Freeman taught
1st through 3rd grade at Starr Public
school (the former Culloden Colored
School).
In September 1956, students from
Starr Public school transitioned
to Hubbard Elementary School
in Forsyth, and Freeman was em
ployed to teach 5th grade at Hubbard
Elementary. In September 1965, she
began teaching Special Education,
later receiving her Special Education
Certification in 1972. She loved all
students, no matter their background
and was always supportive. In June
1988, Ms. Freeman
retired from the Mon
roe County Board of
Education after 34
years of service.
Beatrice Freeman
contributed much to
improving our history
while teaching in
Culloden and educat
ing Culloden's
children who attended
Hubbard Elementary
in Forsyth. She perpetually
earned her place in Culloden/Monroe
County history and that place will be
honored and proclaimed.
In February 2020 Culloden’s Black
History Recognition and Awards
Brunch was organized to bring atten
tion to past contributions of African
Americans in Culloden and Monroe
County. The theme was “Looking
back over the PAST to CELEBRATE
the FUTURE.”
Mayor Lynn Miller and Culloden
Council members signed a procla
mation of Freeman as “Teacher of the
Year” at Starr Public School for the
school year of 1955-56. Other faculty
members were Annie Reeves, Rubye
James Watts and Mary Cheney.
Freeman spent endless hours in and
out of the classroom teaching her stu
dents and empowering them to think
freely. She helped her students de
velop critical thinking and life skills,
teaching them to challenge all things
presented to them. She became an
integral part of the Culloden commu
nity, developing lifelong relationships
with her students and their families.
Her students have been very
successful, with careers as business
owners, pastors of various churches,
financial advisors, and doctors of
education. She made an exceptional
difference in the lives of her students
in Culloden, Forsyth and Monroe
County.
Culloden council members Tellas Daniels and Dr. Margie
Bryant present a proclamation to Beatrice Freeman, cen
ter, in February 2020.
Monroe Co. Hospital to have stricter visitor policy
Out of concern for the health
and wellbeing of the community,
and due to the widespread prev
alence of respiratory viruses such
as RSV and flu, Atrium Health
Navicent has chosen to modify
certain portions of its visitation
policy. The visitation policy is
used to protect patients, visitors,
and caregivers. The changes are
effective Wednesday, Nov. 16.
Guidelines include: Visitors
under the age of 12 are not
permitted, including for the birth
of a sibling. Visitors must: Wear
a mask that always covers their
nose and mouth. Be screened at
the front entrance of the hos
pital. Be in good health (free of
respiratory illness, fever, cough,
etc.) Follow social distancing and
safety guidance. This includes
wearing masks, staying six feet
from others and hand washing.
Visitors may choose to wear
additional Personal Protective
Equipment (PPE), which will be
made available upon request.
Atrium Health partners with
Monroe County Hospital, and
these guidelines apply to Mon
roe County Hospital as they do
to all Atrium Health facilities
in Central Georgia. For more
information, visit www.Navicent-
Health.org.
Crowds enjoy High Falls Fall Back Folk Festival Sat.
By Steve Reece
stevereece@gmail.com
Out of 22 vendors at the First
Annual High Falls Fall Back Folk
Festival held last Saturday, Nov.
12,21 of them were from with
in 10 miles of High Falls. Kelly
Dunn owner of the Riverwood
Thrift Shop at 5047 High Falls
State Park Road where the event
was held said the festival was a
huge success. There with between
500-600 attendees browsing
through locally crafted items such
mushroom lamps, vinyl albums
melted into bowls, landscape
paintings, chainsaw art and more.
A youth art contest was judged
by Deedie Cameron with Jaxson
Johnson winning the first-place
prize for the preschool age group.
Brick Sagnibene took first place
for elementary school, and Roxy
Perez won first for middle and
high school ages.
Music was provided by local
musicians including flutist T J
Martinez, Frank Workey on the
dulcimer and harmonica, and
Fools on Stools. The duet Mus
tang rode up from Forsyth to
do an hour set. Kelly said, “My
community is very talented. We
have some very gifted people in
High Falls, and I told them we
need to make history. High Falls
has never had a folk festival.”
Kelly and other founders of the
festival, Bronwen Morgan, Jim
Lowery, Don Walker, Tammy
Rafferzeder and Kelley Dunn
vow that next year the event will
be bigger and better with even
more music and food. They are
even considering expanding the
festival to two days.
Kelly said she wants to thank
give special thanks to the 10
volunteers who helped put it all
together and to Rebecca Stone at
the For-
syth-Mon-
roe
County
Chamber
of Com
merce for
her guid
ance. She
said she
appreciates
the whole
communi
ty of High Falls for their support.
The festival was sponsored in
part by the High Falls Inn and
Suites, High Falls BP gas station,
KBN TV Spectrum 183, HJC
Septic, Jose Michelle Monograms,
Mark Dagastino, Riverwood
Thrift Shop, and the Monroe
County Reporter.
GLOVER
Continued from page 1A
Veterans Day.
Stuart spent his honeymoon in 1951 with
the infantrymen of the 25th Army division
in Korea, pushing the Communists into
a northward retreat. Having married a
Smarr gal, Margaret Evelyn Ham Stuart,
on Feb. 18,1951, he shipped off to the
barren lands of Korea on his 23rd birthday,
Feb. 29,1951. Stuart fought there for six
months. There were long sleepless nights
in foxholes, numerous brushes with mor
tality and, even today, nagging arthritis
from hard marches in frigid Army boots.
And he was wounded twice — a bullet to
the abdomen was his ticket home. Despite
the hardship, Stuart said he’s thankful he
was able to serve.
“I didn’t regret it,” said Stuart. “I didn’t
have any bad feelings about it. I learned a
lot.”
Stuart was actually drafted for World
War 2, which was still raging when he
turned 18. But before he got to the front
lines, Japan surrendered and he was spared
a combat tour. It turns out, he was only
spared for five years.
When the Korean War heated up, the
Army picked up the draft where it left off
and Stuart was soon enduring 16 weeks of
basic training. He used his final 21 days of
home leave to marry his sweetheart, and
then took a train to Seattle before leaving
by ship for Korea.
“I had more time on ships than the
Navy” jokes Stuart, noting the passage to
Korea took 17 days by sea.
Before long Stuart and his unit were
fighting on the front lines. Stuart said
by this time both the North Korean and
South Korean armies had been annihilat
ed, and the only resistance was now from
the Chinese.
As with most rookie troops dropped into
a combat zone, there was an adjustment
period. Stuart recalls the first day on the
front they were pushing back the Chinese
and digging foxholes for safety. Stuart
spotted three guys dressed in white way
down by a river, and told his squad leader
about it.
“Well, hell,” barked the leader, “shoot
them!”
So Stuart started blasting away with his
Browning automatic rifle when the com
mander came over, demanding to know
why all the firing. When Stuart explained,
the commander ordered him to stop and
reminded the newcomers, “Everybody you
see over here is not the enemy’
Stuart would rim into a fearful situation
while they were moving their position
from on top of a mountain to the valley.
Stuart tripped on a wire which he quickly
identified as a booby trap connected to a
hand grenade. It was kind of the IED of
its day. Stuart yelled for his comrade 10
feet away to hit the ground while Stuart
hopped up on a terrace to try to avoid the
worst.
Shrapnel flew into his hip, and Stuart had
to be taken to Japan for a six-week recov
ery.
Once he recovered, Stuart was right back
with his unit on the front lines. Just before
he had been wounded, Stuart’s platoon
leader had asked him to draw up a plan to
take a nearby mountain that was covered
with the enemy Chinese soldiers. Having
seen the Chinese shoot down numerous
U.S. planes, Stuart had drawn a diagram
with foxholes every 20 feet around the
mountain, with the goal of saving Ameri
can lives and starving the Chinese off the
mountain.
“You ain’t serious!?!” bellowed his leader.
“Yes, I am,” replied Stuart, shortly before
stepping on that booby trap.
So he was surprised when he returned to
the front and found that his plan was being
implemented.
And in November, Stuart was sent out
with his unit on patrol to test the enemy’s
strength. They found it. They started
taking on fire and about five members of
his unit were wounded. Stuart was shot in
the abdomen, and said the impact spun
him like a top. He couldn’t see his leg and
thought it had been blown off. Finally he
regained his composure and had to crawl
off the hill “like a cat scratches his butt.”
His wound was more serious this time
and after a long recovery period was able
to go home.
Once he got back to Ft. Benning, Stuart
spent another 17 months in recovery as
doctors tried to get all the shrapnel out of
his body. He also had to have a colostomy
bag for six months. Finally, he got to come
home to his wife and they started their
family. Stuart had a successful career at
Georgia Power and as a union leader.
A member of the Gideons Bible society,
he said his tour of duty made a pray
ing man out of him. “I went over there
determined I was gonna come back,” said
Stuart. He still has the Bible he was given
when he was deployed to Korea.
And that he did, a 19-year-old smart
er and wiser, with a strong love for his
country. More recently, Stuart led the effort
to create the Monroe County Veterans
Memorial on the courthouse square. It’s
a solemn reminder of the price of patrio
tism, and a tribute to the friends he lost in
the mountains of a faraway land.
Glover and his wife Evelyn were married
over 70 years. Both of them were born in
Monroe County and raised their children,
grand children and great grandchildren
in Smarr, giving back to Forsyth and the
surrounding area in countless ways.
They met at a community square dance
at the Clubhouse in Smarr. They married
when she was 17 and he was almost 23.
Glover is a Leap Year baby, born on Feb.
29; Evelyn’s birthday is Aug. 29.
During his 23 years with Georgia Power,
Glover worked night shifts and sometimes
weekends and had to sleep during the
day. When he went to work for Interna
tional Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
(IBEW), he would spend a week at a time
in Mississippi, Louisiana or Texas, but he
was home on weekends. He said that gave
him more time with the children than
working shift work. Glover retired from
IBEW when he was 71.
But that didn’t mean he didn’t stay busy.
He was very active with Monroe County
Habitat for Humanity. He worked with the
local Lions Club and Exchange Club on
many projects. He worked with the Amer
ican Legion and other veterans groups.
He volunteered with Meals on Wheels
through First Baptist Forsyth and sang in
the church choir. He was long active with
the Gideons.
The announcement of their 50th wed
ding anniversary in the Reporter in 2001,
which they celebrated with a “Roast &
Toast” at the American Legion Hall, asked
that instead of gifts donations be made to
Monroe County Habitat for Humanity and
the Forsyth Chapter of Gideons Interna
tional.
Evelyn and Glover supported one an
other whether they were apart or together.
Evelyn told the Reporter on their 70th an
niversary that you have to go into marriage
with determination to stay in the marriage.
“Go into it thinking it’s going to work,”
she said.
Glover said the way to stay married 70
years is to take it day by day.
“Marriage is a 50-50 proposition,” he told
the Reporter. “Each does half!’
“Monroe County is a good place to live,”
Glover told the Reporter on his 70th wed
ding anniversary. “We’ve had a good life.
All our children are in good health.”
See his obituary on page 6A.