About The Madison County journal. (Hull, Ga.) 1989-current | View Entire Issue (July 2, 2025)
PAGE 4A - THE MADISON COUNTY (GA) JOURNAL, WEDNESDAY, JULY 2, 2025 pinions ‘Private opinion is weak, but public opinion is almost omnipotent.”- Henry Ward Beecher Your hands Centenarians Hello, neighbors. Last Sunday, I held my grand mother’s hands. Mema. Tommie Kathleen Partain. ‘Keena when Grandpa was talking to her. “TK Par tain” when she signed artwork or wrote stories. As she got hold of mine, she said, “Ohhh, cold. Are you al right?” Hers were warm, much more so than mine. I told her that I “guess I just keep chill hands.” She nod ¬ ded and squeezed. By Travis Moak Mema’s hands are 94 years old, plus some change. They are thin yet still soft. Although they are a little shaky these days, she has no problem working her way through the big mug of coffee I bring her each Sunday: steady as a rock then. Al ways raises the mug to show me, “I approve.” I wrote about her hands in the very first entry of my Mindful Moment column—January 2023. It was brief, maybe 250 to 300 words. I sought those words carefully, digging through the river of language to capture an idea. I still do, now 115 entries later, perhaps around 65,000 words. I took a long walk that afternoon after leaving her company, sometimes seeking the shady path, other times looking for longer, sunnier stretches. Sweating during summertime usually does not bother me...un less I am in dress clothes, which I was not. As I ambled, admiring trees, listening for birds, I thought about oth er hands: earlier in the week, sitting down to a supper with my parents, we all held hands as Dad said grace. We always do that when I visit for a meal. Just before, Mom insisted that there was “nothing much to do” as I offered help. A mother’s hands, still providing. After supper, Dad and I worked on a Lego project, his fingers dwarfing all the little pieces as he doggedly labored at snapping them into place. Continuing my walk, I looked at my hands—borne out of theirs. I urged my mind to roll back through the years, thinking of all the meals prepared, the projects started and finished, two sets of hands helping a small er set grow. I dug deeper to consider how the same was true for their hands and for the hands before that and before that, on and on. Eventually, I caught myself in a moment of laughter as, holding my hands in front of me, I quoted Ricky Bobby to no one, “I’m not sure what do to with my hands.” Funny how our minds work. After a good chuckle, I thought about a recent vis it to my cousin Jodi’s house. Related through Mema’s side of the family, her dad, Wayne, is my mother’s first cousin. Jodi invited my folks and me over to pick blue- berries, saying there were too many for she and Mar cus and Maddie. We found that she told the truth: there were also too many for us. Over the next few days, my hands turned those blueberries into cobblers for several people. Wrapping up my walk, I got in my car, worked the wheel, short-shifted here and there, and made my way to the house. When I got there, I sat down to type this here column thinking, “I know exactly what to do with my hands.” And, so you have it: roughly another 600 words cen tered on a mindful moment, something as simple as being thankful for the hands that gave me mine. My hope is that you are thankful for yours. Thank you for making my life better, family. Mindfully yours, Travis. Celebrating 35 Years of Service Through Rotary Dear Editor: On June 26, 1990, a small group of committed community members came together with one goal in mind, to serve Madison County. That vision gave birth to the Rotary Club of Madi son County, and this year we are proud to celebrate our 35th anniversary. In the three and a half decades since, the focus of our club has remained the same, which is Service Above Self. From this commitment, one of our most impactful and enduring pro grams was created, the Rotary Hand icap Ramp Program. Since its incep tion, our club has built an incredible 986 ramps for residents primarily in Madison County and is now just 14 ramps shy of 1,000 as we celebrate this milestone year. While the ramp program is our most visible effort, our members are also engaged in many other areas of ser vice. We support local seniors through Meals on Wheels, promote early liter acy by reading to elementary students and sponsoring First Readers, and help address food insecurity through the Madison County Food Bank and the Food 2 Kids program. These are just a few of the ways we aim to make a meaningful impact in our commu nity. If you are looking for ways to get involved or give back, we welcome you to learn more about the Rotary Club of Madison County and consider joining us. We look forward to participating in the annual Colbert 4th of July pa rade, where we’ll be celebrating this 35-year legacy with candy, smiles and gratitude for the community that has supported our mission from the begin ning. Here’s to 35 years of impact and to many more to come. Sincerely, Ben Morris President, Rotary Club of Madison County Missing dog Dear Editor: Missing Dog! Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. I’m the man you’ve probably seen walking a beagle around downtown Greensboro. I walk my dog almost ev ery day—sometimes twice a day. He sis ' hr ■ It,J 1 - A Submitted photo Pastor Hugh Hendrickson and his dog, Reverend “Rev” Colbert Comer. loved exploring downtown and greet ing familiar faces. His name is Reverend Colbert Com er, but most people just called him “Rev.” On the afternoon of Thursday, June 5, Rev went missing. If you’re inclined to look for him, you might start downtown. That’s where he was happiest. At home, I’d often find him sleeping on the couch, curled up in my chair, or waiting by the kitchen door. He liked resting under the fig tree in the backyard or napping on the rug in my office at church. If he wasn’t there, he might’ve head ed toward the interstate—he loved DQ puppy cups and was always hopeful for a few Frencli fries from the fast-food places. He could’ve also made his way to the lake where we used to live. We often walked the pond behind Publix, thougli it’s been a while since we’ve been back. Or maybe he went north, toward Colbert and Comer. We used to walk the Comer City Cemetery almost every day. He had friends on Georgia Avenue and a yard he loved to crawl across on his belly, just for fun. And if he went really far, perhaps he made his way back to Lavonia. That was home for five wonderful years. Maybe he’s walking Bowman Street, or resting under a tree in the Lavonia City Cemetery. Maybe he’s trying to visit his friends at the Depot, Beasley Tax Service, or Gum Log Brewery. He might be stopping by Lavonia United Methodist Churcli where he often went to work witli me. Maybe he’s check ing in witli Lauren, his dog-sitter and photographer, or stopping by Lavonia Animal Hospital to visit his vet friends. Many of you have been asking about Rev. Thank you for your love and con cern. I want you to know: I actually know exactly where Rev is. He’s not lost. Reverend Colbert Comer has crossed the rainbow bridge to be witli Jesus. He’s waiting for me now—waiting witli Jesus, just as faithful as ever. Until that day comes, he holds a spe cial place in my heart. I also want to share my deepest grat itude to the beautiful and loving staff at Durham Veterinary Clinic. You were so kind and professional witli your care. Witli love and gratitude, Pastor Hugli E Hendrickson Greensboro In case you don’t recognize the word, a centenarian is someone who lives to be at least one hundred years old. If you can make it to one hundred and five years you are a semi supercentenarian and if you live to be one hundred and ten years old you are a supercen tenarian. This is the last designation for those who achieve the maximum human life span. The oldest re corded human life span is 122 years, 164 days. That’s 44,694 days or 1,072,656 hours. If you can make it to the age of one hundred you will have lived 876,600 hours. That means that if you live to be one hundred you will have slept for ap proximately thirty-three years. Another unusual statistic about centenar ians is their gender. The significance of this is that eighty-five percent of all centenarians are wom en. It’s just an opinion but from my observation, women take better care of themselves than men do. So, what is all this stuff about old age? It is because I was recently reminiscing about my early childhood and what I could remem ber from my very early years. Most of that revolved around a time when I was four years old, when my brother was born. Daddy had to go to work and moth er was not able to care for me and a new baby. This was when I met a lady named L.E. Collins. Daddy would go pick her up every morning before he went to work and she stayed with us all day, till daddy got off work and mostly took care of me and the house. L.E. was her legal name. I always thought her name was something like Elee, Elle or Ellee. After some re search, I found out that she only had initials. This re minds me of the story about Ronly Bonly Jones. When he joined the Army, everybody called him “Bones.” When his sergeant read his name on the muster roll, he asked him why in the world his mother named him Ronly Bonly? He informed the sergeant that this was a clerical error from his enlistment. The clerk wrote in the space for First Name: R only and in the space for middle name B only so Ronly Bonly stuck. L.E. Collins’ parents named her L.E. and that was all she was ever called. There were many happy days in my back yard while I played with Rusty, my Irish Setter, along with any thing else I could find to play with. L.E. would help me turn over an old wheelbarrow with a steel wheel. She would spin it while I pretended to grind sticks with it as if it were a grinding wheel. We also pre tended it was a mill wheel that produced flower that was only dust from around the back steps that I would pour over the wheel while she turned it around and around. L.E. was a tiny woman. I don’t think she weighed over one hundred pounds in her life. One of the things I remember about her was her hands. She had unusu ally large and strong hands for a little bitty woman. Those hands helped me do and learn a lot of things as a curious four-year-old. L.E. and her husband Burt, more often called ‘Bud dy’ Collins, lived in Oglethorpe County, on Windy Lane between Hwy 22 and the Devils Pond Road all their lives. They were my grandfather’s partners in cotton farming. I never let too much time go by be tween visits to just stop by and see her. This contin ued until 2010, when I was sixty years old and she had to move to a nursing home. I still went to see her. In 2015 I realized it had been a couple of years since I had seen her. I found out that she was at the Oaks nursing home on Kathwood Drive in Athens. When I got there the lady at the desk in the lobby just raved about Ms. L.E. being one of their favorite residents and said she was upstairs on the second floor. When we went up to the front desk to find out what L.E.’s room number was, the young lady got a strange look on her face. It was some of the saddest news I had ever received. Also, with sorrow in her eyes, the young lady said, “Miss L.E. passed away yesterday!” I could hardly believe that after two years had gone by and at the age of one hundred and five years, a semi-supercentenar ian, I had missed her by one day. She has now been gone for over ten years but she is still in my heart. By Charlie Snelling Deportation Dear Editor: Long-time workers who pay taxes and have commit ted no crimes after coming here illegally are scheduled to get deported by the millions. Are Americans ready for hotels, restaurants, landscaping, construction and meat packing companies going belly up? Is Georgia prepared to lose its poultry industry? Are we okay with seeing lo cal businesses and services shuttering? The answer coming from the White House in par ticular from Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is a loud “you betcha”! ICE agents are stressed by the daily quota of 3,000 illegal immigrant arrests. Most don’t believe it’s achiev able. To meet the demand could arresting and detaining legal immigrants become a reality by agents afraid of be ing fired for not meeting arrest quotas? If later deported to a foreign country, will the administration immediately move to retrieve him/her; or will the response be “Oops” and little to no effort is made to correct a serious wrong? Most Americans are uncomfortable with removing il legal immigrants who have committed no crimes while here and pay taxes performing jobs that are vital to our economy. Do we have the right politicians in place to solve this problem? If not, elections are coming. Sincerely, Peggy Perkins Winder The Madison County Journal Danielsville, Madison County Georgia 30633 Merged with The Danielsville Monitor and The Comer News, January 2006 A publication of MainStreet Newspapers Inc. MIKE BUFFINGTON, Go-publisher SCOTT BUFFINGTON Go-publisher CALEB ROLLINS Editor Subscriptions: $45/year —$40/seniors POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: THE MADISON COUNTY JOURNAL PO Box 908 Jefferson, Ga. 30549 The Official Legal Organ of Madison County, Georgia-Periodicals postage paid at Danielsville, Georgia 30633 (USPS 011-097: ISSN 1074987X)
