The Gwinnett Roadrunner - The Gwinnett Citizen


The Snellville High School Alumni Association Banquet was held on Saturday, April 25th, at the Wesley Hall of the Snellville United Methodist Church. This was the 60th banquet held by the association, with 280 classmates and guests attending. Pictured(L-R) are Martha Lou Jones (Class of ‘42), Marvin Nash Worthy (Class of ‘42), and Hoyt Cates (Class of ‘40).	Runell Puckett and Benjamin Youngblood will celebrate their 60th Wedding Anniversary on May 15, 2009. They were married on May 15, 1949 in Buford, Georgia. Runell and Benjamin have two daughters, Joan Youngblood Beard of Snellville, Georgia and Kathie Youngblood Glass of Houston, Texas.	Descendants of Louis A. Burkhart, Bruce and Bob Biggers, with the headstone laid in Louis’ memory at the Bold Springs Methodist Church on March 22, 2009.

Grayson High School Alumni with Scholarship recipients at the Alumni luncheon held on March 28, 2009, left to right Rebecca Mason Page, India Pender, Thomas Gilman, Ann Massey Vining, Roy Couch.

FROM THE ARCHIVES
•On March 12, 1953 the News Herald reported that there was a $3000 loss on a small building used for classrooms at Bethesda, the report was made on Thursday and the fire occurred the previous Monday morning.

•The Lawrenceville Board of Education announced the following teachers for 1953/54: Ola Garner, Virginia Bagwell, Mrs. Ralph Dunson, Ruby Harris, Frances Farlinger, Elaine Meeks, Alline Craig, Elizabeth Settle, Sara McCutcheon, Alida Still, Mrs. Paul Kelley, Eliza Carter, Lee Carter, Student teacher Mary Long.

Alan Herndon and Jack Britt were recognized as Grayson High School teachers at the 2009 meeting of Grayson High School Alumni.

•On May 28, 1953 the News Herald reported that when the Georgia Medical Association met in Savannah, Georgia Dr. W.P. Ezzard was awarded a Certificate for Distinction for his practice of medicine for fifty or more years. Dr. Ezzard lived in Lawrenceville and had his medical office at the corner of North Perry and West Crogan Streets.

•General Lachlan McIntosh and Button Gwinnett met on Friday May 16, 1777 to settle their differences by dueling. The men met in a meadow which was then on the outskirts of Savannah, Georgia. Weapons chosen were pistols, the men stepped off four paces, wheeled and fired. Both pistols were fired at nearly the same time. Gwinnett was shot in the leg immediately above the knee, the bone being broken, he fell to the ground. McIntosh was shot through the thick of the leg. The seconds objected to more shots being fired and the men shook hands and left the area. McIntosh recovered from his wound, Gwinnett developed gangrene and he died the following Monday. Gwinnett County was named for Button Gwinnett and McIntosh County was named for the McIntosh family; both counties are in Georgia.


Pictured here are the members of the 1954-55 Lawrenceville High School Cheerleading Squad. On the bottom row (L-R) are: Marie Freeman, Connie Craig, Pat Roebuck, Elinor Cannon and Jane Rainey. On the top row (L-R) are: Julia Wethington, Sally Sammon, Reba Townley, Donna Fortune and Gloria Raney.	Linda McQuaig received the Volunteer of the Year for 2008/09 Award from Gwinnett Retired Educators Association.

CURRENT EVENTS
•Trackside on North Clayton Street in Lawrenceville is a new historic event facility available for large receptions. The facility opened in May 2009, for information call 404-819-2203.

•Robin Dill, Director of Grace Arbor at the Lawrenceville First United Methodist Church has written a book, Walk With Grace. The book is a tool for churches to start congregational respite programs similar to the Grace Arbor program which operates for Alzheimer’s patients and is open 4 days a week from 10 until 3.

Joe Parks of Lawrenceville was awarded the fifty year pin from the Lawrenceville Masonic Lodge on April 7, 2009. The special ceremony also included the fifty year award for Royal Lee Coker. Both men had their wives place the pins on their lapels. Joe and his wife, Nell, have been married for 61 years and the Cokers celebrated their 63rd anniversary in 2009.

•Harbins-Alcovy River Park, Gwinnett County’s largest park, opened on March 21, 2009.

•Congratulations to Margie and Ray McBryar as they celebrate their Golden Wedding Anniversary on May 17, 2009. Margie and Ray live in the Rosebud Community of South Gwinnett County. Margie was Margie Knight before her marriage and she is a graduate of Grayson High School when the school was in downtown Grayson.

•The Grayson High School Class of 1954 will celebrate 55 years since graduation on May 16, 2009 at a catered dinner held at the Grayson Senior Center. Members of the class of 1954: Sarah Sells Bowen, Charlotte Stephens Chaffin, Jean Brownlee Farmer, Kathleen Rogers Harding, Rillie M. Bowman Kennedy, Leona McCart Lackey, Arthur Long, Elizabeth Kilgroe Long, Beverly Cooper Manning, Margie Knight McBryar, Rose Downs Nesbitt, Rebecca Mason Page, Howell Palmer, Harriette Yancey Reese, Hazel Langley Rogers, Ann Massey Vining, James Watson. Deceased class members: Blondean Bennett, Linnis Ethridge, Mary Grace Cates Johnson, Ann Cooper Starling.

Pictured here is Chuck Efstration, the newly elected head of the Gwinnett Republican Party, as he presides at his first meeting. Chuck is a Lilburn native who currently resides in Dacula. He is a graduate of the University of Georgia and the Mercer School of Law. Currently, he serves as an Assistant District Attorney. His parents are Charles and Karen Efstration, and his mother is a teacher at Peachtree Ridge High School.

•The funeral for Gwinnett native John Maurice Frazier was at the First United Methodist Church in Snellville on Sunday April 5, 2009. John Maurice Frazier was born in Lawrenceville; he was the son of Alma Peevy Frazier and Marvin Victor Frazier. He was a 1946 graduate of Lawrenceville High School and he served in the US Army Signal Corps helping to build communications networks through Germany. Maurice was married to Vivian Shell for 46 years prior to her death in 2000; they were the parents of Susan Frazier, John and Pam Frazier and Anne Frazier Belcher and Charles Belcher. Their grandchildren are Courtney Frazier and Cody, Kate and Colt Belcher. Maurice retired from General Motors Corporation and was active in the Snellville United Methodist Church, Prime Timers, Snellville Travel Club and the Lawrenceville High School Alumni Association. He was a member of the Gwinnett County Historical Society First Families of Gwinnett.