Columbia County Magazine

Category: People

  • Living Right

    Living Right

    Outdoor recreation, job growth, affordable housing and quality of life — according to Money magazine, Martinez means all of these things. The magazine has ranked Martinez as one of its 50 Best Places to Live in 2021-22.

    Ranked 21st on the list, Martinez is in the top five for economic growth opportunity among the 1,200-plus places the magazine considered for its list this year.

    Of the 50 places that made the cut, it’s number six for job growth over the last five years. Martinez also tied for the third-lowest unemployment rate of any city on the list at just 3% in June, far below the 5.9% the country saw as a whole.

    In addition, the magazine recognized the community’s abundance of outdoor amenities such as Savannah Rapids Park, hiking and biking trails and Reed Creek Nature Park & Interpretive Center.

  • Women’s Work

    Women’s Work

    Whether they’re taking care of crops or animals, women are making their mark in farming.

    Maybe it’s the nurturing nature of the business. Maybe it’s the close relationship that women have with culinary prep. Maybe it’s the desire to know the source of their food. Maybe it dates back to our country’s agricultural roots. Maybe it’s all of the above and then some, but farming is a field that seems to attract females.

    According to Rebecca van Loenen, executive director of Augusta Locally Grown, an online farmers market, 74% of the organization’s growers are female. She attributes that to several factors.

    “The spouse usually has a fulltime job outside of the home, and the wife is left at home to manage the farm,” she says. “Many of them are veterans, so these women want to do something therapeutic. Because they have other sources of income, it lets them pursue something they love.”

    While some of the growers were born into farming families, others have fallen into it by chance.

    “I’ve heard people say, ‘I bought a plant at the store, and before I knew it, I bought a farm,’” van Loenen says. “There is a nurturing quality to farming. It makes you want to take care of something.”

    Half of the farmers affiliated with Augusta Locally Grown, which always has been led by women, are veterans as well.

    The female farmers have plenty of help, often from their husbands or children, but how much they get often depends on whether or not their spouse is retired. While men help with the heavy lifting, says van Loenen, the women are in charge of the day-to-day farm operations such as tilling soil, pulling weeds or doing paperwork.

    She says one of the main challenges for female farmers is that farm equipment typically is built for a 6-foot man rather than a 5-foot-1-inch woman.

    Tink’s Grassfed Beef

    The 5-foot-2-inch Etwenda “Tink” Wade, one of the original founders of Augusta Locally Grown, has been a farmer all her life.

    A fourth-generation cattle woman whose great-grandfather started raising cattle on a central Florida farm in the 1800s, she helped launch the nonprofit Augusta Locally Grown in 2008 in a Grovetown front yard. She and her husband, Tim, bought their 230-acre Washington, Georgia farm, Lucky 7w, in 1995, and her business, Tink’s Grassfed Beef, grew from it.

    “We were raising hogs, but I have always raised grass-fed cattle,” says Wade. “I’m from Florida originally, and that’s how it’s done there.”

    After she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1993, she started researching ways to improve her health. “Grass-fed beef was part of that,” says Wade, who hasn’t taken any medications for MS in 15 years. “I eat healthy, take care of myself and listen to my body.”

    He husband works for Ericsson, and he travels often for his job. Their three adult children helped out when they were growing up, and they still lend a hand as needed.

    “Farming is hard. There are ups and downs. You can make a plan, but it’s not going to work the way you thought it out,” says Wade. “I’m a woman in a man’s world. But once the people in my county saw that I was doing what I said I was going to do, and people were buying my products, I was accepted then. I don’t do this for a hobby.”

    In addition to Black Angus and Red Angus cattle, Wade has free-range pigs and chickens. They only sell the chickens eggs, however. She also has apple, plum and pear trees; scuppernong and muscadine vines; and any flowers that attract butterflies and hummingbirds. Some years she plants a vegetable garden as well.

    “Women can do anything.,” Wade says. “All you have to do is put your mind to it.”

    Brown’s Place Farm

    Lynn Brown and her husband, W.B., who have been farming for 20 to 30 years, own the certified organic Brown’s Place Farm in Grovetown.

    “You have to grow your food organically,” she says. “You can’t use any synthetic fertilizers.”

    Her husband is a retired veteran, and she worked on a military installation. They moved often because of his military career, but they always had a garden wherever they lived.

    “My grandmother was a farmer, and my husband’s father was a farmer, so we have it instilled in us,” Brown says. “You would have thought that after being raised on a farm, we wouldn’t want anything to do with it.”

    The Browns farm 1.25 of their 20 acres, where they grow tomatoes; spaghetti and butternut squash; cucumbers; mustard and turnip greens; peas; Japanese and Nadia eggplant; jalapeno, banana, giant macaroni, lantern and bell peppers; purple and white Russian kale; and microgreens. They only use material that has been approved by International Certification Services in the production of their vegetables.

    “It’s healthier for you. You don’t have to worry about chemicals,” Brown says. “You know what you’re growing. You have to follow USDA guidelines, but you’re helping everyone as well as yourself. Organic food cooks quicker and tastes better.”

    She takes care of the microgreens, certifications and paperwork, while her husband plants and grows the vegetables. “When you have your husband by your side, it’s not that bad,” says Brown.

    The Browns, who became part of Augusta Locally Grown in 2016, have three high tunnels, where they can grow products year-round, and about 20 goats.

    “I like to see things grow,” she says. “I like to put seeds in the dirt and watch them grow. We have great results in the end.”

    Shooting Star Acres Farmstead and Rescue

    First-generation farmer Alicia Weiss, a retired U.S. Navy veteran, and her husband, Hunter, a Navy reservist who is based at Fort Gordon, moved to Grovetown from Pennsylvania in 2017. They fell in love with the area but soon realized they wanted more space for their family of four.

    In 2019, they bought the 4-acre Shooting Star Acres Farmstead and Rescue in Dearing so she could pursue her dream of living as self-sustainably as possible.

    “I started with containers on our back porch where we grew our first carrots,” says Weiss. “It’s all me, and whenever I can rope my family into it.”

    She grows eggplant, tomatoes, peppers, watermelon, corn, sweet potatoes, salad greens, carrots, beets, radishes and wildflowers that attract pollinators, and she sells her products in CSA (community-supported agriculture) boxes to customers that pay a one-time fee each season.

    “I’m trying to close the gap so people know where their food comes from and trying to reduce travel time so food doesn’t lose its nutrients,” says Weiss.

    She also has about 200 rescue farm animals including goats, pigs, ducks, geese, guinea hens, quails and chickens. On October 9, she is holding her first event at Shooting Star Acres, a farm-to-table dinner to raise funds to expand the animal rescue operation.

    In addition, the former high school rodeo queen and 4-H Club member tries to take at least one class per year to benefit the farm or the animal rescue.

    The self-described “farm-her” says her best friends and her mentor are fellow female farmers.

    “We’ve been told for so long that we can’t do hard things,” she says. “It was such a manly thing to do to work on a farm. Women want to nurture. We want to make sure our families are taken care of properly. What better way to do that than to grow food in our backyard?”

    White Hills Farm

    Former Evans residents Amy and Patrick Sutter also were looking for more space when they made the “life-changing” decision to buy the 28-acre White Hills Farm in Dearing four years ago.

    “We wanted a couple of acres, and I wanted a big backyard garden,” she says. “The farm came available, and we made the jump off the deep end.”

    The lavender farm has eight large garden beds, where they also grow tomatoes and herbs such as rosemary, oregano, dill, parsley and basil.

    She plants most of the lavender and herbs, and in the fall, she conducts workshops for visitors. She also dries all of the lavender and herbs and uses them to make other products, which are sold in the onsite gift shop.

    Her husband runs the equipment. “He likes to say that he just does what I tell him to do,” she says.

    The property is open every Friday and Saturday for self-guided tours, and groups can make appointments to visit at other times. An herbal activity is included in the group tours. Three or four times a year, the farm holds all-day yoga retreats on Saturdays as well.

    Sutter enjoys having guests, who come from across the country, at the farm, and she feels a kinship with other female farmers.

    “Augusta Locally Grown promotes camaraderie. We get to know each other and support each other,” she says. “We learn from each other, get confidence from each other and feel inspired to try new things.”

    While Sutter says being outside makes her feel centered and peaceful, farming – and fickle Mother Nature – still present challenges.

    “Sometimes I literally cry and have real blood, sweat and tears,” she says. “But I learn something new every day. I learn a lot by trial and error. If you don’t know it, then you YouTube it.”

    Southern Swiss Dairy

    It’s only fitting that fourth-generation farmer Ginny Franks and her husband, Jimmy, originally a beef farmer from south Georgia, met when they were working together on a Winder, Georgia farm.

    In 1991 they bought their own Franks Farm, a 979-acre Waynesboro property where they operate Southern Swiss Dairy. They have about 175 cows, mostly Brown Swiss and a few Holsteins, and in 2010 they opened an onsite bottling facility to gain more control over their pricing.

    The husband and wife team share responsibilities for the farm equally. “For us, it works great because we know each other’s strengths and weaknesses,” she says.

    She is the purchasing coordinator and bookkeeper for the farm. She also tends to the cows and makes butter and ice cream.

    “I’m just drawn to working with animals,” says Wade, who showed cattle when she was growing up. “I try to improve the herd generation after generation.”

    As the head of trucking for the bottling plant, her husband spends a lot of time on the road. Their customers include schools and universities, coffee shops, restaurants and ice cream shops in Augusta, Atlanta and Savannah. They sell at farmers’ markets, and they have been part of Augusta Locally Grown since 2010.

    In addition to the dairy operation, the couple grows corn, soybeans, oats, ryegrass, wheat, sorghum and hay. They also sell beef cut from their farm-raised steers.

    Farming is full of hardships such as a 2013 tornado that hit Southern Swiss Dairy, flattening some of its buildings and injuring or killing some of the cows. However, Franks says being a female farmer never has phased her.

    “It depends on your own determination and what you want to make out of it,” she says. “Nothing has held me back.”

    Her father also supported and encouraged her. “He had more confidence in me than I had in myself,” says Franks, who has a master’s degree in embryology. “I never thought about doing anything else.”

    Local Support

    Despite the physical strength the job often requires, the female farmers generally agree that marketing is the toughest part of the business for them.

    “Once you grow the product, you have to have somebody to buy it,” Brown says.

    While female farmers compete with each other for customers, says van Loenen, they generally don’t sell the same products. In fact, she says, they often buy each other’s goods and swap food preservation tips with one another.

    People often don’t realize that a local farm is a small business, van Loenen says, and when they shop online, they don’t always know that a female is leading the business. The ability to sell a product and have a business also depends on support from the local community.

    “People want to know where their food comes from,” van Loenen says. “In Columbia County, people come from all different countries or parts of the United States. They value the person involved, and they like the agri-tourism component. They also want their kids to embrace an appreciation of where their food comes from.”

    She says more women and minorities are getting involved in farming, and she encourages backyard gardeners to become part of the local agricultural community as well.

    “We would love to help you get started,” van Loenen says.

    By Leigh Howard

  • Road Warriors

    Road Warriors

    Photos courtesy of John Robert Herzberg

    Two Martinez residents have been revving up donations with cross-country road trips to fight ALS.

    Even though he is half his age, 29-year-old Martinez resident John Robert Herzberg has always enjoyed doing things with his cousin and godfather, Mark Lang, 58, of Jupiter, Florida.

    “He’s my best friend. He’s my mentor. We’ve always been super close,” says Herzberg. “He got me into doing things like kayaking, boating and body surfing at the beach. We played golf nonstop.”

    Now, however, Lang can do none of those things. He was diagnosed with ALS in 2017 at age 55.

    Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, is a progressive nervous system disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, causing loss of muscle control. ALS also is called Lou Gehrig’s disease, after the New York Yankees first baseman who was diagnosed with it.

    Typically, onset of the disease is gradual, and initial symptoms vary in different people. They can begin in the muscles that control speech and swallowing or in the hands, arms, legs or feet.

    However, all ALS patients experience progressive muscle weakness and paralysis, ultimately losing the ability to speak, eat, move and breathe. The mean survival time for ALS patients is three to five years, and there is no cure for the disease.

    Lang’s first symptom was weakness in his hand, which he initially thought was caused by a pinched nerve. Within 18 months, he had lost the ability to walk or speak. “He’s in the late stages now,” Herzberg says. “He can only speak using his eyes.”

    According to the Georgia Chapter of the ALS Association, at least 16,000 people are estimated to have the disease at any given time and a little more than 5,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with ALS each year. (That’s 15 new cases a day.)

    Most people who develop ALS are between the ages of 40 and 70, with an average age of 55 at the time of diagnosis. Someone is diagnosed with the disease and someone loses their battle with it every 90 minutes.

    “Right now, all we can do is just help make ALS patients comfortable and help them have the best quality of life possible in the time they have left,” says Brandy Quarles, the Augusta University ALS Clinic research operations coordinator. “Our ultimate goal is to find treatment.”

    On the Road

    To do his part, Herzberg wanted to find a way to raise money and bring awareness to the rare disease. So, armed with a rented van, a tripod and a sense of adventure, he and his girlfriend, Bethany Marshall of Martinez, went on a two-week, cross-country road trip from Martinez to San Diego and back last October.

    “I wanted to do something crazy to get people’s attention,” says Herzberg, who studies design and media production at Augusta Tech. “We wanted to do something out of the ordinary. It took a year of planning and saving.”

    Herzberg and Marshall stopped in places such as New Orleans, the Grand Canyon and Memphis to visit Graceland, which, much to his surprise, turned out to be Herzberg’s favorite stop. While most of the places they visited were planned, they made some spontaneous stops as well. They made detours to Las Vegas and to Albuquerque, New Mexico so Herzberg, a diehard “Breaking Bad” fan, could see where the TV show was filmed.

    On the return trip home, they also had to stop in Oklahoma City after the van’s transmission blew out. They rented a car to get back to Georgia.

    Driving eight to 10 hours each day, they stopped often to set up the tripod to take photographs at the various sites they visited. Herzberg posted the images on his Facebook and Instagram pages, @DriveAwayALS, to bring awareness to the cause, and welcome signs were a favorite spot for photo ops. He declared himself an unofficial resident of each state they visited, but the cowboy hat he bought at a Texas gas station became a frequent prop in the pictures.

    While they were on the road, donors made contributions through a link on his social media platforms. In their travels they met other people whose families have been affected by ALS, and some of them donated money as well.

    “People are very warm-hearted. Once they saw the ALS sticker on the side of the van, they wanted to know what we were doing,” says Herzberg. “A lot of people on Instagram would randomly contribute, too.”

    The goal was to raise $5,000 at $1 per mile in the Drive Away ALS campaign, and he surpassed that goal.

    “People from all over the world have reached out to me wanting to contribute or travel with us,” Herzberg says.

    For instance, he says two girls from Norway contacted him a couple of weeks after their trip to say they were inspired by him to sail across the Atlantic Ocean to raise money for ALS.

    “It makes me ecstatic that a local person is taking the initiative to raise funds and raise awareness about ALS,” says Quarles. “Supporting ALS patients is important. These families are going through a lot. ALS doesn’t affect the mind. Our patients still want the same things they always did. It’s important that people participate and help the ALS community.”

    More Work to Do

    Herzberg has not stopped raising money for ALS. The couple hit the road again this past summer, traveling 2,000 miles to Niagara Falls and back. Along the way, they stopped in Pittsburgh on June 2 for Major League Baseball’s inaugural Lou Gehrig Day to watch the Pirates take on Lang’s favorite team, the Miami Marlins.

    Gehrig lost his battle with the disease June 2, 1941 almost two years after he was diagnosed with ALS on his 36th birthday. The annual, league-wide event will be a time to honor and celebrate Gehrig’s legacy as well as to raise awareness and funds to fight the disease.

    Herzberg and his team, Drive Away ALS, also will participate in the ALS Association’s Walk to Defeat ALS (walktodefeatals.org) at Georgia State Stadium in Atlanta on Saturday, September 25.

    Herzberg and Marshall have visited more than 20 states since October, and they plan to schedule another fundraising trip to South Dakota. And he still finds time to visit Lang in Florida every couple of months and keep him up-to-date on the Drive Away ALS fundraising efforts.

    “Mark loves it,” Herzberg says. “If the tables were turned, he would have done the same thing for me.”

    By Sarah James

  • Local Talent

    Local Talent

    Photography by Sally Kolar

    Fans of the supernatural can look forward to a new movie featuring a homegrown cast and crew.
    Filming recently wrapped up in Columbia and Richmond counties for Applewood, an indie horror-based thriller that will be released in late 2021 or early 2022.

    “Almost all of our talent and crew are locally based,” says production supervisor Nik Wilets of Augusta. “We have a crew of about 50 people, and 35 to 40 of them are local.”

    The film also was written by local resident Amy Rhinehart Bailey and Rob Hollocks, a British director, producer and screenwriter who lives in Los Angeles. In addition, the film’s three lead actors, Kate Dailey, Susan Willis and Nathan Rothwell, live in the area.

    “The film is a labor of love for these people,” Wilets says. “I think small teams usually make the best products. There’s a certain esprit de corps with a small team.”

    The horror-based thriller, based on a story by local writer Zach King, is about “a woman who buys a house and remnants of the past come back to her,” says Wilets.

    Some scenes were shot in a Columbia County neighborhood and a local ATV park. However, Wilets says the Clay House on Milledge Road in Augusta will be one of the most recognizable locations in the film. “We show the Clay House in decay, and in flashbacks, in its heyday,” he says.

    While Georgia has become a leading destination in the world for filming, Wilets says Columbia and Richmond counties are becoming more popular among filmmakers.

    “Atlanta has become a little overused, and this area offers a bit of originality. There’s a lot of diversity here,” he says.

    Wilets believes the film will resonate with audiences. “I hope they have some thrills and scares. There’s also a lot of takeaways about loss and redemption,” he says. “I hope they enjoy a good story.”

    By Todd Beck

  • Open-Door Policy

    Open-Door Policy

    Photos courtesy of the Columbia County Board of Education

    Meet Columbia County’s new school superintendent.
    Eagle Scout. Outdoorsman. College athlete. Educator. High school coach. Administrator. Farmer. Yes, farmer.

    Dr. Steven Flynt, the Columbia County School District’s new superintendent, says the best thing he ever learned in life is to be open to trying new things – even if he doesn’t know much about them.

    “It’s probably uncomfortable for anybody to try something new,” says Flynt. “As you continue to get older, you need to look for areas where you can grow and learn.”

    He has been growing, learning and making the most of opportunities his entire life. Flynt, who previously served as associate superintendent for the Gwinnett County Public Schools, began his latest venture in the spring when he assumed his new position in Columbia County. Building on the encouragement and guidance he has received from his mentors in education, he’s ready to pay forward the experience he has gained throughout his career.

    However, he says, “You have to be your own person. You have to be yourself.”

    Real-World Connections
    From the time the DeKalb County native entered a neighborhood kindergarten to the day he earned a doctorate of education in educational leadership from the University of Georgia, he has been surrounded by strong leaders.

    Yet, when Flynt was a high school student, he began to notice a disconnect between the material he was learning in the classroom and its application in the real world.

    “The connection of how it would help me in life was difficult to see at the time,” he says.

    As a result, he gravitated toward hands-on science classes such as biology, chemistry and physics as well as industrial arts programs.

    “These classes have a natural connection with the real world experience,” he says. “They were more exciting because I got to do labs and participate in activities to connect what I was learning to how I would use it later.”

    And that realization motivated him to pursue a career in education. “I struggled to connect between the curriculum and the material, and I thought I could do a better job with that,” he says.

    He earned an associate of arts degree from Young Harris College, where he played soccer for two years. Continuing his college soccer career at Lees-McRae College, he was awarded a B.S. in biology from the Banner Elk, North Carolina school.

    While he was enrolled at Young Harris, he was a student teacher at a high school – an experience that presented a couple of challenges. His students were practically his own age, and at that time, many schools were built with an open concept with no walls between classrooms. Not one of the best innovations in education, he says, but it didn’t derail his career plans.

    After graduating from college, he earned a master’s degree in science education from Piedmont College. He and his wife, Kristin, whom he met when they were working at Stone Mountain Park one summer, went through the program together. An elementary school teacher, she also played college soccer at Emory University and coached high school soccer.

    Flynt began his career as an educator when he took a job teaching biology and physical science at Miller Grove Junior High School in DeKalb County in 1993.

    “My first year of teaching, I had a very good experience in DeKalb County. I never looked back,” he says.

    A year later Flynt, who also coached soccer and swimming when he was a teacher, started teaching high school science before being promoted to assistant principal and principal positions.

    “I had taught for close to 10 years. The high school had grown a good bit, and we were on the verge of expanding and growing extremely larger,” says Flynt. “I was asked to take a leadership role, and the principals encouraged me to do that. I moved into administration at my school, and I had a good first experience. I was able to do different jobs. When you have that kind of growth, you get to do a lot of things.”

    He moved into his first administrative post for the Gwinnett County schools in 2008, climbing up the ranks to the position of associate superintendent in 2016. During his 13-year tenure as a Gwinnett County school administrator, he helped open 35 schools in a system that gained 8,000 to 9,000 students a year.

    Perfect Timing
    Although he had multiple opportunities for career growth within the Gwinnett County school system, Flynt started thinking about pursuing a superintendent’s position a couple of years ago.

    “This was the only superintendent’s position I applied for. I applied for it because I knew of the work that had gone on in Columbia County, and I knew about the region itself,” he says. “The timing of the opening fit very well.”

    Between his coaching duties and the high school lacrosse careers of the two oldest of his three daughters, Jessica and Emily, he was familiar with Columbia County through athletics. He and his family had traveled here to compete against the school district’s sports teams.

    While this is his first full academic year in the position, he officially started his new job on April 1. He eased into the post by coming to the district three days each in February and March to attend budget meetings and to meet school principals and administrators.

    “You learn a lot about an organization when you see where the money is spent,” says Flynt. “The first couple of weeks were devoted to relationships, and I will keep focusing on building relationships both internally in the district and externally in the community.”

    His immediate focus includes studying data, identifying areas to work with individuals, learning about what has happened in the past and looking at growth and facility needs.

    “Facility needs are something that every school system needs whether they’re growing or not,” he says.

    Getting back on track after the coronavirus pandemic is a priority as well.

    “During the global pandemic and learning from home, and then coming back to in-person school, we’ve seen the importance of our teachers and that in-person connection. Students achieve more when they have that close relationship with individual teachers,” says Flynt. “It wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t perfect in any district, but we were able to adjust pretty quickly. We saw how dynamic we could be.”

    However, there still is work to do to recover from the last 17 months by striking the right balance between students’ needs.

    “I think it’s incumbent on us to continue to find the things we need to learn from this,” says Flynt. “Some students were OK, and it was more challenging for others. Sometimes you have to provide remedial education, but you also have to provide some acceleration.”

    He believes the similarities between the Columbia County and Gwinnett County school systems will serve him well.

    “Any time you’re coming from the outside, you have a different perspective. I was in Gwinnett County when we grew extremely fast, and there has been a lot of growth in Columbia County and the region. All of the opportunities here remind me of Gwinnett,” Flynt says. “We always need to look for what we can improve on. I think we’re poised to make the changes necessary, but not move too quickly.”

    Change of Scenery
    When he’s not on the job, he enjoys the outdoors. In fact, the Flynt family lived on a Gwinnett County farm from 1995 until about two years ago.

    “We’ve always lived on acreage,” says Flynt. “We enjoyed the animals and the land. You learn a lot when you work around animals. We had goats, donkeys and horses. We built fences and barns. All of us learned how to drive a tractor.”

    They gave up farm life after their two older daughters went to college, where they still play lacrosse. “We didn’t have as much help then,” he says.

    The Flynts and their youngest daughter, Sarah, a freshman at Lakeside High School, have settled in Evans, and the superintendent is enjoying getting to know his new community.

    “I knew this was a great place, but it has been reinforced time and time again. I feel fortunate to be here,” he says. “I’m looking forward to being part of the community, not just an employee of the school district. I have an open-door policy, and I hope people will reach out to me.”

    By Betsy Gilliland

  • Stroke of Luck

    Stroke of Luck

    Photos courtesy of Paul Lester

    Being in the right place at the right time (along with considerable talent) has given an Evans photographer the good fortune of building a successful career on the links and behind the lens.

    There’s nothing that Evans resident Paul Lester enjoys more than making a good golf shot. Sure, it’s nice to do it with a club in hand. But with a camera? Even better.

    For 50 years, Lester has photographed the world’s best golfers at tournaments, pro-ams, charity events and after-hours parties. He always has been happy to share his work with the subjects of his photographs. He also has compiled some of his favorite shots from years past in a book, Beyond the Fairway, so the rest of us can get a glimpse inside his world as well.

    “I wanted it to be a book of older photos. I didn’t want any from nowadays,” Lester says. “The old photos are the ones I like. I could never get those pictures again. The access I had then, nobody has now.”

    With a little help from some of his longtime friends, he put the book together in about four months. CBS sportscaster Jim Nantz, who has anchored the network’s Masters Tournament coverage since 1989, wrote the forward for the book.

    “He has a gift to make every member of his universe feel important, to bring kindness and joy to everyone he touches. . .. He was born with an enormous talent,” Nantz writes. “Through his prism, he has captured many of the most candid and glorious snapshots you’ll ever see.”

    Barbara Nicklaus wrote the introduction. “Paul’s approach is a mixture of art and documentary. Every time he picks up a camera, he discovers something new,” she writes.

    In fact, a comment she made about one of his pictures was the motivating force behind the book.

    In 1988, Lester snapped a photo of Jack Nicklaus and Ben Hogan together as Nicklaus was coming off the course at the Centennial of Golf Pro-Am in New York City. “I took that picture, and I kept it for quite a while,” Lester says.

    About 30 years later, he sent two 8×10 prints to the Nicklauses, and Barbara Nicklaus commented that she never had seen the photo – a rare shot of the two golf icons together.

    “I thought, ‘If they really like this photo, I have a lot of these kinds of photos,’” Lester says.

    Inside the Ropes
    His career started in 1970 when, three years out of high school, he went to a prep football game on a November Friday night in Woodland Hills, California. The football coach needed someone to take film footage and asked him to cover the game.

    There was just one catch – and it wasn’t on the football field. It was above it. Lester had to climb up a 50-foot pole at midfield to get footage of the entire game. Perched in a metal basket at the top of the pole, he got to work for the sum of $75.

    He must have done a good job because he became the go-to cameraman for the high school team, shooting 8-milimeter film. This was how he honed his craft, learning to shoot and frame a shot and compose a picture.

    His father, Buddy Lester, a standup comedian and actor whose film credits included the original Ocean’s 11, helped him make connections. An avid golfer, the elder Lester played in many celebrity charity events and encouraged his son to photograph the outings.

    At that time Lester was focused on the camera. As a 20-year-old with big dreams, his ambition was to work as a cameraman in the entertainment industry. Instead, though, his first job in “show business” was as a construction worker at Universal Studios. Not exactly what he had in mind.

    Taking photos at charity golf events, Lester thought there might be a better way to make a living. At the fundraisers, he photographed foursomes, which included a celebrity and his playing partners, on the tee. He charged each golfer $5 for a 5×7 print and mailed it to them.

    “I always liked golf. My dad liked golf a lot,” says Lester. “He told me to bring my camera to tournaments. I was lucky to know people who needed helpers and took over when people couldn’t do it anymore. I just learned as I went.”

    He soon found himself photographing many events in Southern California. He also got a referral to work for Golf Illustrated magazine to take pictures of pro players at the events, earning $10 a roll.

    Al Geiberger, the first professional to shoot a 59 in competition, befriended and encouraged Lester when the magazine sent him on assignment to do a story about the golfer.

    In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Lester started photographing PGA Tour events for Stan Wood, the former University of Southern California golf coach who had started his own public relations firm for the pro tour. He also started shooting for the LPGA, and he has fond memories of photographing the likes of Nancy Lopez, Patty Sheehan and Pat Bradley.

    “The LPGA is where most of us got our start,” says Lester, who still shoots LPGA events. “It was the best tour in the 1970s. The LPGA players will give you a lot more emotion. They were fantastic. They looked fantastic. They dressed fantastic.”

    However, when he started shooting the made-for-television Skins Game events in the mid-1980s, he met many key people and sponsors in the industry. An unofficial money event on the PGA Tour from 1983 to 2008, the Skins Game took place in November or December each year after the official PGA Tour season ended.

    “The top players in the world were there, and they were at the best places with the best competition,” says Lester.

    He started spending a lot of time inside the ropes, and often he was the only golf photographer at banquets for the top pros and celebrities. At the nighttime events, he met the golfers’ wives and children, and he often sent them photos.

    “I tried to be friends with them first,” says Lester. “I approached it as a friendly thing rather than as a journalistic photographer. I was part of the show. We were part of the circus that came to town for that week.”

    Secret to Success
    That friendly approach has been fruitful, and Lester says people have told him he has the right personality to be a photographer.

    “You need to know when to talk and when not to talk. You need to know when to listen,” Lester says. “I always laid back a little. I have to shoot what I see. I became more than just a photographer to these guys. I would talk about personal things to develop a personal relationship.”

    He enjoys being in the thick of the tournament action in the daytime, and he loves working at pro-ams and charity events because he can set up shots and yell out to players to “give me something.”

    “I like it when they’re laughing,” says Lester. “It shows that they’re good human beings.”

    Hall of Fame golfer Amy Alcott and Johnny Bench, Hall of Fame baseball catcher, struck a pose for him – hats on backward, of course – during a break at a Dinah Shore Winners Circle Tournament. Bench got down in his catcher’s crouch, and Alcott stood behind him like a home plate umpire.

    At a Skins Game, Fred Funk needed no prompting. Lester got a shot of him paying up on a bet that Annika Sorenstam couldn’t outdrive him. After she drove her ball past his on the fifth hole, Funk unzipped his golf bag and slipped into a pink-flowered skirt.

    A photo of John Daly, with cigarette and beer in hand at the opening party of his first Skins Game in 1991, is one of his favorites. “It’s a classic,” Lester says. “It’s vintage John Daly.”

    In another shot, Nicklaus is resting his head on Lee Trevino’s shoulder. “I knew that they knew that I was there,” says Lester.

    Riviera Country Club is one of his favorite places to shoot because he knows the venue so well, and he also enjoys photographing the Ryder Cup.

    “The emotion is just nonstop,” Lester says. “It’s a whole different deal because it’s not an individual thing. The thing is huge – the press, the parties. It is very special.”

    He tries to take photos quickly, and oftentimes he knows the shot he wants beforehand.

    “I could get the pictures that no one else can do,” he says. “Anyone in that book would do anything I asked them to do. I knew I could shoot it and light it very well, but I had the relationships.”

    From the daytime golf to the nighttime events, it’s not unusual for him to work 10-hour days.

    “I do a lot of corporate, charity and celebrity events. I enjoy them all. I’d better be pumped up and excited for every job,” says Lester, who divides his time between Evans and Los Angeles. “The people that you’re doing it for, that might be the only event they do a year.”

    He shot his first Masters in 1995. He missed the following tournament, but he has been a regular since 1997. During the Masters, Lester typically shoots private parties, where tour players and celebrities often make appearances, in the evenings. “I probably do four houses a night,” he says.

    Being in position helps him get the image he wants.

    “The secret is being ready. In golf, it’s all luck,” says Lester. “Are you at the right spot? Can you get the right angle? When you’re a still photographer, all you can hope for is that you’re there. The challenge is getting in the correct spot without getting in trouble.”

    It’s also tricky to get a shot that’s different from everyone else’s.

    “When looking through the lens and the shot is over, a lot of people pull the camera down,” says the 71-year-old Lester. “I try and leave it up as much as I can because you never know what the reaction will be. Don’t take your eyes off of the lens thinking that it’s over because you’re going to miss the shot.”

    50 Years and Counting
    Even though Lester got his start filming high school football games and occasionally shoots other sports, he has specialized in golf.

    “The people that I know are in golf,” he says. “If I shot everything, I wouldn’t have the relationships that I have with the golf community.”

    In his half-century career, he has traveled the world recording key moments and images in golf. His work has been featured in Golf Digest, Sports Illustrated and ESPN, the Magazine.

    “I’ve been so lucky to cover golf for 50 years,” Lester says.

    We’re lucky he has covered golf so well for so long, too. The book is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and beyondthefairway.square.site. To purchase any of Lester’s photos, visit paullester.zenfolio.com and click on Portfolio.

    By Betsy Gilliland

     

  • Finding His Voice

    Finding His Voice

    From performing comedy sketches to opining on the latest news, an Evans podcaster ranks No. 17 in Sweden, No. 24 in Italy and No. 81 in the U.K.

    Six months ago, Evans resident Finnish Warren knew nothing about podcasting. Minor detail. In October he launched his aptly named podcast, “You’re Not From Around Here With Finnish Warren.”

    Finnish moved to Evans from the mountains of his native Southern California in February 2020 with his wife, Jodie, and their 13-year-old son because of her job. (Irony lives. Her employer wanted his wife to spend more time in the office. You can guess how that has turned out so far.)

    “My wife said I needed to do a podcast,” says Finnish, who formerly worked in television post-production. “I had never listened to a podcast.”

    She must have been on to something. Available on Apple, Spotify, Buzzsprout and Google, the comedy variety podcast with more than 30,000 downloads has been compared to “Monty Python’s Flying Circus,” “Kids in the Hall” and “Little Britain.”

    A Taste of Home
    The comedy sketches feature goofy, recurring characters that appeal to a worldwide audience, and Finnish believes the podcast is popular in Europe because of its dry British humor. This season he is focusing on Scandinavian-centric and Canadian themes.

    “There’s a whole lot of countries in the world that are picking up the show now. I get messages from homesick people,” says Finnish, a stage name he adopted to honor his Finnish relatives. “A lot of ex-pats listen to the show. During the pandemic, they can get a little taste of home.”

    He also interviews recording artists such as Nick Camryn, the Moore Brothers, Scott Collins, Scott Milligan, Grammy nominee Angela McCluskey and classical violinist Jennifer Frautchi.

    The podcast has a cast of seven people that includes his sister, Tina Hammarström, aka Swedish Nora, and his childhood friend, Darren Reagan, a Realtor in Chicago.

    At the beginning of the year, his former co-worker, Bridget G., a political Instagram influencer, started writing and co-producing the show with him. “We went from zero sketches to six sketches a show,” Finnish says.

    He does a podcast, which lasts 40 minutes to an hour, every Friday at noon. Typically, it includes sketches, a monologue, a guest interview and music. “Nothing that we do is complex,” says Finnish.

    Calling All Nerds
    Despite the podcast’s popularity in Europe, 87% of the audience lives in the United States. “We went from 100 listeners to more than 5,000 an episode overnight,” Finnish says. “The thing about podcasts is you don’t have to listen to them live.”

    He enjoys the freedom and creativity of producing podcasts and the connection he makes with his listeners. “I’m a nerd, and every person who listens to the show is a nerd,” he says.

    And of course, Finnish, who did some standup comedy as well, loves to make people laugh. First, though, he seeks the approval of his toughest critic.

    “I get my son to listen, and if he calls it funny, it’s good to go,” he says.

    Wise man, that Finnish, who listens to his wife and son. And he would love for people, nerds or not, to lend him an ear, too. “When people who don’t know about the show give it chance, they like it,” he says.

  • A Love Story to Remember

    A Love Story to Remember

    (From left) Abigail Johnson, Abigail Jessee and Georgia Martinez share the bonds of friendship and the appreciation of a good love story. Through their businesses, they held a contest, which was open to all CSRA residents, to highlight the love stories of four local couples. The winners received a complimentary photo shoot from the business owners and the opportunity to tell their stories in Columbia County Magazine.

    As the brainchild of Abigail Jessee of Abigail Marie Creative, “A Love Story to Remember” tells the love stories of four local couples. She started her business to share people’s lives, and particularly their love stories, through photography.

    “I love a good wedding photo, but I started thinking, ‘Where are all of the other love stories?’” she says.

    Enlisting the aid of her friends, Abigail Johnson of Rosilie’s Rentals and Georgia Martinez of Georgia Miller Photography, they launched the project with a contest to showcase the love stories of local residents. The winners received a complimentary photo shoot and the opportunity to share their stories in Columbia County Magazine.

    Abigail Jessee and Georgia shared photography duties; Abigail Johnson provided vintage props for the photo shoots.

    “The best part about this process was reading all of the submissions,” says Abigail Jessee. “I was so encouraged that every story was unique its own way.”

    With her camera, Georgia loves to peek behind the scenes. “Taking part in this project was an enriching, beautiful experience for me. Although I am often photographing what is visible to the eye, I truly believe it is the story behind a photograph that gives it meaning and life,” she says. “Our love stories are timeless, unique, and they connect us all.”

    Abigail Johnson is fascinated by every detail of people’s lives. Her interest in their histories grew out of the mementoes and memories that her grandfather saved of her late grandmother, Barbara Roselie, whom she never met.

    “I’m so thankful my PaPa kept their love story alive through her things, photos and his memories. It made me realize how captivating history and memories can be,” she says. “It was through my grandparents and their epic love story that my love for all things sentimental, unique and antique really began.”

    The contest was open to all CSRA residents. Couples could nominate themselves or be nominated by someone else.

    The featured couples include an engaged pair that is getting married in May – pandemic or not, a husband and wife that finally admitted their true feelings for each other and eloped after a 12-year friendship, fun-loving empty nesters who make the most of every moment they spend together and mentor other young couples, and great-grandparents (and great dancers) who have been married for 51 years. Enjoy.

  • Coming Up Roses

    Coming Up Roses

    When you know, you know. Suzanne and Pete Adams of Appling will celebrate their 51st wedding anniversary on February 20, and it all started when she spotted him on the dance floor one night in the fall of 1969.

    “He was so good looking. He could dance,” says Suzanne. “I love to dance, and he’s still one of the best dancers I’ve ever seen.”

    She told her friends she was going to marry that guy. “They just laughed and said, ‘You don’t even know his name,’” recalls Suzanne.

    Undeterred, she told a male friend to tell Pete to ask her to dance, and he did. Suzanne invited Pete to go to breakfast with her and a group of friends the next day, but he declined. She later found out he didn’t have the money.

    Pete also had just come out of a relationship, so he was reluctant to become involved with someone else so soon.

    As fate would have it, though, both of them worked in retail stores in downtown Macon, so they still saw each other daily. Pete finally called Suzanne at work one day and asked her out. They went dancing again at a different place.

    “She was just the one for me,” he says. “She was a little more aggressive than I was at first. I’m glad she was because I fell in love with her.”

    During their courtship, Pete picked a rose and took it to Suzanne every day. “I shouldn’t have done that because they came from the garden at the town hall,” he says.

    Less than six months after they met, the couple got married in Lakeland, Florida by the justice of the peace. The ceremony cost $10, but first they went to an Army-Navy surplus store and bought two rings for $1 apiece.

    They got proper wedding rings later. However, Pete says, “That doesn’t make for a lasting marriage.” They agree that commitment and a Christ-centered relationship are the keys to a long-lasting marriage.

    “You have to give and take,” Suzanne says. “You have to be committed and love one another. It isn’t always easy roads. You have a lot of rocky roads.”

    Suzanne and Pete have six children, 17 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. And every time he looks at her, Pete is reminded of one of the things that made him fall in love with her.

    “She had the prettiest blue eyes,” he says. “She still does.”

  • Near Misses

    Near Misses

    Augusta residents Brynn Allen and Nick Woo don’t plan to let covid-19 or anything else stop them from getting married on May 8, especially after a lifetime of near misses.

    Both of them attended elementary school at St. Mary on the Hill Catholic School. Even though each grade had only two classes, they never were in the same one. Growing up, they knew lots of the same people, but not each other. “When we got older, we continued to just barely miss each other,” says Brynn. “Nick and I had so many mutual friends and were at so many of the same events together, it is almost laughable how we just kept missing each other.”

    Those circumstances finally changed after a day at Clarks Hill Lake with friends the summer before their senior year in high school — Nick at Greenbrier High School and Brynn at Davidson Fine Arts Magnet School. “I think we might have been the only two that didn’t know each other,” Brynn says.

    For their first date—which ended up being spread over two days—they sat on the dock at Savannah Rapids Pavilion and talked for hours. They had planned to get takeout food from Toki, but it didn’t work out. When they went back to the dock the next day to “finish” their date, they had Toki to-go boxes in hand.

    Once they finally started dating, they also had to overcome the challenges of a long-distance relationship. Brynn went to Georgia College & State University in Milledgeville, while Nick recently graduated from Augusta University. The separation wasn’t easy, they agree, but it allowed them space to grow as individuals.

    Nick and Brynn have been together six years, but after a few months, she knew he was the man she wanted to marry. He proposed to her in July by recreating their first date with another Toki picnic on the Savannah Rapids dock. “To pop the question, there couldn’t have been better spot to do it,” he says.

    They call communication the foundation of their relationship.

    “You need to be vulnerable with that person you care about, open up and have the hard conversations,” Nick says.

    “She pushes me to be the best I can be, and she supports me  in any endeavor.”

    In addition, they simply have fun together and enjoy each other’s company.

    “Every single year we have been together has been like a new year and a new adventure,” Brynn says.

  • Ahead in the Count

    Ahead in the Count

    The first date for Evans residents Andria and Dave Duff was a favor for friends. His roommate wanted to ask out her friend, but he didn’t have a car. Luckily Dave had a car, so the two of them tagged along.

    The guys and girls first met one night in Jackson, Mississippi. Andria, an accountant for a CPA firm, and her friends were out celebrating the end of tax season. Dave was playing minor league baseball for the Jackson Mets, but his game had been rained out.

    Both from Virginia, Andria and Dave discovered they had mutual friends.

    “He had a lot of character. He was thoughtful and serious about his future,” Andria says. “He had all of the qualities that I knew were going to be important in a long-term relationship. He also was super cute. He looked really good in his uniform.”

    Dave proposed after nine months of dating, but he knew after six months that he wanted to marry Andria.

    “She was cute and sweet and smart and funny,” he says. “She has a great sense of humor, and she always wants to have fun. She’s a great person with priorities and values.”

    The Duffs have three grown sons, and they led a middle school Bible study when their boys were growing up. Now, they mentor some of those same children as young married couples at Trinity on the Hill United Methodist Church.

    “We feel like people have passed on good skills to us,” Andria says, “and we want to make a difference for other young couples.”

    Dave agrees. “We feel a real calling to help young people with marriage,” he says. “The institution of marriage is so important to our society.”

    The empty nesters also value their time together.

    “I love that I get a part of Dave that nobody else ever sees,” says Andria. “I love that he’s so loyal and trustworthy – and that’s with everybody, not just me.”

    They love to travel, and dinner is their favorite time of day.

    “We’ve always had a date night no matter how busy we were raising kids or building careers,” Dave says. “Our relationship has always been the priority. It’s the most important one. We always try to put something on the calendar to look forward to.”

    As for the Duffs’ friends from that first double date, their relationship lasted about two weeks.

    Thirty-seven years later, though, the “tagalong” couple is still in extra innings.

     

  • Covid & Campus Life

    Covid & Campus Life

    Four university freshmen from Columbia County share their experiences of going off to college during the coronavirus pandemic.

    The first year of college can be a time of excitement, anticipation, adventure, challenge, trepidation, self-discovery and personal growth all at once.

    For the college Class of 2024, however, the worldwide coronavirus pandemic added one more layer to these students’ introduction to campus life. Not only did they have to finish their senior year of high school online. They also had to start their freshman year of college amid the uncertainty, rules and regulations of the pandemic.

    These freshmen approached their first semester with strength and resilience, however, to make the most of their college experience. If life as we once knew it hasn’t returned by the end of their freshman year, here’s hoping they can start their sophomore year under more normal circumstances.

    In this Q&A, which has been edited for space and clarity, they described what life on campus was like during their first semester of college.

    Sara Blake Tully
    Augusta University freshman, business major

    Did covid influence where you decided to go to college?
    Covid didn’t affect my decision to go to AU. I want to transfer to UGA next year, but with everything being so crazy, I’m glad I decided to stay home and live at my parents’ house.

    What kind of rules or restrictions did you have to follow on campus because of covid?
    We had to wear masks in every building we went in. If we were walking outside, we could bring our masks down. The majority of time that I was on campus, I had to have my mask on.

    In the classrooms, the chairs and desks and tables were set up six feet apart. There were a lot less people in class than usual. At the food court, we had to stand in line six feet apart. We had tables, but only a limited number of people could sit at each table.

    What happened when someone tested positive for covid-19? And did you have to isolate or quarantine for any reason?
    I am not quite sure what would happen if a student tests positive for covid-19, but I did not have to quarantine or isolate for any reason.

    Were your classes online or in-person?
    I had two online classes and two in-person classes. I went to campus every morning. I took biology and history online, and public speaking and pre-calculus in-person. For biology, we got handouts to answer questions that went along with videos.

    Did finishing high school online help you adjust to online classes in college?
    It kind of helped. When we first went online in high school, no one knew what to do at first. It’s different now. Teachers are better at doing online lectures and working with all of the technology. 

    Have you had to adjust your learning style because of online classes?
    Online learning for me is a lot harder than in-person because I can’t grasp the information as well. I had to study more and change my focus. It was all on school. I was juggling two things at once with online and in-person classes.

    What were you most looking forward to about going to college?
    Getting a fresh start, being more independent and meeting new people.

    What was reality like?
    It was very isolated because of the masks. It wasn’t as personable. You couldn’t meet people in class. You couldn’t really talk because of the masks. It made things a little lonelier since most of my friends went off to school. Corona didn’t make it any easier.

    I rushed, though, and joined a sorority – ADPi. It was supposed to be in-person, but we did it over Zoom. It was awkward because you’re talking over a computer screen. Sometimes there were awkward silences because of the internet connection.

    We had chapter meetings over Zoom, but we did some sisterhood events. We wore masks for them. We had to have a limited number of people at the events, but I could still hang out with some of the girls. We did things outside. We would go to a park or have a picnic. We social distanced.

    How do you date during covid?
    (laughing) You don’t. it’s really difficult to do that.

    What has been the biggest disappointment or challenge about going to college during covid?
    It’s not getting the full college experience. I still went to campus, which I loved. But it was not the same because there was hardly anyone there.

    Was anything better than you expected?
    Deciding to stay home for school has been better than I thought. It’s been nice living at home. It’s been a good stress reliever from school.

    Ten, 15 or 20 years from now, how will you look back on this experience?
    I’ll definitely have many stories I can tell my kids. And it has been character building. I had to learn how to interact with people and teachers differently. I have learned not to take anything for granted. I know everyone wants to go back to how life was before corona.

    Bryant Thomas
    Clemson University freshman, pre-business major

    Did covid influence where you decided to go to college?
    No. My dad went to Clemson, so I’ve always wanted to go to Clemson.

    Where are you living this year?
    In a dorm with my roommate. We can only have a limited amount of other people in our dorm. And when they come in, they have to wear a mask. We don’t have any rules with our roommate because we’re around each other so much. But if we have other people in, they have to wear a mask.

    What kind of rules or restrictions did you have to follow on campus because of covid?Any building you went into, you had to be wearing a mask. When you were outside, if social distancing couldn’t be guaranteed, you had to wear a mask. You had to make appointments to go into the campus gym or the library.

    There weren’t as many dining options. Some of the dining halls were closed because of covid, and there were a lot less food options than there normally would be. For football games, they didn’t give out as many tickets to students, and there was social distancing. I didn’t get to go to any games.

    What happened when someone tested positive for covid-19? And did you have to isolate or quarantine for any reason?
    Anyone who tested positive for covid-19 at Clemson had to enter 10-day isolation, and his or her roommate had to enter 14-day quarantine, even if they tested negative. I did have to isolate around the beginning of October because I tested positive for covid-19. I had a fever and body aches for about three days, and then a cough and a sore throat for about a week.

    Were your classes online or in-person?
    Most of them were online. For some, I only went in-person on certain days of the week. I had an economics and a geology class that were all online. My sociology, math and business classes and an entrepreneurial elective were online and in-person. The professors posted video lectures.

    How did taking classes online work with a roommate?
    We just ignored each other, I guess. 

    Did finishing high school online help you adjust to online classes in college?
    It helped. It was still kind of frustrating, though, having to sit in your dorm all day.

    Have you had to adjust your learning style because of online classes?
    I think of myself as more of a hands-on learner, and that’s just difficult to do through Zoom. I’ve had to switch to a more visual, auditory learning style.

    What were you looking forward to most about going to college?
    I was looking forward to being independent, living on my own and making new friends. That’s been a lot harder this year because of covid, but I still found ways to meet new people by getting involved in campus organizations and through my dorm.

    I didn’t join a fraternity. I might next semester, but I’m not sure. Because of covid, we’re all hesitant. They can’t really do many events. We would have to go through rush on Zoom. But everyone here is sick of Zoom calls because that’s what we do for most of our classes.

    How do you date during covid?
    As long as you keep your group small, there isn’t really any problem. And a lot of the businesses and restaurants are still open.

    What has been the biggest disappointment or challenge about going to college during covid?
    I guess not really being able to go out and do anything. There are, of course, restrictions on gatherings or parties. I only saw a few situations where big groups got busted up. It was frustrating that we couldn’t have people in the dorm or go to class in person.

    Was anything better than you expected?
    Despite all of the covid, I think the university tried really hard to make this semester as normal as it could be. By not sending us home when our cases went up, that made it easier to go out and make new friends.

    Ten, 15 or 20 years from now, how will you look back on this experience?
    It’s like being part of history. I think a lot of things are going to change even after covid goes away. If I can live through this, I can make it through anything.

    Sanders Hackett
    University of Georgia freshman, civil engineering major

    Did covid influence where you decided to go to college?
    No. I told my mom when I was 4 or 5 years old that I wanted to go to UGA, and that’s what I worked for all throughout school. When I got accepted – worldwide pandemic or not – I wanted to go to UGA.

    What kind of rules or restrictions did you have to follow on campus because of covid?
    At UGA, the rules are pretty strict. Anytime you’re inside any sort of building, even at the gym, you have to have a mask on. Everywhere is marked off with little dots six feet apart. Anywhere you go, there’s always hand sanitizer and wipes. If you touch something that other people may touch, you wipe it down afterward.

    In the dorm, it’s you and your roommate. Other than that, there are no visitors and no guests. Not even people from your own hall are supposed to be in your room.

    The meal plan and the dining halls have been one of the biggest changes. When we started school, it was takeout only and the options were limited. The lines were long. Some people dropped their meal plan, but I didn’t.

    I give UGA a lot of credit for asking students what they could do to better serve us. It became a more efficient process, and there were some dine-in options. The food variety got much better.

    What happened when someone tested positive for covid-19? And did you have to isolate or quarantine for any reason?
    When someone tested positive at UGA, they were immediately sent to isolation in a specifically designed dorm for people who test positive for covid-19. They were then given the option to go home or to stay in the isolation dorm. However, they were not allowed to return to campus for a minimum of 14 days after a positive test. This proved to be extremely effective in getting those who tested positive out of the general student body and allowing them to return to full health. I have not had to quarantine or isolate for any reason yet. I been extremely blessed and fortunate that I have been able to stay healthy.

    Were your classes online or in person?
    I had two classes that met in-person once a week and one that met in-person every other week. The other two were online. Calculus and world geography were online. I took two different introductory engineering courses. One met in-person once a week, and the other one met in-person every other week. My public speaking class met in-person once a week.

    How did taking classes online work with a roommate?
    That was one of several struggles we had. Luckily for us, we only had one class at the same time. We usually weren’t trying to do Zoom classes at the same time. It was a lot of headphones in and “please be quiet” from the other side of the room.

    Did finishing high school online help you adjust to online classes in college?

    As terrible as it is and was – yes. The way that we had to end high school in an online forum, it did help with the transition to online classes in college. For me, it helped with time management for online classes. You don’t have to go to class every single time it meets, but there are still deadlines for quizzes, tests and other assignments.

    Have you had to adjust your learning style because of online classes?
    Yes. I like being in-person and having that interaction with the teachers. I like being able to ask questions or go up to them after class.

    What were you looking forward to most about going to college?
    I envisioned I would be living out my dream and participating in some of the great things Athens has to offer – dorm life, going to football games and making new friends. I have been able to do some of that, but not on a large scale.

    I have gotten involved in Greek life. I joined Theta Chi, and we were able to have some small events as long as we followed all of the state rules and school rules and regulations.

    But with covid, I knew that the social aspect was going to be hard. I had prepared myself for this and for the challenge of earning a degree.

    I also am employed part-time at RW Allen as an intern in project management and estimating. I carried that piece of home with me, but we have limited in-person interaction.

    How did you go through rush?
    It was a lot different. There were not any big events. When we did the house tours, everybody had to wear their masks. Only a limited number of people could be in a house at one time. We had to social distance for everything. 

    How did covid affect your social life?
    It tore apart my social life. I am an extremely, extremely social person. I haven’t had some of the social gatherings I thought I would have when I came to college. It has affected going on trips.

    I have only been to two football games, and it was very, very different. I’ve been to UGA games all my life. I’m used to being there with 100,000 people. It’s usually loud with lots of energy. It’s hard to recreate that same experience with only around 20,000 people there.

    How do you date during covid?
    It’s tough. I’m not going to lie. My roommate has a girlfriend, but they have been dating a long time. You can’t date traditionally. There are not as many opportunities to go out to eat or go to a football game. There are limited social opportunities right now.

    What has been the biggest disappointment or challenge about going to college during covid?
    For me, I’m a very social person. There have not been very many social events or as many social gatherings as we would normally have. It’s been nothing like what I used to hear about from my other friends or when I would visit. That has been the hardest aspect for me.

    Has anything been better than you expected?
    The bathrooms in my dorm. Friends had told me the bathrooms are awful. I’m not saying they’re nice, but they are not as awful as everyone made them out to be.

    Ten, 15 or 20 years from now, how will you look back on this experience?
    That’s a tough question. Looking back on it, I hope I’ll be able to say I made the best out of the situation. I want to be able to say I had a good, positive freshman year, but I also followed the rules and regulations that are in place.

    Everybody here understands that we all want to have a good time, and we all want to be able to have the normal freshman experience. But we’re not able to do that right now. The only way to get back to normal is to follow the guidelines and rules from the government and the school.

    Grace O’Neal
    Georgia Southern University freshman, nursing major

    Did covid influence where you decided to go to college?
    Not really. It hasn’t made me change my mind about my major, either. Not yet, anyway.

     What kind of rules or restrictions did you have to follow on campus because of covid?
    We always had to wear a mask on campus and in class or when we went in any building. We were not allowed to have any visitors in our dorms. We had limited capacity in our classrooms, and it was optional for us to go to class in-person. If we were uncomfortable, we could go on Zoom for our classes.

    What happened when someone tested positive for covid-19? And did you have to isolate or quarantine for any reason?
    We have an online Georgia Southern portal with a CARES (Covid-19 Answers Resources Evaluation and Self-reporting) Center, where we were supposed to report our sickness and let our professors know. The dining hall had to-go boxes, and you were allowed to get two of them. So, if your roommate was sick, you could get one for them.

    For the first couple of weeks of school, most of the people I know had covid, including me and my roommate. We had it at the same time. It wasn’t that bad. The only thing that happened to me was I lost my taste and smell, but we couldn’t do anything then.

    Were your classes online or in-person?
    I had three classes in-person – universal justice, government and English. One was only half a semester, though. I took chemistry and a first-year experience class that all freshmen have to take online.

    How did taking classes online work with a roommate?
    In our dorm, we each have our own room. I could sit in my room and shut the door.

    Did finishing high school online help you adjust to online classes in college?
    To a certain extent. It made me realize that I had to wake up every day and see what I had to do. At the end of our senior year in high school, they were pushing us across the finish line. It has been a lot harder in college, though. The load of work is definitely a lot more, and it’s a lot more difficult.

    Have you had to adjust your learning style because of online classes?
    I definitely have had to adjust my learning style due to online classes. I’ve had to get used to emailing my professors often with questions and figuring out a lot of things on my own by googling videos to explain topics I don’t understand.

    What were you looking forward to most about going to college?
    I was really excited to get away from home, branch out and meet new people, and live on my own. I have been surrounded by the same people my whole life.

    What was reality like?
    At first it was super difficult because of covid. I didn’t get to meet as many people as I thought. Over time, things got better, and I met new people. I’m in a sorority, but we weren’t getting to do anything at first. Later we could do more activities, but we had to have our masks on.

    I joined ADPi, and we did rush on Zoom calls the whole week. We had a different Zoom call for each sorority every day.

    How do you date during covid?
    I have a boyfriend, so I’ll go to his house and hang out there and eat dinner there. Most of the restaurants in town are still open, so we can go out to eat.

    What has been the biggest disappointment or challenge about going to college during covid?For me, I wanted to rush, and I was really excited about the things we would get to do with our sorority. But we haven’t been able to do much. And my parents can’t really come to visit me.

    Has anything been better than you expected?
    The number of friends I have been able to make has been better than I expected. I wasn’t sure I would be able to meet new friends at first.

    Ten, 15 or 20 years from now, how will you look back on this experience?
    It’s definitely going to be something I’ll remember. I’m glad I’ll have this story to tell that I was a freshman in college and a senior in high school during covid. Those are two really big years, and covid has altered them.

  • Happy 250th

    Happy 250th

    It’s hard to imagine how anyone would look on their 250th birthday, but German composer and pianist Ludwig van Beethoven will sound exquisite as Augusta Symphony celebrates the 250th anniversary of his birth with its concert, Beethoven @ 250, on Saturday, January 9 at Miller Theater.

    As one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music, Beethoven composed pieces that rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire.

    The Augusta Symphony performance will feature Beethoven’s The Creatures of Prometheus Overture, Piano Concerto No. 1 and Symphony No. 3, “Eroica.”

    Under the baton of Dirk Meyer, musical director, the concert will include Gilles Vonsattel on the piano. The event will feature a smaller orchestra, limited audience capacity, physical distancing and no intermission.

    Symphony Series subscribers will have three opportunities to hear the concert. They can attend the dress rehearsal at 2 p.m., the concert at 7:30 p.m. or livestream the event.

    The cost to livestream is $10 per household, and the link to watch the concert will be emailed three days before the performance.

    For more information, visit augustasymphony.com.

  • ‘The Language of the Heart’

    ‘The Language of the Heart’

    Photography by Sally Kolar

    A Jones Creek couple celebrates the spirit of the season with string instruments, song and the occasional surprise at their annual Christmas party.
    When people move from one city to another, it’s customary to pack up their belongings and bring them to their new place. Then there are Evans residents Monica and Paul Dainer.

    Each time they have moved through the years, they have taken their annual Christmas party, featuring live music, with them. Last year the Dainers, who live in Jones Creek, held their 38th annual party.

    “It’s something we’ve always done,” says Monica. “It always comes together.”

    Unfortunately, they had to change their tune this year and cancel the party because of the coronavirus pandemic. However, they still might find a way to strike the right note for the times.

    “We’re so disappointed that we can’t have the party, but we may do something virtually,” says Paul. “And we hope to have the party again next year.”

    Traveling Show
    Paul started the Christmas party tradition in the late 1970s when he was single, serving in the U.S. Navy and stationed in San Diego. In 1979 Paul, a hematologist and oncologist at Georgia Cancer Center, was transferred to the naval hospital in Charleston, South Carolina, where he first met Monica and told her about the party.

    “I thought it sounded like a lot of fun to celebrate the season with live music,” she says.

    Paul, who also played viola for the Charleston Symphony, enlisted some of his symphony colleagues and the organist/pianist from St. John’s Lutheran Church to play with him at the party. He also had bought a new baby grand piano just in time for the occasion, so he couldn’t let that purchase go to waste.

    He made an even better family addition when he and Monica married shortly after the second party.

    They took their party with them when they moved to Bethesda, Maryland and Jacksonville, Florida, where Paul played in their symphonies.

    In Maryland, Monica says, “We attracted musicians from local orchestras and had already begun adding vocalists to the parties.”

    They held two parties in Jacksonville with fellow members of the Jacksonville Symphony and other local musicians. “The first chair of the second violins delayed her Christmas vacation a day just to play first violin in a piano quintet with us,” Monica says.

    From Jacksonville, the Dainers moved to Greenville, North Carolina, where their daughters, Erin and Caroline, started singing and performing on the piano and violin, respectively, during the four parties they had there. Monica began singing at the parties as well.

    The Dainers settled in Evans in 1992, and they started hosting their annual Christmas party here the following year. Until this December, they had skipped the party only three times – the years they moved to Evans and Greenville and in 2009 when they had to cancel it after Paul had an accident a couple of days before the event. In 1982, the party was subdued after Monica had a miscarriage the night before and a heavy snow fell on the day of the party.

    “We couldn’t reach everyone to cancel the event. In spite of the snow, a few people arrived, only about 10. We couldn’t turn them away,” Monica says. “It was a quieter and somewhat somber evening. However, we did manage to sing some favorite Christmas carols.”

    Strings Attached
    The black tie-optional party is a Christmas highlight for many of the Dainers’ friends, and the guest list has grown through the years.

    “We started out with about 30 guests and have increased to over 70. We never know who will come because many of our friends have family commitments or have travel plans formulated months before the invitations have been sent,” says Monica.

    Several years ago, more than 100 guests attended the party during a three- or four-hour time period. Some people stay for the entire evening; others drop in.

    No wonder the party, which includes Christmas, religious, classical and popular music, is one that people don’t want to miss. With their ties to the local arts community, the Dainers can invite any number of talented musicians and vocalists to perform.

    Paul, who plays viola for Aiken Civic Orchestra (and played with Augusta Symphony for 15 years) has enlisted many of his fellow musicians to appear at their parties.

    Monica, a former nurse who now presents programs at the USC Aiken DuPont Planetarium, also has been active with Augusta Players as a performer and board member. “Through my connections with that organization, we have invited a number of very talented singers over the years,” she says. “And we always like to invite children and young people as guests and performers.”

    Last year, for instance, Laura Doss, organist at Christ Church, Presbyterian and accompanist for Augusta Youth Chorale, played the piano and was accompanied by her three sons (ages 15, 10 and 9 at the time) on the violin and cello. The played “Good Christian Men, Rejoice” and “See Amid the Winter‘s Snow,” both arranged by Kristen Campbell.

    Other performances included a piano solo by Moscow native and Columbus State University adjunct faculty member Ksenia Kurenysheva, who also accompanied Taiwan native Sho Ane Seaton as she sang the arias “Ombra Mai Fu” by Handel and “O Mio Babbino Caro” by Puccini.

    Melissa Schultz, a voice and piano teacher who has performed throughout the United States and Canada, sang “Gesu Bambino” by Pietro Yon and Mozart’s “Laudate Dominum (k.339).” Members of the Christ the King Lutheran Church choir sang “O Little Town of Bethlehem.”

    Mark Dickens, who has played the piano and organ in many area churches, and Stacy Reynolds, who has played piano for local musical theater groups and contemporary Christian music for churches for decades, also played the piano at last year’s party.

    The Dainers pulled double duty as hosts and entertainers for the festivities. Monica sang with her choir from Christ the King, and she sang an Austrian Christmas carol, “Es wird scho glei dumpa,” with their daughter, Caroline Dainer Osburn, in Austrian-German dialect. Paul played the viola both as a soloist and in a chamber group.

    He played Hoffmeister’s “Viola Concerto in D major”, third movement (Rondo) with Mark Dickens on piano. He performed “String Quintet No.4 in G Minor” (k.516) by Mozart with Adam and Andrew DePriest on violin, Janis Krauss on viola and Robert Gibson on cello.

    He also played the fourth movement (Minuet) by Dittersdorf, a duet for a viola and string bass, with Adam DePriest. Finally, Paul played Christmas carols, arranged by Stan Pylant for three violas and the audience, with Stan and with Carl Purdy.

    The program offered plenty of levity as well. Steven Hansen – a local actor, Greenbrier High School music and theater teacher, and Christ the King choir director – brought some fun to the occasion by singing “We Need a Little Christmas” and “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch.”

    Tyler Cook, a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance graduate of Augusta University who has won numerous state, regional and national musical theater competitions, sang the Christmas folk song, “River,” by Joni Mitchell and James Taylor, and “She Used to Be Mine” from the musical, Waitress.

    Rabbi David Sirull of Adas Yeshurun Synagogue in Augusta, another performer at last year’s party, received classical training in the art of Eastern European Chazanut and Yiddish folk music. However, he sang several “redneck” songs from his collection, some of which can be found on YouTube.

    The guests got into the act as well. After the scheduled performances, they joined in singing Christmas carols.

    Expect the Unexpected
    The Dainers never know what to expect at their party, except that it will be one for the ages – all ages, in fact. Last year, three babies were in attendance, which Monica says is unusual.

    “They ranged in age from 5 weeks to 8 months, and they were perfect angels. We never heard them cry,” says Monica. “I guess they were mesmerized by the music.”

    One year Paul’s 93-year-old father came to the party shortly after losing his wife. However, the music lifted his spirits. “He even was inspired to play some familiar songs on our piano as the party concluded,” Monica says.

    On occasion, the Dainers have been surprised by the people they have found on their front porch. About 15 years ago, the doorbell rang during the party and they opened the door to a group of about eight college students singing Christmas carols. Naturally, the Dainers invited them inside to sing.

    The couple loves to share the joy of the holiday season, and some aspects of the evening are entirely predictable. For instance, fellowship with good friends and good food from Silver Palm Catering Company – plus sweets, cookies, cakes and other treats made by Monica – are the perfect accompaniments to the party.

    Still, the music is the star of the evening.

    “Music transcends spoken language and has the power to bring people from diverse backgrounds together,” says Caroline. “You don’t have to sing or play an instrument to understand this language, because music is the language of the heart.”

    By Sarah James


     

  • Programming Note

    Programming Note

    Augusta Symphony’s Holiday Pops! concert will take a different form from holidays past.
    The holidays certainly may look out of the ordinary this year. However, if Augusta Symphony has anything to say – or play – about it, the holidays won’t sound any different.

    This season the annual Holiday Pops! concert will be digital.

    The first concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, December 3. The performances will be available until Sunday, December 27, and the video production can be watched on demand.

    The symphony will play perennial favorites such as Winter Wonderland, Let It Snow, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, The Nutcracker Suite, Sounds of Hanukkah and Sleigh Ride.

    Tickets are $10 per household, and they will be emailed three days before the concert. Subscribers to the 2020-21 season will have access to the performance as part of their subscription.

    So dress up, or dress down. Just don’t miss the chance to enjoy these classic holiday songs.