My next two columns will focus on two “W’s” in Georgia: Warner Robins, south of Macon; and “The Wren’s Nest,” in Atlanta’s West End neighborhood. Both are very interesting places, with unique stories to tell.
I have been to Warner Robins twice. It is a good-sized city of some 80,000 souls, primarily centered around the Warner Robins Air Force Base, the major area employer. And, like Hinesville and Richmond Hill, many military folks who retire make their homes there, and add their many talents and energies to the community.
Macon and Warner Robins were just outside our “customer zone,” when I worked in my family’s wholesale hardware business, although we had many customers just east and south of there. That was most likely because the area salesmen who lived in and worked their territories just did not have time go outside those areas and service potential customers in those two towns.
The first time I visited Warner Robins was a weekend a dozen or so years ago, when my wife --a proud graduate of Wesleyan College in Macon -- went back for a class reunion; and I went along to enjoy the ride and visit area attractions. While she was in reunion sessions that Saturday, I joined a spousal bus ride to Warner Robins to take in their Aviation Museum, which I had never heard of, at that point.
What a treat that was! I had been to the Smithsonian’s “Air & Space Museum” in Washington, DC, several years earlier, and was duly overwhelmed by all the aircraft on display – some hanging from the ceiling – including an actual space capsule that our astronauts had traveled in!
The Warner Robins Aviation Museum was equally impressive, both as to the size of the exhibits, and to the various aircraft “hanging from their ceilings.” (Just no space capsules.) I had no idea, when I got on that bus that morning at Wesleyan College, that my day would turn out to be so interesting. If you ever have a chance to visit that museum, you should.
The second time I visited Warner Robins was several years later. My wife and I are both long-time members of Rotary Club, the world’s largest service organization. Rotary clubs in Georgia have had a unique, long-standing program, after WWII, of sponsoring students from across the world for a year here at area colleges and universities, on “Ambassadorial Scholarships.”
The premise is to give future leaders a chance to come here and study for a year, get to know us and us to know them, in hopes of building better ties between our countries. Over the years since 1946, some 3,500 students have come through this program, many of whom make lifelong friendships, both among themselves, and also with their Rotary friends Stateside.
My wife and I have been privileged to get to know a number of these students. Some of them have attended Armstrong State University in Savannah, others have gone to Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, Valdosta State University, and the Coastal College in Brunswick, among others. A wide range of students, literally from all across the globe. Some of whom we are still in contact with, years later.
One such student was here from Sweden, several years ago, and attended Wesleyan College in Macon, courtesy of the Macon-area Rotary Clubs. When my wife found that out, we made a point to visit her when we were in town, and took her to area attractions we knew about that she would never have had the chance to see, otherwise.
It turned out that her Rotary Trustee was a retired Lt. Colonel who lived in Warner Robins, and was later named to serve as an incoming District Governor for Rotary District 6920 (clubs in the eastern third of Georgia). We happened to meet him, quite by chance, at a hotel in Dublin, GA, the night before a Rotary District Assembly there, and discovered in conversation that the student from Sweden we were taking on an area trip the next day, would be spending the rest of the weekend with him and his wife!
We were both surprised. And glad for the opportunity to meet. Our student was equally surprised, when we picked her up the next morning, for the day trip to area attractions we had planned.
We still hear from Hannah, now back in university in Stockholm. She enjoyed that trip we took her on, to nearby High Falls State Park and the little mill town of Juliette, site of the movie, “Fried Green Tomatoes.” We had planned on having lunch at the “Whistlestop Café” there. But the wait was too long, so we came back to Macon and got lunch there instead, before taking her to Warner Robins for the rest of her weekend.
Rotary has opened many doors for us. Warner Robins was one of them.
Rafe Semmes is a proud graduate of (“the original”) Savannah High School and the University of Georgia. He and his wife are both longtime Rotarians, and live in rural eastern Liberty County with their various orphan felines. He writes on a variety of topics, and may be reached at rafe_semmes@ yahoo. com.