USELESS INFORMATION
•Vultures have excellent eyesight, but, like most other birds, they have poor vision in the dark. “The Turkey Vulture Society.”
•Conscience is a still small voice that makes minority reports.
•The dance known as the foxtrot was invented by Harry Fox in 1914.
•William Jefferson Clinton and Richard Milhouse Nixon are the only two presidents of the United States whose names contain all the letters needed to spell out the word “criminal.”
•Alphonse Capone (Al) had a business card that described him as a used furniture dealer.
•None of the numbers from one to ninety-nine contains the letter A.
IMPORTANT FEBRUARY EVENTS
•George Washington was born February 22, 1732; Abraham Lincoln was born February 12, 1809; William Henry Harrison, ninth President of the United States was born February 9, 1773.
•Valentine’s Day is February 14
•Virginia and Tom Echols have been married for 64 years. They married in Atlanta on February 17, 1951 and had a business there before retiring and moving to Lawrenceville. Virginia and Tom are the parents of two grown children.
•Marie and Larry Talbert have been married for 52 years. Their wedding took place in Martinsville, Virginia and they now live in Lawrenceville where they worked in their insurance business. Larry and Marie are the parents of four children.
•Elsa and Bill Zierten celebrated their 56th Wedding Anniversary on January 17, 2015. They were married in Racine, Wisconsin in 1959. Elsa and Bill live in Lawrenceville.
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CURRENT EVENTS
CONGRATULATIONS TO MARY ANNA BRYAN the recipient of the Ferrol Sams Award for fiction. This award is presented by Mercer University Press to the best manuscript speaking to the human condition in a Southern context. Winners of this prestigious award are announced each December. The award was named in honor of Fayetteville, Georgia native Ferrol Sams who was a medical doctor and a graduate of Mercer University. Ferrol Sams was the author of Run With the Horseman and seven other novels. The book written by Mary Anna Bryan is “Cardinal Hill” and it will be available in 2016. “Cardinal Hill” tells a fictional story of a girl who grew up during the 1930’s and 1940’s.
•The Lewis Family team from Loganville played a good game on the TV show Family Feud” in December.
LAWRENCEVILLE BUSINESS WOMAN LINN NGUYEN owner of Star Cuts on Highway 29 in Lawrenceville. Linn came to this country from Viet Nam and has been a beauty operator for 24 years. She has owned Star Cuts for 12 years. Linn has two sons, one is a senior at the Math/Science Technology School and the second son is an eighth grader at North Brook Middle
GWINNETT NATIVE JOE PARKS’
Memorial service was held on January 24, 2015. Joe was a real Lawrenceville native, born in a house on Maltbie Street in Lawrenceville. Joe’s parents were Joe Emory Parks and Liller Mae Campbell Parks. When Joe was a child his family moved to the Pennell Jackson farm off Highway 120 and Joe attended school at Jackson Academy on the farm. After the family relocated again he attended Duluth High School. Joe served in the army during WII and his unit was scheduled to leave for Japan when they received the news that the A Bomb had been dropped on Hiroshima so the unit did not leave the US. Joe and Nell Green were married on January 28, 1949 and they had four children—Samuel Michael, Charlotte Ann, Joe and Jason. Joe worked for General Motors for 42 years and while working at GM Joe had several sideline jobs. Joe also volunteered with the Lawrenceville Fire Department. Many years ago Joe and Nell had a child graduate from college, one from high school and one from kindergarten the same year. Joe and Nell joined the Lawrenceville First Baptist Church in 1955 and they both held volunteer jobs at the church where Joe’s Memorial Service was held.
LIEUTENANT COLONEL SAMUEL ALLEN MARTIN, JR., USAF
His friends called him Sam and he was a native of Lawrenceville and one of the first men in the county to fly an airplane. We all admired Sam and his wife, Elaine Sims Martin. Sam graduated from Lawrenceville High School, North Georgia College then attended Aviation Training with the Army Air Corps in 1943. Sam flew 72 and one half combat missions during WWII and his P-47 fighter aircraft was hit by enemy fire north of Bologna, Italy on June 29, 1944. Sam was able to land the plane without injury but he was captured by German troops. Sam was a Prisoner of War near Berlin then he marched over 100 miles with fellow prisoners. After the long march Sam and his fellow prisoners were held in a camp near Munich and they were freed by General George Patton’s Third Army in May 1945. Sam returned to Lawrenceville and was recalled to active duty in December 1950 and stationed in Casablanca, Morocco until 1953. He served at Dobbins Air Force Base from 1953 until 1958 then in 1960 Sam moved his family to Tachikawa Air Base in Japan where he was Commander of the 5th Communications Squad, 315th Air Division. The family returned to Vandenburg Air Force Base, CA before Sam was called to Vietnam where he flew C-119 transport planes at night to support the Army outposts under attack.
Lt. Colonel Samuel A. Martin retired on October 31, 1973 after 30 years of distinguished service to the Armed Forces and to his country. Sam earned the Distinguished Flying Cross, an Air Medal with Eight Oak Leaf Clusters and many other military awards.
The memorial service honoring the life of Lieutenant Colonel Samuel Allen Martin, Jr. was held on December 29th at the First United Methodist Church of Lawrenceville. Sam is survived by his wife Elaine and his sons Samuel Allen Martin, Jr. and his wife Jessica Corinne Martin of Naples, Florida; William Joseph Martin and his wife Chan Hilary Martin; granddaughters Elaine Mercedes “Lainey” Martin and Elizabeth Anna “Ellli” Martin of Lawrenceville, GA.
