By Michael W. Pannell - Sun News correspondent
City of residence: Warner Robins
Occupation: Co-founder of Warner Robins Heritage Society; program manager for Stover and Associates
QUESTION: What is the Warner Robins Heritage Society?
ANSWER: Our motto is “Anchor the future by honoring our past,” and that says what we want to do. We want to document our past so it doesn’t just slip away.
QUESTION: How are you doing that?
ANSWER: Our focus now is collecting oral histories, video histories, from long-time Warner Robins residents. We’re also collecting materials for an archive.
QUESTION: Have you already started collecting the oral histories?
ANSWER: We’ve collected about 10. We do them by appointment and have done them at people’s homes, at the city’s welcome center and at Central Baptist Church. Tommy Stoner and Mike Chaulout from Central are helping us out with video. When they heard what we’re doing, they came alongside and said, “We’ll help.”
QUESTION: What are you looking for in the oral history videos?
ANSWER: We’ve identified several themes to begin with and center the histories on them. Like railroads and Warner Robins, banking, education, integration -- a number of topics like that.
QUESTION: Are interviews limited to one topic?
ANSWER: We cover the topic then have an open-ended question or two, like “What’s the most important thing to you about Warner Robins?” A unique thing about Warner Robins is there are people still here that were here at the beginning. It’s great to be able to capture those memories.
QUESTION: The society is a pretty new group, isn’t it?
ANSWER: A few of us started talking about it last fall and we had a kickoff in May. We’re all volunteers. As I recall, that original group included Betty Roberts, Alex Talley, Jack Armstead, Pat Smith, Marsha Priest Buzzell and me. We met at Pat’s home, talked about it and decided if we were willing to do the work. All said yes.
QUESTION: How many participants are there now?
ANSWER: We’re a much larger and broader group now, and we’re open to anyone who wants to get involved and work. There’s a great diversity of interest, experience and backgrounds among people getting involved. That’s very energizing.
QUESTION: When do you meet?
ANSWER: Typically, the second Wednesday each month at noon at the Jumpin’ Bean on Russell Parkway. But in August, we’re not sure which Monday we’ll meet because we’re still working it out with a guest we’re getting to come.
QUESTION: How can people find out about the meeting? How can they find out about the society in general?
ANSWER: Call the Warner Robins Convention and Visitors Bureau at 922-5100. They can give you information. They’ve been real good about being our temporary home.
QUESTION: Organizationally, what stage are you at?
ANSWER: We began with the work or getting the oral histories and archive going and are sort of catching up with organizing. We’re getting ready to adopt bylaws.
QUESTION: Besides the oral histories, what sort of things are you collecting?
ANSWER: We have pictures, brochures, school event programs, a voter registry from 1945 -- all kinds of artifacts. We’re collecting all sorts of things that have something to do with our history. In that regard, we’re working with county library system director Karen Odom, who will archive our collection in the Marian Walker Local History Room at the Nola Brantley Memorial Library once renovations are finished there this summer.
QUESTION: Any surprises in the history so far?
ANSWER: I guess the fact there’s a lot more than I expected. Conventional wisdom is that Warner Robins doesn’t have a history or that it’s simply Robins Air Force Base. Of course, the base is central, but there was a lot going on here before the base got here and that surprised me. Given the circumstances, another thing that surprised me was the amount of land owned by African-Americans as far back as the 1920s. One woman told us her grandfather owned 400 acres off the Elberta Road-Ga. 247 area.
QUESTION: Where are you from?
ANSWER: California.
QUESTION: So what drew you to work with the society?
ANSWER: We moved here in 1990 as the last assignment in my Air Force career, and we nested here. I’ve gotten to meet a lot of people, hear their stories and have been amazed. Each person shares the same facts but has a very different perspective on Warner Robins and its early days. It got me thinking these need to be collected and preserved.
Source: macon
