Several members of the Darlington community will be honored for their servant leadership at the 21st Heart of the Community: An Affair of the Heart on Feb. 3.
Martha and Bill Fricks, the parents and grandparents of Darlington alumni and two current students, will receive the 2007 Board of Governors’ Award. The Fricks have served the community for the past 50 years in many capacities. Their strong leadership has helped Rome become the great community we live in today.
The Fricks founded Bill Fricks Furniture Co. in 1967 and became the first Thomasville Furniture Gallery in the Southeastern United States. Bill was chairman for the Downtown Merchant’s Association, and he and Martha worked diligently as members of PRIDE on the Downtown Streetscape project. Bill was honored as “Mr. Nice Guy” in 1973 by the Georgia Home Furnishing Association and served as its president in 1975.
Martha’s love for Rome prompted her to become a leading community volunteer. Beginning in the early 1950s, she served as a volunteer Red Cross Water Safety instructor. She directed and choreographed several water ballets in Rome and was a cheerleading coach for the mite football program at the Boy’s Club. Martha was a deputy tax commissioner for three years, Southern vice president of the National Interior Design Society, president of the Georgia Home Furnishings Auxilliary Association and president of the Stemyinders Club at the YMCA. She also led the first membership drive and served as a member of the board of directors for the YMCA. Following a visit to British Columbia, she brought back the idea of creating The Coosa River Christmas and produced the program successfully for 10 years. She found time to serve as chair person of the “Silver Fox Trot” event for Mayfest on the Rivers. Martha spent countless hours during the Olympics recruiting and coordinating over 450 volunteers. Her spirit of volunteerism has been highly recognized on three occasions. In 1994, Governor Zell Miller recognized Martha with the Olympic Force Medal of Honor; in 1996 the Georgia Association for Volunteer Administration selected her as a finalist for the Individual Leaders, and in 1998, she received a Heart of Community Award. In addition to numerous interior design distinctions, the Rome Area Chamber of Commerce Women in Management Committee named her as a Roman of Excellence finalist.
Bill has served on the City Commission since 1985 and served as the chairman for the year of 2000–2001. He has been chairman of the city’s Traffic and Public Works committees for many years. He received the “Hall of Fame” award earlier this year from the Georgia Municipal Association. For the past decade, Bill has served on the Mayor’s Motorcade Committee at Northwest Georgia Regional Hospital. This event is sponsored by the Georgia Municipal Association to insure that all the clients and patients at the hospital receive a Christmas gift, since many never see a friend or a family member.
Martha and Bill have been active members of the Rome Exchange Club. They have worked on many committees, including the Family Resource Center’s “Night at the Movies,” the Coosa Valley Fair, the Christmas Committee, Membership Committee and many more. Bill is a past board member and was honored as “Exchangite of the Year” in 2004. He also served as president of the Rome Breakfast Optimist Club and as state secretary/treasurer for the Georgia District of Optimist International.
The Fricks served as Sunday school teachers for several years at North Broad and First Baptist churches. Martha and Bill are members of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, where Bill is a volunteer for the breakfast committee.
A Navy Corpsman with the Fleet Marine Force, Bill served in the Pacific during World War II on Saipan, Iwo Jima and Okinawa and was activated during the Korean War. He and Martha have hosted and coordinated the reunion for the past two years in Atlanta and Washington D.C. for the U.S. Marines who Bill served with during WWII. Bill is a member of the Marine Corps League and Military Order of the Devil Dogs.
Their family includes two sons: Greg Fricks ('68) of Rome, who, in addition to the furniture business, manufactures finer bed coverings and decorative pillows, and Rob Fricks, who practices law in Warner Robins and lives in Perry. Martha and Bill have nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
According to Rhonda Wallace, who nominated the Fricks, “Rome is very lucky to have such great friends as Bill and Martha Fricks. They continue to make a profound impact on the Rome community. You will not find two people that love their community, friends and church more than Bill and Martha Fricks.”
Scott Henson ('56) has touched the lives of many in the Rome community with his unselfish service to numerous organizations. A native of Rome, he attended Darlington and the University of Georgia. While at UGA, he served as captain of the tennis team. Upon graduation, he returned to Rome and worked at Henson’s Drug Co. until his retirement.
Since returning to Rome in the early 1960s, Scott has dedicated a large part of his life to the service of others. For more than 40 years, he has been an active member of the Exchange Club of Rome and the Coosa Valley Fair Association. He served as the special events chairman for many years and performed many jobs to make the fair a success, which in turn, helps fund the Family Resource Center. He is an upcoming board member of the Fair Association as well.
Scott was co-founder with George Wallis in establishing the Coosa Valley Tennis Association (CVTA). For years he helped raise the funds necessary for CVTA to provide tennis equipment and free lessons to our area children. He served on the Chamber of Commerce Recreation Committee, which was instrumental in building the tennis center and establishing the Sports Hall of Fame. Scott has also served on the Allocations Committee for the United Way for several years.
His gift of service has been especially felt at First United Methodist Church. This past year, he was chairman of the Board of Trustees, a position he has held four of the past seven years. He serves on the Church Committee, the Endowment Committee, the Building and Grounds Committee, the Fisherman Visitation Committee and helps his wife, Nan, on the Flower Committee. He is an Usher Captain and is a Church Host, which involves helping at weddings and funerals. Monthly, Scott delivers meals through the Meals on Wheels program. Most days of the week you will find him quietly working at First Methodist Church. His caring service to his church has blessed so many.
For 12 years, Scott has served on the Board of Directors of Network Day Service Center and has held the office of president of the Executive Board for three years. He has worked diligently to raise funds for the development of mentally disabled, who benefit greatly by Network.
He has also been heavily involved with Chieftain Museum’s largest fundraiser, the Herb and Plant Sale. For more than 20 years, he has cheerfully done much of the labor-intensive work involved in staffing the sales. He currently serves as president of the College Heights Neighborhood Association.
Scott and Nan are the parents of three children: Scott Jr. ('76), Deborah Law ('77) and Mary Jack Persons ('80). They also have eight grandsons.
Nominated by Marion Shaw and Nancy Knight, “For over 40 years, Scott Henson has unselfishly given of himself to Rome and Floyd County. He is an exemplary role model because of the unassuming humble way in which he gives. He truly embodies service above self.”
Virginia and Sam Spector, the grandparents of Darlington alumni, are dedicated supporters of many community arts endeavors.
Virginia Elliott Spector was born in Miami, Fla., raised in Rome and attended Girls High School, class of 1941. She worked in the Panama Canal Zone for the U.S. Army for more than two years during World War II. She met her husband, Sam Spector, while working in Washington D.C. for the Federal Communications Commission.
In the late 1940s Sam and Virginia lived for 2 ½ years in London where their daughter, Julie, was born. After returning to Washington, Virginia earned her bachelor’s degree from George Washington University and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. After returning to Rome raising two children and receiving a Master of Librarianship degree from Emory University, she served as the librarian at Berry College for five years and librarian at Shorter College for 10 years. She became a member of Floyd Medical Center Auxiliary from 1976 to date, was president of the Rome branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) and served as a state officer of the AAUW. She was a volunteer at the Rome-Floyd County Library for many years, an officer of the Rome Little Theatre, secretary of the Rome Streetscape Committee, member of Rome Women’s Symphony Association and a member of the Rome Area Council for the Arts.
Sam Spector was born and raised in New York City. He was a high school dropout at age 16 and worked in various jobs at lunch counters, was a delivery boy in the fur district and a soda peddler at bingo games. At age 18, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. He volunteered for OSS and ended up serving with Burma guerilla forces until discharge in 1945. Having learned that he really needed further education, he attended schools while working for the CIA and earned a law degree from American University in Washington. Upon moving to Rome, Sam worked for his father-in-law, B.S. Elliott, at Garden Lakes Co. His next step was to return to college at Georgia State University to earn a Doctorate in Business Administration. He then became a professor at Berry College, where he eventually became chairman of Business Department. He started the Master of Business Administration program at Berry and taught there for nine years. Upon returning to the business world, Sam took over the operation of the Garden Lakes enterprise until his retirement 25 years later. During that period his company built probably more than a 1,000 homes and many miles of roads in Rome and Floyd County. They were also responsible for the building of numerous commercial buildings in the community, renovation of the original Carnegie Library and Bridgepoint Plaza. They also initiated the design and concept of Technology Parkway. During his business career, he was a board member of Rome’s Nations Bank, president of the Chamber of Commerce in Rome, president of the OSS Detachment 101 (Burma) Association, president of the Garden Lakes PTA, Realtor of the Year, member of the Realtor Hall of Fame, president of the Rome Board of Realtors and president (and one of the founders) of the Rome Home Builders Association. He is a member of the Rome Rotary Club and is a member of Berry College’s Business Department Board of Advisors. His company was instrumental in the pro bono design and construction of the South Broad Street Hospitality House.
Sam and Virginia have two children: Julie Windler and Dr. Tom Spector. They have three grandchildren.
Nominated by Nancy and Max Weers, “As ardent supporters of the Rome Symphony Orchestra, Rome Little Theatre and the Shorter Players, Virginia and Sam have played an integral role in the arts in Rome. They are two fine servants of this community whose humility has kept them from allowing people to become aware of their generous spirit.”
Anne Paige Wilson, Darlington's director of marketing, comes from a long line of smart, energetic achievers who strive to make a difference. She holds to the conviction that women can and should make a difference in the world. The overwhelming advantage of asking her to join a committee or be a part of a service organization is that she won’t join unless she can contribute. Filled with confidence and all the drive one could need, her outlets for service provide space to define herself.
Like all great community activists, she has a strong will and she isn’t afraid to step outside her comfort zone. In her nomination, Susan Seagraves of the William S. Davies Homeless Shelter said, “In each of Anne Paige’s endeavors, she rarely asks anyone for help as she has a rather do it myself attitude. For sure, she never asks anyone to do what she would not or has not already done herself.”
Her special brand of volunteerism spills out of her church involvement, where she has been a preschool Sunday School Director, a volunteer in the children’s department and the guiding force behind the renovation of the preschool department, and onto the bike trails of Tour de Georgia or center stage of the Rome City Auditorium for the Junior Service League's Follies. From Reading in Schools at Southeast Elementary to co-chairing Follies, she is passionate about her pursuits. Seagraves put it bluntly, “Anne is the epitome of a professional volunteer. Her resume reads like someone’s twice her age.”
Certainly some of her service, particularly to the League, is expected. Co-chairing the first annual Banks and Shane Benefit Concert to decorating for the 2nd and 3rd such events for the William S. Davies Homeless Shelters is not. Her efforts enabled the Shelter to raise more than $30,000 in 2006 and $28,000 in 2005.
Neither is helping to organize volunteers for the arts experience for grade school children at Showcase for the Arts, sponsored by the National Creative Society. She has always been interested in the arts and previously served on the board of directors for the Rome Area Council for the Arts. With Anne Paige, there is an idea around every corner, and sooner or later citizens of Rome and Floyd County bump into one she has inspired. Look at the Junior Service League and Friends Playground at Ridge Ferry Park for example. On the surface, the playground is worth more than $250,000. It benefits children of all ages. What the general public does not see were the hours that went into its planning, equipment research, and the organizing of volunteers that made Anne’s and Dawn Baker’s idea a reality. In recognition of the endeavor, they received the 2003 Horace B. Anthony Volunteers of the Year Award from the Rome-Floyd Parks and Recreation Authority.
The responsibility, the inspiration to serve one’s community comes from dozens of childhood experiences where operating a snow-cone machine or working a fall festival was a family affair. Like her friends in the League, it is second nature for Anne to work a full day, to take a meal to a family in distress and to serve as a team mom for her son’s baseball teams. Her Bachelor of Arts degree in communications from Berry College was only one catalyst, one determining factor in her rock-solid work ethic.
She has served on the Board of Directors for the Junior Service League for eight years. While coordinating Kaleidoscope in 2001 and 2003, she also served as admission provisional class chairperson. Additionally, she has co-chaired Follies twice, and served as chairman of the publicity, placement, and nominations committees. She was awarded the first Heart and Hand Award given by the League. This award is given annually to an active member who goes above and beyond in her service to the League and the community.
“Just being with her, I’ve learned so much about what it means to be selfless,” Seagraves said. “Anne is simply one of those people who yearns for more. In the process of volunteering, she experiences things deeply. Her friendships are deeper and longer-lasting. She role models getting involved and having fun. She doesn’t throw herself into everything. Instead, she focuses on projects that improve the community.”
Her passion for promoting Rome and Floyd County and all that it has to offer began in college through her involvement with the Greater Rome Convention and Visitors Bureau and continues today as a member of their board of directors. She served as a volunteer at Stay and See Georgia, the Bike Ride Across Georgia, the Whistle Stop Train Tour, Olympic Flag Transfer and Heritage Holidays. Additionally, she served on the RACE to ‘96 organizing committee and organized the children’s art tent for Mayfest. She has served on the local organizing committee for Tour De Georgia for the past three years.
A fiercely loyal mother, Anne is motivated by the spiritual, ethical and social concerns of her three children: Oren, Gracen, and Nolan. As they launch their own dreams, Anne models the importance of giving back as mentors and champions of the needy. Her husband, Scott, recognizes the importance of her career and life goals and is an active partner in helping her achieve them. It is not unusual to see him working side-by-side her on a project like the Heart of the Community gala and Follies. It’s not just second nature. Together, they seem to derive energy from one another, unapologetically telegraphing who they are.
“She is a bold example of living a life she loves,” said Bruce Watterson. “She proves that no matter what volunteer effort you choose, you don’t have to be young, old, an athlete or an expert to do it. She makes the impossible feel very possible. She believes that amazing deeds are accomplished by regular people on a mission, determined to make their presence felt. She role models 'servant leadership.’”
Indeed, Rome and Floyd County have moved from good to great places to live and rear a family because of citizens like Anne Paige Wilson who have dared to stare down the impossible, one project at a time, one event at a time, one good deed at a time.
Additional recipients include Jim Dixon, Emily Saltino and Bill Thornton.
Proceeds from this year's Heart of the Community event will go to donate Life Trail Fitness Stations for the walking trail between Ridge Ferry Park and State Mutual Stadium, purchase three additional defibrillators to be placed throughout the community, sponsor an educational event called Cardiac C.A.R.E (Communicating Awareness Reaching Everyone), and toward donations to local organizations in honor of each of the 2007 Heart of Community award recipients.
