2744 and more Fantastic, Fascinating, Freaky, Famed, Favorite, Foremost, Fateful, Fabulous, Forgotten, Funny, & Phenomenal FEATS & FACTS ABOUT THE FINE FOLKS OF DUBLIN AND LAURENS COUNTY, GEORGIA By: Scott B. Thompson, Sr. @ 2021 THIS IS A COMPILATION OF THE OUTSTANDING ACTS OF NATIVE, SHORT TERM, AND LONG TERM RESIDENTS OF DUBLIN AND LAURENS COUNTY, GEORGIA. FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS COMPENDIUM, ONLY ACTS OF STATEWIDE, SOUTHEASTERN, NATIONAL, AND WORLD ACCOMPLISHMENTS ARE LISTED. VOLUME 2 WILL CONTAIN MORE FEATS ON A LOCAL LEVEL. THERE ARE HUNDREDS, PERHAPS THOUSANDS MORE ACTS WHILE NOTEWORTHY, DO NOT MEET THE CRITERIA SET OUT ABOVE. IF YOU HAVE MORE EXAMPLES OF FANTASTIC FEATS, PLEASE EMAIL ME AT SCOTTBTHOMPSONSR@YAHOO.COM THE LIST WILL BE POSTED ON THE INTERNET AND WILL BE UPDATED ON A REGULAR BASIS.

 

91. Amy Woodyard, of Rentz, Ga., was a beautiful young woman according a majority of the pageant judges she appeared before.  During the 1976 college football season, Amy was selected the Queen of Georgia Football.  During the 1977 Sugar Bowl, the next  Miss Dublin, was chosen to represent the Southeastern Conference as Queen of the Sugar Bowl.  Woodyard was the second runner up at the 1977 Miss Georgia Pageant. (92)   

93. “Bud Barron,” The "Pilot's Pilot,"  was credited with the second most number of air miles during the war, mainly by ferrying aircraft to and from the front lines. Barron, a native of Dublin and the namesake of Dublin’s Airport,  has been inducted into the Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame. (94)

95. Albert R. Arnau, of Dublin, served as the Executive Secretary to Georgia Governor, Clifford Walker in the 1920s.  Arnau was a prominent banker and a former mayor of Dublin.

96. M.B. Stevens left Dublin in 1906 to work on the Panama Canal, after working for several years, Stevens was promoted to the coveted office of Executive Secretary to the Governor of the Panama Canal Zone.  During his more than two-decade stay in the Canal Zone, Stevens worked underJ.  J. Morrow, Chester A. Harding, George W. Goethals, and Meriwether L. Walker until 1928.

97. Mrs. J.E. Perry was declared to be the first woman in America, perhaps in the world to accomplish a rather mundane feat.  In 1927, Mrs. Perry was said to have been the first woman to have her hair done while flying in an airplane.

98. Dublin’s Captain William Brooks Rice, the premier planter in East Central Georgia was chosen and organizing founder of the Georgia Farm Bureau Advisory Bureau in 1920.

99. Sgt. Bill Brown, a temporary resident of Laurens County, was awarded the U.S. Distinguished Service Cross and the French Croix de Guerre for his heroism in World War I. The Distinguished Service Cross is the nation’s second highest award for extreme gallantry in combat.

100. Madge Hilburn Methvin, a native of Laurens County was one of most successful of the few early female newspaper editors. Methvin, of the Vienna News, was named to the Georgia Newspaper Hall of Fame in 1994.

101. Witt Durden, a Dublin High wrestler, who at the time was one of only forty plus Georgia High School wrestlers to capture four straight wrestling titles.  (102) Top college prospect in the  country in his weight class. (103) named to the All American Division 1 Wrestling team for the second year in a row.    (104)  Regarded as the best Georgia high school wrestler on a collegiate level with Oklahoma, (105) where he is listed as one of the best of the university’s wrestlers in the 21st Century.   (106) Witt Durden was a four-time state champion with a 155-4 record, which included 145 victories in a row -- a Georgia state record. Durden was an eight-time all-American in Freestyle and Greco-Roman, placing second in Junior National Freestyle and Espoir National Freestyle. He also lettered in soccer and cross-country.   Inducted into the National Kid’s Hall of Fame Wrestling (107) and the National Wrestling Hall of Fame (108.)   Durden won the Dave Schultz award for excellent wrestling in 1998 (109.)

110. Earl Weaver, a World Champion manager and Hall of Fame inductee, (111)  was the player-manager for the Dublin Orioles in 1958. Weaver ranks 26th among the winningest managers (112,)  6th in winning percentage, (113) and first in most wins per season with 94.6. (113.)    Weaver managed the Orioles in three world series, 1969, 1971, and 1979. (114)