THE ET CETERA CHRONICLES - VOL. 108.
WRESTLING A BEAR - On April 22, 1961, a 550-pound man, Jumbo, wrestled a 600-pound bear at the National Guard Armory on Telfair Street. Dublin Courier Herald, 4/22, 1961, p. 4.
TOP THESPIAN - Dublin actor, John Carruth, was named the best high school actor in a four-state competition at the 15th District Thespian Conference in 1973. Laurens County News, 5/24, 1973, p. 1.
STRAIGHT SHOOTER - Dublin basketball player, Susan Durant, represented the southeastern United States in the National Elk's Club hoop shooting contest, in which she finished fifth. Laurens County News, 3/26/1975.
TOP EDUCATOR - Lucius Bacote was the first African American to run for a seat on the Dublin City School Board. Bacote, a former principal of Oconee High School, lost the election to Dr. John Bell, a longtime member of the Dublin City School Board. Dr. Bell was also a member of the Georgia State Board of Education. The election was held to fill the seats on the newly created school board created with the merger of the city and county school systems. Brunswick News, March 17, 1965.
A CENTURY OF SERVICE - For just a few months beyond a century, you will find the name of Corbett E. White among the names of those veterans who have served our country. In fact, on that infinitely long list, you will find Corbett E. White three times with yet another one undergoing training to continue the tradition of service, four members of a Montrose, Georgia, family.
It all began on July 28, 1918, when Corbett White was inducted into the United States Army. Private White, a share-cropping farmer, went “over there” as an infantryman in the liberation of France. White served for nearly thirteen months before coming back home to Laurens County.
The tradition was revived in 1961, when his son, Corbett E. White I, joined the army and was assigned as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division. White trained at Fort Benning and Fort Bragg, and Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam in the early years of the Vietnam Era. As one of the relatively few African-American paratroopers, White served in a dangerous role as a forward observer.
The third Corbett White joined the United States Air Force, in which he served from 1993 to 2015. Corbett the II, was a communications specialist who served aboard AWACS surveillance planes and worked with drones during the Gulf Wars of Desert Storm, Desert Shield, and Iraqi Freedom. Next in line is Corbett White, III. Young white is currently enrolled in an R.O.T.C. program in a Washington, D.C., High School.
We will have to wait for another generation to see if there is a fifth Corbett White to serve our nation. Let us all hope that if yet another Corbett White serves our country, it will be during peacetime.
So on this Veteran’s Day, let us salute Corbett White, Corbett E. White, I, and Corbett E. White, II, and Corbett E White III for a century of service to the United States of America. And, to the Corbetts and all of those who have served and still serve our country, we say a loud and heartfelt “thank you for your service.”
FROM ONE DUBLIN TO ANOTHER - When Ferrell Chapman, of Dublin, Georgia, read where J.D. Dublin, of Smithfield, North Carolina, was in a bad way and in dire need of funds to pay for a wheelchair, he immediately wrote out a check for $20.00 and sent it to Mr. Dublin. The State, Columbia, S.C. September 23, 1947.
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