By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
FEB. 25, 2020 | Have you ever considered why you live where you do?
Most of us are not from Gwinnett County, but here we maintain our home, and go about our work, or schooling, or retirement. Probably we seldom give a second thought of why we are “Gwinnettians,” the phrase the late County Chairman Lillian Webb loved to use.
When we first came to Gwinnett, in 1974, native born residents were the rule. But with the surge in growth, the natives soon were out-numbered by the move-ins. And today, while the majority were not born here, as Gwinnett grows, the newcomer’s children are pushing Gwinnett toward a native-majority population again. And big numbers this time. The Census will tell us that.
Whether you have given consideration to why you live here, I can pinpoint the time when I decided where I wanted to live. It was one beautiful February day of my senior year in college, 1957, a day pretty much like last Friday. It was chilly, but the sun was shining, the rain had disappeared, and the jonquils were in full bloom. I was visiting my future wife on her parents’ farm near Macon.
Meanwhile, in the infant days of television broadcasting, there were the usual reports about the Midwest weather, the continuance of harsh winter low temperatures, and the depth of the snow on the ground in many parts of the North.
Perhaps it was the knowledge that many other parts of the country were still wearing their winter duds, stomping off the snow before entering the house, after shoveling the sidewalk, the garage entrance and being out in the harshness of winter. That February near-about spring-like day made me ask myself: “Why live anywhere but in Georgia?”
And though I’ve spent four years in other places, all along I had the intention of returning to Georgia. Actually, I never gave any other place a second thought.
About a year later, here my new spouse and I were headed for Fort Lee, Va., to complete military training at the Quartermaster School as part of my ROTC commitment. Soon I had an Army assignment, to head to Germany. I could travel concurrently with my wife at Army expense if I would sign on for another year of duty in the Army. We did, and that August boarded the USS Darby in New York for a sailing to Bremerhaven, Germany, then by train to our duty station in Bad Nauheim, Germany.
In September of 1961, we returned stateside, on those early jets in late 1961, where I soon departed for Iowa City, Iowa, for graduate study. Later Barbara and four-month old Andy joined me to live for a year in West Branch, Iowa. We returned to Georgia in 1962, and have been in the state since, in Jesup, Athens, Lawrenceville and Norcross. We are content here.
After all, as I once told my German employees at the commissary, we have everything in Georgia…the mountains, the seashore, big and small cities, modern-day jobs and a wonderful people. And above all: good weather. And now we are blessed with a new and vibrant diversity of people, bringing Georgia even new levels of quality.
Yes, I am proud of our state. Indeed, why live anywhere else? But many others love to live in other places, maybe best determined by where they were born.
Perhaps you can give us your thoughts of why you live where you do. We’ll be pleased to print your thoughts. Send ‘em in!
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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