Nicky Clark -- Newspaper man through and through
News, music and family have always been important to Nicky Clark. Though he juggled academics, the newspaper and the school band since his youth, he officially joined his family’s business, the Liberty County Herald, in 1966, the year his father died.
His mother, Lollie Gill Clark, became publisher, and sister Angie Smiley and Nicky Clark’s then-wife, Kim Chapman Clark, handled advertising. Older brother Pete Clark served as editor until 1974, when Nicky became the last editor of the Liberty County Herald.
It had been a family affair since the 1930s when M.F. Clark purchased the newspaper that had once been the Hinesville Gazette, established in 1871 by Samuel Bradwell. The newspaper’s name changed when Robert Moody Martin purchased it in 1893.
“I enjoyed working with the family,” Clark said. “We were a voice. We argued issues, but we were a family.”
News escalated in 1974 with the 24th Infantry Division’s activation at Fort Stewart.
“I tried to interview Bo Ginn, Bo Callaway and Sam Nunn at the officers’ club,” Clark said. “But I got no comment, no comment, no comment.”
The family sold the newspaper in 1979 to a group that renamed it the Coastal Courier and named James Winn editor and publisher. It was sold in 1982 to Morris Multimedia Inc.
Clark retired from the Georgia Department of Labor as a field tax audit supervisor in 2004. Today, he is a project manager with the Sikes Group.
The former journalist continues to write and make music with his band, Approximately Five, occasionally connecting with fans at Jimmy Smith’s greenhouse.
He still treasures his newspaper days.
“I loved writing my weekly column, ‘There Is Life In The Old Land Yet,’ a potpourri of thoughts, eclectic as they were. The title came from the Hinesville Gazette masthead, but it seems relevant today. The times are tough. The tough keep going, and there is life in this old land yet.”
Don Carter -- A kind soul
Hinesville still mourns the death of Don Carter, the former county commissioner and Carter Funeral Home owner who passed away in December 2008.
Friend Bill Goodwin said, “Over the last 25 years I’ve known him, he’s helped every organization and every charity at one time or another.”
Carter occupied the District 6 county commission seat, finishing the unexpired term of his late mother, Hazel Bagley Carter, and was re-elected for another term. He served on the Liberty County Hospital Authority, chamber of commerce, Solid Waste Authority and as a library board member.
Carter’s brother, Sanford Carter, served as Liberty County’s coroner. Don was married to Nila Carter.
“He was instrumental in bringing the Korean Archery Team to Liberty County for pre-Olympic training prior to the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta,” former Hinesville Mayor Allen Brown said.
Carter, a lifelong resident of Liberty County, was known for his charitable contributions, including his work with March of Dimes.
In recent years, he devoted time to the Lisa Marie Carter Cardiac Rehabilitation Center at Liberty Regional Medical Center, which is named for Carter’s daughter, who was killed in a car accident.
Jimmy Floyd -- Bank president loved community
James Marvin “Jimmy” Floyd Sr., a lifelong resident of Liberty County, dedicated his life to community service, his family and his career at The Hinesville/Heritage Bank, which spanned nearly 40 years.
Floyd graduated from Bradwell Institute in 1949 and the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1956. He was a U.S. Army veteran, serving during the Korean conflict.
Floyd was employed for almost four decades by the bank, serving as president and chairman of the board for more than 20 years. He also was chairman of the board of the bank’s holding company, Liberty Shares Inc., until his death in March 2006.
For most of his life, Floyd was active in the community, serving as a Flemington city councilor, a Liberty County commissioner — chairman from 1979-1985 — a member of the Coastal Area Planning and Development Commission, chairman of the Liberty County Industrial Authority and many other community and government organizations.
Floyd also dabbled in state politics, serving as a member of the Georgia House of Representatives from 1985-1995. He was a member, elder and trustee of the Flemington Presbyterian Church, where he taught youth and adult Sunday-school classes for more than 40 years.
Floyd and his wife, Carolyn Martin Floyd, were married for 51 years.