Fayette County loses a giant (Atlanta, Newnan: construction, public schools, living)

[Newsboy]

Carolyn Cary, who moved to Fayetteville in 1965 when the entire population of Fayette County was only 8,000 and most of the roads were still dirt, passed away this week at the age of 85.

Carolyn was the first executive secretary of the Fayette County Chamber of Commerce, founded in 1967 in her living room because they couldn’t afford office space. As co-founder of the Fayette County Historical Society, she was editor of the first “History of Fayette County” published in 1977 and official county historian for many years.

Also in the 1970s she was one of the civic leaders who helped organize (and staff) the first all-volunteer EMS service in the county, before there was any local medical community and ambulances had to come from Clayton or Fulton for emergencies. A prolific writer, she worked for local newspapers for decades and was still writing a weekly column for The Citizen right up until she died.

There have certainly been dozens of “Carolyn Cary” type personalities in the suburban and exurban counties ringing Metro Atlanta over the past 50 years, but I dare say few of them witnessed a county change so dramatically as “Miss Carolyn.” When she arrived in 1965, Fayette County was a forgotten, dirt-poor backwater not even included in the Atlanta MSA. By the time she died this week, it had grown into an affluent suburb with outstanding public schools, the largest film studio complex in the United States and one of the highest-rated hospitals in Georgia.

And it goes without saying that no “yankee” transplant ever loved Fayette County more than Carolyn. She was an amazing woman who’ll be deeply missed.

https://thecitizen.com/2018/11/06/ca...ical-treasure/

https://thecitizen.com/2018/11/06/ca...n-cary-age-85/

[Newsboy]

Who are some other “Carolyn Cary” type people who’ve been part of history and witnessed dramatic change in other Metro Atlanta counties? I’m sure Gwinnett and Forsyth have quite a few.

[citidata18]

Interesting thread!

I've met quite a few of these individuals in passing. Some of them embrace the change/growth, while others seem to be resistant to it.

Below is an article about Barbera Tumperi, an 80-year old transplant from Illinois that has lived in Coweta County and worked as a volunteer at Newnan Hospital (now Piedmont Newnan) and Coweta General since 1979.

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-sta...early-40-years

NEWNAN, Ga. (AP) — For more than four decades, Barbara Tumperi has placed the needs of others above her own.

The 80-year-old woman married and raised children — a daughter and two sons — as the family moved around the country.

She also became the unsung hero for countless strangers — families who nervously sat in hospital lobbies, waiting for news about their loved ones.

Tumperi is a hospital volunteer, a labor of love she continues to perform one day a week as the front desk receptionist in the lobby of Piedmont Newnan Hospital.


She's been with the hospital for 39 years. That time includes volunteering at former Coweta County medical facilities such as Newnan Hospital and Coweta General, which went through several name changes before the creation of Piedmont Newnan and the construction of the current facility.

Tumperi said it never mattered where she volunteered, as long as she could help residents in the community.

"I enjoy volunteering everytime I come in because I hope to make life a little better for a patient or their family, just by smiling, helping and being supportive, understanding and encouraging," she said.