RFD
By Bonnie K. Taylor General Manager The True Citizen

The Burke and Jenkins communities lost two of its former movers and shakers. Mr. Bobby Neely of Waynesboro and Mr. Frank Edenfield of Millen died last week.

I met Mr. Bobby when he was a real estate agent with Ann Harden Realty. Ann was kind of hinting about retirement when she took on Mr. Bobby as a partner in the business. Mr. Bobby took on the task of weekly ad changes for the real estate firm which ran in The True Citizen. I looked forward to my weekly chats with Mr. Bobby. He would bring me up to speed on what was going on in the real estate world (some 25 years ago) in Burke County. I would help him word his property descriptions and he taught me about property values and real estate law. He was a good teacher and I learned a lot from him.

He wanted me to take a picture of a house at the corner of Academy and Eighth. While there he gave me a tour of the run down home. We went through one room that had a transom window that was ajar. He reached up to close it with an extension pole and the whole window fell out hitting him on the head. His first reaction was to make sure I was okay. "I am fine, but how are you?" His Southern gentleman qualities were all aglow. He was worried about me and not himself.

As a certified real estate appraiser, he served on the board of the Burke County Tax Assessors for many years. He was a farmer and a pecan producer and processor; former president and manager of Neely Bonded Cotton Warehouse and owner of CSRA Land Company; director and past president of the Georgia Field Trial Association; past president of the Waynesboro Rotary Club; and past director of the Georgia Chapter of the National Association of Master Appraisers.

He was just one of those fellas you enjoyed being around.

He will be sadly missed by his wife, Jane; sister, Lillian N. Willis; sons, Bobby III and Charlie; daughters, Mary Dee Palmer and Betty Tetterton; and stepsons, Cleve and Warren Mobley.

I first met Mr. Frank as a print customer of Chalker Publishing Company. He owned The Millen News. He came to Waynesboro every Wednesday about lunchtime to get his newspaper printed. Many years later, in 1998, Roy Chalker Jr. purchased The Millen News when Mr. Frank decided it was time to retire. He must have been around 80 years old when he decided to take on fishing full time.

I learned a lot from Mr. Frank. He introduced me to the business folks in Jenkins County. He had a lot of wisdom and he had been a successful businessman longer than I had been alive.

For thirty-nine years, he served on the Millen Fire Department. In 1946, he joined the Millen Lions Club where he was club president, Augusta District zone chairman, Augusta district governor, district governor, and in 2005, was awarded the International President's Certificate of Appreciation for having been a member for 60 years. He was on the board of managers for the Georgia Press Association for two terms and served as director of the Georgia Municipal Association for four terms. He was a Millen city councilman for 20 years and also chairman of the Jenkins County Chamber of Commerce. He was a member of the board of directors of the Jenkins County Development Authority for 20 years and during his tenure the city and county saw much progress.

In World War II he served in the United States Navy as chief electrician on the USS Mobile. He often recounted with pride the time that the Mobile was the first ship to sail into Japanese waters to rescue prisoners of war. He organized yearly reunions of his former shipmates whom he regarded as lifelong friends.

He was publisher and editor of The Millen News, which he purchased in 1946 from Walter Harrison with a simple handshake.

He will be sadly missed by his family and community.

Both men, Bobby and Frank, had gotten on up in age, but they both helped make their communities better places to live and work and their legacies will not be forgotten.

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I also want to extend condolences to the family of George Lloyd who died April 26.

I met George some 15 years ago. Over the years we spoke many times in person and over the phone about happenings in the Burke community.

He will be sorely missed by his wife, Early Saxon Lloyd, and children, Anthony, Roumnda and Gerald Lloyd, Valerie Arnold and Allison Anthony.