By Jana Cone/reporter
TIFTON — Local personalities will share the limelight at 10:30 a.m. today as Ty Ty celebrates the unveiling and dedication of its long-awaited historical monument.
The site has been prepared, the monument is receiving finishing touches, the programs are being printed and plans are moving on schedule, according to Jeff Ellis of Clark Memorials in Macon, producer of the monument, Gerald Clark of C&S; Builders in Ty Ty, preparer of the site, and the Monument Team.
Interest and suspense are building as the day of the milestone event approaches. The program will begin with the Doxology and end with unveiling the monument by great-great-grandchildren of the first mayor, W.E. Williams. The public is invited.
This ambitious project provides Ty Ty with a one-of-a-kind monument presenting the town’s entire history inscribed in words and sketches on both sides of the polished granite tablets. Location for the monument is in the center of the city park, the former railroad right-of-way, just north of U.S. Highway 82.
The team that planned and is bringing this project to completion has worked through many ups and downs since Ty Ty Mayor Keith Beasley and the city council first approved its location in April of 2001. Their goal was to provide enduring recognition of Ty Ty, its founders and developers, despite trends of the day which threaten the existence of small towns.
The dedication program features comments by local personalities regarding the relationship of the monument to three elements of our nation: State, church and education. They are Charlotte Bedell, former Tift County commissioner; Peggy Gibbs Crumley, school librarian/media consultant and Shirley Strawter, ordained minister; school teachers and member of the Ty Ty city council.
Chairman Grady Thompson of the Tift County Board of Commissioners will join Beasley in welcoming all who attend. Former mayor Johnnie Harrod and his wife will tell about the acquisition and landscaping of the original railroad track known as City Park. Members of the Ty Ty City Council and the Memorial Monument Team will serve as official hosts and greeters.
Special music will be provided by Steve Davis, minister of music and education at Ty Ty Baptist Church, and by the combined choirs of Solomon Chapel A.M.E. Church and Mt. Olive Baptist Church of Ty Ty.
In addition to the handout programs, special souvenir booklets that contain the content of all six panels of the monument will be available after the dedication at the City Hall located two blocks north of the park. Also available will be a booklet presenting layouts of streets, homes and stores in Ty Ty in 1930-1950, assembled by Bill Wells and the late Rev. John Gibbs, Sr.
After the program, everyone is urged to visit City Hall to view a Ty Ty memorabilia display in the community room.
Everyone is invited to linger to read the monument and to greet each other and share memories of Ty Ty.
