05 HR 295/AP
House
Resolution 295 (AS PASSED HOUSE AND SENATE)
By:
Representative Jenkins of the
8th
A
RESOLUTION
Honoring
poet and novelist Byron Herbert Reece by dedicating a portion of U.S. Highway
129 as the "Byron Herbert Reece Memorial Highway" and by naming him "Georgia's
Appalachian Poet/Novelist"; and for other purposes.
WHEREAS,
Byron Herbert Reece produced an enduring body of poetry and fiction from the
sounds and spirits of his North Georgia homeland; and
WHEREAS,
his five volumes of verse draw deeply from the lyrical wellsprings of nature and
the Bible, twin legacies of an upbringing in the agricultural uplands of Union
County near Blairsville; and
WHEREAS,
his two novels are remarkable regional portraits, one a mountain family drama of
overland journey to Old Testament rhythms and the other a morality play of a
small town lynching; and
WHEREAS,
Reece was a bright and solitary schoolboy who graduated from Blairsville High
School and grew up in such rural isolation that he never saw a car until he was
over eight years old; and
WHEREAS,
he attended Young Harris College and taught school intermittently between 1935
and 1942 producing poem after poem while caring for his ill parents and managing
the family farm; and
WHEREAS,
he won the American
Poet magazine's annual poetry award in
1943 and by 1952 had received a Pulitzer Prize nomination for his poetry, had
been profiled in
Newsweek
magazine, and had been tendered a poet-in-residence position at UCLA;
and
WHEREAS,
he received the Georgia Writers Association literary achievement award five
times and served as the poet-in-residence at both Young Harris College and Emory
University; and
WHEREAS,
a play inspired by his writings, "The Reach of Song," was declared the official
drama of the State of Georgia in 1990; and
WHEREAS,
despite enduring hardships, this remarkable man created a literary oeuvre which
has reflected great honor on his beloved mountain community and the State of
Georgia.
NOW,
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA that the members of
this body recognize the tremendous literary contributions to this state made by
Byron Herbert Reece.
BE
IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the portion of U.S. Highway 129 lying between the
historic courthouse of Union County in Blairsville, Georgia, southward to the
Union County line located at Neel's Gap on Blood Mountain shall be dedicated the
"Byron Herbert Reece Memorial Highway," and the Department of Transportation is
authorized and directed to place and maintain appropriate signs so dedicating
the highway.
BE
IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Byron Herbert Reece is hereby named "Georgia's
Appalachian Poet/Novelist."
BE
IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Clerk of the House of Representatives is authorized
and directed to transmit an appropriate copy of this resolution to the family of
Byron Herbert Reece, the Byron Herbert Reece Society, and the Department of
Transportation.