06 LC 34
0741
House
Resolution 1661
By:
Representative Hatfield of the
177th
A
RESOLUTION
Celebrating
the life of Noah Hershel Stokes and dedicating the Hershel Stokes Memorial
Overpass; and for other purposes.
WHEREAS,
Hershel Stokes was born on June 13, 1934; and
WHEREAS,
he was educated in the Charlton County School System and graduated from Georgia
Military College and the University of Georgia with a bachelor's degree in
business administration; and
WHEREAS,
he married Jean Prescott on June 10, 1956, and they had two children, a son,
Noah, and a daughter, Stacey, and six wonderful grandchildren; and
WHEREAS,
he was drafted into the United States Army in December, 1956; and
WHEREAS,
Hershel was active in many arenas: he started the BEL-MED Recreation Association
in Orange Park, Florida; he was an avid fisherman and a Georgia Bulldog fan; he
was associated with the Toledo Manufacturing Timber Company in Charlton County;
he served two terms on the Folkston City Council; and he was instrumental in
bringing the D. Ray James Correctional Facility to Folkston;
and
WHEREAS,
he was the key person in pushing for the construction of the overpass on SR
23/121 because he felt it was not safe for emergency vehicles to have to wait on
trains to pass through town before they could get to the scene of an emergency
or return to a hospital; and
WHEREAS,
he was a determined person and once he committed to a project he did not stop
until it was completed; his goal was not recognition but making Charlton County
a better place to live; and
WHEREAS,
the state lost a distinguished citizen when Hershel was killed in an automobile
wreck on October 25, 2003; and
WHEREAS,
it is only fitting that the overpass he worked so hard for to improve emergency
services in Folkston and Charlton County should be named in his
memory.
NOW,
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA that the overpass
bridge on SR 23/SR 121 located near their junction with US 1/US 23, in the City
of Folkston, in Charlton County, is dedicated as the Hershel Stokes Memorial
Overpass.
BE
IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Transportation is authorized and
directed to erect and maintain appropriate signs designating such
bridge.
BE
IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Clerk of the House of Representatives is authorized
and directed to transmit appropriate copies of this resolution to the family of
Hershel Stokes, the Folkston City Council, and the Department of Transportation.