Page 4 - Summer 2021

s| AROUND MAIN STREET There’s nothing
stronger than family
By Michael Prochaska
Some miracles are life saving. Others are life making. For my wife and I, a miracle came in the form of a positive pregnancy test after seven years of hope and prayer.
Although it’s more conventional to share the news after several months, we wanted to tell our friends and family immediately. Knowing that the odds of a miscarriage are high in the first eight weeks, we welcomed the prayers of the community. We had been through this before and believed in the power of prayer. Through this journey, we’ve been wrapped in God’s love.
Amanda is now in her second trimester, and we are incredibly grateful to be preparing a nursery and debating baby names. We feel blessed to see our family grow.
In this summer issue of Oconee the Magazine, Super Bowl quarterback Brad Johnson shares his most memorable achievement: raising two boys. His sons, Max and Jake, are not only great athletes because of him but great and virtuous young men. “Family was the most important thing at the end of the day,” Brad told us.
Lessons on the field or gridiron apply to everyday life. When Michael Palmer began coaching Prince Avenue Christian middle school boys soccer, he led an underdog team to a number of victories. He believes that the hard work and spirit of this season will continue. “Even if I’m not coaching next year, I always say tradition doesn’t graduate,” Palmer told us.
Athleticism and agriculture are mainstay traditions of Oconee County. Blakely, Haley Ann, Clark and Thomas Stewart find time to pursue both. As a legacy 4-H family, the Stewarts live out all aspects of the 4-H tradition, especially the tenet of caring for others. The four H’s symbolize the development of the head, the heart, the hands and health. Their parents, Beth and Lawton Stewart, learned that together when they met each other at the Rock Eagle 4-H Center. “4-H formed our family,” Beth proudly told us.
FFA has been a big part of the life of Amber, Brooke and Taylor DuMay, triplets who show goats. The DuMays moved to Oconee County from Loganville in 2012 because they were looking for a place to raise children and for their children to raise some livestock. They wanted a place where agriculture was appreciated and valued. Indeed, they couldn’t have picked a better county. After all, Oconee County was home to renowned cattle farmers Cliff and Ruth Ward. “Ruth worked right along with me,” Ward told The Oconee Enterprise Publisher Vinnie Williams 20 years ago. “We did everything together.”
The stories inside this summer issue of Oconee the Magazine demonstrate the bonds of family—from parents encouraging their children’s passion for sewing to bass fisherman Spencer Bargfrede, who credits his grandparents.
Bass fisherman Spencer Bargfrede credits his grandparents for making him the person he is today.
“If I wasn’t raised like that,” he said, “I definitely wouldn’t have set my goals as high as they are today.”
That kind of family bond is what makes Oconee County so special.
sMichael Prochaska is editor of OcONEE ThE MAgAzINE and The Oconee Enterprise newspaper in Watkinsville, Ga.
Volume 11, Number 5 Summer 2021
Supplement to The Oconee Enterprise Publisher
Maridee Williams
Editor
Michael Prochaska
Advertising Director
Maridee Williams
Contributing Writers
Deborah Dietzler Julia Fechter
Jeff Hood
Justin Hubbard Cyndee Moore
La Ruchala Murphy Michael Prochaska George Zeliff
Contributing Photographers
Justin Hubbard
La Ruchala Murphy Michael Prochaska George Zeliff
Graphic Design
Allyn R. Jenkins Arlette Revells George H. Windate
Sales Representatives
Tracy Harmon Maridee Williams
Circulation
Maridee Williams
OCONEE THE MAGAZINE is published quarterly plus a holiday bonus issue
by Oconee Enterprise, Inc. No portion of this publication may be reproduced in any manner without express written consent of the publisher. This includes advertisements designed and produced by OCONEE THE MAGAZINE.
OCONEE THE MAGAZINE accepts no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, photographs or artwork, and none will be returned without a self-addressed, stamped envelope.
Address inquiries to:
P.O. Box 535, Watkinsville, GA 30677 or oconeethemagazine@gmail.com
© 2021 Oconee Enterprise, Inc. All rights reserved.
PAgE 2 | OcONEE ThE MAgAzINE | SUMMER 2021