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Transcript from "Georgia Leaders"

We talked about interesting personalities that you knew on campus and I would like to do that too. I know during your tenure here on campus and then in the legislature, I think we had eight to nine governors. Sanders, Maddox, Carter, Busbee, Harris, Zell Miller, Roy Barnes, Perdue…you mentioned several people…I know Buddy Darden, some folks who have been in the legislature and that you have known…anybody that just jumps out at you, that you…

Well, a lot of the guys who are in the legislature now and that are going to be future leaders of this state are graduates of this institution. I could not begin to name them all right now, but as I said earlier, the governors of the state have all come from this institution, and one of the reasons when I get excited about the Blue Key and some of those organizations…I am going to speak to them next week I believe it is…when they get initiated and their parents come to that, and I am going to say…someone in this room will be a governor of Georgia, and I really believe that. They come out of that group. Buddy Darden was in that group. Joel Wooten, who was Chair of the Regents, was in that group. That is where they seem to spot those outstanding students, and they eventually measure up.

The leadership from the state out of the University of Georgia…

Right.

You served six terms in the house. You left the house in 2004. And then you came back to Athens and if I read off a list of organizations in this community that you have been a member of, we would not leave here today. You have been on the boards of the Red Cross, Girl Scouts, Athens-Clarke County Chamber of Commerce, Salvation Army, First Methodist Church, Athens-Clarke County Hospital Authority, Chamber of Commerce, and the list goes on, and on, and on. You have been honored by countless groups. Certainly receiving well deserved awards, but I think the most recent was the second annual Elridge McMillan Lifetime Achievement Award, which was presented by the University System of Georgia Foundation, honoring a lifetime of service to young people in Georgia. What a fitting tribute!

Well, it was very nice, and I was very touched, but I…there were 800 people there that night and I looked out over that crowd, and I said, "These are people who have supported me, worked with me, and many deserving as I am of this award", but it was a really wonderful, wonderful evening, and I was really touched by it.

You once said that "we are born obligated to pour back into the stream that has nourished us to replenish it for others." I personally can attest that for those of us who have been nourished by your example, that you have been a wellspring of inspiration, and I…

Thank you.

Thank you for being here today.

We're done. Hey, we're done.

Unless you have something else.

I might think of something when I get home, but…

It took me three days to go through your life. What a wonderful, wonderful life!

It ain't over yet!