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CONTENTS September/October 2015

features

14 Part John Shuman Of The Greatest Generation 20 Trip Honor Flight Savannah Of a Lifetime 24 Patriot Weekend 2015 28 Bright Jared Wade Lights In The Big City 33 Theron 70 Years Together and Clyde Chapman 36 Friday Pooler’s New Stadium Night Lights 38 Jeff Pooler Rec Spotlight Hubbard departments

Publisher’s Letter

Dining Guide

Let’s Do Business

Pooler Real Estate

08 September/October 2015 | www.PoolerMagazine.com

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CONTRIBUTORS

Cindy Burbage

is a native of Richmond Hill. She began writing in college and took a hiatus to raise her four beautiful children. Cindy enjoys traveling and is always ready for a road trip. She believes that faith is greater than fear.

Make sure you never miss a copy of Pooler’s only full-color lifestyle magazine. Sign-up on-line at www.PoolerMagazine.com

She graduated from Georgia Southern University in 1998 with a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree and consistently maintained a great literary acumen and a big interest in writing. She moved to the Atlanta Metropolitan Area to pursue business career endeavors. A few years later, her husband, Tony, received a job offer in our local area, and the family eventually moved to Pooler. After spending a fulfilling amount of time as an at-home mom, she decided to pursue an area of personal attraction—writing. In her spare time, Katrice enjoys the 3F’s: family, food, and fun!! She’s also fond of occasionally writing a bit of good poetry.

Shannon Robinson is a free-spirited freelancer that collects hobbies and has a story for every conversation. She joins our publication in an effort to further develop her writing techniques.

Natalie McAlister is a life long Effingham resident.

She has a great love of photography. Taking photos of family and friends sparked Natalie’s desire to become a professional photographer. Since then, her passion has grown to child and newborn photography. She is a wife and mother of two. She volunteers her time weekly to a local food bank. Natalie is also an Avon representative.

STAFF

DiAnna Jenkins

Lane Leopard

10 September/October 2015 | www.PoolerMagazine.com

Lea Allen

Jeff Whitten

on Facebook. Check-out our Facebook page and keep up with the exciting things happening in Pooler.You’ll find us at Pooler Magazine.

We’re on twitter!

INSTAGRAM

Follow us on Instagram to see behind the scene photos from our articles! Tag your own Pooler photos with our tag #PoolerMagazine!

WRITE US

Write to us and tell us what you think. Pooler Magazine welcomes all letters to the publisher. Please send all letters via email to Jeff Whitten at jeff@idpmagazines.com, or mail letters to P.O. Box 1742, Rincon, GA 31326. Letters to the publisher must have a phone number and name of contact. Phone numbers will not be published.

ARTICLE SUBMISSIONS

Pooler Magazine welcomes story ideas from our readers. If you have a story idea, or photo essay you would like to share, please submit ideas and material by emailing Jeff Whitten at jeff@ idpmagazines.com Stories or ideas for stories must be submitted by email. Only feature stories and photo essays about people, places or things in Pooler.

www.poolermagazine.com

PUBLISHER’S Thoughts

Patriot Weekend In Pooler Julie Hales owner/publisher julie@idpmagazines.com Jeff Whitten editor jeff@idpmagazines.com Lane Leopard graphic design lane@idpmagazines.com Lea Allen administrative assistant/circulation lea@idpmagazines.com DiAnna Jenkins account executive dianna@idpmagazines.com

Pooler Magazine is proudly produced by:

A couple of months ago, Maribeth Lindler, City Clerk of Pooler, called and asked me to come meet with her. In the meeting, she wanted to discuss the possibility of Pooler Magazine doing a feature about Patriot Weekend. During the meeting, we both realized something....there is so much going on for Patriot Weekend, we could just about dedicate an entire issue to it. So, we pretty much did. Maribeth informed me that the recipient of the funds from the weekend will be going to Honor Flight Savannah, a non-profit organization whose focus is to get veterans to Washington, DC to see all the memorials. I knew if we could find a Pooler resident who had received this opportunity from Honor Flight Savannah, it would make a great “Patriot” story. And, find one, we did. Our cover story is of Julie Hales, PUBLISHER Pooler resident John Shuman, a decorated veteran who served in World War II. Mr. Shuman shares his experiences with us and also tells of his trip to Washington, made possible by Honor Flight Savannah, and what it meant to him to have this opportunity. We have a complete story about everything going on for the weekend, beginning on Thursday evening, September 10, with “A Taste of Pooler” on through the concert and fireworks Saturday night, September 12. Pooler’s own Jared Wade will be the headline entertainment on Saturday night. Pooler Magazine was able to catch up with Jared on the road to get an update on his career and his feelings of returning home to give the concert at Patriot Weekend. This is a huge weekend for Pooler. You don’t want to miss our on the festivities. Get ready.....this weekend will be packed with tons of fun!

108 International Drive P.O. Box 1742 Rincon, GA 3126 (912) 826-2760

CIRCULATION: Pooler Magazine is publlished bi-monthly (six issues a year), printing 10,000 copies and distributed to over 180 locations.

ABOUT THE COVER

Reproduction in whole or in part in any manner without the written permission of the publisher is strictly prohibited. PART OF THE

GREATEST

GENERATION

JOHN SHUMAN

TR PA

N D tober c KE E E ber/O W m e T ept O S I

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John Shuman is a WWII decorated veteran, and a resident of our fair city. Mr. Shuman tells us his story of the war, of life and his recent experience with Honor Flight Savannah. He is happy to have played his part in history. Read about this courageous man, who at 90 years old, still gets up and goes to work each day. www.PoolerMagazine.com | September/October 2015

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“Fresh Ingredients. Fresh air. A healthy outside starts on the inside!” - Christine Tsoi, Co-Owner of Splendid SHABU & proud supporter of Pooler’s Smoke-Free Ordinance

Protecting residents, families, employees and visitors from the dangers of second-hand smoke. When you’re ready to quit. We’re ready to help. The Georgia Tobacco Quit Line: 1-877-270-STOP In November 2014, electors in the City of Pooler voted overwhelmingly (nearly 83%) in favor of adopting a “Smoke-Free Air” ordinance. The ordinance was adopted by City Council and became effective January 1, 2015. The ordinance eliminates smoking in all workplaces and prohibits smoking within 10 feet or a reasonable distance from outside entrances, operable windows and ventilation systems of businesses, to insure that tobacco smoke does not enter those areas when the business is open or occupied by one (1) or more persons.

www.PoolerMagazine.com | September/October 2015

JOHN SHUMAN Part Of The Greatest Generation

Story by JEFF WHITTEN

ohn Shuman can tell you some stories, were he to be so inclined and were you inclined to listen. These are not your ordinary stories, either, since Shuman is very probably the only mobile home park manager in the world who can say he was wounded twice in Italy while serving in combat with the famed Blue Devils of the 88th Infantry Division during World War II. The first injury occurred when a bullet fired by a German soldier went through Shuman ‘s shoulder during operations in the Appenine Mountains in 1944. “I didn’t get a purple heart for that one,” said Shuman, a big, friendly bear of a man who at 90 still gets up and goes to work every day. The second wound took place in 1945 when friendly artillery fire landed too close to U.S. troops operating in those same mountains. “Our own artillery shot into the trees on the mountain we were on and messed a bunch of stuff up. It messed up a bunch of soldiers, messed me up pretty good too.” Shuman, despite having a shattered knee, spent only 10 days in the hospital, but he got the purple heart for it. Despite his love of stories, you learn quickly that Shuman doesn’t much care for keeping mementoes of the past, even though the unit he served with was famous for getting its nickname from Axis Sally and allowed to wear a blue scarf instead of a tie. Shuman doesn’t have the scarf, but he does have a new World War II Veteran baseball cap decorated with a Combat Infantry Badge and some other pins, and an Honor Flight Savannah t-shirt. But apart from snapshot photos of girlfriends from Italy, and an old one of his wife Gladys who died eight years ago, along with a handful of tattered Army-issue books, the tangible reminders of his service, all have gone elsewhere, perhaps given away or lost. Not that it seems to bother Shuman in the slightest.

Photos by NATALIE MCALISTER

“To tell you the truth, you sort of want to forget it,” Shuman said. “If things like this (someone asking him about the war) don’t come up, I don’t even look at this stuff. And it don‘t bother me a bit not to look at it.” What does appear to bother Shuman is the widespread belief that doughboys only served in World War I. The Doughboy Doughboy is a term most commonly associated with American infantrymen in World War I, of course, but Shuman was a doughboy all the same. And proud of it. “People will tell you we didn’t have doughboys in World War II, but we did. I was trained as a doughboy.” Before that, Shuman was a high school basketball player at Stilson High and played on the team that won the 1942 Georgia High School Association Class C title. He entered the Army straight out of high school, he said, and was told he was headed to special training available only to men with “high IQs or who were fresh out of school.” That took place at Camp Blanding, Fla., a base about 40 miles west of Jacksonville, where Shuman and other infantrymen spent 20 weeks learning every weapon in an Army handbook given to the infantrymen training at the post. That book, which Shuman has kept, calls the infantrymen doughboys, and that’s what they were, Shuman insists. “I knew every weapon we had,” he said. “I had to. They wouldn’t let me go out of training until I did. That’s what doughboys did. I could go on the line and in the foxholes and operate any gun in the book.” One other recollection from that time: “Every man in my company, every man in my barracks, all their names started with an ‘S,’” Shuman said. “Sounds crazy as hell, but it’s true. Every man in it was from Georgia, and his last name started with an ‘S.’” Among those in his unit were men with the names Scott, Stand, Sheldon, Spain,

14 September/October 2015 | www.PoolerMagazine.com

Smith, Strange and Strickland. “Strickland used to be a bartender over on Victory Drive,” said Shuman, “But he was drafted right along with me.” After training, Shuman and his mates were sent to the 88th Infantry Division, which was slogging slowly through the mountains in Italy when the Georgians arrived. Shuman, only 18 when he served, recalls specially trained jackasses moving supplies up the mountains in heavy snow to get munitions and food to the beleagured soldiers, and he recalls the doughboys helping get the supplies up to where they were needed. “They didn’t have nothing to eat, nothing to wear,” Shuman said. “The doughboys had to get it to them, and the know-how, because if a man got killed on a machine gun, that’s the only man in the company that knew anything about a machine gun. So the general said we’ve got to have the doughboys. In other words, put the boys up there to fight with them, so if they need a machine gunner, he can teach them to be a machine gunner. If they need a bazooka man, he can teach them to shoot a bazooka. I taught them how to shoot bazookas, I taught them how to shoot mortars. That was my job as a doughboy. I could go under a bridge to blow it it up or tear the stuff out from under it to keep it from blowing up.” It was a transient sort of existence, according to Shuman, who said the doughboys moved from company to company where needed. He served with various branches of the Army, too, from signal corps to combat engineer to artillery. “I never stayed with a company long enough to get a rate (promotion),” he said. “I was a PFC when I left Florida and I never got another rate because I never stayed with one company long enough to get another rate. You had to stay three months. Nearly every one of us went over there as a PFC and came back as a PFC.”” Shuman’s second wound came shortly after he was ordered by a young second lieutenant to knock out machine gunners who were in a house firing on U.S. soldiers.

www.PoolerMagazine.com | July/August 2015

“I was the only one who knew anything about a bazooka, the other one had gotten killed,” Shuman said, “There were two machine guns in there, one on each end of the house. I got a helper and told him to have two rounds ready, because when you fire that thing you give yourself away. I told him I’m not going to fire until you’ve got the other one ready, we’ve got to ‘boom, boom, you know, we’ve got to fire twice fast.’” Shuman knocked out both machine guns, but things went from bad to worse. “There was a tank coming up the damn road,” Shuman said. “So I told my helper to get behind a rock and load the bazooka, and I shot the wheel off that tank.” He laughed. “About eight or 10 of them (German soldiers) come out of there with their hands up. That tank was loaded with them.” The same lieutenent called in the artillery that wounded Shuman, who also has a story about the first time he was wounded. He had to go out in daylight to retrieve a Browning Automatic Rifle, or BAR, left behind by another soldier when Shuman was hit in the back of his shoulder by a sniper. “That bullet went through my shoulder and into a bog,” Shuman recalled. “But when I got back to the foxhole I was told a man who gets shot in the back is a coward. So they said they was going to call me a coward.” A few nights later, the same men were in the same foxhole when a shell went off nearby and what they thought was a hand grenade fell into the hole and landed between Shuman’s legs. “It didn’t go off, but it should’ve gone off,” he recalled. “I was laying flat on my back and it went in between my legs. I told them, ‘I want y’all to look, I’ve got this hand grenade laying between my legs. If I move, it may go off.’” The men who’d called Shuman a coward a few days earlier - told him not to move until daylight, so he laid flat until daylight with what he thought was a handgrenade wedged between his legs. “Once it was daylight, I looked and it was one of those cans of heat you use to warm something up,” Shuman recalled. The other soldiers were gone, but Shuman made sure they knew he wasn’t happy they’d abandoned them. “Both of them had run off, and they’d already named me as a coward, so I told them the one thing for me to do was report them as cowards for leaving me in distress.” He didn’t. Shuman left the Army after 1946 and joined the Air National Guard and was

mobilized for Korea, but was pulled off the plane at the last minute due to his son’s ill health. He spent time as a staff sergeant serving as a machine gun mechanic and running a skeet range on Hunter Army Airfield before ending his military career in 1954 and then becoming a delivery driver for the National Biscuit Company. But he remains proud of his service, even if he doesn’t wear it on his sleeve and seems even prouder of his grandson, Willam Davis, a captain in the Hunter Army Airfield fire department.

16 September/October 2015 | www.PoolerMagazine.com

“I think the older generation understands what we did in the war,” he said. “I don’t think the younger generation understands it a bit. But you’d better believe we had to do it. We needed to do it, we sure did. And we had to have the doughboys, that’s why they trained us. Soon as they war was over, they quit training doughboys and they closed the base. Some people say there weren’t any doughboys in World War II, but there were. I know, because I was one of them.”

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SAVANNAH

Story by JEFF WHITTEN Photos courtesy of NANCY GOULD, PUCLIC AFFAIRS SPECIALIST, HUNTER ARMY AIRFIELD

onor Flight Savannah may fly by bus these days, but the nonprofit group’s mission remains the same: to get America’s veterans to Washington D.C. so that they may visit the memorials built and dedicated to honor their sacrifices in past wars. It’s a big deal to those veterans who make the trip, including Pooler’s John Shuman. Shuman, who was twice wounded in Italy while serving with the 88th Infantry Division in Italy during World War II, took the trip in May. “It meant a whole lot to me,” Shuman said. “I enjoyed it as much as anything I’ve ever been on like that, and it was 100 percent free. They told us to leave our pocket books at home, and if we did carry a pocket book with money in it we brought it back home, didn’t have to spend a thing in the world. I really did enjoy it, and we saw a lot.” The trips are a way of giving back, according to retired Air Force Colonel Ed Wexler, a longtime Honor Flight Savannah volunteer. “It’s a labor of love,” said Wexler, who is a former chairman of the Honor Flight Savannah board and who still helps drum up public support for the nonprofit group. “It’s a way of saying thank you to our veterans. I don’t think we can thank those folks enough, especially our World War II crowd. They saved the world, no question. The Greatest Generation, that’s not just a euphemism in their case, that’s a true statement.” Honor Flight Savannah’s dedication to providing the trips, which are free to veterans, led organizers in Pooler’s Patriot Weekend to decide to donate all this year’s proceeds to the agency, which relies entirely on private funding. Honor Flight Savannah pays all costs associated with the trip, from meals to lodging and more. “Honor Flight Savannah is certainly very grateful to the folks in Pooler,” Wexler said. “Our program can’t do what we need to do without private donations. There’s no government money involved, and everything we do requires somebody to write a check.” How it works When the next “honor flight” leaves from Hunter Army Airfield on Oct. 23, it will include veterans already selected from a pool of applicants. World War II veterans get priority, but two years ago Honor Flight opened its trips up to Korean War Veterans and this year is including Vietnam Veterans. “What a lot of people don’t know is that if a physician will give an OK, we will take a terminally ill veteran of any conflict,” Wexler said. “We’ve taken folks under hospice care and they’ve thoroughly enjoyed their trips.” A physician and several nurses accompany the veterans, and “guardians” are also invited to go along at their own expense. Depending on the health of veterans, a guardian can be either assigned one or two veterans to look after during the trip. They don’t get the credit they deserve, said Wexler, who noted the decision to change from commercial airline to tour bus to get veterans from Savannah to Washington, D.C., was made for a number of reasons, not least of which is its easier on the aging veterans. But the change from aircraft to bus lengthened the trip, which prompted Honor Flight Savannah officials to change the itinerary. Once, veterans went up on Friday and came back Saturday. Now, they leave Friday, spend two days and nights in Washington D.C., seeing the sights, and return to Savannah on Sunday. Before leaving, the veterans get a sendoff from active duty troops at Hunter and from members of the public, including veterans groups. The public is invited to attend the sendoffs, and

while the veterans likely appreciate the fanfare and the opportunity to see memorials in Washington, D.C., the biggest benefit of Honor Flight Savannah may be the opportunity it provides veterans to meet veterans who’ve shared the same experiences. Wexler said there are usually two types of veterans. “There are those that are outgoing and don’t mind talking about what they did, although almost to a person they’ll minimize their accomplishments, even though you can get them to do a little more introspection with a few questions and find out quite a few really were heroes, subjected to some horrible situations. You’ve got those folks, and then you’ve the folks who’ve probably tried to push that wartime experience to the back reaches of their minds. Almost invariably, as they start to interact with their contemporaries, some of these thoughts and stories start to come to the surface and then they want to share a little bit. I think it’s a healing process. Even though it may have been 60 plus years since it happened, now they get a chance to talk to people who were in similar situations. It’s therapeutic, in a sense.” Among those who’ve served as a guardian the trips is Catherine Hopkins, who spent 35 years as a geriatric nurse and whose late husband was in the military. She said going on the Honor Flight has opened her eyes to the sacrifices made by the men who served in World War II. “It’s made me more interested in history. Freedom is not free, but I never thought about it, all these gifts we’ve had since World War II,” she said. “I’ve since come to realize that it’s really a blessing and they’ve sacrificed so much. It just makes you more aware of life, of the past, and it’s made me more appreciative of today because of what they did in the past.” For more information about Honor Flight Savannah visit www. honorflightsavannah.org. www.PoolerMagazine.com | September/October 2015

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Story by JEFF WHITTEN Photos provided by JOHN FENDER

ark your calenders for Sept. 10-12 to see some of the best Pooler has to offer as the city goes all out once again during its annual Patriot Weekend, a star-spangled salute to those who’ve stepped up over the years to help keep America the land of the free and the home of the brave. Now in its third year, the three-day event in honor of military and public safety heroes features everything from fun and games to great food, a golf tournament, music and dazzling fireworks while also helping give heroes from previous wars an opportunity to visit Washington, D.C., through Honor Flight Savannah - this year’s benificiary of all funds raised during the festival. After all, while organizers expect this Patriot Weekend to be the biggest and best yet, its mission has remained the same. “Patriot Weekend is always on the Sept. 11 weekend and it’s goal is to honor those who serve our country, whether in the military, or as police or firefighters,” said John Fender, one of the organizers. “That’s the motivation for it, that’s why we’re doing it.” And if Patriot Weekend helps bring a sense of community to Pooler, one of the South’s fastest-growing cities, so much the better. “This festival is an opportnity for people to get more acquainted with the businesses and people that are a part of the community,” Fender noted. “Even though it’s a fast growing city, it’s also a city where a sense of community is very important. By putting a festival on such as this one, it’s a way to help build on that sense of community.” So far, an average of roughly 3,000 people have attended each of the first two Patriot Weekends over three days, and Fender believes more than 4,000 could show up this year. He points to the nearby Great Ogeechee Seafood Festival, which started small and now routinely draws tens of thousands of people to Richmond Hill. It also helps fund a number of the Richmond Hill/ Bryan County Chamber of Commerce’s programs and provides

24 September/October 2015 | www.PoolerMagazine.com

much-needed financial support to a number of worthy causes. At the same time, the Seafood Fest has become that city’s signature event and one of the largest of its kind in the Southeast. Could Patriot Weekend become the same in Pooler? Perhaps. “We’re looking for Patriot Weekend to be part of the city’s identity and a means by which we have a place to come together,” Fender said. “That’s why we have three different events appealing to different types of people.” Foodies, first Go for the food, stay for the fun. It all starts at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 10 with the Pooler Chamber of Commerce’s Taste of Pooler at the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum. The cost for adults is $15 - remember, all proceeds go to Honor Flight of Savannah - and includes admission, free food samples and non-alcoholic beverages, but a cash bar will be available. D.J. Robby Glore will be providing music. Restaurants such as Miss Sophies, McAlister’s, Tijuana Flats, Buffalo Wild WIngs, Chicken Salad Chick, Fatz, and Longhorns will be among those showcasing their culinary skills, and there will be give-a-ways and more as the Patriot Weekend kicks off. Want tickets? Go to www.patriotweekendinpooler.org. This event is sponsored by the Pooler Chamber of Commerce. Golf with Pooler’s finest It’s called the Guns and Hoses Golf Tournament, in honor of those who protect life and property. It begins at 9 a.m. Friday, Sept. 11, at Crosswinds Golf Club and should be a great time for all those who’d like to start the day off playing golf with some of Pooler’s finest: the men and women of the Pooler police and fire departments. Sponsored by Geovista Credit Union, the tournament is open to

all golfers and costs $75 per person, which includes range balls, 18 holes of golf and lunch, or $300 per team. Golfers will be able to choose whether they’re playing for the fire or police department. Format is a four-person scramble and the tournament will get under way with a shotgun start. For more information, visit www.patriotweekendinpooler.org. To see if there are sponsorships remaining, emial john@firstprespooler.org. The Festival on Saturday Patriot Weekend kicks into high gear at Pooler Park beginning at 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 12 with The Festival in the Park. There will be free amusements for the kids such as bouncy houses and slides sponsored by Dozier Craine from 4 to 9 p.m., a free “First Responder’s Showcase” from 4 to 6 p.m. Sponsored by Camping World, the showcase will allow residents of all ages a chance to meet public safety personnel and get an up close look at fire engines, police cars, Lifestar helicopters and a FEMA mobile command unit, Fender said. And then things really kick into high gear, especially for music fans and those who enjoy a good fireworks show. First, from 7 to 9 p.m. Jared Wade will perform. For those who don’t know who Wade is, here’s a hint: the Pooler native has already been featured on one of the covers of Pooler Magazine. Here’s another one: Wade’s debut EP “Drunk on Sunshine” landed him the Georgia Music Awards 2013 Album of the Year and in 2014 he was nominated for Male Vocalist of the Year and Country Male Vocalist of the Year by the Georgia Music Awards. Wade has also opened for Luke Bryan, whom Wade knows

when both attended school at Georgia Southern, and has performed with Tracy Lawrence on the Headights, Taillights and Radios tour. He’s an up-and-coming star, and is “the biggest name we’ve gotten yet,” according to Fender. Wade’s appearance is being sponsored by local McDonalds. His concert will end at 9 p.m. Fireworks by Falcon Fireworks, the same company that does fireworks shows for the city of Savannah, will begin at 9:15 p.m. and last for approximately 15 minutes. It is sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce and Visitor’s Bureau. Some helpful hints from organizers: First, some parking will be available at Pooler Park, and it’s important to know the Festival is at the old park off Rogers Street, not the new park on the parkway. The event is free and family friendly, and there will be opportunities to buy food, drinks and other items from local vendors. Those who plan on attending are asked to bring lawn chairs or blankets to sit on. As for parking, there is limited parking at Pooler Park. A second lot will be avaiable at West Chatham Middle School on the corner of Rogers Street and Pine Barren Road. Old Town Trolley will run a free shuttle service from the school and back from 5 to 10 p.m. Where the money will go Finally, this. Patriot Weekend volunteers say funds raised throughout the weekend go to help heroes, and this year’s chosen beneficiary is Honor Flight of Savannah, a nonprofit group which arranges free transportation to and from Washington D.C. for veterans of World War II, Korea and Vietnam so those veterans can see monuments to the wars they fought and spend time with others who fought in the same wars. While it’s known as Honor Flight, the organization has also chartered buses to make it easier on those veterans suffering from difficulty getting on and off aircraft. In either case, those who attend Patriot Weekend are helping Honor Flight continue its mission, and that’s a big deal, according to Fender. “It’s a big part of why we’re doing this,” he said. “So if people are still undecided about coming out, Thursday will feature some of the best food the city of Pooler has to offer, Friday morning there will be a great golf tourney and people will be able to rub shoulders with our firefighters and police officers, and Saturday we’ll have amusements for kids, country music and fireworks, and it’s all wrapped up into one free festival. It should be fun for all ages, and it’s all for a great cause.” For more information, email info@patriotweekend.org.

www.PoolerMagazine.com | September/October 2015

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JARED WADE: Bright Lights In The Big City

Story by CINDY BURBAGE • Photos provided by JARED WADE

eaving your beloved small hometown of Pooler and venturing off to Nashville, a place often referred to as “Music City,” to chase your dream is not a simple task. Dreaming of the great life is the easy part, but it takes an abundance of determination and hard work to get that reward. Jared Wade is putting in the work. And quite a bit has changed for this rising star of country music since Pooler Magazine last caught up with him. In the past, Jared has toured with big names such as Luke Bryan, Confederate Railroad and Black Hawk, just to name a few. Since then, Jared has taken the quieter road to concentrate more on writing and recording for his next album. He doesn’t plan to tour much for the rest of this year, which has already been busy due to the release of his current single, “Georgia Off My Mind.” Currently working with a new management team and new booking agency, Jared believes next year will be an active year of traveling, and his goal is to release the new album around the summer of 2016. “My writing has become so diverse that it’s hard to pick a theme or set of songs that, one, flow together to make an album more consistent and, two, some of the songs I have written are on hold by major artists so we’re waiting to see if they may get recorded for their albums,” Jared explains. He plans to continue writing three days a week and travel on the road for at least three weekends a month. With radio promotions already scheduled for next year to promote his new music, the singer hopes that the large scale artists who have taken an interest in his songs, chooses them for their records. Also next year, Jared will be on the air, so to speak; he’s joining the hunting show, Wild Adrenaline. Accompanying hosts Frank Bennet, Jimmy Smith, and Bob Paronish on Pursuit Channel and Hunt TV, the country singer will be featured on 26 episodes. But before all that, coming Sept. 12, Jared will be returning to his roots for the Third annual Pooler Patriot Weekend. The weekend begins on Thursday Sept. 10 and is three days of family fun. It includes Taste of Pooler, which will be held at the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force.

28 September/October 2015 | www.PoolerMagazine.com

There is also a Guns & Hoses Golf Tournament and a firework display. All proceeds of this Patriotic Weekend will be donated to the Honor Flight Savannah Network, whose mission is to take American veterans to Washington D.C. to the memorials that are dedicated to honor the sacrifices these heroes have made. Jared’s concert is the main event Saturday, and runs from 7 to 9 p.m. “It’s a cool feeling to come back to where I’ve spent most of my life,” Jared said. “I think it’s great that the city thinks enough of our military to do something like this for them, and it’s an honor for me to be called to come back home and do it.” He recalls having participated in several functions in the past involving the military, police department, fire department and EMTs. Jared said it is an honor to be able to give back the people who do so much for the community and do not expect much in return. Jared is also grateful to his fans, who are dedicated. “I have been more than blessed to have such an interactive fan base. In the past year alone, I’ve gained over 40,000 fans on social media,” he lovingly expresses. With his fans still purchasing his first album, “Drunk on Sunshine,” which was recorded on American country artist Tracy Lawrence’s independent record label, Lawrence Music, as well as his new music, Wade is making a name for himself. But he remains humble. “I’ve said this numerous times but I would have never made it as far as I have without a great support system from everyone back home that stood behind me when I decided to move here to Nashville a little over two years ago,” Jared said. “There are countless people to thank, but as always my family, and my other family: Jason Courtenay, Keith Daniel, Ross Etheridge, Jon Starkey and his staff. They all took a chance on me several years ago when they didn’t have to, and I’m forever grateful to all of them.” Jared has been one busy man since leaving Pooler and moving to Nashville two years ago. 2016 looks to be a promising year for this talented impassioned country singer. And although he is currently residing in Nashville, Pooler will always be home, full of family, old friends, memories and fans.

www.PoolerMagazine.com | September/October 2015

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32 September/October 2015 | www.PoolerMagazine.com

Together For

70 YEARS Story and Photos by JEFF WHITTEN

ore than anything else, this is a love story. It’s about Theron and Clyde Chapman, who have been married to one another for 70 years. And it really began before they ever met, back when Theron moved to Pooler. That was in 1926. He was just a boy, came with his mother and father in a Ford Model T pickup all the way from Greene County in North Georgia and never even saw a paved road until he got to Chatham County. The Chapmans built one of the first houses on Rogers Street, back when there was nothing there but trees and livestock and the Pooler city limits didn’t stretch near as far as they do now. As luck would have it - the very best of luck, it turns out the Chapmans settled near the Greene family, who were the first to build on the far end of North Rogers Street. The Greenes and Chapmans became friends. And then Theron met Clyde, who’d moved to live with family on Rogers Street in 1937. They started dating a few years later. “He was real good looking back then, had wavy black hair,” Clyde said. “I had other girlfriends too, back in those days,” Theron said, a smile on his face. “But we just finally met each other and got to liking one another.” Theron and Clyde got married on Sept. 2, 1945, which also is VJ Day, short for Victory over Japan Day, the official end of World War II. Theron was 24 and a World War II veteran who served on a landing craft and was at Omaha Beach in 1944. Clyde was 18 and worked for the phone company in Savannah. It wasn’t planned that way, but they got married on that day because they could get the license in Statesboro. Port Wentworth preacher J.W. Grooms did the ceremony in his home, and then Theron and Clyde set up housekeeping together. Theron is 94 now, soon to be 95. Clyde is 89. They still live in the same house on Rogers Street they built after Theron got out of the Navy in 1945. “I left here on Aug. 27, 1942 and went in the Navy. Left here ... and went to Macon and got sworn in, then went to Norfolk, Va., to be in boot camp,” Theron said, and he was stationed first in Key West helping keep a lookout for German submarines, then in September 1944 was sent to Omaha Beach.” That was a rough time,” Theron said. “I hope I never see any any time like that again,” he added. “It’s full of stories, that house.” A life together Theron and Clyde built a thriving business together, the Chapman Cabinet Company. They raised two sons together, and have five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Photos fill the house, formal family portraits that hang on walls, sit atop furniture, along with school photos and an array of candid shots. There are photo albums here and there, and the faces from the distant and no-so-distant past smile out from behind the plastic covers. “Nobody ever had better children than we did,” Clyde said. “They didn’t do drugs, never drank nor smoked nor nothing.” Their oldest son lives across the street in a house he’s expanded and improved. His name is Theron Junior, but they call him Buddy. He’s 68 now. He and his wife Mary Jo have been married 44 years. They keep an eye on Theron and Clyde, take them places when they need a ride. The Chapmans younger son Richard Lee was killed in 2003 in a one-car crash on Hwy. 21. He was driving home from work in the middle of the afternoon. “He had installed a cabinet on a job in Sylvania and was on his

34 September/October 2015 | www.PoolerMagazine.com

way home,” Clyde said. “They said he went to sleep at the wheel. He’d been working in the shop nights, sometimes to 2 or 3 in the morning. He just went to sleep after he started riding home. We still miss him. That’s the worst thing that can happen to a parent, you know.” It was a bad time. It was about as terrible a time as there was. “My mother was killed in an automobile accident as well,” Clyde said. “And then six days after Richard was buried, my sister in Orlando, her son was killed in his pickup. We had to go down there to his funeral, just six days after my son’s burial. That was hard to take.” One of Clyde’s sister’s daughters died at 45 when she was thrown by a horse she was considering buying. That same sister also lost a daughter in law to an anuerysm a few years back. But the Chapmans stayed strong.

Clyde Chapman at her husband’s desk, showing some of the photos and certificates he kept from his time in the Navy during World War II. “You’ve really got to keep your faith and rely on Him,” Clyde said. Her father was a deacon at Pooler Baptist Church for more than 50 years and the Greenes have been going to that church since 1931. Chapmans too, after Theron, who was raised a methodist, decided it was easier for them to all go to the same church. The family grew to include grandchildren Angela and James and Melisa and Jennifer and Nicholas, and great grandchildren Matty and Sarah and Keira. Their photos, too, are in the house, part of a tapestry that started so many years ago. “They say count your blessings,” Clyde said. “Well, we can’t count ours, we’ve got so many. We can’t count them all.” You can’t sum up 70 years in a single story. But when you know you’ve got so many blessings you can’t count them all, it doesn’t matter. Now Age happens to everybody. It’s as natural as the nose on one’s face or a day lily in spring. Theron smiles at you when he says he is not “39” anymore, but the man worked just about every day of his adult life at his shop across the street until a few years ago. He became physically unable to build the cabinets and cornices and tables that were both beautiful and functional and became in such demand the Chapmans couldn’t keep up with the work. Theron would be doing it still, you think, but he can’t move around like he used to due to arthritis and needs a walker to get around. Clyde, who worked alongside Theron all those years and could stain and hang doors with the best of them, doesn’t drive any-

more, either, but her smile is still as lovely as it was decades ago as she shows photos of the lillies she loved to plant. They talk of their trip of a lifetime, a trip to Niagra falls and on into Canada, and Clyde recalls the first time she ever cast a vote. It was for Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Theron can remember when his shipmates called him “Chips” - he was the ship’s carpenter, and might be Pooler’s oldest resident, Clyde says. They celebrated their 50th anniversary 20 years ago with dinner at Carey Hilliards and a social at Pooler First Baptist, and their church celebrated their 70th on Sept. 6. State Rep. Bill Hitchens was among those expected to attend, to read House Resolution 727, which honors the Chapmans for all those years together, some of which were harder than others, some of which were splendid and fine, and real. “The real things are what matters,” Theron said. “And work, work, work. Work together, whatever you’re doing.” Clyde attributes the staying power of their marriage to their staying power. “We worked together, built together, it seemed we shared everything and didn’t go anywhere much except to church,” she said. “I also think it’s important to have respect for each other. Don’t put each other down, that’s the way I feel.” She remembers when she had a photo of the two put in The Spirit for their 61st anniversary and the woman asking her if she’d been married all that time to the same man. Clyde got a laugh out of that. “You can work things out and stick it out, can’t you, if you try?” www.PoolerMagazine.com | September/October 2015

Pooler’s New Stadium: FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS Story and Photos by JEFF WHITTEN

ayor Mike Lamb calls the opening of Pooler Stadium “the perfect opportunity to see high school football and enjoy the Pooler experience.” It’s that, and it’s also somewhat of a historic

moment. The stadium, which opened September 4 when New Hampstead High played host to Groves, is expected to be a winner for not only Pooler but Chatham County as well. That’s because before September 4, there weren’t many places for Chatham County’s nine public high school football programs and its handful of private school programs to play. There was Memorial Stadium, which was built in the late 1950s and needs renovations. There was Garden City Stadium, which was built in 1965. There is Savannah State’s T.A. Wright

36 September/October 2015 | www.PoolerMagazine.com

Stadium, which is where 2014 Class AA state champ Benedictine currently plays its home games. Those options remain, but the three stadiums were just about it before to the opening of Pooler Stadium, a city-built, city-owned facility which will do more than just host prep football games in, though for this season at least it appears football will be the only game in town at the stadium. The $2 million stadium, which was funded through Special Local Option Sales Taxes, has been talked about since the city opened a new recreation complex off Pooler Parkway in 2007, according to Leisure Services Director Hugh Elton. Ground was broken in January on the stadium, which has the capacity to hold 4,000 fans and includes a press box, concession stands, field house and a matrix scoreboard with video capability

which was donated by Coca-Cola. “It’ll feed the need on this side of county for a stadium for the high schools to play in, plus it’ll be something nice for the kids in the rec department to play in, and it gives us the ability to do some other things we didn’t have the facilities for in the past,” Elton said, noting the stadium could also be used for movies in the park and concerts. Through an arrangement with the Savannah Chatham County Public School System, fledgling program New Hampstead will play its home games there. So will longtime Class AA and Class A power Savannah Christian, a private school playing Georgia High School Association football. The stadium could see games after the regular season is over, since Pooler Stadium will be big enough to host Georgia High School Association state playoff

games in either Class AAAA or Class AAAAA. City officials looked at other high school stadiums in the area in deciding what they wanted, Elton said. Garden City’s stadium, which has seen countless high school and recreation league games, was the one they most liked. “We really thought of the old Garden City Stadium, which seats about 5,000, and then we made this one fit in our footprint,” Elton said, and noted the process of getting the stadium from drawing board to reality has been “exciting and interesting.” “This is a pretty big deal,” Elton said.

www.PoolerMagazine.com | September/October 2015

Soccer as

Ministry POOLER RECREATION SPOTLIGHT

Story by JEFF WHITTEN Photos by NATALIE MCALISTER

38 September/October 2015 | www.PoolerMagazine.com

irst, know this. Jeff Hubbard is into soccer. He loves the sport for a number of reasons, not least of which perhaps is the game was there for him as a teen when his family moved from a small town in Illinois to Atlanta and then to Savannah. Soccer became an extended family. “I went to three high schools, and it was the soccer thing that kept me within a community,” Hubbard said. “I always had a family because I always had a team, and that was an important thing for me being the new guy in school.” These days, Hubbard, no longer the new guy, holds a masters in pastoral ministry from Covington Theological Seminiary and is lead pastor for Pooler Bible Church, which has a congregation of approximately 240, and is another extended family. He’s also a volunteer soccer coach for the Pooler Recreation Department, and coaches not one but two teams, the U6 Monsters and the U10 Pirates, and soccer is still a family thing since his two daughters play for him. Carly, 5, is a Monster. Caroline, 8, is a Pirate and an assistant coach on his U6 team. It’s led to some great moments, defining moments, you might say, and those help sum up why a grown man with a more-thanfulltime job will spend long hours on ballfields coaching kids up. “When a kid scores a goal and gets excited about what they’ve accomplished, they just light up. It’s neat to me, it’s enjoyable to see them accomplish things,” Hubbard said. “Seeing children who may not have the greatest physical ability develop is an incredible thing to watch. When they accomplish something they did not know they can do, their smile is amazing.” Hubbard also believes its important to him as Christian to be involved in the community in which he lives, you see. And what is a community but the families who make it up? “To me, the thing I get out of coaching the most is connecting with the families,” Hubbard said. “And hopefully in that connection, the pastor part of me will shine through as part of my responsibility as a Christian.” The road to here Were it not for an injury, Hubbard’s life might’ve taken another turn. He was getting looks from the Atlanta Lightning, a high-profile club soccer program, but tore up his calf muscle and fractured an ankle as a freshman during a match while playing striker at Jonesboro high School. That alone could have put an end to his dreams of playing soccer at a higher level, but Hubbard bounced back when his father, the Rev. Herb Hubbard, took a position as co-pastor at Bible Baptist Church on Skidaway Road in Savannah and also coached teams. The younger Hubbard, who is now 37, played three sports at Bible Baptist -- football, baseball and basketball -- in the mid 1990s, and he said his father is the coach he most admires and wants to emulate. But there wasn’t much soccer going on in Savannah at that time, Hubbard said, and perhaps that as much as the injury sidelined whatever dreams Hubbard had of playing soccer at the next level. “One of the heartbreaking things for me about moving to Savannah was there wasn’t a club soccer program,” Hubbard said, noting he played fullback and linebacker on Bible Baptist’s last state title football team before the Braves won a South Carolina Indendent Schools Association title in 2012. That title came in 1994 when Bible Baptist played in the Georgia Christian Athletic Association. After graduation, Hubbard got his bachelor’s and master’s at Covington Theological Seminary. In 2000, he started coaching soccer for the YMCA on Habersham, and, to keep with our theme

of family, there’s this: Hubbard and his wife Melissa, a former Armstrong State University basketball player, teamed up to coach girls’ basketball at Bible Baptist for a while. “She coached the varsity girls and I coached the JV girls,” he said. “That was a fun time.” Five years ago, Hubbard and his family moved to Pooler when Hubbard got the call to become pastor at Pooler Bible Church. He straightaway volunteered to coach and has been doing so ever since, and counts 15 years as a volunteer coach. “The question inevitably always comes up, ‘why do you do this?’’ Hubbard said. “My responsibility as a believer is to be involved in the community and try to impact kids lives. I do that by trying to help them develop their skill level and develop as team players. To me, it’s about showing the love of Christ.” It’s about having fun, as well. “We try to do things the kids will enjoy,” Hubbard said. “On my U6 teams, I learned pretty quicikly it really matters not if you win the game, it matters whether the snack is good at the end. My U8 and U10 are a little more competitive, but at the U6 level, they’ll come up and ask if we won.” And to be clear, it’s also about being respectful of other religions. “I tell them up front who I am, but for me, it’s not about preaching to the kids on the field,” Hubbard said. “It’s about being an example of Christ. I’ve coached Jewish kids, Muslim kids, and it doesn’t change how we coach them or treat them. www.PoolerMagazine.com | September/October 2015

Not one of these kids or any kid who has played for me has gone without love or encouragement from the coach. I enjoy building reltationships with the families that I coach and enjoy talking to them about their family. I ask them how their kids are doing in school.” Team, family, community. The words seem interchangeable, if you stop and think about it. Family. Team. Community. And when you’re coaching 6-yearolds, just make sure you have good snacks and you care about those in your charge. “I’d describe myself as a coach as somebody that loves the kids and encourages the kids,” Hubbard said. “It’s not about winning at this level. Do I like to win? Of course, the competitive drive is there, but not nearly as much as my desire to see the kids having a good time and learning the game and learning the team concept. Everybody gets to play at this level and everybody gets an equal portion of play.”

P R E L O O

POO

• Administrative Office • Gymnasium • 5 Ball Diamonds • Batting Cages • Playgrounds • Outside Basketball Court

ices

rv e S e r u s Lei

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40 September/October 2015 | www.PoolerMagazine.com

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42 September/October 2015 | www.PoolerMagazine.com

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44 September/October 2015 | www.PoolerMagazine.com

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Military • Veterans • Nurses Teachers • First Responders and those that make our community a better place to live. www.PoolerMagazine.com | September/October 2015

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O EE W mber/ T e t O p RI Se

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48 September/October 2015 | www.PoolerMagazine.com

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