One Way We Honor Our Veterans

We have an ongoing project here at our library. It's called the Catherine M. Bryant Veterans History Project. It's housed in the Ellen Payne Odom Genealogical Library, in the south wing of the Moultrie-Colquitt County Library. I know that's a lot of names and words, but the Project is one of our most precious collections...a collection that reminds us daily of what our veterans have done for us.
It all started in 1992, when a member of the Moultrie High School Class of 1939 was working on a veterans display at the Moultrie First Presbyterian Church. She thought, How great [it would be] to have a reunion honoring veterans of the classes of 1937 through 1940.
The four classes approved the idea and all veterans were asked to send copies of their wartime pictures. Many were received. A very successful patriotic reunion was held in June 1994 to coincide with the 50th Anniversary of the Allied Forces Landing in Europe on June 6, 1994.
After the reunion, the steering committee approached the director of the Odom Library, Melody Jenkins, about creating a veterans' memorial to include all veterans who served honorably from the Civil War to present day. The project was approved. All veterans' pictures from the reunion were given to the library for permanent record. And the Moultrie High School Class of 1939 donated $700 to start the project.
The person with that first thought of a reunion to honor our veterans was Catherine M. Bryant. She worked for the library for 61 years as our Genealogy and Administrative Assistant. Catherine passed away last year.
Everyone knew Catherine's greatest library love was the Veterans History Project. And because it was her desire that veterans be honored and never forgotten, the Veterans History Project was placed in the genealogy library. She worked hard for years to raise money to support the project and acquire information about as many veterans as she could to add to the collection. Because of her dedication and appreciation of all veterans, the project was named for her.
At this time, the genealogy library is conducting a Veterans Survey in an effort to locate all military personnel - past and present. To be included in the Project, an information sheet is required. All records and/or pictures must be identified. Forms are available at the Odom Genealogical Library.
We're also working toward creating a list of the names of veterans for whom we have information, with the possiblity of publishing that list on our website. At the present time, we've compiled 113 notebooks with information on over 15,000 veterans.
The Veterans History Project is an important part of our heritage. If you have information you'd like to contribute, please contact the Ellen Payne Odom Genealogical Library at 229-985-6540 and ask for Ann Glass, Project Chairman.