Georgia Magazine - July 2010 - (Page 14)

COMPILED BY VICTORIA SCHARF DECASTRO Walter Harrison Scholarship winners announced Michael Peyton Fanning Edward Davis Lacey IV Bridget Neukum Deon Wallace Anna Rosalind Wooten This year, eight outstanding Georgia students have each been awarded a $1,000 Walter Harrison Scholarship. Created 21 years ago by the board of directors at Georgia Electric Membership Corp. (EMC), the scholarship is awarded annually to students who excel in areas of grade-point average, SAT scores, academic standing and scholastic honors, and can demonstrate financial need. A total of 78 applications were submitted. The 2010 scholarship winners and their electric co-ops include: Edward Davis Lacey IV, Amicalola EMC in Jasper; Ashley Carlton, Hart EMC in Hartwell; Bridget Neukum, Jackson EMC in Jefferson; Caitlin Freeman, North Georgia EMC in Dalton; Michael Peyton Fanning and Whitney Lauren Reed, Snapping Shoals EMC in Covington; Anna Rosalind Wooten, Tri-County EMC in Gray; and Deon Wallace, Washington EMC in Sandersville. The award pays tribute to the late Walter Harrison, a pioneer in the rural electrification movement. REA: The early years IMAGES REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION © COPYRIGHT NRECA Lights on the farm, finally! As Georgia’s electric cooperatives this year celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Rural Electrification Administration (REA, now Rural Utilities Service), some co-op members may recall the incredible changes rural electricity brought to their way of life. The first half of the 1930s had been a struggle through the Great Depression. That low point in American history did not end with the wonders of electric power made possible by the 1935 establishment of the REA, but gaining electricity certainly made a difference. Finally, after decades of boiling water in pots to hand-wash clothes in water hauled from the creek, a farm family could throw out the washtub and plug in their new electric washing machine. Throughout the state, a sure sign that households had obtained electricity was the nighttime glow from incandescent lightbulbs, which usually hung from a drop cord in the middle of a room, enabling rural residents to read or do homework at night without straining by the light of a kerosene lantern. The American Society of Electrical Engineers reported that incandescent lights cut in half the amount of time required to do farm chores with a lantern. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, most rural American families’ first purchases when electricity entered their home were a radio and electric iron. One of the more popular conveniences was indoor plumbing, which simplified not only washing clothes, but taking baths, obtaining drinking water and performing household cleaning chores. www.georgiamagazine.org 75 14 Upon receiving electricity, one of the first purchases most rural American families made was an electric iron. By 1950, almost 96 percent of Georgia farms had electricity, the amazing new commodity that produced more than power to run appliances and farm machines—it produced awe in hardworking farm families grateful for how it lightened their load. —Jackie Kennedy GEORGIA MAGAZINE http://www.georgiamagazine.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Georgia Magazine - July 2010

Georgia Magazine - July 2010
Contents
Viewpoint
Mailbox
Picture This?
Georgia News
Calendar
Currents
Special Energy Report
Where the Wild Things Are
Still Going Strong
Reliving History and Exploring Nature
Around Georgia
Georgia@Home
My Georgia
Georgia Gardens
Georgia Cooks
Cookbook of the Month
Snapshot

Georgia Magazine - July 2010