Gleaning Facebook: Democrat of the Year

I am so proud of my life partner, the love of my life, Sheila Matthews Shaw. During 2018 Sheila worked her heart out for her principles.

She opened our home to house for months a key staff member for the Stacey Abrams campaign in Northwest Georgia who for those months became almost a third daughter. (We still miss you Autumn Rivers, come see us!)

She volunteered uncounted hours at the Democratic headquarters helping to organize neighborhood canvassing lists and routes for Floyd and Bartow counties, keeping careful -- even tedious -- and important records of that canvassing.

She walked from door to door herself to take the progressive message of the Democratic Party and Stacey Abrams directly to the people.

During long and stressful hours she never lost her cool, was always helpful and kind and articulate and calm and organized.

She NEVER sought the limelight and, tonight, she was THE most surprised, unsuspecting person in the room when she was declared the 2018 Democrat of the Year for Floyd County and, therefore, winner of the prestigious George Pullen Award.

I love you, Sheila, and I admire you so much. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for being a loving daughter-in-law to my mother. Thank you for being such a loving mother to Brannon Shaw and Lillian Shaw and a doting grandmother to Clementine (and soon Ruth!)

And thank you for loving our community, state, and nation enough to stand up and be counted even when it is your nature to avoid standing out.

Thank you for being a woman of principle.

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It was kinda neat that Ben Amis, a former Asburian like me and Sheila, presented the award. He is himself a previous winner of the Pullen award. Ruth Demeter is the chair of the Floyd County Democratic Party. 

And it was neat to have the annual Georgia Giants Awards Dinner at Cave Spring. 

Mayor Tom Lindsey, a Democratic leader himself, welcomed us and agreed that his Daddy may have been a part of the 1966 meeting I attended held in one of the shops on the side of the square occupied by the Lindseys' Cave Spring Hardware.) It was my very first official political meeting, I suppose, when at 18 I met with a group of supporters of Ellis Arnall in that year's long and confusing gubernatorial campaign. A young Jimmy Carter got his first major statewide exposure finishing a close third to Arnall and Lester Maddox in the general primary. Maddox squeaked by Arnall in the runoff. Arnall stayed in the race as a write-in and drew enough support to throw a monkey wrench into the general election and force a showdown between Republican Bo Callaway and the racist Maddox in the general assembly. The legislators chose second place finisher "Pickrick" Maddox over Bo.

I took biology that fall. We named our fetal pig "Lester".

Sheila worked at Floyd College (now Ga Highlands) with George Pullen, and we met with him and others as he planned his campaign for Congress way back when, and he loaned us computer time at his shop, after hours, way back when, to produce some projects we had going. So we are particularly touched for Sheila to have the award named for our friend Ann Pullen's husband.

Wendy Davis is an outstanding community leader here in Rome and also an important state and national leader in Democratic Party circles. We were especially pleased to share this wonderful night with her.

The keynote speaker for the Georgia Giants Dinner was Andra Gillespie. She addressed the use of symbolism in our politics during the last few years. She is author of the book Race and the Obama Administration: Substance, Symbols, and Hope. Dr. Gillespie is Associate Professor of Political Science at Emory Univ. You can sometimes catch her commentary on the Political Rewind radio show on GPB.

Ruth Demeter is president of the Floyd County Democratic Party. Ben is one of the vice chairs of the party, a Pullen Awardee himself, and presented the award to Sheila tonight.

Latonya is such a treasure, and not just for the Peach Trifle!