Special to The Sun
The 2021 Enterprise Man, Woman or Youth of the Year will be announced at 6:30 p.m., Thursday, April 21, at First Baptist Church of Enterprise in the fellowship hall hosted by the Pilot Club of Enterprise. Refreshments will be served.
The special event also recognizes other individuals who have volunteered their time and worked hard for the betterment of the community and its residents.
The following candidates are nominees for Man of the Year:
Sam B. Baker
The American Sons of the Revolution nominated CW5 (R) Sam R. Baker III as the Man of the Year due to his continued support of active duty, veterans, humanitarian and patriotic events in the Wiregrass. His service to the Wiregrass and its surrounding community earned him the Active Duty Servicemember of the Year for Enterprise in 2020. As the Vice President of the U.S. Army Warrant Officer Association (USAWOA) Above the Best – Silver Chapter, he organized and volunteered for a myriad of events to include bimonthly “adopt a Mile” cleanup on the Boll Weevil Loop, food drives for the Wiregrass Food Bank, Wreaths Across America and other events such as Boswell Honda Flag Day and Veterans Day ceremonies.
Baker has volunteered more than 750 hours this year and a plethora of those hours was renovating the VFW Post 6683, receiving and processing awards for AAAA, setting up golf scrambles on Fort Rucker to raise funds and evaluating college student scholarship applications.
Baker worked with the Boy Scouts of America on fundraising events and volunteers annually with the Wildcat Battalion EHS JROTC for its steak dinner. Additionally, Baker consistently works in Ozark at Friends of Army Aviation each week and this year organized, directed and executed the annual Family Day with this year’s Ribbon Cutting and facility dedication ceremony.
John Logsdon
The OSCAR Club nominates John Logsdon for 2021 Enterprise Man of the Year.
Logsdon is a Deacon, Sunday School Teacher, and Men’s Leader at Church on Boll Weevil Circle. While the church was under construction, Logsdon worked closely with the architect, engineering firms, and multiple city departments so that the church could continue their scheduled services. When the general contractor passed away, Logsdon arranged for subcontractors to finish the building. He devoted countless hours overseeing and using his own talents to see the work to completion.
Logsdon is a leader with the Coffee Baptist Association, Coffee Baptist Disaster Relief, and a member of the Vineyard Committee that makes decisions on operations of the 110-acre camp.
For Flags for Vets and Wreaths Across America, Logsdon installed flag poles and replaced flags as well as placed wreaths on the graves of veterans in local cemeteries. Frequently, he serves as speaker for these events. As Battens Volunteer Fire Department Chaplain, Logsdon responded to over 50 calls last year. Being a member of Coffee County Emergency Response Team (CERT), Logsdon ensured the safety of attendees and participants at parades and park activities.
As a member of Enterprise Military Support Group, he assists community leaders by providing a method for all branches of the military to have an avenue of support.
Longsdon serves as part of the leadership team for Iron Works Men’s Ministry reaching between 100-400 men monthly.
Lee Milliner
Lee Milliner is Altrusa of Enterprise’s nominee for the 2021 Man of the Year.
Milliner is a native of Enterprise. He is a small business owner, having opened his own State Farm agency in October 2018, and his office was recently named Best Insurance Agent of Coffee County.
Milliner attends Enterprise First United Methodist Church and has served as a member of the Staff Parish Relations Committee and chair of the C3 Contemporary Worship Service Hospitality Committee. As the parent of two daughters in the children’s program at EFUMC, Milliner serves in a variety of roles supporting the Children’s Ministries, Fall Festival, and church wide tailgates.
As an alumnus and parent of the Enterprise schools as well as a small business owner, he has worked with many classes at Enterprise Career and Technology Center and EHS to create resumes, prepare business plans for new small businesses, and serve as a judge at the ECTC Shark Tank competition. Milliner is also part of several groups which provide treats to teachers throughout the year and provide the football team dinner and fellowship the night before each game.
Milliner served as a Wiregrass United Way Loaned Executive, is an Enterprise Chamber of Commerce Ambassador and a member of the Chamber Board of Directors. At the most recent Chamber banquet he received the Bea Fuentes Volunteer of the Year Award.
The following candidates are nominees for Woman of the Year:
Patsy Chalker
The OSCAR Club nominates Patsy Chalker for Enterprise Woman of the Year for 2021.
The members of this organization are former Women of the Year and recognize in Chalker the qualities of service above self.
Even though Chalker is retired, her calendar and her days are filled with service, as she makes a difference putting her hands and heart to work. Chalker has volunteered with the Celebrate Recovery, Christ centered program since 2013 as a leader, encourager and training coach. She serves with this dedicated group at Enterprise First United Methodist Church for 52 weeks of the year in ministry. She volunteers with The Brave Beauty Project modifying girl’s dress patterns to make them port accessible for cancer treatments. As a volunteer with Days for Girls, she pairs her love for sewing to give independence to women, who do not have access to disposable menstrual cycle products.
Chalker has volunteered with WEPS for many years. In 2021 she created baby quilts and blankets to go in baskets for new moms. In 2021 she volunteered her time and sewing talents to mission projects packing boxes for Operation Christmas Child, making quilts for church mission auctions and making dresses. She has created items for Relay for Life fundraisers and local church missions. She is an ongoing sponsor for a child overseas and two local missionaries to foreign countries.
Kimberly Hoobler
Kimberly Hoobler is nominated for Woman of the Year by the Enterprise Literary Club.
Hoobler is a member of the choir at St Luke United Methodist Church. She serves on the Missions Committee and volunteers in the Days for Girls sewing group on Wednesday nights.
She sings in the Masterworks Community Choir and is a member of the Enterprise Music Club. Hoobler also supports the Coffee County Arts Alliance and Southern Broadway with season tickets.
Her career has allowed her the flexibility to serve and do more charity. She served as local director on the Wiregrass Board of Realtors in 2021. She was also the Chair of the Education Committee, where she organized classes and facilitated the New Agent Orientation.
In 2021, she organized and led the fundraiser for Children’s Miracle Network for RE/MAX. She has rung bells for Salvation Army, gave blood, and donated to Habitat for Humanity. When she has time, she does yard care for her elderly neighbors and takes care of her foster daughter’s baby.
Her big ministry in 2021 was Operation Christmas Child. She is a year-round volunteer where she serves as Logistics Coordinator. She manages 11 drop off locations from Headland to Andalusia. During 2021, she trained two new drop off locations. She helped train her replacement on the new Lower Alabama team. She remained on the Wiregrass team to help them grow into new territory and bring on new drop off locations and team leaders. She also volunteered at the Atlanta processing center twice during the 2021 year.
Cheryl O’Mary
Cheryl O’Mary is Altrusa of Enterprise’s nominee for the 2021 Woman of the Year. She is a native of Coffee County, a military wife and returned to Enterprise in 2012.
She is a member of Altrusa of Enterprise and serves as the chairperson of the Astra Girls Club Committee. She is an active supporter of all the club committees and projects including Stuff the Bus, Enterprise Pageants and all club efforts to support Coffee County Family Services and Enterprise Health and Rehabilitation. As chairperson of Astra Girls Club, she oversees all meetings and assists the club in collecting and delivering all donations from their monthly projects.
O’Mary has been an active supporter of the EHS Big Blue Band as a band booster. She served as head of the band’s homecoming committee where she planned, prepped and executed the homecoming dance along with other volunteers.
O’Mary serves as a ground crew chief for Alabama Puppy Rescue Flights at Enterprise Municipal Airport where she helps prepare the area to receive the puppies for their short stay, socializing and caring for the puppies and loading the puppies into the plane for their flight to Florida where they will be adopted.
Annie M. Reynolds
Annie M. Reynolds is the Hand Up Enterprise nominee for the 2021 Woman of the Year.
Reynolds has served 50 plus years as organist at Fort Rucker and 24 years of teaching while at the same time serving as a minister’s wife, working on two master’s degrees and raising three boys.
Reynolds faithfully serves as vice president of Hand Up Enterprise, which fed more than 2,000 people in 2021, furnished 186 families with Thanksgiving meals, provided clothing to at-need individuals, ministered to the homeless, the hungry, families who have been burned out, and abused women needing basic essential supplies.
Reynolds serves as First Vice President of the Enterprise Music Club where she assists as hostess, accompanist and program presenter. She is a member of the National Association of Retired Federal Employees and Coffee County Education Retirees Association.
Reynolds and her minister husband are members of Bethel Baptist Church where she serves as pianist and Adult Bible teacher.
As a volunteer with the Enterprise Public Library, Reynolds works Thursdays to prepare books for the library’s sales which occur three-times-per-year. Proceeds are used for needed library projects.
The following candidates are a nominee for Youth of the Year:
Emmie Elizabeth Baker
The American Sons of the Revolution of Enterprise nominate Emmie Elizabeth Baker for the Enterprise Youth of the Year.
Baker is a junior at Enterprise High School where she is involved in the Wildcat Battalion Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps program and other activities and she strives to attend Auburn University as a veterinarian. She served as a Squad Leader in the JROTC while earning three Arcs. She has dedicated many hours to charitable missions while maintaining a 4.0 GPA.
Baker is an active member of Friends of Army Aviation where she has volunteered more than 225 hours sharing the legacy of Army Aviation while giving rides in the UH-1 to more than 4,000 Wiregrass citizens. She was by name requested by the President of FOAA to be the escort and future image of FOAA for General and Mrs Richard Cody for the 2022 Gala in Dothan. She also volunteered with the United States Warrant Officer Association during 78 hours in a bi-monthly refuse removal during the “Adopt a Mile” on the Boll Weevil Circle.
She additionally worked with members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, John Wiley Brock Post 6683 in community service and the remodeling of Post 6683 during 121 hours. She represented the JROTC and VFW as a Veteran’s Day parade assistant driving Vietnam and WWII veterans through the parade; additionally, she participated in the Wreaths Across America campaign, food drives at the Enterprise Walmart for the Wiregrass Food Bank of Dothan and the Boswell Honda Flag Retirement ceremonies.
Hanna Brown
Enterprise High School Anchor Club nominates Hanna Brown for Youth of the Year.
A current senior at EHS, she is the president of EHS Anchor Club, a student community service organization. Brown will earn her associate’s degree from Enterprise State Community College shortly before graduating in the top 10 percent of her high school class.
While dual-enrolled at the high school and community college, she has found the time to be a leader among her peers. Brown serves as vice president of the EHS Psychology Club, president of the National Society of High School Scholars, Cross-cultural Communications Directors with NSHSS leaders and officers from the Hong Kong Chinese Christian Churches Union-Logos Academy, an EHS Wildcat Representative student ambassador, and member of the EHS Student 2 Student organization that welcomes new and perspective students.
A few of Brown’s community service contributions include creating and selling shirts in the local community to raise awareness and funds for Alzheimer’s research, serving as a Be My Eyes Volunteer Virtual Assistant to the Visually Impaired, selling concessions at track and field meets, and assisting at junior varsity track meets. Brown also serves as a preschool Sunday School teacher at Union Grove Baptist Church and a junior counselor at Royal Family Kids Camp.
Brown also competes on the EHS Varsity Track and Field Team, participates in the National Honor Society, Phi Theta Kappa and EHS Student Government Association. She also works at the YMCA as a soccer coach, basketball coach, after school camp counselor, and morning desk opener at the YMCA Fitness Center. After graduation, she plans to pursue a psychology degree at Auburn University.
Olivia Holland
The Junior Sesame Girls Club has nominated Olivia Holland for the 2021 Youth of the Year.
Holland is a dual enrolled student at Enterprise High School, with a weighted GPA of 4.34, and is also enrolled in Enterprise State Community College, with a GPA of 3.8,earning Dean’s List honors.
She is a member of the EHS National Honor Society, Lynn McCuistian Chapter holding the office of Historian, National Technical Honor Society, Health Occupations Students of America, and Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society. She is a Wildcat Representative, Student 2 Student Leader, Junior Sesame Girls Club President, and 2021-2022 Miss Enterprise.
Holland attends HighPointe Church and she assists in a classroom of children, ages four-to-seven, during the children’s Bible service. She also served a week of her summer as a counselor for 14 preteen young ladies at Camp Wiregrass.
Holland is ranked 16th in her graduating class of 453 students. Her plans for the future are to complete nursing school at Auburn University, then obtain a master’s degree to work as a nurse practitioner.
Sylvia Howell
The Enterprise High School National Honor Society has nominated Sylvia Howell for Pilot Club Youth of the Year.
She has maintained a weighted 4.30 GPA while balancing sports, a job, and her numerous extracurricular activities including the Interact Club, Anchor club, Wildcat Representative, Student 2 Student, The National Honor Society, Altrusa Girls’ Club, and Health Occupations Students of America. She is ranked in the top 5% of her graduating class.
Sylvia recognizes the importance of giving back to others and helping people who are less fortunate. Her passion for community service was inspired by her father, Lance Howell, who passed away in December of 2019 after battling pancreatic cancer. She enjoys giving to others in honor of her father and in appreciation for the acts of kindness from the community throughout her father’s journey with cancer.
Sylvia is a member of many organizations that focus on volunteering and community service. Sylvia’s volunteer work includes numerous local organizations: The Christian Mission, Wynnwood Oaks Assisted Living, Coffee County Family Services, SOS Animal Shelter, Puppy Flights, Whoville Crew, May Day in the Park, Coffee County Special Olympics, and Advantage Enterprise Special Needs Tennis. From walking dogs at the shelter to playing cards with the elderly, Sylvia is always looking for ways to make a difference in the lives around her.
She will be attending The University of Mississippi in the fall of 2022. Sylvia hopes to help normalize women in STEM careers and she looks forward to accomplishing all of the dreams that her father had for her.
Isabella Holtz
Isabella Holtz is nominated for Youth of the Year by the OSCAR Club.
She is a senior at Enterprise High School where she is heavily involved in sports, extracurricular activities and academics. She holds leadership positions, volunteers, maintains a weighted GPA of 4.47, and is ranked third out of 453.
Holtz is an active member of her school’s government, a member of her scholar bowl team and a Wildcat Representative. She still manages to find time to work a part-time job at a local golf course, be the captain of her golf team, and tutor students for no cost. Over the summer she is found working on the local military base as a mentor for the Gains in the Education of Mathematics and Science program.
She will be attending Vanderbilt University this fall where she plans to pursue her goal of becoming a biomedical engineer by earning her undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering.
DyShunta RaShiria
McDaniel
DyShunta RaShiria McDaniel is nominated for Youth of the Year by Semper Fidelis Club.
She is currently a senior at Enterprise High School where she is a member of the National Honor Society and the National Society for High School Scholars. She is the President of the Culturama Pearls of Coffee County of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. She is also a member of the civic group G.I.R.L.S Supporting G.I.R.L.S.
McDaniel is a member of Johns Chapel AME Church where she serves as president of the Young People’s Division, member of the Technology Team, and COVID Task Force. She currently holds the position of first vice president in the Young People’s Division of the Ninth Episcopal District of the AME Church for the state of Alabama. During 2021, she was a member of the Ninth Episcopal District Debutants and Master’s Commission of the AME Church.
McDaniel is currently employed at Pure Imagination as a sale representative and on occasion works at Leon’s, the adjoining store. She is a proud owner of a small photography business called FBT Photography. She plans to attend Troy University in the fall, where she will major in Kinesiology with a minor in Business Management.
Ella McPeake
Ella McPeake is nominated for Youth of the Year by the Literary Club.
McPeake has participated in many extracurricular activities and service clubs through her time at EHS. She has served as Vice President and is now serving as the President of Juniorettes Girls Club. She has created Halloween goodie bags for senior citizens, donated to local Toys 4 Tots programs, helped alongside the Military Child Education Coalition through “Tell Me a Story” events, participated in HighPointe Church’s service day throughout Enterprise, and served in the kid’s ministry at HighPointe leading worship and connect groups to children ages 5-11.
At EHS, she is a part of the National Honor Society, Junior Civitan, Anchor Club and First Priority. Along with her club contributions, McPeake is a member of the Big Blue Band’s Danceline where she served as captain for the 2021-2022 season, along with being a member of the mixed varsity show choir, Enterprise Encores.
After graduating from EHS, McPeake is attending Auburn University where she plans on majoring in Biomedical Sciences and wants to become a dermatologist.
Emma Newsome
Emma Newsome is nominated for Youth of the Year by Future Business Leaders of America.
She is president of the Enterprise High School FBLA club and as a Wildcat Representative. Newsome is also a member of the Astra Girl’s club, Junior Civitan club, and the National Honor Society.
Outside of community service groups, Newsome is a member of the EHS all-girl competitive show choir, Enterprise Esprit. She has volunteered at Wildcat football games, Wildcat track meets, farmers markets, puppy flights, school drives, and even aided in choreographing her school’s 2021 Christmas Spectacular Show along with other students. Newsome is also Head Junior Ambassador for a nonprofit music organization named Music South, which focuses on enriching the musical arts throughout the community and schools.
She is a straight A advanced placement student who plans to attend Auburn University in the fall to study Architecture and Design.
Taylor O’Mary
Altrusa Club of Enterprise nominates Taylor O’Mary as nominee for the 2021 Youth of the Year.
O’Mary completed her senior year early at Enterprise High School and is waiting to join her fellow classmates at the graduation ceremony in May. She is a member of the EHS Big Blue Band dance line. She is currently a full-time student at George C. Wallace Community College. Her plans are to obtain a business degree in Supervisory Management while simultaneously completing the Eye Care Assistant program.
O’Mary is the president of Astra Girls Club. She has led her club in collecting school supplies for Enterprise City Schools, items for SOS Animal Shelter, items for Alabama Baptist Children’s Home and snacks for local heroes at the hospital. She has volunteered with Taste of Coffee County and has spent almost every weekend volunteering with Alabama Puppy Rescue Flights.
Emily Strickland
Emily Strickland was nominated by the Coffee County 4-H Club for 2022 Youth of the Year. Strickland is currently a senior at Enterprise High School. Once she graduates, she plans to continue at Enterprise State Community College then transfer to Auburn University where she will major in Agriscience Education.
She is an active member of New Home Baptist Church and has made a great impact among her peers in the last six years in the Student Ministry program. Strickland has participated in Bible Studies, peer memberships, and has completed over 150 hours of mission work. Additionally, she is involved in National Honor Society and National Society of High School Scholars. She is also the presiding Enterprise FFA Chapter President.
Strickland is a proud member of the Coffee County 4-H Club, where she is involved in competitive events such as livestock judging, quiz’s bowl, and the National Peanut Festival Design and Setup Team. She also serves as a student leader for 4-H summer programs such as Terrific Tuesdays and livestock events.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.