Business of year, others awarded at annual chamber gala
The Gilmer Chamber recognized its Citizen of the Year, while also presenting Business, Member and Community Champion of the Year Awards, at the chamber’s annual meeting and gala Saturday, March 5.
The event, which had been rescheduled from its original January date, was held at a new location, Talona Ridge RV Resort, this year.
Paul Nealey was named the chamber’s Citizen of the Year.
Nealey, a former president and CEO of the Bank of Ellijay and Jasper Banking Company, is currently the dealer principal at Ronnie Thompson Ford.
He’s served on numerous directorial, advisory and leadership boards through the years, which include, but aren’t limited to, the Gilmer Board of Education, Piedmont Mountainside Hospital Board, Limestone Valley Soil and Water Conservation, the Gilmer Library Board of Trustees and the Gilmer Chamber Board, which he once chaired.
Nealey has faithfully served Ellijay First Baptist Church in various ways for decades and is also a dedicated Mason and member of the Coosawattee Shrine Club, Oak Bowery Lodge, according to the chamber. A Gilmer County native, Nealey said he’s been with the Oak Bowery Masonic Lodge, the Royal Arch Council and Knights Templar for over 50 years. He’s also a past president of the North Georgia Shrine Club.
“Paul has been a consistent leader in our community in a wide variety of groups over the past five decades. He was a great nomination and obvious selection for this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award, which we call Citizen of the Year,” said Kent Sanford, Greater Gilmer Joint Development Authority Director, who presented Nealey with the COTY honor.
Close friend George Winn said, with Nealey, “what you see is what you get,” but that’s a good thing.
“Paul’s genuine. He’s a giving person who’s very likable and an encourager. I don’t know if he has any enemies. He’s just a friend to everybody,” said Winn.
Nealey said he was honored and overwhelmed to receive the award, which came as a surprise.
“I look around at those things to see whose family members come in and try to figure it out. I looked around this time, and my family members came in,” Nealey said. “I didn’t say it when I was up there, but I started to say I was going to be like some of the people who receive an Academy Award — ‘I don’t deserve it, and I don’t know how I earned it, but I’m not going to give it back!’”
Ellijay Telephone Company (ETC) was named the chamber’s Business of the Year.
The chamber said, combined with the Harrison Foundation, the local telecommunications provider has given more than $7.5 million to the local community in the form of charitable events, scholarships, sponsorships and donations over the past 20 years, while also working tirelessly to secure rural broadband internet service for Gilmer County.
ETC is currently gearing up for one of its biggest projects to date after receiving a $21 million American Rescue Plan Grant earlier this year, which will be used to further expand broadband internet in the county.
Lee Johnson was named the chamber’s inaugural Sally Daniels Member of the Year.
A Member of the Year Award is typically presented at the chamber reception. For the first time this year, it’s named in memory of long-active chamber member and supporter Daniels, who passed away last year.
“In the 12 years I had the honor as serving as chamber president and CEO, I knew Sally was going to be there. She supported the organization in every way. She is the spirit of our chamber,” said Paige Hutto, who proposed the award be named in honor of Daniels.
A Gilmer Chamber ambassador, Johnson is very involved with behavioral healthcare clinic Highland Rivers Health, for which he’s a board member, and is a huge supporter of Gilmer County Family Connection.
Per the chamber, “Lee truly embodies the spirit of the Gilmer Chamber family and always jumps in to serve in any way needed. (He) always has a smile on his face and has a distinct gift for making everyone he comes in contact with feel seen and valued, which makes him the perfect chamber ambassador.”
Mike and Linda Lancaster, of Friends of Harrison Park, received the Community Champion Award.
The Lancasters have helped steer multiple improvement, fundraising and maintenance projects at the downtown Ellijay park the past several years. Starting a proposed restoration of the park’s almost 100-year-old Pinson Barn is on their to-do list for this year.
“Mike and Linda selflessly dedicate their time, talents, and attention to restoring Harrison Park’s 20-plus acres to the beauty it once was in its life as a farm. (Their) work ensures that this land will be available for generations of Gilmer County families to experience and love,” the chamber said.
Also at the reception, the gavel was ceremonially passed from outgoing Gilmer Chamber Board Chairman Bobby McNeill, of Chateau Meichtry Family Vineyard and Winery, to incoming chairman Jared Arrant, of Edward Jones Investments.