More than a hundred people packed into the First Baptist Church Family Life Center in Union Saturday evening for the 53rd annual Union Chamber of Commerce Banquet celebrating the people and businesses that make up the small community.
After a dinner of steak and baked potatoes provided by the Piggly Wiggly of Union, chamber members, residents and officials from across Newton County were treated were treated to a key note address by veteran journalist Nancy Jo Maples, who challenged the crowd to share their stories and pass their knowledge on to future generations.
“Your story may not ever be printed in a magazine or might not be published in a book, but it should be shared,” she said. “Tell your stories to your children, to your nieces, to your nephews. Don’t let your stories die.”
Maples, a native of Newton County, who worked for over 30 years with the Associated Press, said she wrote a lot of stories throughout her career, but the ones she liked the most were the stories about every day people. Those stories may not be as gripping as a murder or a train wreck, but they need to be shared. Stories are part of a community, she said, and that knowledge needs to be passed on before it is lost.
“Every time a person dies, a library burns down,” she said.
While the chamber banquet was a chance to hear Maples and enjoy a meal, it was also a celebration of two Union residents, the Citizen of the Year and the Lifetime Achievement Award recipient. This year, real estate entrepreneur Robert Carleton was named the Citizen of the Year and Gail Long, owner of Long’s Building Materials, was given the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Carleton, a life-long resident of Union, thanked the chamber and the community for making the town a place his family could build a home. Residents of Union, he said, are accountable, and that is why they succeed.
“Small communities like Union thrive when it’s citizens choose to be accountable by participating in community organizations, taking on leadership roles, coaching youth ball and opening businesses, just to name a few things,” he said. “Accountability requires risk and sacrifice and has two possible outcomes, either success or failure.”
The alternative to accountability is anonymity, Carlton said, which ultimately leads to failure, both as an individual and as a community.
“I challenge you to be accountable,” he said. “Be willing to take sacrifice and be willing to take risk.”
As long as its citizens choose to be accountable, Carlton said, Union will thrive.
Long, who moved to Union with her husband almost 50-years ago, said she was humbled to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award. Throughout her time in Union, she said, she has learned a lot from its residents.
“I’ve learned a lot about Union since I’ve been here. One thing I’ve learned is you can’t talk about anybody because they’re related,” she said laughing.
On a more serious note, Long said, the Union community has become like her family, helping her through hard times and sharing the good times.
“There’s an old saying, ‘Thank God for Home,’” she said. “I’d like to change that a little bit and say, ‘Thank God for Union.’”
