ATLANTA – State Representative Barbara Massey Reece (D-Menlo) welcomed honored guest Reverend Warren L. Jones of Rome, Georgia, to the House on Monday. Reese introduced House Resolution 1452 recognizing Reverend Jones and his many accomplishments.
“I am so proud to know Reverend Jon
es,” said Representative Reece. “He has done so much for this great nation and state. I can’t think of a more deserving man to receive the honor of Distinguished Older Gentleman for 2010.”
88-year old Jones, a World War II veteran and dedicated volunteer, was named the Distinguished Older Gentleman for 2010 by the Georgia Council on Aging. Reverend Jones currently serves as an active member of the National Silver Haired Congress, currently appointed by Congressman Phil Gingrey. Reverend Jones also led the cause to have a portrait of President Woodrow Wilson’s first wife, Ellen, hung in the State Capitol.
Reverend Jones was a founder of both Rome’s alcohol rehabilitation residence and the Hospitality House, a shelter for battered and abused women and their young children. He continues to serve as a board member of Hospitality House.
Reverend Jones has received many awards and honors, including the Minister of the Year Award, a Martin Luther King, Jr., Humanitarian Award for a life devoted to civil and human rights, a Heart of the Community Service Award, a Rome/Floyd Mental Health Association Ellis Hale Community Award, and designation in the Rome Lions Club “Book of Golden Deeds.”
Those in attendance for the introduction of House Resolution 1452, honoring Reverend Jones, included Frank Pritchett, representing the President of the University of West Georgia; Kathryn Fowler, Executive Director of the Georgia Council on Aging; Abby Cox and Ann Williams of the Georgia Council on Aging; members of Friends of the Library in Rome; members of the Rome Heritage Foundation; and the Executive Director of Hospitality House in Rome.
Editor’s note: A photograph of Reverend Jones at the Capitol for Monday’s resolution is attached. Those pictured from right to left are Speaker David Ralston; Rep. Barbara Reece; Distinguished Older Georgian of the Year Reverend Warren Jones of Rome; Rev. Jones’ daughter Jan Ferguson; Ann Culpepper from the Greater Rome Convention & Visitors Bureau; Debbie Studdard, Area Agency on Aging in Rome; Rev. Jones’ son J. Michael Jones; Rep. Katie Dempsey; Rep. Rick Crawford; Pat Millican, Rome Library Geneology Department and Chair of the Cemetery Preservation Committee; and Rep. Barry Loudermilk.
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Representative Barbara Massey Reece represents the citizens of District 11, which includes Chatooga County, as well as portions of Floyd County. She was elected into the House of Representatives in 1998, and currently serves on the Education, Legislative and Congressional Reapportionment, Science and Technology, and State Institutions and Property Committees.