NGHS golf tournament named in memory of longtime supporter

The Cheryl Shippey Memorial golf tournament, previously called the Laurel Classic, has been named in memory of Cheryl Shippey, a Northeast Georgia Health System (NGHS) Foundation team member, who unexpectedly passed away in March 2023. Obituary for Cheryl Lynn (Caddell) Shippey | Memorial Park Funeral Homes

Shippey, according to the foundation, was well-known in the Braselton community for her work on NGMC (Northeast Georgia Medical Center) Braselton’s inaugural campaign and was instrumental in the creation of the Laurel Classic, a fundraiser for the foundation.

This year’s tournament will be held May 14 at The Legends at Chateau Elan.

About the Author

Ken Stanford is Online News Editor for GLORY 97.5, a position he has held since August 2022.

Ken was born in Moultrie, Georgia, and says he knew from the time he was 5 or 6 he wanted to be a “radio announcer.” That dream was realized when he was hired by Moultrie radio station WMTM in 1960 at the age of 15 as a weekend disc jockey. A 1963 graduate of Moultrie (now Colquitt County) High School, he has spent his whole career in Georgia working for stations in Atlanta, Marietta, and Gainesville – most recently as News Director for 40 years at WDUN in Gainesville. He is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force Reserves.

Ken retired in 2011 but came out of retirement last year to help GLORY, on a part-time basis, beef-up its online news presence.

He is the recipient of many Associated Press awards and is a former judge of state and national Associated Press broadcast news contests. In 2005, he was presented with the Georgia Associated Press Broadcasters Association’s President’s Award for Excellence in Journalism and in 2019 was inducted into the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame.

He lives in Gainesville with his wife of 52 years, the former Sandra McKnight of Clio, Alabama, and they have one child, a daughter, Lisa, who lives in Cumming with her family.