Artist who painted late Ga. House Speaker's portrait; Free eclipse glasses; Former Gville parks director, former Lula city councilman recognized

*Travis Massey of Gainesville painted the portrait of the late Georgia House Speaker David Ralston which was unveiled at the State Capitol this week. (Click here to see Massey and others with the painting: Portrait unveiled to honor Speaker Ralston (ung.edu) )

*Retired longtime Gainesville Parks & Recreation Director Melvin Cooper was presented with the Kiwanis Club of Gainesville’s top award this week, the John W. Jacobs Jr. Youth Service Award. It’s the highest honor the club can bestow.

*Free eclipse glasses will be available while they last Monday at all branches of the Hall County Library System. A partial eclipse of the sun will be visible in Georgia April 8.

*Mordecai Wilson, a beloved resident of Lula and former longtime Lula city councilman, was honored by the town Friday on the occasion of his 99th birthday.

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.