EAST COBBER Front Covers

1995

Cover Photos taken by Michael Drewitz

January 1995: Mike Harrison

February 1995: Krista Roper

March 1995: Newt Gingrich

April 1995: Norma Cooper

May 1995: Joy Worman

June 1995: Barry Chase

July 1995: Meaghan Muller and Melanie Steele

August 1995: David Hong and Sam Olens

September: 1995: Joseph Abraham.

October: 1995: 2nd Anniversary Issue

November 1995: Steven Yi, Ellen Butrym, and A.J. Bowen

December 1995: Miriam Anderson

January 1995: Mike HarrisonMike Harrison, 51, an attorney with Awtrey & Parker, was named Citizen of the year by the East Cobb Division of the Cobb County Chamber of Commerce. The award is co-sponsored by the East Cobb Civitans, Kiwanis, Optimist, Rotary and Lions clubs. For the past twenty years, Mike Harrison has been involved in the Cobb Democratic Execu-tive Committee, Metropolitan Atlanta Retired & Senior Volunteer Program, a director of the Senior Citizens of Metropolitan Atlanta, past president of the East Cobb Kiwanis Club, served on the Cobb Chamber’s Board of Directors and the list goes on.

Mike believes, “getting involved allows one to get rewards you can’t find anywhere else.”

Mike lives with his wife, Betty, in the Lake Fjord subdivision.

February 1995: Krista RoperEastcobber, Shawn Rivers, defenseman for the Atlanta Knights. Born in Ottawa, Canada, To help us celebrate Valentine’s Day, we asked Krista Roper, 24, to share her wedding photo-graph. On June 11, 1996 Krista married Rick Roper. A graduate of Walton High School (Class of ’89), Krista is an intensive care nurse at Scottish Rite Hospital. She is the daughter of Jim and Karia Yearwood who live in the Willow Point sub-division. Krista lists some of her favorite things about growing up in East Cobb: “…the neigh-borhoods, my friends and its convenient location to the city of Atlanta.

March 1995: Newt GingrichSince becoming elected to represent East Cobbers, and consequently, Speaker of the House last November Speaker Newt Gingrich has been featured on the front covers of na-tional news magazines as well as the subject of numerous interviews. Joining in the media fray and because March is a month in between seasons, we thought it would be apropos for a local East Cobber known for leading change to be on the cover.

Out of the whole 6th district he represents, Speaker Gingrich chose to live in East Cobb be-cause, “... it’s very convenient, it’s close enough to Kennesaw Mountain and the Chatta-hoochee for hiking, close to Delk 10 for movies, and we are in between 3 different shopping centers so my wife is happy... East Cobb is a pretty amazing area as far as quality of life.”

Speaker Gingrich commented on his position as a public servant to East Clobbers, “I under-stand and am able to speak for the problems of the people who work hard and who are committed to their children. I am very committed to finding solutions... I welcome people’s ideas...”

April 1995: Norma CooperFor the last three years, East Cobber Norma Cooper has served the nearly 900-family congre-gation at Lutheran Church of the Resurrection. As the associate pastor, Pastor Norma preach-es a sermon every other week. Seeking to improve her sermons to the children, she developed the characters, Alexadoodle Hopper, Lamb Chops and Suzy Long Legs. Together Pastor Nor-ma explains, ‘I didn’t want to be the center of attention, so I created these characters in the hopes the children would stay more focused on the message and meaning of the bible story.”

Pastor Norma Cooper, 49, chose to go into the seminary just 12 years ago. After much soul-searching, Pastor Norma felt “a deep need to find more meaning and joy” in hr life. She finds her second career fulfilling and enjoys bringing people together to share ideas and get in-volved in many of the church’s service projects and spiritual programs.

Pastor Norma comments on East Cobb, “I like the suburban area and relish meeting people who are coming from all areas of the country. East Cobbers have a fair for adventure…” She has three children ages 25, 20, and 18.

May 1995: Joy WormanJoy Worman, 42, was “taken aback” when she heard she had won the first EAST COBBER Mother-of-the-Year award. Joy has been marries to her husband, Kent, for twenty years, and is a mother of three girls, Crystal, 13, Julia, 14, and Amber, 16. She is so a language arts teacher at Mabry Middle School. With the crazy schedules and the challenges of raising three teenagers, joy credits her “supportive husband, friends and family, keeping organized, a sense of humor, and getting enough sleep.” Joy has willingly put things on hold to raise her children” although she does take time for ALTA tennis, enjoys walks, and loves to shop. She shares her priorities: “Faith first, Family second and Professional third.” A resident of Chimney Lakes subdivision for the past 12 years, Joy hopes her daughters “make wise decisions, are independent, and become fulfilled in whatever they choose to do.” Her motherly ad-vice: “love your children unconditionally, show affection, listen, communicate and let your children know they are valued.”

June 1995: Barry Chase with twins, Allyson and ConnorIn celebration of Father’s day, we asked East Cobber Barry Chase to be photographed with his twins, Allyson and Connor. Barry Chase may be best known as a radio deejay for WQXI (now Star 94) and Z93 from the late 60s to 1980. After some radio stints in other cities, Barry found his way back to Atlanta. He notes that he always lived in East Cobb, even when “there was hardly anyone here during the 70s.”

In addition to Allyson and Connor, Barry Chase is father to Darren, 27, and Dana, 31. He is also a grandfather to Dana’s twins.

Since being given a third (and fourth) chance for fatherhood, Barry is enjoying his “special situation.” Both Barry and his wife, Tricia Molloy, work from home. Barry owns his own on-hold marketing production company and Tricia practices public relations. Says Barry, “I have more time to play, to be involved in my twins’ lives.”

July 1995: Meaghan Muller and Melanie SteeleTo commemorate the one year countdown to the 1996 Olympics which will be held in Atlanta next year, we decided to spotlight rhythmic gymnasts, Meaghan Muller, 17, and Melanie Steele, 15, (hold-ing ball). Both East Cobb girls are nationally ranked in this international Olympic sport. Meaghan was the 1994 Jr. Olympic National Champion.

Rhythmic gymnastics is extremely popular in Europe and is developing slowly in the U.S. In the summer of 1996 the Olympic Games in Atlanta will host rhythmic gymnastics for the third time since it made its first appearance at the games in Los Angeles in 1984.

This elegant sport requires the gymnast to coordinate leaps, turns, and dance movements with spec-tacular tosses and catches of the rope, hoop, ball and ribbon. Melanie explains, “the rhythmic gym-nast must be a competitive athlete who combines the art of dance with the sport of gymnastics.”Under the tutelage of Marina Davidovich, a Russian gymnast and owner of Rainbow Gymnastics, each girl trains approximately 25 hours a week. Meaghan reflects on how the sport has enriched her life. “I have learned discipline, how to manage my time, and good eating habits.” Melanie believes the sport has “trained me not to panic under stress and handle disappointment.”

August 1995: David Hong and Sam OlensIt is with great honor that we present Sam Olens and David Hong on the front cover of this month’s edition of the EAST COBBER. As president and vice president of the East Cobb Civic As-sociation, Sam and Dave have been diligently guarding East Cobb’s quality of life by vigilantly watching over the myriad of zonings and transportation issues in our community. As leaders in the East Cobb Civic association, they have helped homeowners deal with developers and are sound sounding boards for a variety of civic concerns.

An East Cobber since 1987, Sam confides, “I think we live in a great community…it’s a great place to raise a family…and I am working to further improve it!” Sam lives in the Chadds Lake subdivision with his wife, Lisa, and two children, Lauren, 5, and Jonathan, 3.

A transportation from Chicago, David Hong has been involved in solving zoning issues since 1979 and was instrumental in starting the East Cobb Civic Association in 1982. He also serves on various citizens’ advisory committees. David lives in the Waterfront subdivision with his wife, Helga and has two daughters, Katherine, 22, and Christine, 18.

September 1995: Joseph AbrahamTo kick-off the new school year, the EAST COBBER presents Walton High School’s, Class of ’95, Valedictorian, Joseph Abraham. In addition to being deemed the best student at Walton High School, Joseph was also recognized by the Professional Association of Georgia Educa-tors’ as the STAR student for the state of Georgia. The STAR award was based on having the highest SAT score.

Joseph was also involved in the band, and played on Walton’s science and academic bowl teams. An East Cobb resident for the past eight years, Joseph believes, “Cobb County schools offer good preparation for college—for those who want to go after it.” His advice to students: “know what you have to do and just do it!”

The son of Robert and Judy Abraham, Joseph entering Rice University in Houston. He has not declared a major.

October 1995: 2nd Anniversary IssueFor the past two years, the faces on EAST COBBER have been the faces of East Cobb Coun-ty. The athletes, the civic leaders, the politicians, the teachers, moms, and dads - our food neighbors! EAST COBBER believes in the importance of one person making a difference for the good of all and we do our best to feature them on our cover. Sometimes, we selected regular folk to represent the milestones we all share in.

On our special second anniversary cover are (clockwise): Krista Roper, February 1995 issue; Barry Chase with his twins, Allyson and Connor, June 1995 issue: Parade & Festival flyer; Moth-er-of-the-year, Joy Worman, May 1995; Speaker Newt Gingrich, March 1995; front cover of the EAST COBBER Community Guide; Sunny Walker, January 1994; and, “Dorsey” Hill, Novem-ber 1993.

November 1995: Steven Yi, Ellen Butrym, and A.J. Bowen

What would a parade be without marching bands? And East Cobb has some of the best marching bands in the country! The EAST COBBER asked the three East Cobb High School bands marching in the first annual parade to send a representative to be photographed on our special edition cover. Standing from left to right are: Steven Yi, Walton High School’s band president; Ellen Butrym, drum major for Wheeler’s Marching Wildcat Pride; and, A.J. Bowen, president of Lassiter High School’s band.

At 16 and already a high school senior, Steven plays the sousaphone and hopes to develop his musical talents in college. A.J., 17, also plays the tuba not only for Lassiter but is also a member of the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra and the All-State Band.

Ellen summarized what a marching band represents: “Spirit, Tradition, Excellence, and Pride.” The same qualities that are symbolized in the EAST COBBER Community Parade & Festival.

December 1995: Miriam AndersonWe are proud to have fellow East Cobb resident and recently crowned Ms. Senior America, Miriam Anderson on our front cover for December.

This holiday season, we celebrate so many things- from friendships to religious traditions to family. As Ms. Senior America, Miriam celebrates aging gracefully! “I want to show that baby boomers you can have fun as a senior citizen,” says Miriam. As a cancer survivor she has a special appreciation for life: “every day is very important!”

She stays “young” by staying involved. She volunteers at the YMCA and her church, Mt. Bethel UMC. Miriam also took up tap dancing two years ago and every February heads to Canada to work as a bobsled driver.

For the past 22 years she has lived in East Cobb. In 1990, Miriam retired from the Cobb Coun-ty School System where she taught high school literature.