by James "Jim" Felix Kimmons

September 25, 1999

I would like to say a few things about Uncle Albert McGlohon. You see, he stepped in when my daddy died (I was only 9 years old). Even before my father died, I loved Uncle Albert. My mother and father had a tremendous amount of respect and trust for .Uncle Albert. 

As you may know, my mother met my father at McGlohon's Grocery. My father and Uncle Albert were very close friends and my daddy would always consult with Uncle Albert before he would engage in any type of major business transaction in Eastman, because Uncle Albert knew almost every other businessman in Eastman (i.e. carpenters, plumbers etc). Daddy died on February 17, 1958. Soon after his death, 

Mama put me to work in Uncle Albert and Aunt Mollie's store after school in the evenings and on the weekends. I soon became very attached to Uncle Albert. He, for all practical purposes, stepped into my life as my male role model after Daddy's death. Uncle Albert never told me that he loved me, but he didn't have to, because I could feel it and see it in his eyes [editor’s note: The quiet, gentle man]. 

Uncle Albert would always be there to encourage, advise and guide me until I finally grew up. No matter how down I would get or how bad I would feel about myself or the situation that we were in relating to Mama's condition, Uncle Albert never put me down. He was a kind, gentle, and extremely intelligent man. 

In those days I worked and supported a family during my collegiate career (I worked at the Eastman Cotton Mill, Super Short Stop, Hazelhurst Mills etc). Uncle Albert was back of me every step of the way. He was there the night Curtis McCranie talked me into quitting trade school and starting Middle Georgia College. Uncle Albert, would encourage me during some very tight times. He loaned me money, extended credit for groceries, let me work in the store to pay him and never put me down, but would always encourage me. 

If my father had lived, I don't think he could have been any more caring or closer to me than Uncle Albert. As you know, I obtained a B.S. Degree in Business Administration with a major in Accounting. All during my studies, things that Uncle Albert had taught me as a child in the store surfaced. Things that I learned on 501 Page Street as a child from Uncle Albert were being taught as advanced business courses in college. 

While Uncle Albert never received a degree from a college or university, he could have taught some of the PhD's who were teaching me in college a few things about business. I'll never forget the day that I was to graduate from college, I had given Uncle Albert an invitation to attend the ceremony. I didn't want a gift from him (he had already done this by raising me like my daddy), I just wanted him there to see me step across the stage to receive the diploma, to declare victory over the impossible that so many others had predicted. 

I wanted my wife, my mother, and Uncle Albert (especially Uncle Albert because he was back of me all of the way). You could see the pride in his eyes when I told him, "Uncle Albert, I finally made it." He never attended my graduation, but he told everyone that came in the store about me graduating from college. 

As usual, my battles and struggles were not over, I came back home to Dodge County after graduating from college to look after my mother and see about Uncle Albert, also. I took a job at a Federal grantee (Heart of Georgia Community action Council, Inc.) in Eastman (as Pa used to say "One of them Federal jobs") and soon I was promoted to Fiscal Officer (Comptroller - Chief Financial Officer). 

Uncle Albert's health had been failing for some time and I could see it. I just wanted to be near him and my mother and to know that they were all right. I didn't want to interfere with his family, but I wanted to be there if he needed me, as he was for me. I began to see and realize that Uncle Albert respected me as a professional and as a business person. That made me feel very good. What greater honor could a person have than the trust of the people who raised them. 

I became complacent with my position at the Federal grantee and I wanted to pursue the CPA designation. Uncle Albert encouraged me to do it. This meant changing jobs (going to work with a CPA firm with a much lower salary in order to serve the apprenticeship) and more schools in order to pass the CPA Exam. 

Uncle Albert never lived to see me climb that mountain; However, I passed all four parts of the three-day exam on 05-15-76 only a month after his death (04-14-76). 

I look back with good memories of Uncle Albert, Aunt Mollie and their son Don. Don was always like my big brother. It almost killed us when Uncle Albert died. I could write on and on about Uncle Albert and never completely tell or explain my deep feelings for him or convey the closeness or respect that we each had for each other.

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