Jerry A. Maddox, resident of Dunwoody since 1972, has been awarded the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award by Marquis Who’s Who for his accomplishments and being in the upper 5 percent of 600,000 other biographies shown in the 2019 edition of “Who’s Who in America.”
Maddox was retired from Sears, Roebuck & Co. in 1988 after 31 years service as a catalog management executive. When Sears closed its catalog business in 1988, he became a substitute teacher for the DeKalb County school system until 2000 and an author of fiction, non-fiction and geneology books until 2018.
He was graduated from Emory Business School in 1957 with a B.B.A. in accounting and Emory Law School in 1964 with a J.D. degree. He and his wife, Roberta, have been members of Dunwoody United Methodist Church for 47 years. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1957 to 1963, active and reserve duty.
As a Commander for the Sons of Confederate Veterans Dunwoody Camp from 2002 to 2006 and the Roswell Mills SCV Camp from 2008 to 2009, and on behalf of the Sons of the Confederate Veterans, he donated a 9 1/2-foot obelisk monument in honor of Maj. Charles A Dunwody, pioneer citizen of Dunwoody in 2002. The monument is located at the Ebenezer Primitive Baptist Church on the corner of Roberts Road and Spalding Drive.
He is a past member of many organizations including the DeKalb County Jaycees, Sons of the American Revolution, Pi Kappa Alpha Alumni Association, St. Andrews Society, St. David’s Welsh Society, Clan Grant, Ft. Delaware Society, U.S. Page Alumni Assocation and National Eagle Scout Association, Life Member.
As a genealogist with an interest in honoring soldiers who fought in the Civil War and American Revolution, he has donated 30 memorial grave markers throughout cemeteries and parks in Georgia.
As a distance runner, he has competed in 5K and 10K races for the past 30 years. His travels have taken him to 45 countries and 48 states.
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Marist School has named LaRita Williams as its director of inclusion and diversity beginning with the 2018-2019 school year. At Marist, Williams will lead the school’s Office of Inclusion and Diversity, which develops programming to weave cultural proficiency and inclusion throughout the school community. Previously, Williams was an upper school science instructor at The Galloway School.
In addition to her work with Galloway, Williams has served nationally as an affinity group leader at the NAIS People of Color Conference and regionally as a member of the steering committees for the BOLD Summit for Leaders of Color in Independent Schools and for the independent school forum entitled “Tearing Down Walls: Southeastern Conference on Race and Leadership.”
Williams holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Howard University in Washington D.C. and a master’s degree from Georgia Tech. She has received diversity workshop and awareness training through the School Reform Initiative and the Klingenstein Institute at Columbia University Teachers College.
An Alabama native and a product of Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Mobile, Williams says, “I am blessed to join the Marist community and carry out work that I am truly passionate about through the lens of my own faith. I aim to continue to foster unity and understanding amongst all types of identities within Marist School and beyond.”