THOMASVILLE- The steering committee of the new Thomasville/Thomas County Veterans Museum recently elected the organization’s first-ever board of directors.

“We are excited to have this impressive and diverse group to help guide us through these very important foundational days for our museum,” current steering committee president Stann McLeod stated in regard to the board.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do, and the job at hand has simply grown too large for our original group to adequately address.”

Newly elected board members are: John Bojanac, Dr. Sabrina Boykins-Everett, Langdon Flowers, Jr., Eve Marie Geyer, H. Wilson “Will” Glenn, Dr. Larry Green, Richard Pearson, Robby L. Pitts and Denise Reichert.

“Each of our board members have either personally served in our military or have immediate family connections to it,” McLeod continued.

“Each person brings something unique to the table for our efforts, and through the combination of those gifts we feel we’ve assembled a perfect group to take this museum project to the next level.”

The museum steering committee is composed of McLeod, Don Sims, Ron Bannister, Charlie Lewis, Lyndall Knight, Kha McDonald, and Randy Young.

The Thomasville/Thomas County Veterans Museum will be housed on the grounds of the former T.L. Spence American Legion Post #31 in downtown Thomasville, and will focus on educating younger Americans by featuring the stories of veterans and families from Thomasville and Thomas County.

An IRS-recognized 501c3, non-profit organization, the museum recently received a $250,000 grant from the Parker Poe Charitable Trust, and is currently accepting tax-deductible contributions, with the hopes of groundbreaking for construction this year.

“We want all of our local families with connections to our veterans to get involved, because this will be a museum where all of them will have a place,” McLeod concluded.

“The military history of Thomasville and Thomas County is special, and it is our mission to create a facility to showcase those incredible stories so that our young people will have a greater appreciation for the sacrifices that have made the special place we call home possible. If we don’t preserve the incredible history of our local veterans, then who will?”

To help sustain the museum effort for the foreseeable future, memberships of differing support levels will soon be made available for the general public.

Also, several committees will soon be developed that will offer more citizens the opportunity to help develop the facility.

For more information, visit https://www.tlspenceveteransmuseum.com online or call (229) 403-9525.