Last Tuesday, Mayor Booker Gainor of Cairo issued a proclamation to Michelle Dean, the executive director of the Pope’s Museum, to commemorate the 150th birthday of Laura Pope Forester and to proclaim January 31 as Laura Pope Forester’s Day. 

Dean said that the ceremony, which was held at the Pope’s Museum, was spectacular and represented a big victory in the culmination of all the support from the city, the chamber, the county and the surrounding region. 

“It was pretty spectacular,” she said. “You know I think the big victory for it was that the city and the chamber are working together with the county and the regional area to build the community, so that was really neat. It wasn’t just about Cairo, about Grady, it was about southwest Georgia. I mean, the representation there was really great.”

Overall, Dean said, the event succinctly recognized the amazing fact that so many national influences had come from their small town of Cairo. 

“It was really short and sweet, the mayor was very forthright in saying that, for such a small town, to have so many powerhouses, like, national powerhouses come from such a small community,” she said. “For Jackie Robinson and Laura Pope Forester to have the same birthday, of course not the same year, it was just a chance to recognize that Cairo has a lot of great history and things to be proud of and we’re building on it.”

Dean said that the entire city council, the city manager, and many other notable individuals were in at the ceremony. The mayor, she added, was the one who reached out to her and was personally involved in the writing of the proclamation. 

“He was the one who initiated it and he was the one who wrote it and proclaimed it on behalf of the city of Cairo,” Dean said. 

In the proclamation, Booker wrote about how Forester personified what a Georgia woman of achievement represented and acknowledged the many recognitions she’d received in recent years. 

“Whereas, Laura Pope Forester was a woman that personified what a Georgia woman of achievement represents,” Booker wrote. “She lived her entire life in Georgia, yet her influence extended beyond it. Her artwork is both masterful and thoughtful. In 2021, Laura was added to the Georgia Women of Achievement Hall of Fame and in 2022, Pope’s Museum received the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution Preservation Recognition Award.”

Additionally, Dean said that they are currently in the finals for a grant offered by the 1772 Foundation, in cooperation with the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation. 

“We are raising matching funds. Have we received the grant? No,” Dean said. “We are in the finals for the grant.”

The grant, she said, would be going to the restoration of the original fence put in place by Forester, and that she would appreciate the community to continue with their support.

“We’d love to have the community support,” Dean said.