County loses longtime leader
Guy Eubank Fleming Jr., a member of Columbia County's first elected school board and a longtime community leader, died Friday at the Veterans Affairs Medical Centers in Augusta.
Guy Eubank Fleming Jr. spent at least 12 years on the Columbia County school board.
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"He was very much of a Columbia County supporter," said former state Sen. Jake Pollard, who met Mr. Fleming years ago at Leah High School. "He loved the county like a lot of us who came along in that time. He always worked with the best interest of the county and the people in mind."
Mr. Fleming is survived by his wife, Martha D. Fleming; two sons, Jimmy Fleming of Camak and Barry A. Fleming of Harlem - the chairman of the Columbia County Commission; one daughter, Kim D. Martin of Fairview, Tenn.; a sister, Hilda Glymph of Augusta; and five grandchildren.
Born in Columbia County's Leah community in 1930, Mr. Fleming was a graduate of Leah High School and the University of Georgia. For more than 30 years, he owned a real estate business in Harlem.
But it was in public service that Mr. Fleming left an indelible mark on Columbia County.
His first foray into politics came in 1966, as a two-year member of the Harlem City Council. On Friday night, former Harlem Mayor James Lewis said the city had lost one of its "old oaks."
"He was such a nice fella," Mr. Lewis said. "If it was in his reach, he was always happy to give a person a hand."
Mr. Fleming was first elected to the Columbia County's school board in 1968. He served eight years, followed by a four-year term beginning in 1980.
"He and I and a lot of us went to school in a small wooden building," Mr. Pollard said. "He helped the school system move to community-building. That was really something."