Newnan Kiwanis

Stallings served as our first president and Congressman Sid Camp was the first vice president. The first secretary was Charlie Arnall of Senoia who was also clerk of Coweta County Commissioners. It's first directors were Dr. Thomas Bailey, Marvin Starr, the longtime Superintendent of the Coweta County School System, H. Ragland, owner of Ragland Hardware, Eugene Askew, a local lumber dealer, Dr. J. Penniston, one of the founders of Papp Clinic, Dr. W. Stone and H. "Bunk" Banta, founder of Avery Banta Jewelers and a Chesterfield in every sense of the word. Also, among the original 35 charter members was W. "Rat" Welch, who was the last surviving charter member - he passed away in the 1990s. The club first met at the Swinton Hotel which is now known as the Commercial House. The meals cost 50 cents. Another area in which the Newnan Club has succeeded through the years is interclubbing. In fact, in 1971 when Walker Horne was President the Newnan Club had 2 International Interclubs. They flew to the Bahamas and to Rome, Italy. We also have sponsored the Coweta County Fair every year but once since 1947. Through its profits we have funded numerous projects throughout the city and county including the sponsorships of Key Clubs, Builders Club, K-Kids, Aktion Club, 4-H Clubs, Scout Troops, and Little League and Soccer Teams. We also bought and gave to the county 37 acres on Pine Road for the new fairgrounds and are donating more land for additional parking. We, and the whole area, will benefit from this gift for years to come. In addition, we gave local police and fire equipment, provided numerous scholarships to worthy students, hosted "back to school" and Christmas shopping days for needy children, sponsored the first Girl Scout Troup in Coweta County, and numerous other donations that for the past several years have totaled in the hundred thousands per year. All the money that is raised from the fair is put directly back to work in the community as a result of Kiwanis generosity and foresight.