Submitted by:
Carolyn Wooten Boatner
The DeKalb County Homemakers and Community Leaders met on February 14, 2018 for the annual Awards Day Banquet. Present were members from all of the seven clubs throughout the county: Crossville, Geraldine, Ider, Joyful Hearts, Lookout Mountain, Portersville and Tenbroeck. Awards were given to each club based on their works throughout the year. A very special part of Awards Day is the selection of Woman of the Year. Each club nominates their woman of the year and then one is selected to reign as DeKalb HCL’s Woman of the Year.
This year we are honored to present Carol Whatley White as Dekalb’s Woman of the Year.
Carol White has served at the county level in many offices over her twenty-four years that she has been a member of Geraldine HCL.Carol is very faithful in attending both her local monthly meetings as well as district and state meetings. She works in many capacities such as planning committees, board meetings and is involved in any way possible to better enrich her club and community.
She has participated in such club activities as Save-A-Life, CAC, worked with the Essay/Art contest, Farmers Market which is part of the Fort Payne Main Street revitalization project, fair booths,She has helped purchase and /or make gifts and food, as well as serve at the annual Blackwell House Christmas Party. (The Blackwell House is a home for the adult mentally challenged). This project has been an ongoing club work for several years. Carol also helps with the Crossville Nursing Home birthday parties.
Carol, in addition to her HCL club work, has a giving spirit for those in her community. She helps her relatives and neighbors by checking on them, cooking and checking their medical needs daily. She also loves preserving memories with her grandkids and is an avid supporter of their extracurricular activities.
She attends Mt. Tabor Baptist Church where she has been an active member for 50 years. She has served as the church clerk, treasurer, Bible school director, Sunday school teacher and helped to coordinate and begin the first ladies conference at the church.
Carol has been married for 54 years, has two sons, four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. She and her husband were named Farm Family of the year during Farm and City Week. In her professional life she was named the number one salesperson in the nation for Tiara Glassware and traveled nationwide as a representative for the company. She, in later years, was a school bus driver for many years.
Carol is a wonderful example of what the HOMEMAKER is: hard-working, compassionate, full of courage and stamina, and a firm supporter of home and family.
DeKalb county HCL is honored to name her as “Woman of the Year”.