March 2004

Watching Gwinnett Grow

Father of WEMC director still witnessing metamorphosis

Most folks can’t imagine a cotton fi eld at the corner of State Highway 124 and Ronald
Reagan Parkway in Snellville. But Mr. J.B. Williams of Gwinnett County can do more
than just imagine. He knows firsthand.

"I plowed 125 acres of cotton on our farm where Eastside Medical Center sits now,” says Williams. “When I moved from there, I came up Highway 78 in a two-horse wagon. And Highway 78 was dirt.”

Just as the growth of Gwinnett has been nothing short of phenomenal, so has the growth of Walton EMC. There was no electricity available when Mr. Williams was growing up. Now the

co-op serves almost 60,000 accounts in his county alone.

When Williams moved from the farm in Snellville to the Five Forks Trickum area, there
were only 16 houses on Five Forks Trickum Road (then known as Lawrenceville-Stone Mountain Road). Lake Lucerne was called Possum Lake.

Williams was instrumental in bringing electric lines to his community. The big city utilities weren’t interested; they thought doing business to the country wasn’t profitable enough. So Williams and his neighbors took matters into their own hands.

Williams contacted those neighbors to sign up for electric service from Walton EMC. He then journeyed to the Monroe headquarters and presented their request. In a short time the task began. “I remember sitting in a rope swing watching men dig holes with long-handle hole diggers,” says Williams’s son Bobby.

But just because the co-op had new lines in the area didn’t mean everyone now had
lights. Some families still couldn’t afford the wiring required on the inside of their home.

At first, there were only single bulbs hanging from drop cords in the center of the rooms. “We were on the end of the line,” said Williams. “If a thunderstorm was coming, we removed the bulbs from sockets to keep them from exploding.”

Next came a refrigerator Mr. Williams bought from a Stone Mountain appliance dealer. “They had taken it back from someone and it still had ice in it,” he laughs. The power to run the refrigerator came from a receptacle adapter screwed into the light socket.

“Then we got a water pump. We thought we were really something when we had running water,” said Williams. The previous water system consisted of a hand-operated pump used to fi ll an above ground tank.

“The top was open and rainwater fell in it. I guess the birds took baths in it, too,”
remembered Williams.

The every day use of electricity has grown from one or two chores to hundreds of uses in modern homes and businesses. We take for granted the ability to let a machine handle our dirty laundry. Williams tells how his family took the clothes to the creek, building a fi re under a wash pot and beating the clothes by hand to get them clean.

“I never dreamed this area would grow like it did,” says Williams. The growth began in
earnest around 1961 and 62. The first development on Williams’s road was Maple Forest. Lots went for $900.

Williams’s son Bobby continues to carry the EMC torch his father lit. Over 24 years ago E.R. Snell and David Kistner, then-members of the Walton EMC board, encouraged him
to run for a vacancy. He’s served on the Walton EMC board ever since. That was
70,000 members ago.

Williams sums it up pretty well. “If you have enough electricity, you can do just about anything you want to.”

Mr. J.B. Williams of Lilburn is still up and around at 93 years old. One of his favorite activities is cooking, most of which he gives to friends and neighbors. Mr. Williams bakes at least one pound cake a week and last Christmas made over 80 jars of apple jelly. Here are a couple of his favorite recipes:

Mr. Williams’s Pound Cake
6 jumbo eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup Crisco
2 cups flour
1 tablespoon vanilla
Sprinkling of salt

Grease pan with Crisco and dust with flour. Combine 2 cups of
sugar and 1 cup of Crisco in mixer. Add vanilla flavoring. Add 3 eggs and mix well. Add sprinkle of salt. Add 3 remaining eggs and mix well. Add 1 cup remaining flour and mix well. Cook 50 to 60 minutes at 300 degrees. Serve warm with fresh Georgia peaches and whipped cream.

Microwave Peanut Brittle
1 cup raw peanuts*
1/2 cup white corn syrup
1 teaspoon butter
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt*
1 teaspoon vanilla

Stir together peanuts, sugar, syrup and salt in a 1 1/2 quart glass bowl (or large Pyrex 1 1/2 quart measuring cup). Microwave on high for 8 minutes, stirring after 4 minutes. Add butter and vanilla, blending well. Peanuts will appear lightly brown.

Add soda and stir until mixture is light and foamy. Pour candy onto lightly greased piece of foil. Let cool 30 minutes to 1 hour. Store in airtight container.

*If salted, roasted nuts are used, omit salt and add peanuts after first 4 minutes of cooking.

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