MOULTRIE — With a bluegrass band for musical accompaniment, the Moultrie-Colquitt County Chamber of Commerce presented its annual awards during a banquet held Thursday night at C.A. Gray Junior High School.

Honorees included local Realtor Bobby Browning as Man of the Year, Colquitt County Schools Assistant Superintendent Maureen “Mo” Yearta as Woman of the Year, and Sunbelt Expo Marketing Director Gina McDonald as Agribusiness Person of the Year.



Man of the Year

Bobby Browning

Nominators cited Browning’s professional integrity and volunteer efforts through First United Methodist Church as reasons for his selection as Man of the Year.

Named 2011 Realtor of the Year, Browning served two years as past president of the Moultrie Board of Realtors, according to his nomination information; he is a Lifetime Member of the Million Dollar Club.

At First Methodist, he served on the Board of Stewards for many years. He served as coordinator for youth, coordinator for senior adults, past chairman of the Board of Trustees and president of the Men’s Club. He has taught Sunday school and is in charge of the church bus.

For several years, his family housed youth workers at the church, including one who wrote a letter in support of his nomination.

“I came to Moultrie as a summer youth director in 1979 at First United Methodist Church,” wrote Bruce Owen. “Bobby and Patsy invited me to live with them during that time. Bobby began investing in my life in ways that impact me today. He introduced me to people who could help me obtain the goals I had for my career. He took me to jobs with him, teaching me valuable life skills.”

Browning’s other areas of service have included Arts Center fund-raisers; the Moultrie Jaycees, of which he was president; Miss Georgia pageants, of which he was a judge; Boy Scouts; and the Chamber of Commerce, where he chaired the Tourism Committee. He has been a Mason and a Shriner. He serves on the Leased Housing Authority and the City of Moultrie Tree Committee.

He is has been married more than 50 years to Patsy Browning, and they have one daughter, Lisa, and two grandchildren, Mitch and Brittany Mauldin.



Woman of the Year

Maureen “Mo” Yearta

A focus on the well-being and success of children has brought professional success to Yearta, the Colquitt County Schools’ assistant school superintendent for curriculum, according to her nomination information.

“All of Mo’s work in the community supports her central theme in life, a fearless, vocal love and belief in children,” the nomination said. “She has reached out to other organizations in the community outside the school system and dedicated her services to make life better and more productive for those less fortunate, so our children will learn and be successful in life.”

Yearta entered the school system in 1986 as a teacher; in 1990 she was named Teacher of the Year at both Cox Elementary School and system-wide. She went on to be assistant principal for two years, and then principal at Norman Park Elementary School before moving to the central office staff. She has now been assistant superintendent for 15 years.

“Mo has been the ‘constant’ who has provided the leadership for the purpose of improving the performance of the Colquitt County School System,” her nomination letter read.

Yearta currently serves on the United Way Board of Directors; as chairman of the Child Advocacy Center Hero House board of directors; on the Healthy Colquitt Coalition; on the Colquitt Regional Hospital Authority; and as a vestry member at St. John’s Episcopal Church. Her past services have included the YMCA board of directors, the Federated Guild, Communities in Schools, Colquitt County Arts Center board, Family Connection board, Delta Kappa Gamma Honor Society for Educators, and as president of the Kappa Delta Pi Honor Society for Educators.

Yearta’s nomination packet contained 10 letters of recommendation, including (among others) ones from School Superintendent Samuel DePaul; YMCA Director Greg Coop, who works with her at the Healthy Colquitt Coalition; Bill Acuff of Hero House; and two former Colquitt County Women of the Year, Angela Castellow and Virginia Hart.



Agribusiness Person of the Year

Gina McDonald

“Everyone knows Gina McDonald can talk the skin off a snake,” began the letter of nomination for McDonald, marketing and public relations director for the Sunbelt Agricultural Exposition. “What they may not know is that beneath that mile-a-minute mouth is the quintessential community spirit.”

MdDonald was nominated by the Expo, which supplied letters of recommendation from Expo exhibitors and state agribusiness and tourism groups.

“As marketing director for the Sunbelt Expo for the past 13 years, Gina has succeeded in modernizing the show without robbing it of an ounce of the Southern charm that has made it so popular in the early years,” wrote Donnie H. Smith, director of the Center of Innovation for Agribusiness. “She is dedicated to promoting two of the state’s biggest industries: tourism and agriculture.”

In addition to her professional work at the Sunbelt Expo, McDonald has served the community through a variety of organizations: the Chamber of Commerce, of which she serves on the board of directors; the YMCA board; Moultrie Kiwanis Club, Moultrie Tourism Committee and United Way Day of Caring. She is a sustaining member of the Moultrie Service League, where she has held a number of positions. She has raised more than $1,000 for the American Heart Association as a cardiac arrestee, and as chairman of the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life fund-raiser, she surpassed her goal of $100,000. She is an associate member of the Moultrie Junior Woman’s Club, which named her Citizen of the Year in 2004 at the local and district level. She was recognized as an honorary Georgia Young Farmer due to her work with that organization as part of Expo, and she has been involved with the Southwest Georgia Travel Association’s Plantation Trace for more than 13 years.