Pat Donahue/Times-EntepriseThomasville native and Heisman Trophy winner Charlie Ward Jr. signed copies of his book "The Athlete" at the Thomas County Public Library's silver jubilee Saturday.

THOMASVILLE, Ga. — The Thomas County Public Library system is ready for the next chapter in its history.

The libraries kicked off their silver jubilee Saturday at the Thomasville branch, celebrating the 25th anniversary of the main branch’s opening.

“This is a very exciting day for the library system,” said Al Wight, chairman of the library board of trustees. “We are blessed to have this system.”

The main branch opened 25 years ago, followed by the opening of branches in Pavo, Ochlocknee, Meigs and Coolidge. Boston’s Carnegie Library has been in existence since the early 1900s.

The main library and the branches attract 190,000 patrons a year, Wight said. 

“Most people don’t know about their library,” he said. “We are here to serve the community.”

Thomas County Commission Chairman Wiley Grady also praised the library system for what it has done.

“The Thomas County Library System for a county this size is far superior to anything else in the state,” he said, “and it’s probably better than most counties larger than us.”

The reason, Grady said, is because of Nancy Tillinghast’s leadership. Tillinghast is retiring June 1 as library director.

“We have been blessed by her leadership,” Grady said.

Thomasville City Council member Jay Flowers said that while some endeavors enjoy the entire council’s support and some do not, the council always has supported the library.

“The key to the library is not the books, it’s not the building, it’s not the 1,100 events each year, it’s the people,” he said. “All you have to do to access the information there is walk in the door. We are thrilled to support the library.”

Tillinghast, who has been with the library system for 27 years, praised her predecessor, Dave Eden, who also was on hand Saturday morning.

“He had the statement of build it and they will come and he built all these libraries and they are still coming,” she said.

Tillinghast said it has been an honor to serve as library director.

“This has been the best experience of my life to help this community,” she said. “We have a good history. We have a love of the people and a love of the community. We’re going to see more things coming and I hope we see more of you coming in.”

Trent Reynolds, who is succeeding Tillinghast, said he heard good things about Thomasville and Thomas County during the quarterly library directors’ meetings. Reynolds, a Bainbridge native, ran the Okefenokee Regional Library System in Waycross and the Live Oak Public Library System based in Savannah prior to coming to Thomasville.

“When you come here, you’re part of the library family,” he said. 

There will be events at all branches to celebrate the 25th anniversary and Wight lauded the community’s support through the special purpose local option sales tax. He also commended the residents who help with the library system and the Friends of the Library program.

“We have amazing volunteers,” he said. “Our hope for the next 25 years is to continue to do it and to do it even better.”

Editor Pat Donahue can be reached at (229) 226-2400 ext. 1806.