Media release from Georgia Highlands College:
Georgia Highlands College (GHC) dedicated a memorial bench Sunday, Aug. 23, at the Floyd Campus in honor of Clayton “Bubba” Collier, a former GHC security officer who faithfully served the college community for many years.
Located along Paris Lake behind the McCorkle Building, the bench is the first memorial bench placed at the lake and offers a lasting tribute to Clayton and his connection to the GHC community.
Paris Lake held a special place in Clayton’s heart. He enjoyed spending time at the lake and often brought his grandchildren to the GHC campus to fish.
During the dedication, GHC President Mike Hobbs reflected on the important role campus security officers play throughout the college’s campuses and communities.
“When I was interviewing to become president of Georgia Highlands College, I traveled to each of our locations,” Hobbs said. “At every campus, our security officers were among the first people to notice me, welcome me and make me feel at home. That experience has stayed with me.”
Hobbs noted that GHC security officers contribute to the college community in countless ways beyond their primary responsibility of keeping campuses safe. They provide impromptu campus tours, assist students experiencing car trouble, welcome visitors and step in wherever they are needed.
“The work of our security officers is about so much more than security,” Hobbs said. “They are often the first face people see when they arrive on our campuses, and they become an important part of the fabric of our college community. Clayton ‘Bubba’ Collier embodied that spirit of service.”
Clayton’s very first job, along with his twin brother Clyde, was delivering newspapers for the Rome News-Tribune. He joined the US Army after graduating from Rome High in 1956. Before he and his wife married in 1964 he worked at the Rome Volkswagen dealership as a salesman, eventually opening his own dealership in the mid 1970s, the Collier Anderson Motor Company. In about 1990 he went to work with his life-long best friend Sherold Salmon as a salesman. Clayton always wanted to serve the community through law enforcement and after a long career in sales he was finally able to fulfill a dream by becoming a security officer with Georgia Highlands College.
Clayton was proud to protect students and staff at the college. His children believe he worked at the college from 2002 to about 2011 based mainly on the Floyd Campus but was called to the Cartersville campus from time to time.
It was his time on the Floyd Campus that connected him with the place he loved the most, Paris Lake. He could be seen there fishing and feeding the ducks, sometimes alone or with his grandchildren. His children said it was his sanctuary, his peace.
When asked what her dad would say if he knew there was now a bench set permanently on the edge of the lake in his honor, daughter Kim Schumacher said he probably wouldn’t even believe it at first.
“He would shed some tears,” Schumacher said. “But once he could get the words out he would say he didn’t do anything special to deserve it. He would say ‘are you sure it’s for me?’ And then he would encourage anyone and everyone to use it.”
“He would be overwhelmed with emotion,” Schumacher added. “That’s who he was.”
Grant Collier, the youngest of Clayton’s children, and a captain with the Rome Floyd Fire Department, said his dad would be so proud and very emotional at the dedication of a bench in his honor. Even after Clayton was no longer able to drive himself around town and had to be chauffeured by Collier, he often asked to be driven to Paris Lake to visit.
“He would be thrilled to share his ‘happy place’ with so many other people, young and old,” Collier said.
Schumacher said she can’t express the peace family members felt after departing the dedication ceremony on Sunday.
“It felt like he was there with us,” she said. “Words just don’t describe it. We will all be forever grateful.”
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