Juanita Hughes Honored by Optimist Club

A longtime Woodstock resident was honored last month by the South Cherokee Optimist Club.

The club awarded its annual W. David Rogers Community Service Award to Woodstock City's Historian Juanita Hughes at its weekly breakfast meeting on September 28.

Club President Steve Campbell said Hughes "has been involved with our city for many, many years."

Hughes, who works part time at the Woodstock Visitor's Center at Dean's Store, has been heavily involved in promoting and preserving Woodstock's history. The former librarian at Woodstock Public Library, Hughes was a member of the Woodstock Centennial Committee (now known as Preservation Woodstock), authored the official song for Woodstock and writes a weekly column for the Cherokee Tribune. 

Each recipient of the club's honor are memorialized on a plaque inside Woodstock Elementary School's media center.

The South Cherokee Optimist Club was chartered in 1975 by former Woodstock Mayor Dave Rogers.

It meets Friday morning at Featherstone's Grille in Towne Lake. Optimist International is the fourth-largest service organization in the world with over 3,000 clubs throughout the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, Europe and Africa.