McDonald
After six years, Obie Oakley is stepping down as the Highlands Historical Society’s president and Harry McDonald will be stepping into his shoes.
McDonald has been coming to Highlands since 1970 but decided to make the move to the Plateau in 2010.
“The first time that we came to Highlands was in 1970, to escape the South Alabama heat,” McDonald said. “My wife and I came up and stayed with my aunt and uncle at the Phelp’s house, which is now The Highlander Mountain House. We stayed there with a new baby and got our first taste of Highlands. My wife’s mother then had a condo here and we would occasionally come and visit her. “
After falling in love with Highlands and selling their house in Athens, Ga., the McDonalds wanted to become part of the community here on the mountain.
“My wife is now involved with the Garden Club here and we are both members of the Mountain Laurel Tennis Club,” McDonald said. “We got attached to Highlands both civically, socially and permanently.”
The draw to the Highlands Historical Society, McDonald said, was their leadership.
“Whenever the historical society bought the Prince house, I was impressed by their leadership,” McDonald said. “They also moved the old library to the Highlands Historic Village. It is easy to become part of an organization that has had that kind of leadership in the past to create what is there now. This incredible foresight paved the way for a new generation of leaders, which more recently was Obie Oakley.”
During the last year of Oakley’s presidency, McDonald worked with Oakley and Western Carolina University to completely revamp the exhibits that were at the Highlands Historical Museum.
“The Historical Museum exhibits have all been redone and it is really something for our locals and visitors to come out and see,” McDonald said. “We are pretty proud of it for a small-town museum. As we move forward, we want to continue to improve that, switch out exhibits and replace them with new exhibits so people can come each year and see something new.”
McDonald said there are several people that are now coming together to make the Historical Society move in the right direction.
“First of all, it has been a pleasure working with Obie Oakley,” McDonald said. “Obie, in my view, took on the roll as president as a paid executor. I can’t tell you how much time and effort that he put into it. It is pretty incredible. Moving forward, we have Mary Jane McCall as our kind of bookkeeper. She took on this bigger role and it will make job a lot easier. We are very fortunate that Lance Hardin is our new archivist, and he is just fantastic in that role. It wouldn’t do right to have the article without mentioning Ran Shaffner. He has been the godfather of Highlands Historical Society from its beginning through the present age. To have someone with the expertise as an archivist to step in and give Ran some relief is great. As long as the Highlands Historical Society exists, Ran will always be a part of what it stands for.”
Now as president, McDonald said he is completely committed to continuous improvement for the Highlands Historical Society.
“I recognize the value that I have walked into,” McDonald said. “I will give it a tremendous effort, and we have a very talented and dedicated board to work with. So, we see ourselves recognizing what we have inherited, and our mission is continuous improvement to make this a vital part of the Highlands community.”
- By Christopher Lugo