CUMBERLAND – The Marietta Daily Journal presented Deane Bonner, Cobb County NAACP president emerita, with the Citizen of the Year Award on Saturday evening.
MDJ Publisher Otis Brumby III surprised Bonner with the award during the Cobb Chamber of Commerce’s annual dinner at the Cobb Galleria Centre before an audience of 1,100.
Every year, beginning in 1963, the MDJ has presented the Citizen of the Year Award to a distinguished and deserving individual who has made Cobb County a better place to live. The award has previously gone to such luminaries as the late U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, the late former Kennesaw State University President Betty Siegel, former Gov. Roy Barnes; former Lockheed Chief Lee Rhyant, and the late Cobb County Manager David Hankerson.
“Mrs. Bonner has done so much for so many in this community,” Brumby said. “Cobb County is a better place because of her decades of tireless efforts and leadership.”
Initially overcome with emotion when her name was announced, Bonner received a standing ovation as she took the stage.