Aimwell road. Few thoroughfares in Vidalia are as often traveled as Aimwell which skirts Meadows Estates on the western side. Of those who travel it few know where it got its name.

"Probably," one traveler suggested, the name came from someone called Aimwell."

A logical assumption. Yes. Correct, No. Aimwell Road is the lone reminder of a once prosperous community which bore that name. The name according to Toombs County Commission Chairman Mel Taylor, a former resident of Aimwell, derived from the intent of its members to always aim wll at whatever they undertook.

There one could find some of the best farms in south Georgia, and some of the best people. Evidence of their belief in God and the importance of education where the Presbyterian Church and brick school which often brought the people together.

What happened? Why did Aimwell change, virtually overnight, from a thriving community to one of the dead town of Georgia? Aimwell was one of the casualties of World War II. For its true story there is no better source on information than the memories of former residents and surprisingly, the Lyons Presbyterian Church minutes. The Lyons church is the offspring of that lovely white building which once graced the heart of Aimwell and that lovely white church building, odd as it might seem, was the offspring of the Aimwell school.

The History of the Lyons Presbyterian Chruch begins: "In 1889 Jessie L. Wilkes donated a tract of land in Montgomery County, Georgia (now Toombs County) for the site of a school building. a one-room structure was erected which is known as the 'Aimwell School.' P.A. McQueen, an elder of the Vidalia Presbyterian Church, was elected principal."

Another hsitory states: "On Sabbath afternoons this consecrated elder walked four miles from Vidalia to his school house to conduct Sabbath School. His work grew son in interest and in numbers that Rev. Donald F. Shepherd, of Daisy, Georgia, began preaching at the schoolhouse on one Sabbath afternoon each month.

"In September 1902 Mr. Shepherd, assisted by Rev. Charles Montgomery of Mount Vernon Presbyterian Church, conducted a revival there, and eleven memebers were received into the church, four on confession of faith, one by letter, six by reaffirmation of faith. They organized and became the charter members of the Aimwell Presbyterian Church in 1903."

Those Charter members were: W.A.R. Wilkes; Mrs. W.A.R. Wilkes; A.W. Odom; H.H. Wilkes; J. Lawson Wilkes; Amanda Wilkes; Maybelle Wilkes; Ruby Wilkes; E.J. Wilkes; and Jesse L. Wilkes.

D.F. Shepherd was installed as pastor, and plans were drawn for a sanctuary to be erected on the site of the schoolhouse property located midway between the towns of Vidalia and Lyons in Montgomery County.

One year later, on the second Sunday in October, 1904, the church building was dedicated with Rev. Charles Montgomery preaching the sermon. With a pretty white clapboard school of its own, and a white clapboard church of its own Aimwell really came alive.

The names of the teachers at Aimwell School are the same as those of many leaders who helped move the Toombs area forward. Alex Odom, Toombs County's current Tax Accessor, and the grandson of Aimwell's first principal, P.A. McQueen, remembers several. The most famous of the lot was Ed Rivers who later became Georgia's governor. Other names that former Aimwell students recall include the late Jeanette Grace who married a local attorney, Cliff McCorkle; Mrs. Lloyd Darby's sister, Lucille Cou who married Carl Patrick; Lucy Taylor (now Mrs. George Blount of Reidsville); the school's last teacher, Eudene Meadows for whom the Vidalia Hospital and grammar school are named.

Student recollections of these fine teachers represent an impressive memorial to their work. Of one principal, Mrs. John Wise, of Vidalia, nee Glady Hughes, a history of Aimwell states: "The good she and her assistants have planted in the hearts of the young will live forever."

"THEN," she says with emphasis, the BIG BLOW CAME," During the 1930s Hitler began to tighten his grip on the world, and Aimwell began its demise.

She remembers with such feeling those war years that took her son and nephews into battle that listeners almost feel as though they had returned. But her son and newphews came home. Her personal loss was her community, "the great sacrifice," as she describes it.

"Our community," she says, "was called Aimwell. We had a beautiful church and a new school set among the most beautiful pines and sweet gum trees. The largest sweet gum tree I ever saw was right in front of the church where the men always stood and talked after services.

"In this peaceful setting none of us ever imagined the trouble and destruction that lay ahead. The United States government had planned an air base, now called the Vidalia-Lyons Airport. This air bas included the heart section of our community.

"We thought for awhile that they would not take our farm, but they did. They told us what they would pay, and gave us only a few weeks for us to move out.

"We decided to tear down all the farm buildings and take the lumber with us. What a time we did have. Very few could help us because everyone was making good money working on the airport. When the roof of the house was torn off the men hitched mules to the walls and pulled them down. The government did not pay us for a year so we were really in a mess."

To tide them over during that period Lee and Henry (their son was in service) moved their old pack house to the farm of a relative and lived in it.

"We put the old wood-burning cook stove up," she says, "and stuck the pipe out a window. When the east wind blew all the smoke was flushed back into the house and we ate about as much smoke as food. We lived that way for a year."

Listening to former Aimwell citizens reminisce about the trials and tribulation they endured as a result of their displacement make listeners realize that soldiers fighting on battle fields were not the only ones to make sacrifices in World War II. Lee Wilkes' description of finding a new home and adjusting to life in another community is indeed moving. It is not so moving however, as her final remarks.

"None of us know what our lives may hold," she observed, "but all of us who believe in Jesus Christ, and ask Him to come into our hearts can face any trouble our lives may bring."