Reese Jack Booker: An Educator, A Hero
Reese J. Booker Wilkes Relative Distinguished African American educator and community leader, Reese Jack Booker was born in 1911 in the Pinto District of Wilkes County Georgia. The 1930 Census reflects that his 45-year-old mother, Sallie Lou Booker, was the head of the household and was parenting three children - 12-year-old son Reese, 14-year-old daughter Clara, and 10-year-old son O. D. The census records that Sallie was a farmer and that each child was a farm laborer. Gibson Grove Baptist Church was the family church and was significant in the spiritual development of all the Booker children. After completing high school in Washington, Georgia, Reese enlisted in the Navy where he served honorably as a cook for several years. Having been positively influenced in Wilkes County by the local Black Presbyterian minister and educator Rev. William Woods, Reese, upon being honorably discharged from the Navy, used his hard-earned GI Bill educational benefits to prepare himself for a