Henry Daily Herald (McDonough, Georgia, USA)
jwhitfield@news-daily.com
Willis Swint moved to Jonesboro more than 70 years ago. Dararith Khamyath moved to Stockbridge six years ago.
Though both men are from different generations and cultures, they share one thing in common: Each lives in the southern crescent, an area where populations have grown increasingly diverse and suburban in recent years.
A native of Cambodia, Khamyath move from France to the U.S. in 1999 after meeting his wife in Paris. She wanted him to move to America and Khamayath followed her.
“She didn’t want to live in France,” said Khamyath, speaking with the help of a translator. He initially wanted to stay in the European country, but couldn’t convince his wife to agree.
He had gone to France in 1981 as a political refugee from Cambodia. The south Asian country was invaded and ruled by communist Khmer Rouge forces in the 1970s. Khamyath, a resident of Phnom Penh, the nation’s capital, was among the thousands evacuated from Cambodia’s cities into the countryside by Khmer Rouge forces after the takeover. Vietnamese forces invaded in 1979 and drove the Khmer Rouge forces to the countryside.
Khamyath then left Cambodia and spent a year at a refugee camp in Thailand before moving to France.
When he entered the U.S., the 46-year-old spent four months in Lexington, Mass. before moving to Stockbridge.
“Because my wife’s sisters live in Stockbridge, we decided to move there,” he said.
For the last six years, Khamyath has worked for a Union City-based distributing company. In February he began taking a course in Clayton County to learn about how to earn U.S. citizenship, which he got in April after taking a test that lasted about 30 minutes.
Khamyath continues to take courses to learn English two nights each week. Khamyath, who speaks fluent French, had to learn English after arriving.
“Here, it’s easier to find work. It’s harder to find work in France,” he said.
For Swint, work hasn’t been as hard to find because the Jonesboro resident has worked with family businesses since he was a boy. Swint began recording rainfall and temperature data for the National Weather Service in 1940 — when he was 11 years old.
By the time he was about 20 years old, Swint was in charge of his family’s feed and garden supply store, a Jonesboro institution still in operation on North Main Street. The family still owns and operates the store.
“When we moved here it was mostly farmers,” said Swint, now 77. The store’s clientele consists of homeowners and gardeners, a reflection of Clayton County’s transformation from a rural to a suburban community.
The store’s offerings also have changed with its clientele. Coal, once sold in large quantities to customers to heat homes, was cut out after many residents switched to the use of natural gas. That was in the 1950s.
Residents walking into the store can still buy items such as seeds for plantings and purchase goods with what Swint said was good customer service.
For 57 years Swint has run the store, an operation he began overseeing after graduating from the University of Georgia in 1950 with a major in animal science and a minor in agronomy. He assumed control of the store from his father, who opened it. The family also operated a cotton gin until 1958, when “cotton moved west,” Swint said.
Swint’s family moved from Milner, Ga. to Jonesboro in 1933 when he was five years old.
When they arrived in 1933, Swint said the only paved road in the county was U.S. Highway 41. Now all roads, many of which were dirt 50 years ago, are paved.
Swint also was a full-time member of the Volunteer Jonesboro Fire Department until it shut down last year. He was a sergeant.
Though both men are from different generations and cultures, they share one thing in common: Each lives in the southern crescent, an area where populations have grown increasingly diverse and suburban in recent years.
A native of Cambodia, Khamyath move from France to the U.S. in 1999 after meeting his wife in Paris. She wanted him to move to America and Khamayath followed her.
“She didn’t want to live in France,” said Khamyath, speaking with the help of a translator. He initially wanted to stay in the European country, but couldn’t convince his wife to agree.
He had gone to France in 1981 as a political refugee from Cambodia. The south Asian country was invaded and ruled by communist Khmer Rouge forces in the 1970s. Khamyath, a resident of Phnom Penh, the nation’s capital, was among the thousands evacuated from Cambodia’s cities into the countryside by Khmer Rouge forces after the takeover. Vietnamese forces invaded in 1979 and drove the Khmer Rouge forces to the countryside.
Khamyath then left Cambodia and spent a year at a refugee camp in Thailand before moving to France.
When he entered the U.S., the 46-year-old spent four months in Lexington, Mass. before moving to Stockbridge.
“Because my wife’s sisters live in Stockbridge, we decided to move there,” he said.
For the last six years, Khamyath has worked for a Union City-based distributing company. In February he began taking a course in Clayton County to learn about how to earn U.S. citizenship, which he got in April after taking a test that lasted about 30 minutes.
Khamyath continues to take courses to learn English two nights each week. Khamyath, who speaks fluent French, had to learn English after arriving.
“Here, it’s easier to find work. It’s harder to find work in France,” he said.
For Swint, work hasn’t been as hard to find because the Jonesboro resident has worked with family businesses since he was a boy. Swint began recording rainfall and temperature data for the National Weather Service in 1940 — when he was 11 years old.
By the time he was about 20 years old, Swint was in charge of his family’s feed and garden supply store, a Jonesboro institution still in operation on North Main Street. The family still owns and operates the store.
“When we moved here it was mostly farmers,” said Swint, now 77. The store’s clientele consists of homeowners and gardeners, a reflection of Clayton County’s transformation from a rural to a suburban community.
The store’s offerings also have changed with its clientele. Coal, once sold in large quantities to customers to heat homes, was cut out after many residents switched to the use of natural gas. That was in the 1950s.
Residents walking into the store can still buy items such as seeds for plantings and purchase goods with what Swint said was good customer service.
For 57 years Swint has run the store, an operation he began overseeing after graduating from the University of Georgia in 1950 with a major in animal science and a minor in agronomy. He assumed control of the store from his father, who opened it. The family also operated a cotton gin until 1958, when “cotton moved west,” Swint said.
Swint’s family moved from Milner, Ga. to Jonesboro in 1933 when he was five years old.
When they arrived in 1933, Swint said the only paved road in the county was U.S. Highway 41. Now all roads, many of which were dirt 50 years ago, are paved.
Swint also was a full-time member of the Volunteer Jonesboro Fire Department until it shut down last year. He was a sergeant.
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