Monday event. The 2020 winners are Elisa
Covarrubias of Livesafe Resources and Andy
Gaines of the Earl and Rachel Smith Strand
Theatre.
The 2020 recipients were selected from
an impressive group of nominees who are
active within the community, essential to their
profession and offer a unique perspective.
Both winners demonstrate the potential to be
prominent leaders within the Cobb community.
Elisa Covarrubias, COO of Livesafe
Resources: As chief operating officer of
Livesafe Resources, Elisa oversees all
operations including a 24-hour emergency
shelter, transitional housing, legal advocacy,
elder abuse, Latino outreach, and sexual
assault services including forensic exams,
victim advocacy, counseling, and teen and
child advocacy.
Andy Gaines, general manager, Strand
Theatre: As general manager of the Earl and
Rachel Smith Strand Theatre, Andy oversees all
aspects of the company including supervising
staff, working with the board of trustees,
and overseeing all financial matters. Andy’s
philosophy of creating and cultivating an
environment where all people can have a
platform to be creative has brought more
organizations to the Strand for greater
community partnership.
Georgia Symphony Orchestra
celebrates 70th
anniversary
STAFF REPORTS
For 70 years, audiences have come
to Marietta to see and hear the Georgia
Symphony Orchestra.
To celebrate this milestone, the GSO is
giving the gift of music to the community with
the launch of its “Symphony in the City” virtual
mini-concert series.
Filmed and edited by GSO music director
Timothy Verville, “Symphony in the City”
features GSO musician performances filmed
at sites throughout Marietta. The series’
collection of music includes classics to world
premieres, pops, world music, jazz and choral
music.
The episodes will be showcased throughout
the GSO’s 70th concert season through
Facebook and YouTube or they can be
delivered via email.
For more information, visit
georgiasymphony.org/InTheCity.
100 years young,
Bill Dean reflects on a
Marietta life well-lived
BY KATY RUTH CAMP
Bill Dean has held several titles over the
course of his life: newspaper boy, World War II
veteran, insurance salesman, husband, father,
woodworker, sailor, pilot, fisherman — the list
seemingly never ends. The more you talk to
him, the more titles you’ll find.
But, on Sept. 3, he added a very special
title to his life, one very few people can claim:
centenarian.
In the sunroom of his Marietta home for
nearly 55 years, Dean recently reflected on
his 100 years: the adventurous tales, the many
lives he has lived and the changes he has seen
in the city he loves.
Dean was born in Woodstock, before the
family farm burned to the ground when he
was 1. At that time, his family moved into a
house on Lawrence Street in Marietta and
he has called the city his home nearly every
year since. He was born in 1920, just after the
world’s last major pandemic — the Spanish Flu
of 1918 to 1920 — but doesn’t remember his
family or anyone talking about that time. He
does remember his mother putting food on
a little red wagon and taking it around to the
poorer neighborhoods in Marietta during the
Great Depression.
He lit up when talking about his first “driving
lesson” at 5 years old. While he was waiting
for his mother to finish grocery shopping at the
drugstore at the corner of Atlanta and Roswell
streets on the Marietta Square, their Model
T began to roll down the hill. Dean steered it
around other cars until someone jumped in
and stopped it for him. Or when he rode his
bicycle all the way to Canton and back for
his Boy Scouts cycling merit badge. Or how
GSO member Lana Teko-Ahatefou playing viola
Bill Dean
Andy Gaines Elisa Covarrubias
NOVEMBER 2020 | COBB LIFE 47
/InTheCity