John Garrard and Alfred Sanspree are the third and fourth of six inductees that will enter the 2016 class of the Atmore Area Hall of Fame on Sat., April 30, at The Club.

The other inductees include Kenneth Barnett and Lou Vickery.

Biographies of Barnett and Vickery wil be published in the April 20 edition of The Atmore Advance

John Garrard

Garrard taught at Escambia County High School in Atmore. Years after teaching, he mentored underprivileged children and tutored high school students. He also served as a board director for the Atmore Public Library for 48 years. During his time on the board, the current library was constructed.

Garrard also worked at First National Bank and Trust. He began as a part time employee in 1953 and climbed the corporate ladder as bank president in 1973. He retired in 1986.

He helped provide financial guidance and assistance to many, including farmers, students, families, small businesses and bank employees as well as providing a return on assets to the bank’s stockholders. Garrard remained a bank director until 2012 until his retirement.

In the community, Garrard was involved in many civic organizations. He was a member of the Atmore Rotary Club for 30 years and was instrumental in funding the Atmore Rotary Village.

Garrard served the country on a U.S. Navy ammunition ship during World War II. He was also an active member of the Atmore VFW.

Garrard didn’t refer to himself as making Atmore his home, but instead wrote, “Atmore and the good citizens of the area took Fonda and me in on July 1, 1949.”

Garrard went to First United Methodist Church for 64 years, where he demonstrated his faith and ministry. For 16 years, he ministered to inmates at Fountain Correctional Facility.

Alfred Sanspree

Sanspree received his doctorate in law degree from the Birmingham School of Law in 1981. He graduated from Auburn University with his bachelor’s degree in 1974.

At present, he is the president of Seminole Sales Corporation in Birmingham. He’s held this position since 1974.

Sanspree has served on many boards and as officers of various clubs, including the Auburn University School of Education development board; the Auburn University 1915 Club as donor; the Auburn Football Letterman Club as officer and member; the Vestavia Hills United Methodist Church as class president and missions annual fundraiser, Seaside Beach and Racquet Club Condo Association as treasurer; the UAB School of optometry as black belt eye care clinic donor; clinic volunteer and diagnostic examination room donor; and Rotary International as active spouse of district governor.

Sanspree is married to Mary Jean Frech, and the couple has two sons, Christopher and Michael Clark; grandsons, Christopher and Trent; and mother and step-father, Clark and Willornease Wooten of Atmore.

Sanspree’s father was the late, Alfred Sanspree.