We are former residents of Peachtree City. My wife, Carol, and I raised four boys in this wonderful community and have not forgotten this place, even though we’ve recently relocated to the mountains of Jasper, Ga.

I thought some of our family’s dear Fayette County friends and neighbors would be as pleased as we are to know one of Peachtree City’s sons is returning home April 22, alive and well, after a year of fighting in Iraq to protect our country from terrorism.

Artie Cowan has been proudly serving our country in Georgia’s 48th Brigade National Guard Unit since last April.

He was attending North Georgia College and State University when that fateful call to duty came. This community should know he didn’t hesitate for a moment to answer.

Now, a year later, his homecoming will be not only a celebration of his own fortitude and sense of duty, but a credit to so many who have impacted his life while growing up in Peachtree City.

Artie attended Huddleston Elementary, Booth Middle and graduated from McIntosh High School in 2001.

He learned so much in our Peachtree City schools and his life has been enriched by all the wonderful teachers and staff there. Thank you for doing that.

Artie attended church with us for many years at Braelinn Baptist Church, which helped nourish his spiritual life even through the difficult divorce of his parents.

After the divorce, our friends at Braelinn Baptist helped me in many ways as I raised him and his brother, Daniel, alone as a single dad.

And when I found a new love for my life, the folks at Braelinn stood with us as we married and came together as a blended family.

Thank you, Keith Moore, for sharing your Biblical wisdom. Thank you, Dennis Parman, for helping me keep it together when I thought I was forgotten.

The people of Braelinn may not fully realize how powerful an impact that time had on my son, but I’m telling you all now: it did.

Artie played many years in Peachtree City’s recreation department sports leagues, including soccer, baseball and basketball. In those years he learned the value of teamwork and fairness, and how to have fun even when life wasn’t. These were character-building times for Artie, even if he didn’t realize it then.

Thank you, Tom Upchurch, for showing him how to play team baseball, and for being our family’s true friend through thick and thin.

Like many teenagers, Artie “experimented” with things I taught him weren’t in his best interests. And when it got out of hand, the Peachtree City Police Department (at my request) helped show Artie how serious the consequences can be. He learned a valuable lesson from this experience.

Thank you, Chief Jim Murray and your excellent team of law enforcement professionals, for helping me teach Artie that life lesson. And thank you, Ron Hall, for being a good neighbor and giving Artie sound advice about his chosen military career.

In his last e-mail from Iraq, written before packing up to come home, Artie told me he feels he has become a better man. His experience in Iraq has been a mix of awful and proud moments. Some things things he can’t really discuss yet. But he feels he has matured through it all and thanked me for being a good father to him.

I believe our friends and neighbors share the credit for making Artie the man he has become. Without your friendship (and many others I couldn’t list here) I shudder to think of the other directions Artie’s life may have taken.

Artie’s coming home. Thanks for being there for him, you good people.

P.S. If any of Artie’s friends read this and would like to contact him, they can send us an e-mail: riscowan@yahoo.com. We’ll print them all out and give them to him. That would be a great welcome-home present.

Ris Cowan
Jasper, Ga.

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