Planes, Trains & Heroes: A Story of Warner Robins and the Robins Region

Park. A major form of entertainment was baseball.
Gabrielle Dawkins interviewed Marvis Roberts for
a 2016 news piece called “Jody Town Community
Reunites Again.” In it she quoted Mr. Roberts as
saying, “‘This was our home park now. Memorial
Park. This is where we played all of our games.
On the weekend…the only thing in Jody Town
was baseball.’” He emphasized baseball saying,
“‘We had our own bus. We had a traveling set of
uniforms. We were real organized’” (qtd. In
Dawkins). Jody Town had the Rams and the Jets
and several players moved from there to the
major leagues. Jerome Stephens was on one of the
teams. Not only did his family help build the
base, they helped establish educational
opportunities for the community. For Dawkins’
news piece, he said, “It’s great to see people I’ve
not seen in a long time. It’s a joy to see them.”
Top: This postcard shows both the
Wellston and Warner Robins
postmarks and is addressed to Gene
Espy. Mr. Epsy was the second person
to through-hike the Appalacian Trail
and wrote The Trail of My Life about
that experience. At publication of
Trains, Planes and Heroes: A
History of Warner Robins, Mr. Espy
lived in Macon.
Middle: The Robins Air Force Base
front gate, c. the 1940s.
Bottom: The Robins Air Force Base
front gate, c. the 1950s.
20 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES