Myers, James Frank, 1920-2005.

James Frank Myers, Jr. (J. Frank Myers, Jr.) was born June 21, 1920, in Plains, Sumter County, Georgia. Myers served as a U.S. Navy aviator during World War II, graduated from Georgia Southwestern College and attended the University of Georgia, earning an economics degree (1941) and a law degree (1948). Myers also served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Throughout his adult life, Myers played an active role in state and local Democratic Party politics. He was a member of the Georgia House of Representatives (1949-1950) and a candidate for U.S. Representative in 1950. Later, he served three terms as mayor of Americus, 1961-1962 and 1971-1974. Myers also served as a Georgia delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1964, 1972 and 1976. In the 1950s, as a board member for the group Citizens Against the County Unit Amendment, Myers fought for the abolition of the county unit system, Georgia's answer to the Electoral College, which was used to nominate candidates in the state Democratic primary. He also headed the Americus District of the Committee for Free Elections, a group focusing on statewide election reform. Myers was an integral part of the Sumter County for Thompson Club to re-elect former Governor M. E. Thompson in his unsuccessful 1954 campaign against Marvin Griffin. In addition to his political affiliations, Myers was instrumental in several community groups and economic development in Americus and Sumter County. During the 1950s, Myers was a founding member of the Americus Junior Chamber of Commerce (Jaycees) and president of the Americus and Sumter County Chamber of Commerce. Through these organizations, Myers worked to bring northern industry to Georgia, pave the Souther Field Airport and help Georgia Southwestern College (now Georgia Southwestern State University) obtain a four-year teacher education degree program. He was also president of the Americus Bar Association, Adjutant of the 3rd District chapter of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and, later, president of the Sumter County Mental Health Association, organized in 1960. Myers lived in Americus where, until his retirement, he was the publisher of The Sumter Free Press, a weekly newspaper. He died January 3, 2005.