Nichols honored at Golden Eagle Dinner

WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — The Golden Eagle Award Dinner recognizes people in and out of the Boy Scouts who are models of community service and exemplify the qualities embodied by a Boy Scout, such as: trustworthiness, loyalty, helpfulness, friendliness, courtesy, kindness, obedience, cheerfulness, thriftiness, bravery, cleanliness and reverence. One Central Georgia man was bestowed with the highest honor.

The Boy Scouts of America’s Central Georgia Council recognized Marlan Nichols on March 17 as the main honoree of the event. Nichols is a Certified Public Accountant (C.P.A.) with Nichols, Cauley & Associates.

Spence Mullis, the President and CEO of Morris Bank, had this to say about Nichols: “I really could not think of a finer man for the Scouts to honor this evening,” Mullis said. “He’s one of the most humble people that I know, and I couldn’t think of a more deserving person.”

For Georgia Representative Shaw Blackmon, three words came to mind — Faith, Family and Fortitude.

“If you read the definition of fortitude, it’s courage, strength of character in the face of adversity,” Blackmon said. “And I think that certainly describes Marlan. I think it describes the organization that he leads, and I think it describes the people that are a part of his organization.”

Nichols serves as a board member with the 21st Century Partnership. According to the Partnership, their core mission involves making sure Robins Air Force Base has what it needs, helping to create a vision for innovation and supporting STEM education with a focus on robotics.

Nichols is also on the board with Community Foundation of Central Georgia, an organization that helps non-profits get started with grants, supplies scholarships to students, supplies resources to advisors and helps individuals create their own charity funds.

During Nichols’ acceptance speech, he mentioned that his family overcame the odds, telling a story about what he called “an unlikely couple that raised four boys.”

His father was born in 1927. Nichols didn’t know his grandfather, who had passed away before his father was born. His grandmother was on welfare, and his father had health issues.

During the Great Depression, his grandmother worked in government work programs to help raise his father, and the family had to rent half of their bedroom to another couple to save money.

His father was drafted at 18 years old, working for the Army in Germany doing communication, but he was eventually discharged. After his discharge, his father returned home to take care of Nichols’ grandmother.

His mother suffered from mental health issues and her parents abused her.

“There were times in my life that I would go see my mom, and she wouldn’t know I was there.” Nichols said, emotionally.

But he shared an inspiring tidbit about her life: “Momma kept fighting, she took those drugs, she did that experimental treatment that was done in the ‘60s for people with mental health [issues.]”

Nichols’ parents got married, and they had four children together. His father worked for Georgia Power as a lineman. Nichols remembered how his family had struggled, and how his father would have to support other family members, sometimes taking on a second job to make ends meet. He believed his parents were both very strong, physically and mentally.

Through it all, Nichols said his mom and dad were 100% committed to each other, their children, and the community: “They raised us, and they served us, and they served their communities. I look back and I say ‘that’s an unlikely marriage, an unlikely marriage to succeed.’ But they stayed with it.”

An accountant at Nichols’ firm, Kenny Kitchens, remarked that Nichols is the same way — committed: “Marlan’s the kind of person, that once he commits to something he’s all in, doesn’t matter if it’s the church, his profession, or the community.”

Nichols referenced Matthew 20:26-28 in closing, “this is not your calling, you will live by a completely different model. The greatest one among you will live as the one who is called to serve others because the greatest honor and authority is reserved for the one with a heart of servitude.”

“We’re here to serve,” Nichols said. “That’s what God put us on this earth to do is to serve.”

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