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TIFTON, Ga. (WALB) - A neighborhood service center in Tifton is being dedicated this weekend bearing the names of the county’s first two Black commissioners — men whose work, according to one of their sons, went far beyond breaking barriers.

The Graydon–Nixon Neighborhood Service Center is named after Wasdon Graydon Jr. and Ronald K. Nixon, who became the first Black members elected to the Tift County Commission following a federal lawsuit that created representative districts in the county.

But James Nixon, the son of Ronald K. Nixon, says the naming carries even deeper meaning — because his father and Graydon didn’t just serve on the commission. He says they supported the very building being honored.

“Both Mr. Graydon and my dad were particularly the ones who pitched that there should be a community center in the neighborhood,” James Nixon said. “They both negotiated the land deal and made sure that the building came to fruition.”

The center, located on South Central Avenue in South Tifton, serves as an accessible hub for the surrounding community.

James Nixon described his father as a tireless public servant who made it his mission to understand every corner of county government — not just his own district.

“He was a consummate and full-time public professional servant to the community,” Nixon said. “Sheriff’s deputies would talk about how he would go on ride-alongs because one of the things that you can’t be an advocate or a supporter for your departments or your community if you don’t know what’s going on.”

The commission seats Graydon and Nixon won came after a shift from an at-large voting system to single-member districts — a change that expanded opportunities for broader representation in local government. James Nixon says that history is exactly what he hopes people carry with them from the dedication.

“A lot of times when we don’t know the backstory, we take for granted what it really took to get things like this accomplished,” he said.

He says a community understanding its foundation is what allows it to build on it.

“We are standing on the shoulders of all the leaders who gave their lives, their times, their service to get us to where we are,” Nixon said. “It’s incumbent upon us to continue to position future generations for the ability to experience the communities that have really been developed.”

The dedication ceremony is set for Sunday at 3 p.m. at the Graydon–Nixon Neighborhood Service Center in Tifton.

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