Columbus’ Calvin Smyre, who was the longest-serving member of the Georgia House of Representatives, was honored Wednesday as the intersection of I-185 and Macon Road was named the State Representative Calvin Smyre Interchange.
Smyre stepped down from his seat in 2022 after serving 48 years and becoming the first Black floor leader (1986) in the Georgia House of Representatives.
The Columbus legislative delegation passed the resolution to name the interchange after Smyre during the 2024 legislative session. Members of the delegation, elected officials and local leaders gathered in the Rainey-McCullers School of the Arts auditorium to honor Smyre during the naming dedication.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock and Georgia House of Representatives Speaker Jon Burns sent letters honoring Smyre that were read aloud during the ceremony.
Typically, events like getting a street named for you occur after that person died, Smyre told the Ledger-Enquirer, so it’s not often someone has a chance to see themselves be honored in this manner.
“It’s a very moving experience,” he said. “And when you reflect back when you started, you can’t envision something being named after you.”
Some members of Smyre’s family were in attendance at the ceremony. He’s just “Uncle Calvin” to his family, he said, but it was important to him that they were part of this moment.
But when it comes to family, the most important members are parents, Smyre said.
“I’m deeply honored to my mother and father for putting me in the right place, making sure I have the right tools, encouragement and support,” he said.
His military family traveled a lot and instilled in him the desire to help others while also being a strong person.
“My career was built on that because politics is bruising,” Smyre said. “It’s a contact sport, but I tried to carry myself in a manner where I could be a person who could bring people together. And I had a fairly good career at that.”
Smyre’s leadership, diplomacy and friendship after being elected in 1975 were among the reasons he was receiving this honor, according to the resolution.
“For nearly five decades Representative Smyre led the Georgia House of Representatives as a consensus builder, helping to usher life changing legislation to passage and broker compromise on groundbreaking issues,” the resolution says.
Smyre also held leadership roles outside of the state capitol, including as a member of the Fort Valley State Board of Trustees, Columbus Medical Center Board of Trustees, Columbus Metro Urban League, the National Black Caucus of State Legislators and the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials. He also held leadership positions in the Democratic Party at the county, state and national levels.
The former state representative has been part of the cultural DNA of Columbus and the region, said State. Sen. Ed Harbison during the dedication.
“You’ve been the pioneer in the General Assembly, as well as across the state,” Harbison said. “We certainly appreciate your sacrifice and your family’s sacrifice.”
Along with being a leader, speakers during the dedication emphasized Smyre’s role as a mentor for others coming up behind him.
State Rep. Billy Mitchell of District 88 first met Smyre when he was on the city council in Stone Mountain. Smyre was on the Rules Committee at the time and “everything went through Calvin Smyre”, Mitchell said.
“I was glad to call him my mentor,” he said.
After being elected as a representative, Smyre encouraged Mitchell to join the National Black Caucus of State Legislators. Mitchell didn’t know anything about it at the time, but he eventually became the president of the organization.
As part of the organization, Mitchell traveled to about 40 states. Everywhere he went, Mitchell said, there were other legislators who told him that Smyre was their mentor.
“I was just resigned to the fact that I had to share him,” Mitchell said.
Not long after being elected as a representative in 1975, Smyre was in one of the lowest points of his life, he said during his remarks at the dedication.
He was unemployed and paying interest on loans. One day, Smyre was walking along Broadway in downtown Columbus to go to CB&T, now named Synovus Bank.
As Smyre walked into the bank, Jimmy Blanchard, then the chairman and CEO of Synovus, was walking out.
“How you doing?” Blanchard asked Smyre. “Well, I’m still unemployed,” Smyre answered. “Been unemployed for over a year. I wrote you in 1972, but I couldn’t work for CB&T at that time.”
Blanchard walked back into the bank with Smyre and asked his assistant to cancel his lunch plans. He led Smyre to his office, where the two talked for about an hour. Then Blanchard called in two gentlemen Smyre never had met and asked them to send out a memo.
“Calvin Smyre is coming to work for us,” Blanchard told them.
Smyre worked at the bank for 38 years, beginning as a manager trainee and working his way up to the executive level. That moment changed his life, Smyre emotionally told the dedication attendees.
If you see a turtle sitting on a fence post, Smyre quoted, someone helped put it there.
“You make your living by what you get,” he said. “But you make your life by what you give.”
This story comes to GPB through a reporting partnership with the Ledger-Enquirer.
