Samuel James Whigham, Jr.

Sam Whigham

Sam Whigham was a native of Louisville, Georgia. He had retired from the Fulton-Dekalb Hospital Authority or Grady Memorial Hospital. While there Sam founded the credit union at the hospital. He was an Army veteran of World War II, where he had served as a major. He received his bachelor’s degree in commerce from Georgia Institute of Technology.

He was a founder and charter member of the Georgia Chapter of the American Association of Hospital Accountants (AAHA). He was instrumental in the formation of the Georgia Chapter of HFMA. On December 3, 1954 the Chapter’s first organizational meeting was held and bylaws were adopted and directors were appointed to serve on the board. The Georgia Chapter was issued a charter by AAHA with 25 members on June 3, 1955. Sam served as our first official president. Sam was also a charter member of National AAHA.

He was a member of the Jefferson County Historical Society, the Augusta Genealogical Society and the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. His wife's name is Marion; she is the mother of Paul L. Hudson, Jr. of Parker, Hudson, Rainer & Dobbs LLP, also a HFMA member. Sam passed away on March 30, 1998 at the age of 90.

Sam was our first chapter president (1955-56).

Carl Ridley

Carl Ridley

Carl Ridley, was a member of the chapter back when it was called The American Association of Hospital Accountants (AAHA). On a national level he was actually the two thousandth member to join. With so much growth with hospitals in the health care industry he decided to join the Georgia Chapter of AAHA. He went on to serve in several key chapter roles.

He actually started his career as a public school teacher, but decided that he needed more education and money so he went back to college. He landed a new job and ended up being a clerk in charge of the accounts receivable and payroll of a company. Then office manager, next auditor and finally an accounting consultant. That organization was the Georgia Department of Public Health. He even distributed Hill Burton Funds. It was during this time that he became a member of AAHA.

Eventually he received an accounting degree from Georgia State University. Shortly after receiving his degree, he started work for University Hospital as a comptroller and stayed for 9 years. Then he worked for South Fulton Hospital for 4 years as an assistant administrator and controller. Then he became the administrator at Griffin Spalding Hospital. He retired after 11 years with a 225-bed hospital. While in Griffin, with the help of others, they organized the Griffin Chamber of Commerce. He was also a nursing home administrator along the way.

He has also served in many other significant roles (i.e., civic organizations, church, city council, national office management association, American College of Hospital Administrators, etc.). He even got tired of retirement and organized with others a new company called Health Consultants, Inc.

He was healthy and still active up to the age of 96. He passed away on May 30, 2009.

Carl was our second chapter president (1956-57)

Daniel Barker

Daniel Barker

W. Daniel Barker, MHA, LFACHE was born in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1926. Dan made his way from Louisiana to Georgia and he started and finished his college education at Emory University in 1949 and then at Georgia State University in 1966. He started his career as a business office manager at Emory University Hospital and quickly moved to an assistant administrator at Griffin Spalding County Hospital. Within a couple of years he worked his way up to the administrator position at Winder-Barrow Hospital in 1951. Then he took a detour and decided to work for the Georgia Department of Public Health in 1952. He moved from Atlanta to serve as an assistant administrator Tri-County Hospital in Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, but didn’t stay long because after five years he decided that Atlanta was the place to be.

While serving as assistant director at Crawford Long Hospital he earned a master degree of hospital administration in 1966. Over the next two decades he worked his way to the top management positions at two of the nation’s leading acute care teaching facilities – Crawford Long Hospital and Emory University Hospital. He also became a fellow in his professional society, the American College of Healthcare Executives. He was also a recipient of the HFMA Follmer Award in 1968. Dan also served in the United States Army.

In 1956 his first position with the Chapter was as a director of the board. During this time the chapter was part of The American Association of Hospital Accountants (AAHA). He didn’t waste any time and moved quickly into a leadership role. On October 22, 1956 our annual meeting was held in Macon and our 1957 board of directors were elected. Dan was elected to serve as our 3 rd president. During his term we received a letter from National AAHA congratulating the Chapter on accumulating 55 points toward the Graham L. Davis (GLD) Award for Chapter Achievement. We would finish 3 rd in the GLD scoring.

During his career he has served on the boards and/or committees of more than 40 organizations, most of them healthcare related. Many times he has been honored with distinguished service awards for his numerous outstanding contributions and leadership in healthcare. He has served as a member on about 19 different boards and tens of committees, serving as President/Chairman about 36 times. In some cases he served in these roles for several years. These counts do not include the times he served in vice chair, secretary and treasurer roles.

He has delivered multiple speeches covering a variety of topics during his career. Dan is a highly respected and influential leader who exhibits great ability and devotion to healthcare. He has been a mentor to many and has attained national recognition in the healthcare field.

According to the history files our first meeting at Callaway Gardens was held in September of 1957, during his term as president, a tradition we have enjoyed for many years. Overtime our meeting moved to the spring, which is fitting for Callaway. During Dan’s term, since the Chapter was new, he was very active in recruiting new members. Our membership back then probably topped about 40. He also promoted the AAHA Fellowship Exam, so we know certification has been around a long time.

He supposedly retired several years ago; however we are pretty sure he is still active in serving with organizations. Dan and his wife, Nancy had four children. He is actively involved with his church and still loves to hit a golf ball. He continues to be spotted wearing bow ties – a trademark.

Dan was our third past president (1957-1958).

Georgia Chapter Presidents by Year

Past Presidents Georgia Chapter		Served
	Carmen Sessoms	2009-10
	Susan Clark	2008-09
	Teresa Singley	2007-08
	Rick Childs	2006-07
	Cathy Dougherty	2005-06
	Terry Tillery	2004-05
	Becky Black	2003-04
	Cynthia Perley	2002-03
	Eddie Phillips	2001-02
	Tim Beatty	2000-01
	Alex Klamke	1999-00
	Lee Evins	1998-99
	Pat H. Hamby	1997-98
	Ginger E. Anspaugh	1996-97
	Joanne B. Kimmons	1995-96
	W. Larry Sims	1994-95
	James H. Piper, Jr.	1993-94
	Denise Headrick	1992-93
	Clint A. Harkins	1991-92
	Steve Rushing	1990-91
	Bobbie Jarrett	1989-90
	Robert S. Crump	1988-89
	Dennis Crum	1987-88
	Bonnie Phipps	1986-87
	Richard Martin	1985-86
	Norma S. Ramey	1984-85
	Larry Bradley	1983-84
	James Lowry	1982-83
	Sam Lamitina	1981-82
	Glenn J. Black, Jr.	1980-81
	Warren Quinley	1979-80
	R. Mack Parker	1978-79
	E. Ken Ford	1977-78
	David L. Blankenship	1976-77
	Charles Aenchbacher*	1975-76
	Donald P. Gammon	1974-75
	Tom F. Satterfield	1973-74
	Ann Longshore *	1971-73
	James H. Lankford - Joe Livingston	1970-71
	Jimmy H. O'Dell *	1969-70
	Edwin J. Wolff	1968-69
	T. Sidney Oglesby	1967-68
	Oliver J. Booker, Jr.*	1966-67
	Sister Rose Margaret Schweers	1965-66
	Frank E. Conort	1964-65
	Nancy Yarn*	1963-64
	S. Clarence Griffin, Jr.*	1962-63
	William E. Shirey	1961-62
	Robert H. Jones	1960-61
	Chris Neubert*	1959-60
	J. Fred Gunter	1958-59
	W. Dan Barker	1957-58
	Carl Ridley	1956-57
	Sam Whigham*	1955-56
* Deceased

Past Presidents Recall Special Memories...

"Winning the Shelton and knowing that the Georgia Chapter was the best in the country during my year. You did make a difference!" - Lex Klamke, 1999-2000

"My favorite memory as a President of the Georgia chapter is of all the wonderful people I had the opportunity to meet and to interact with both in the Georgia chapter and many other chapters around the country. HFMA is a big part of my extended family and all the friends I have made through HFMA are very special to me." - Ginger Anspaugh, 1996-1997

"It has to be when Dick Clark called to say we had won the Shelton. I had a great time calling the 4 past presidents and inviting them to Chicago to accept the award in 1995!" - Larry Sims, CHFP, 1994-1995

"Winning the Shelton! Another was when Bonnie Phipps was sworn in as National HFMA President!" - Clint Harkins, 1991-1992

"I really enjoyed acting as "tour guide" at the many meetings. Great crew to work with!" - Bob Crump, 1988-1989

"My favorite memory is Jim Lowry as Program Chairman for Glenn Black agreeing to keep the cocktail hour going for three hours during a hurricane at Jekyl Island and then talking the vendor into paying for it. He always has had a silver tongue!" - Bonnie Phipps, 1986-1987

Ann recalls the night before Medicare went into effect, the government changed everything! - Ann Longshore, 1972-1973, 1971-1972

"We were a young chapter then. We spent a lot of time focused on education. There were not many people in the workforce who knew a lot about healthcare accounting. We held a lot of basic courses for accountants. National adopted our chapter's workshop on Hospital Budgeting as a model." - Bob Jones, 1960-1961

"My favorite memory were the joint meetings with Tennessee and Georgia. I made a lot of life long friendships!" - Dan Barker, 1957-1958

"When I was President, I was recognizing Glenn Black for his contributions. I gave him a set of French cuff links. He opened the cuff links and discovered there were someone else's initials engraved on them. He quickly pointed the mistake out to all of us. I responded, "We know, but we got a great deal!' ". - Jim Lowery, 1982-1983

"I have to say that creating the Sr. Rose Margaret Schweers (Georgia President 65-66) Most Valuable Member Award and seeing her personally award the first recipients at the end of my Presidential year was the most memorable occasion, the happiest event I have had the privilege of participating in." - Lee Evins, 1998-1999