The above picture was taken a few months before Euclid died. It was taken at the dedication ceremony where Euclid turned over his last
"Honey Bee Book Section" to a library. Euclid is on the left and Bob Fanning (President of the Alabama Beekeepers Association) is on the right.
Displayed on the table between the two is the assortment of books and videos all on the subject of honey bees and or beekeeping that Euclid and the SMBA donated.
Also in attendance at the dedication was a representative from the state Department of Agriculture and several TV and news personnel.
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We owe a great debt of thanks
to Mr. T. (Thomas) Euclid Raines who was the founder of our organization
and a significant contributor to the advancement of beekeeping in the
Sand Mountain area of north Alabama.
Euclid Rains was a third
generation Alabama beekeeper and a remarkable man. He
lost his sight in both eyes in an accident as a young boy yet he went on
to work his way through college, operate a very successful manufacturing
business and become a member of Alabama state house of representatives
where he represented the 26th District from 1979 to 1991. We
lost Euclid in an automobile accident, when the car in which he was a
passenger went off a bridge in heavy rain, near Geraldine, Marshall
County, Ala., August 27, 2000.
After retiring from the House
of Representatives Euclid became concerned about the relative lack of
honey bees and beekeepers in the Sand Mountain area of north Alabama so he set out to
rectify that situation. He started by organizing the Sand
Mountain Beekeepers Association (SMBA) in 1998. Within one year,
the SMBA had grown under his direction to become high among the top
beekeeping organizations in the state of Alabama.
Euclid was also concerned
that the art and craft of beekeeping in general had dropped to a point
of relative insignificance in the area so he set out to rectify that
situation. To that end he and the SMBA started a drive to
stock the Sand Mountain area public libraries with a complete set of
books and videos on beekeeping. This program proved to be a
really big success by stocking 7
different area libraries with a complete section on honeybees and beekeeping.
THANKS EUCLID - WE STILL MISS
YOU!
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