There was a capacity crowd at Big Canoe on March 13 to pay tribute to Winston Churchill's life, legacy and leadership.

"The past was there for a reason. One of the greatest lessons I ever learned was you never move a fence until you learned why it was put there," said Congressman Doug Collins. "Many times today, we're constantly moving in the moment instead of taking the heritage to see the future, and I think that's one of the greatest things we learned from Churchill."

Considered by many as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the 20th century, Churchill led Britain's defeat of Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany.

"I just finished a really great history of World War II and the guy in the history said they were beaten and they should have surrendered," said Gary Pichon, former county commissioner. "And they didn't, and the reason they didn't was Winston Churchill.

"Perseverance ... nobody would listen to him...and then the handed him and whole mess and told him to fix it and then he did it."

A collaboration of the Republican parties of Dawson and Pickens counties, the evening featured Churchill's great-grandson Duncan Sandys as the guest speaker, who shared stories of the British politician and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom's connections to Georgia.

Surprising to many in attendance, Sandys said his great-grandfather had a taste for bootleg moonshine and went as far on one trip as having a batch taken to Georgia Tech for testing.

Duncan also spoke of Churchill, the artist, who painted more than 800 works of art in his lifetime. The paintings, according to Duncan, served as reflections or observations for Churchill.

"It was painting that enabled him to function," he said. "Everything he learned from painting helped him in combat."