Who We Are
The Friends of the Little White House exists to assist the Department of Natural Resources and the State of Georgia in the maintenance of President Roosevelt’s “Little White House” in Warm Springs, Georgia.
We are a group of businessmen, historians, teachers, and volunteers that are committed to the preservation of the legacy of President Roosevelt and his history in Georgia.
Dr. Joe Morrow
Dr. Andrew “Joe” Morrow serves as the Chairman of the Board of the Friends of the Little White House, a position he has held since 2014. A retired veterinarian from Georgia and Alabama, Dr. Morrow’s leadership has been integral to the current efforts to restore and preserve the pool complex that FDR used, which was the primary reason the President made Warm Springs his part-time home.
Bob M. Patterson
Pastor Bob Patterson serves as Treasurer of the Friends of the Little White House. He has been the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Warm Springs since December 1986, and he also serves as a member of the Meriwether County Board of Education. Additionally, he has served in many leadership positions Meriwether county, including the Chamber of Commerce, the Rotary Club, the County Hospital Authority, and the Church Benefits Board. Since 1992, he has offered the invocation and the benedictions at the 12 April memorial services at the Little White House.
Dr. Tom Hanley
Dr. Tom Hanley serves as the Secretary of the Friends of the Little White House, and has lived in the Columbus area since 1976 when he took a position with Columbus College as a Professor of Geology. A native of New York, he completed his Ph.D. in Geology at Indiana University. He retired from Columbus State University in 2006 after thirty years of service. The Pine Mountain area and the Little White House were often stopping points on geology field trips with his students.
Dr. Alan Fiester
Dr. Alan Fiester is a retired clinical psychologist who spends half the year in Pine Mountain, Georgia. He has been a volunteer at the Little White House since 2011. Dr. Fiester and his wife have sponsored the “Four Freedoms” exhibit that is located in the legacy museum at the Little White House.
Dr. Ryan J. Lynch
Dr. Ryan Lynch is an Associate Professor of History at Columbus State University in Columbus, GA, a position he has held since August 2016. A graduate of the University of Oxford, he specializes in the history of the Middle East. He regularly brings students to the Little White House, and is deeply invested in the long-term preservation of Roosevelt’s legacy in Georgia. He joined the Friends group in 2018, and also serves as webmaster.
Additional Members
…coming soon!