Pinson Set To Retire After 23 Years At The Community Center
Thursday, September 25th, 2025
Updated Friday, September 26th, 2025 - This version corrects an error in the original story with incorrect details of Mr. Pinson's family. We regret the error.
Tom Pinson has a big job on his hands: he's got to figure out what to do with all of the keepsakes in his office. The director of Dalton's Mack Gaston Community Center is retiring soon, and his office resembles a museum of his 23 years with the Parks and Recreation Department.
"It's kind of hard. I keep a lot of stuff," Pinson said, looking around his office and pointing out different artifacts from his career. "A lot of times when people go to Mexico or Guatemala or they go to their home countries, they always bring me something back for some reason. They'll always say, 'Mr. Pinson I brought you something!' Either a cup or a straw basket or a blanket, so lot of the things I am kind of recycling, I'm asking them if they want it back or asking if somebody in their family may want it... so, yeah, I'm kind of just spreading the love."
Caption: Tom Pinson poses in his office at the Mack Gaston Community Center
Spreading the love is something that Pinson has done throughout his career in Dalton. Though, it might be more accurate to say "careers", plural. Pinson, who was born in Dalton and spent many of his years growing up here, returned to the city after graduating in 1980 from Southern University and worked as a research chemist with Collins and Aikman Floorcoverings for 14 years. In the mid-90's, though, he found his true calling.
"While I was there at Collins and Aikman, Gary Johnson, who was one of the engineers there, was starting a Boy Scout troop at the Friendship House," Pinson said. "We worked with all these unprivileged kids, all these unprivileged boys. They had single parent homes - most of them didn't have fathers - so we kind of took them in our arms as mentors. And I just kind of fell in love with mentoring and kind of developing kids."
That volunteer service led to a long-term substitute teaching role with the Whitfield County Schools, teaching physical science at Southeast Whitfield High School. After a year, Pinson moved to the Dalton Public Schools at Morris Street School (now known as Blue Ridge Elementary) teaching PE and reading. From there, he was recruited to work with Judge Connie Blaylock at the Juvenile Court, helping troubled kids stay on course with their education.
"We started a program called Tutorial Services, which actually helped kids that had been put out of school or were suspended and behind in their school work," Pinson remembered. "You know, how they suspend kids and they can't go back until like the first of the next year. All those kids were actually sitting at home or getting in more trouble during their suspension. So, Judge Blaylock came up with the program and a part of those kids' sentences was that they had to come to my program from 9 until 3 every day. We worked on keeping them up on their studies, doing résumés. I took them on prison tours. I took them on whitewater rafting trips. I took them up to the courthouse and we would sit in on court cases and let them listen to court cases."
Caption: Tom Pinson shows off some of his keepsakes in his office, including an aerial photo of the Mack Gaston Community Center and a framed golden key to the center. The inscription reads, "This Golden Key is presented to Tom Pinson, the inspiration for the New Community Center where we will change the community one child at a time"
When the grant that funded the program came to an end, Pinson was looking for a new opportunity. That's when he was recruited to join the Dalton Parks and Recreation Department as director of the old community center. When the project to build the new Mack Gaston Community Center came about, Pinson helped lead the way.
"Mayor (David) Pennington came over and saw what we were doing. This was just before his campaign, and he made it part of his campaign to (build the) Community Center. And we had to go through all the process of getting the Concerned Clergy (to agree) because they had the deeds to the land and the City couldn't actually build a new facility unless they actually owned the land," Pinson said. "I was a part of that process of convincing the Concerned Clergy that the City would fulfill their promise because they were kind of hesitant about giving the land up. They thought that they were just going to tear the community center down. Because at that time, (the center) was actually coming back up to a good standard, but it had gone down to a real low standard. A lot of people didn't want to come over here and a lot of things weren’t going on too nice over here. But that was one of my main goals when I took over was to change it."
The creation of the Mack Gaston Community Center was a major success. The center is used by thousands of people each month, from all across Dalton. When asked to sum up his accomplishments with the Parks and Recreation Department, Pinson said that he is proud that he could help build a place where Dalton comes together.
"This has been quite an adventure, something that I didn't anticipate. I anticipated it being a 9 to 5 job, but it has turned into... more than just a job," he said, speaking more slowly as he reflected on his career. "People tell me that that I've been a big influence on the community, on developing this community... bringing it to where it is now thought of as more than just the 'Black Park', which it was referred to. There was the 'Black Park' and the 'White Park' back in the '60s. And where this park was basically for minorities... now we have transformed it. It has become a multicultural center. Now there's more people using this facility - probably about 8,000 people a month come through those doors, depending on the season. And you would be the surprised of the people who come in here. You have retired teachers, you have retired doctors and engineers come through this door and just work out... people come here for a purpose. They come here for English classes. They come here for yoga. We have the DEO Clinic, we have the Latin American Association here now. So, this is a hotspot for Dalton."
And soon, it will be led by someone other than Tom Pinson for the first time. The date isn't certain - a retirement celebration in his honor is set for Friday, September 26th. His last day on the job was supposed to be September 30th, but he's already agreed to stick around a little longer since the City has not yet selected a new director for the center.
"When retirements like his come about, sometimes you know how you're going to write the job description to replace someone, all the attributes you are looking for," said Mayor Annalee Sams. "It's not possible to do that with Mr. Pinson. He wears so many hats and he has a way with people that is not replaceable. So, what our hope is, is that we're gonna find someone that emulates him as much as possible, but I'm not sure that we'll be able to do that."
Caption: Tom Pinson has found several photos of kids he has mentored over the years as he has cleaned out his office
Mayor Sams told a story of a meeting that was held at the community center recently where a man kept causing a disturbance and interrupting speakers. The man was apparently having some sort of crisis, either because of a mental health problem or intoxication. Sams said that she saw Tom Pinson simply go and sit with the man, which calmed him down. Eventually, Pinson and staff were able to get the man a ride home. She said stories like that one illustrate how much Pinson has meant not just to the community center, but to Dalton as a whole.
"You're looking for a successor, I don't know if you can find a replacement," Sams said.
The good news is that the next director of the community center probably won't have to go too far if they need Pinson's advice. While he does have some beach time in his future as well as spending more time with his wife Marian, son Frank, daughters Toni and Shante and his sx grandchildren, he plans to stay in Dalton. For now he plans to continue serving as the chief financial officer for his church, New Hope Baptist, as well as continuing to serve on various community boards of directors such as the Family Support Council, the Northwest Georgia Family Crisis Center, among others.
"Anything that's going to help people, I think I'm attracted to it," Pinson said. "I've told them I would stay committed to those organizations."
And he'll also keep answering his true calling, working with kids.
"In fact, a young lady just left my office earlier. I worked with her when she was younger, and now she has a daughter that she is having trouble with, not knowing in what direction to take her," Pinson said. "So, I'll mentor her, too. I mentor girls, too, not just the boys."
Packing up years of memories in his office is a big job. He may not be taking everything, but Pinson is taking special care of the pictures he's been given, just as he took special care of the kids in the frames.
