Jim and Betty Garrison were presented The Order of the Palmetto (the highest civilian honor that a citizen may receive from the State of South Carolina) from State Representative Neal Collins, of Easley, on behalf of Governor Henry McMaster. The ceremony was held at 10 a.m. on Monday, July 7, 2025 inside the Captain Kimberly Hampton Memorial Library in Easley. On the grounds of the library is the Captain Kimberly Hampton Memorial Park, dedicated to the 1994 Easley High School graduate and helicopter pilot with the United States Army 82^nd Airborne Division, who was killed when her OH-58 Kiowa Warrior helicopter was shot down in Iraq on January 2, 2004. Jim and Betty Garrison spearheaded Operation Dragonfly to honor Kimberly with the memorial park, which features a helicopter like the one Kimberly flew. Kimberly’s parents, Dale and Ann Hampton, were among the crowd of well-wishers present for the special occasion on Monday, honoring the Garrisons.

Operation Dragonfly is one of many ways the Garrisons have served their community during their lifetime. According to the Governor’s Office, the Order of the Palmetto “is presented in recognition of a lifetime of extraordinary achievement, service, and contributions on a national or statewide scale. The Order of the Palmetto recognizes individuals who have selflessly given of their time, resources, and goodwill through a variety of different causes and pursuits to the benefit of their neighbors, fellow citizens, and the fabric and prosperity of South Carolina. Business, political, or personal accomplishment may be important factors, but noble works for others mark the true purpose.”

One of their sons, Brad Garrison, greeted and welcomed the crowd who gathered for the ceremony. “I’d like to thank everyone for coming,” he said. “It’s obviously a proud day for our family and hopefully a proud day for this community.”

The Garrisons’ son Brian Garrison then delivered the invocation. “Heavenly Father, thanks for this day. Thank you for the day that you’ve made. Thank you for where we get to live here in South Carolina. Thanks for this time and this reason to pause and gather for a small honor for the parents, and thank you for that. We know that the kind of lives they’ve lived has not been about attaining any type of award, but, really, just doing what you said. In the Bible, you give all kinds of examples of us seeking peace and prosperity in the cities we live, letting our light shine so others would see you. And, in scripture, you give all kinds of examples, like Ruth, and throughout Proverbs, and Moses, and Noah, and on and on of countless others that are teachers and are builders, and, hopefully, that points to you, the perfect teacher and builder, Jesus. Thanks for my parents, for the examples they’ve been in many ways, especially leading and serving in their local communities. Hopefully, one day that would make people question why, and, ultimately, maybe that points them to you, Jesus. So, we hope that, in all we do, it would glorify you. In your name, we pray. Amen.”

Brad Garrison then introduced his nephews, Caden Garrison and Walker Garrison, who helped lead everyone in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

“My parents wanted to make sure that this was not about them, that this was about the community that’s around them, and, without the support and cooperation by other community friends and leaders, this recognition would not be possible,” said Brad Garrison.

He noted Welcome to Easley signs that state “The pride shows.” His father, he said, made those signs, and he spoke of “a great sense of pride that my parents show for their community. I think it’s a really great testament to the pride they’ve shown for their community, visual and artistic.” He spoke of some other ways they’ve shown love for their community: “some in the form of a pound cake, some in the form of a beautiful park here, a gymnasium floor that was salvaged, some of it in terms of the students that were impacted. I think about the coaching tree of administrators in this room and beyond — of people that have been impacted because of them.

“I think about all the times we’ve been to dinner and someone would approach my Mom and say, ‘Do you remember me?’ There were so many of them that she made an impact on and Daddy made an impact on.” More importantly, he said, has been the impact the Garrisons made on their family, on him and his brother and their wives, and also on the Garrisons’ grandsons.  

Brad Garrison recalled a saying from each of his parents that are meaningful to him and their family. “Daddy taught us, ‘If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right.’” His mother, he said, told him and his brother every day, “Do your best and be your best.”

State Rep. Neal Collins smiled as he apologized to the Garrisons. “I know this is terribly uncomfortable for you,” he said, but he explained that the honor and the reception were for them and for what they’ve done. “We’re all here in love,” he said.

“The Order of the Palmetto is the highest civilian honor that somebody can receive. I take it extremely seriously.” In his 11 years of serving as a state representative, he said, only two others have been so honored.

“So that you know a little bit more of the process of how one becomes a recipient of this, a delegation member has to make the application. It has to have the approval of pretty much the whole county delegation, which this did. So, I do want to thank our state delegation members. Our current delegation is Senator Thomas Alexander, Senator Rex Rice, myself, leader Davey Hiott, and Representative Phillip Bowers. Along with that, you have to put recommendation letters, and many are in the room today that sent off their recommendation letters. It was Senator Rice, Dr. Danny Merck, Kim Porter, Andy Sevic, Dale Porter, and Lucas Durham. And, for those that I just listed, the Garrisons have seen your letters. After they were approved, I did send them to them, because all of them were very special.

“I believe everybody in here knows a lot of what they’ve done, but not everything. And, just to sort of highlight a little bit, Mr. Garrison, in the 1970’s, served our U.S. Army Reserves and was privately employed as a drafter and a designer, which paid beautiful dividends with this park right next to us. In the ‘80’s, he was a builder. And then in the 90’s and 2010’s, he was a schoolteacher at our career center. From 2014 until 2020, both he and Mrs. Garrison became the architect of this wonderful park that we have here. We had the dedication in 2020. And many of you now know him as somebody who honors our community with a pound cake, and I deeply cherish that. Mrs. Garrison started her teaching in the 1970’s and, in the‘80’s, ‘90’s, and 2000’s, she was in administration. She went back to teaching adult ed in the 2010’s.” Collins noted that she ran for the Pickens County School Board in 2016 and that in all three races she has been unopposed and that she has been well respected in the community, which he deeply admires.

“I do believe that we are called to be a flickering candle in the darkness,” Collins said. “Our Pastor had a wonderful sermon yesterday on that very idea, that we can all shine, make our communities brighter. I believe we have a lot of wonderful people. No matter whether it’s light or dark, it’s our calling to be that flickering candle, and these two absolutely are. In my decades of knowing both of them, I haven’t left the conversation with either of them without feeling calm, feeling good.”

Collins said that he loves how the Garrisons have impacted so many lives through the 1970’s through the present. “We will never know how much they’ve impacted our community,” he said, “and I think that is absolutely wonderful.”

He called each of them an icon, and he said that is how he described them in his letter to the Governor. The Captain Kimberly Hampton Memorial Park, he said, is an example. “I truly believe 20, 30 years from now, Easley is going to be known because of a memorial park for a wonderful, wonderful reason. And I can’t tell y’all how much these two worked on this park.” He said he had “the joy and pleasure in one of my first ever constituent meetings”, early in his career serving as a state representative, to be invited to dinner with the Garrisons. “I did not know that Mr. Garrison was an artist. I did not fully understand his background, and, as we were having dinner, he unveiled his draft of his vision of what this park could be.” Collins encouraged anyone who may have not yet seen the park to visit the park. “It is unbelievable,” he said, “how somebody can have a vision and put that to paper, but then to make it a reality over the course of five years. And not many people, you two, can say that they obtained a helicopter.”

Collins then presented The Order of the Palmetto to Jim Garrison and to Betty Garrison, with their family – son Brad and daughter-in-law Julie, son Brian and daughter-in-law Crystal, and grandsons Caden and Walker – by their side. He also asked members of the present and former Legislative Delegation to also come forward.

“On behalf of Governor McMaster and State Delegation members, current and past, we want to present you The Order of the Palmetto, the highest civilian honor that you can receive in South Carolina. Thank you for what you do.”

Brad Garrison then invited everyone to stay for the reception and closed the ceremony with these words: “Mom and Daddy, congratulations. And thank you all for being here and helping us to honor them. Thank you.”