On Wednesday, October 10th at 3:30 p.m., the Glove and Trowel Garden Club held a Blue Star Memorial By-Way Marker and Garden Dedication at the City of Dillon Wellness Center.
In addition to the 12 club members, special guests included Connie Manning, the Mayor Pro Tem, who represented the Mayor’s office, Valerie Graves, our current Dillon County Veterans Officer, who invited the Veterans for us, Jerry Huggins, our Veteran guest speaker, other Veterans, and Bobby McIntyre, special guest.
The dedication began with a welcome from Julia McLaurin who welcomed members and guests.
She then introduced club president, Molly Pittman. Molly then provided the Invocation followed by the Pledge of Allegiance to the American Flag led by Julia Sawyer.
Betty Gourdin, the Garden Club of South Carolina Blue Star Memorial Marker Chairman, was scheduled to speak at the dedication but due to the inclement weather she was unable to attend. In her place Fay Sloan read the speech provided by Betty Gourdin.
During WWI and WWII, families placed banners with Blue Stars in their windows to honor family members who were serving in the war. The blue stood for hope and pride. The Blue Stars on the Memorial Markers took their names from the Blue Stars on these service flags.
At the end of WWII, the National Garden Club was seeking a suitable means of honoring those service men and women. In 1944, the Garden Club of New Jersey had an inspired idea. One thousand Dogwood trees were planted along five miles of highway which had been designated the Blue Star Drive by their Legislature. The project was named for the blue star in those service flags which had hung in the windows of homes and businesses to honor service men and women during the war.
In the Fall of 1945 and following the example of the Garden Club of New Jersey, the NCSGC adopted the projects of‘a ribbon of living memorial plantings traversing every state’ which was called ‘The Blue Star Memorial Highway Program’ with a uniform Marker being adopted. It was the first program of any type undertaken by garden clubs on a national scale. While it began to honor WWII Veterans, it enlarged its mission in 1951 to include all men and women, who had served, were serving, or would serve in the armed forces of the United States.
The need for an extension of the program to accommodate other than dedicated highways became apparent. As a result a smaller By-Way Marker, to be placed in areas such as parks, civic and historical grounds was approved at the 1981 Convention in Atlanta. A third marker was added at the 1996 Convention in Michigan. Thus, we have the Blue Star Memorial Marker, which is allowed to be placed on the grounds of a National Cemetery or Veterans Administration Center or VA Hospital or Medical Center. At the 2004 convention in St. Louis the scope of this marker was enlarged to include other appropriate civic locations to be approved by National Garden Clubs, Inc. a Blue Star Memorial Marker, which could be placed on the grounds of a National Cemetery, Veterans Administration Center or VA Hospital or Medical Center.
According to the GCSC Blue Star Records, there are 136 Markers in South Carolina with 6 markers in Dillon.
Veteran Jerry Huggins was introduced by Julie Sawyer as the guest speaker. Jerry who is a Dillon native, joined the U.S. Army immediately after High School, and was sent to Vietnam in 1967 and back in 1968. He joined the National Guard in 1976 serving in various capacities, and went back on active duty in 1978. He retired in April 1996 after 23 years of combined active duty with the U.S Army and SC National Guard attaining the rank of Master Sergeant. He was appointed Dillon County Veterans Affairs Officer July 1, 1997 where he has served the over 2,000 registered Veterans of Dillon County with distinction. He retired July 1, 2017 after serving 20 years as the Dillon County Veterans Officer.
He gave a very interesting and informative talk about what it means to him to be a Veteran as well as what is experienced by Veterans from all deployments.
Linda Dutton expressed appreciation from our Club to Bobby McIntyre, a special friend, who was our Veteran who inspired us and was instrumental in our acquisition of our first Blue Star Memorial Highway Marker placed in the Triangle of Flags on Highway 9 and Martin Luther King Boulevard on April 16, 2010 as a gift from the Glove and Trowel Garden Club to the City of Dillon in honor of the Dillon County Centennial 2010.
The program ended with a time of fellowship and refreshments prepared by all members served on a beautifully decorated Patriotic table.
A special thanks to the program committee who worked tirelessly to prepare the program: Linda Dutton, Julia McLaurin, Fay Sloan, and Julie Sawyer. Julie Sawyer prepared a beautiful Patriotic Program Sheet Agenda with a picture of our By-Way Marker on it.
Thanks to all of our members and help us to always Honor and respect our Veterans.
