The best education is not always in
the state-of-the-art building. A great faith is not found only
beneath the finest stained glass windows. It is the teachers
and students in that building, the people who populate the
classroom, the smallest country church or the largest city
cathedral that make it real, that make it work.
Thus it only follows that a community is not its buildings
but those who inhabit them, who labor in them, who are
inspired to devise ways in which they can do good for others.
There are magnificent buildings in our communities, but they
would be meaningless without dedicated people to first see
that they are built and equipped — and that the use to which
they are put is a just one.
It is that type of person honored each year by the Anderson
Independent-Mail Pointing the Way awards.
In every community there are those who inspire others, not
with their riches but with their wealth of compassion, not
with their antecedents but with the example they themselves
set each day of their lives. There are always those who stand
out from the crowd. And it may indeed be their history, their
talents, their profession or their position that makes them
noticed in a way others aren’t.
But for the most part, it is much simpler: They each
possess a heart that has room for concern above their own
lives.
G. Fred Tolly may have retired from his position as a
banker years ago, but he has never slowed down in his
dedication to Anderson and its continued progress. He has
served his community for more than 50 years, in both business
and community service organizations, and most recently — in
seven consecutive terms — as District 1 representative to
Anderson County Council.
His success on council, his continued press for progress
with thoughtful deliberation, has been not simply because of
his able representation of District 1 but because he
recognized long ago that a community is only as strong as its
members overall. He has given his time to Rotary, to the South
Carolina Health and Human Services Commission, to Jaycees and
AnMed Health, among others.
He is a veteran of service to his country and continues
that service on a more direct basis, representing not just his
district but every citizen of Anderson as we seek even more
ways to improve our lives through moving our county forward.
Doug and Peggy McDougald are only the third couple to have
been honored with a Pointing the Way award, and like the
others, it would have been hard had we been forced to decide
between the two. Perhaps that is because it is as a team that
they have done their best work. As Anderson Independent-Mail
publisher Fred Foster spoke of Peggy’s contributions to
Anderson, Doug quietly slipped his arm around her shoulders
and smiled that broad smile. As he spoke of Doug’s dedication
to his work and to his leadership in the community, Peggy
looked up at her husband in a way that said what words could
not. They have spent their lives in a profession that is
perhaps one of our most difficult — helping us say goodbye to
the people we love. And through their volunteer efforts with
organizations ranging from the Cancer Association of Anderson
to the YMCA to the United Way, they have helped create a
community that knows what is important in life and what we
most regret to leave behind when we go — the people around us.
For two decades Kimberly Spears has lived her belief in the
importance of the arts and with her ever-present smile has
repeatedly demonstrated to our community that without art we
are but a pale imitation of a civilized society.
She is a volunteer in the Anderson Area Chamber of
Commerce, Anderson Soiree, the Salvation Army Boys and Girls
Club and downtown Anderson overall. But it is her efforts to
showcase arts and nourish artists, with the
soon-to-be-a-reality Anderson Arts Center and Warehouse
complex, that led us to select her as a Pointing the Way
winner this year. Under her leadership, our arts center has
become one of the most respected in the state, and she has
taught us all something about art — not just appreciating it
but understanding it. Art enriches our lives; Kimberly Spears
has enriched our community.
John Miller is CEO of AnMed Health. But his impact on the
community goes beyond the health of our bodies, with an eye
toward our economic and social health as well. His
credentials, including past chairmanship of the Anderson Area
Chamber and continuing chairman of Freedom Weekend Aloft are
perhaps his most visible. But through his leadership,
employees and board members of AnMed enrich the community with
$230,000 in donations each year to United Way. He helped found
Partners for a Healthy Community and the Foothills Community
Foundation and it was through his efforts and his concern for
the health of our children that a $1 million grant was
received to establish the School Health Improvement Program.
Via that program, a school nurse is in every Anderson County
school, providing care and information about a healthier life
not just to the children of our community but their parents
and extended families.
He helped with the effort to establish a health clinic at
the Westside Community Center and as chairman of the
Anderson/Clemson Alliance, he is working still to help
demonstrate the importance of collaborative efforts to enrich
and nourish the Upstate as a whole, that we must work together
to move forward, not just economically but in all aspects of
our quality of life.
In speaking to the luncheon crowd Thursday, Gov. Mark
Sanford spoke of how we are all connected, how everything we
do affects all of those around us, from our communities and
throughout the world. He noted as well his own belief that "a
life lived only for self is a meaningless life."
Those honored on Thursday, and the hundreds, perhaps
thousands of their neighbors they represent, those who quietly
but with determination make a positive difference in our
community, all understand a simple yet profound principle: We
are not here only to further ourselves but to do what we can
to ease the burdens and improve the lot of our fellow man.
All of the people honored are individuals who have seen a
need in our community and set out to fulfill it. They made
decisions to that end, decisions that were neither made
lightly or with their own benefit in mind; rather they did it
because they felt a sense that we’re not here for long — it’s
best to do some good while we can.
