Together, they were honored on a single night. Apart, their humble missions to help Bladen County covered thousands of them.

We are better today than yesteryear in part because of the community’s pillars that have set the example, raising the bar so that we all might enjoy a little more of what life has to offer. The standing ovations were deserved, the accolades a small token of appreciation.

The governor’s office sent one, the Elizabethtown-White Lake Area Chamber of Commerce provided the others in its annual banquet. To Hubert Kinlaw, Walter McDuffie, Maurice Williams, Bruce Dickerson and Charles Ray Peterson, we are indebted for service above and beyond.

Kinlaw was awarded the Order of the Long Leaf Pine on Tuesday night. McDuffie, Williams and Dickerson respectively earned the chamber’s awards for small business, outstanding member and most caring person. Peterson was given a lifetime chamber membership.

There are more than 200 years of dedication to our community in the adult lives of the group. And there is heart and compassion for friends and strangers alike among them.

They’ll do most anything they can to help anybody. As presenters came to the podium of Lu Mil Vineyard, they read accomplishments, told anecdotes and moved the emotions of many in the crowd of better than 125.

These have been, and still are, people to watch. They set good examples, sharing their time and their talent with no expectation of a return.

They’ve tried their hand in various ventures for the betterment of us all, through civic duties and volunteer service. Their efforts include board appointments and elected offices, some still active and others in days gone by.

Look beyond the accomplishments and the surface will reveal young men trying new things. This group includes a son of the greatest generation, all lived through 1960s and ’70s societal change in the South, and they now operate in a digital-first world with marvels we once knew only to exist in comic books, cartoons or movies.

They have been leaders and resources for us all because they adapted. They wanted the best for our community. Their focus was to leave this place better than they found it, to create an environment that was the envy of people near and far.

Success isn’t measured by the handsome awards presented Tuesday. Those were nice, mere tokens really, that are well deserved and for which each wonderfully expressed gratitude.

We left Lu Mil into a warm pre-summer night, a bright moon illuminating our travel home. It was better because in our community the journeys of Hubert Kinlaw, Walter McDuffie, Maurice Williams, Bruce Dickerson and Charles Ray Peterson always wanted it to be.

They didn’t have to do anything, and that’s why over all these many years it was a gift from them to us. Something truly special.

We are better today than in yesteryear.

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