Thinking he was there to celebrate the 40th wedding anniversary of he and his wife, David Whisenant, at a surprise presentation on Saturday, received the Order of the Long Leaf Pine.
This award, as noted on the society’s website, is the highest honor awarded by the governor that is presented to individuals who have a proven record of extraordinary service to North Carolina.
Following the reading of a proclamation by Darrell Hinnant, mayor of Kannapolis, and some remarks by Susan Kluttz, former mayor of Salisbury, Whisenant thought that was all that would be happening, but he saw his granddaughters, Ava, 10 and Maisie 8 standing nearby.
“I didn’t know what they were doing,” he said, but he did notice Ava was holding a framed something.
He said he thought “this is great. They made something.”
She came forward to the microphone and started to read, but Whisenant said he still didn’t know what it was.
“I knew it said things about North Carolina. It just didn’t hit me,” he shared. “And I think it was maybe during the last sentence that I thought this might be the Long Leaf Pine and when I figured that out, I teared up.”