The joy was unmistakable for Staff Sergeant Jason Livingston and his wife, Brandy.
They stood in their newly furnished living room at their home on North Rutherford Road. Surrounding them were two children, friends, neighbors and firemen from the Greer and Lake Cunningham Fire Departments.
Joe Masters worked at The Wood Mortuary as a teenager and, except for a tour of duty with the U.S. Navy during the Korean War, spent his entire working life in the industry.
Masters, from Greer, was a funeral director and embalmer for the Greer mortuary.
COLUMBIA – A boisterous cheer went up from a crowd estimated at 12,000 people who had gathered at the South Carolina State House Friday morning. It was 10:09 a.m.
The Confederate flag, in a dignified ceremony, was lowered from the 30-foot flagpole, which had kept it aloft over the Confederate Soldiers Monument at the front of the State House grounds since 2000. It was the first time since 1961 that the flag had not flown on the capitol grounds. It will never do so again.
On a hot, steamy day in Columbia, the Confederate flag left the South Carolina State House grounds after five decades.
“It is a new day in South Carolina, a day we can all be proud of, a day that truly brings us all together as we continue to heal, as one people and one state,” Gov. Nikki Haley said in a Facebook post. She did not speak at the ceremony, which attracted thousands.
A light rain could do nothing to dampen the patriotic spirit of Greer on Saturday morning.
Scores of children, along with their parents and grandparents, participated in the 18th annual July 4 Kid's Parade.
It was arguably the largest turnout for the event, which has become an annual tradition.
"It's about tradition and this is what Greer is all about," Mayor Rick Danner said. "It's an organic kind of thing that has grown over the years, and every year people invite friends and family so it continues to grow. This is what small towns are all about."
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