If Greg’s looking down from heaven, he’s laughing about how people are singing his praises, said Chris Kitchings.
Greg Carson, former co-chair of Leadership Orangeburg County and head of public relations for Orangeburg Consolidated School District Five, died suddenly on May 22 at the age of 52.
Friends and colleagues celebrated his life at a memorial service on Wednesday, and Superintendent Cynthia Wilson announced that District 5 and the Orangeburg County Chamber of Commerce are co-sponsoring an annual $500 scholarship in his name for a local high school senior.
Friends remembered Carson as gregarious, friendly, likeable, happy, hardworking and dedicated, self-effacing, humble and generous.
Mayor Paul Miller called him a “great guy and a friend to all.” Carson had great persuasive powers, according to Miller.
“He was always talking about something,” Miller said. “You could always see him coming in the front door of the office at the ninth hour wanting to know if we could pull a rabbit out of the hat — that got to be a joke.”
Carson would say the issue just came up and had to be done “by next Tuesday,” Miller said. “And somehow or another, we managed to make it happen.”
Drexel Ball, Orangeburg Chamber of Commerce Board chair, said Carson was “self-effacing, humble, approachable, humorous,” but at the same time, he had “an amazing ability to turn an emphatic ‘no’ into a resounding ‘yes.’”
For example, Ball said Carson asked him to take part in District Five’s “principal for a day” program.
“I told him I didn’t have time, but he convinced me I had the time to participate in the program,” he said. “But that was Greg.”
Kelly Mims, who co-chaired Leadership Orangeburg with Carson, said he always greeted her the same way, whether it was in person or on the phone.
“‘Hey, Baby Girl’,” he’d say. ‘What’s going on? How can I help you?’ And he was always willing to help me,” she said. “Both of us felt very passionate about Orangeburg County … we wanted to promote what we felt was right.”
Carson’s friends say they feel the void left by his death.
Every time the district has an event, that empty spot is evident, Wilson said.
“I’ll say, ‘Oh, no! Boy! Greg was doing that’ or … ‘Greg was taking care of that,’” she said. “He was a big part of all of our lives and he will continue to be.”
Chamber President Dede Cook said Carson’s funeral was a “Steel Magnolias” funeral “because we cried and we cried and we laughed and we laughed because that’s who Greg Carson was to us.”
Cook said Isaiah 55:4 reminds her of Carson.
“It says, ‘Behold, I have made him a witness to the people, a leader and commander for the people.’ I think of Greg when I hear that scripture,” she said.
Whatever problem came up, he always said, “I got your back,” Cook said.
Jean Miller and Maretta Linder worked in the OCSD 5 district office with Carson for a number of years.
Knowing Carson and working with him was a joy, Miller said. “He always had a smile on his face and a cup of coffee in his hand,” she said. “He’d slam that back door open when he came in with those fast steps.”
She noted that he was “a natural with kids” because he loved them.
Carson was always on the go, according to Linder.
“He was a great person to work with because we could always count on him. Awake, asleep — he lived for District Five,” she said. “We still look for him to come around the corner any time.”
Kitchings, who worked at the Chamber for a number of years, noted that everyone in the district knew Carson loved junk food.
“Everywhere we went — at every school we went to — someone would walk up and give him candy because he had a sweet tooth,” she said.
Cook said that Carson’s home in heaven “must be made of Krispy Kreme donuts.”
“I’ll never go by Krispy Kreme with the light on that I don’t think of Greg,” she said.
Cindy Kassian worked as Carson’s assistant for two years.
“He didn’t meet a stranger. Even if he didn’t know someone, it didn’t take him long to get to know them,” she said.
Former District Five superintendent Dr. Walter L. Tobin hired Carson as the head of public relations 14 years ago.
After leaving District 5, Tobin worked in several districts that didn’t have anyone handling public relations, and Carson often gave him advice about how to handle different situations, Tobin said. They became so close, he said he thought of Carson as an adopted son.
“When I think about Greg, I often think about John 16:7 when Jesus says, ‘I have to leave you, but … I’ll leave you a comforter,’” Tobin said.
“Greg is comforted right now. We’re the ones who need comforting,” he said. “Let us remind ourselves when we think about Greg, his laughter, the gregarious personality he had.”
Contact the writer: dlinder-altman@timesanddemocrat.com or 803-533-5529.
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