Chamber honors ‘essential’ members

WADESBORO — The Anson County Chamber of Commerce celebrated its members recognized those who have made the biggest impact over the last year at their 59th Annual Membership Meeting and Banquet last week.

Shelby Emrich, president and CEO of the Chamber, commended the business leaders gathered in South Piedmont Community College’s Lockhart-Taylor Center for surviving the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. She noted that businesses of all sizes were hit hard: industries have struggled and continue to struggle to fill positions, and small businesses were forced to devote unprecedented resources to marketing to make up for customers no longer coming in their doors and transitioning to online commerce.

“In the beginning they said, ‘You got to go home unless you’re essential’ — that word…,” Emrich said, trailing off. “For the Chamber, you’re all essential. There was nobody that shouldn’t have went to work from home: every business in Anson County is essential to the growth and to the citizens of Anson County.

“We’re so thankful that you all have held on and you fought through this last 18 months,” she continued.

The award winners were as follows:

Henry W. Little, III Community Leadership Award — Donnie Spivey, Pee Dee Electric

W. Dunlap Covington Community Service Award — David Edwards, Town of Wadesboro Manager

Young Professional of the Year — Caty Carpenter Edwards, Plank Road Realty Inc., and Ashley Rivers Scarborough, Plank Road Forestry

Chamber Champion — Joe Dutton, presented to the Dutton Family

The Chamber Champion Award, created 4 years ago, is given to “an individual, business or organization that has demonstrated an appreciation and commitment to the Chamber, who has gone above and beyond, whose service and dedication have made a significant impact for the Chamber and its members, an advocate, a promoter, and a supporter of the Chamber’s mission.”

This year, the Chamber renamed the “Chamber Champion” award to the “Joseph E. Dutton Chamber Champion Award.” Dutton, an Anson-native and member of the Chamber’s Board of Directors who also worked for Anson County government, passed away in December due to COVID-19 complications, according to Emrich.

Emrich said Dutton “bled” the Chamber.

“He loves Anson County to the absolute core — and especially Peachland,” Emrich said. “He had a big heart, he had a big smile, he had the biggest personality, and he had the biggest pride for the county he called home: Anson. When I say he believed in the Chamber I truly mean he believed in the Chamber.”

She added that if a new family or business came to town and they saw him first, he would call Emrich to set up a meeting right away to help them get connected to the community.

Adam Allison, Dutton’s nephew, spoke in his honor at the ceremony. Allison joked with the crowd that when he sat down to write a speech about his uncle, it quickly became a novel, and said that he would be reading the “very” abridged version.

“[Dutton] meant more to me and my family than I can express,” Allison said. “My uncle had this wonderfully innate ability to be whoever I needed him to be in that instant. He could seamlessly shift between being an uncle, a sounding board, teacher, role model, cowboy, confidante, and my get-out-of-jail-free card if I found myself in a predicament where I did not want to bother my parents.”

“For as long as I could remember, all I wanted to do was hang out with Uncle Joe — or just Joe, as we would call him as kids,” Allison continued. “Being in his orbit simply made life better.”