Episode 18, Talking South Carolina Podcast Interview with Carol Davis of Wreaths Across America Columbia, SC

Episode transcript:

Angela Barrett – “Hey, Carol. Thanks for being with me today.”

Carol Davis – “Well, thank you, Angela. Thank you for having me.”

Angela Barrett – “Absolutely. Now, Carol, you’re the location coordinator for, Wreaths Across America for the Fort Jackson. Fort Jackson National Cemetery. Correct?”

Carol Davis – Correct.

Angela Barrett – So what does a location coordinator do? Because it sounds like you do a lot more than tell people where the location is.

Carol Davis – “It’s a little bit a little bit, but our job and there is a group of us, we have a team. Our job is to organize the program, organize as the, wreath purchases, let people know, reach out to the community, to businesses, organizations and individuals and let them know exactly what Wreaths Across America is and why we have it.”

Angela Barrett – “Well, that brings me to my next question. Tell me what wreaths Across America is.”

Carol Davis – “Wreaths Across America is a program to remember and honor our veterans who have passed. Remember, honor and teach is our motto. Remember those that served and had passed. Honor those that are still serving and have served. And to teach our children that freedom isn’t free and it’s at a cost that one day they may be asked to pay.”

Angela Barrett – “Right now, this is, a year long project for you guys to get ready for what is really right at Christmas time. But, tell us when and why this all started. Give me a hint.”

Carol Davis – “Well, some will tell you that it happened by accident. I don’t believe in this type of accident. I believe that was a divine purpose. The Wooster family up in may have been in the wreath business for generations. They have miles and miles and miles of balsam forest and their business. They tip these trees. They’re not cut.”

Carol Davis – “They’re tipped. And the rest are made that way. Will Morrow Wooster, who is head of the family now? About 25 years ago, they ended up with about 5000 wreaths at the end of the season. And he remembered as a small boy winning a trip to Washington from his paper route. And he went to Arlington National Cemetery and was totally impressed.”

Carol Davis – “And it stuck with him. So he thought, you know what? I’m not going to suppose that these wreaths I’m going to call up there. So he called Arlington and he said, hi, I’ve got these wreaths. We would love to get them to you. And they said, well, sure, but you’ll have to come up here and put them out.”

Carol Davis – “We can’t do that. So he packed a man a truck, packed his family, and off he went to Arlington. And for about 5 or 6 years, the family did that. That was their big thing. That family thing. Well, it caught on. People started saying, well, how can we do this for our cemetery? So the family started reconsidering their business and decided that they wanted to give back.”

Carol Davis – “And that’s technically how Race Across America started. People heard about it and saw about it. Now, to be honest, I don’t know anywhere in the world. I don’t know how they do it, but I don’t know anywhere in the world. You can buy a real balsam wreath for $17. How they do it? I don’t know, but they do.”

Carol Davis – “And, so every year nail all across the country and this year it would be in 4800 cemeteries in the in the U.S. and in other countries where we have our veterans buried. We’ll be placing over 4.5 million trees across the country this year.”

Angela Barrett – “Oh, wow.”

Carol Davis – “Yeah. And the thing is, people make the mistake of saying Christmas tree. This is not a Christmas tree. This is a veterans memorial wreath. And it’s to remind us that we are to honor, respect, and know that they are loved and that they are victorious. Now they have passed. But you’ve got to realize and remember that a veteran does twice, once when they draw their last breath and the last time their name is spoken out loud.”

Carol Davis – “So we encourage everyone at every cemetery. When you go and place that wreath, say their name. Say it out loud. It’s important to keep their spirit alive.”

Angela Barrett – Right in there. That brings me to. Because I’ve heard you say this several times. Tell me there’s this important. Someone talk about the importance of one.

Carol Davis – The importance of one is amazing. We are the one. One person tip that tree. One person took those boughs and made a wreath. One person packed that ring. One person put it in a truck. One truck driver drove that truck here. One person unpacked it. One person. Place that wreath. One person sponsored that raid. We are all the ones.

Carol Davis – It is up to us. The ones to remember. An honored veteran.

Angela Barrett – “Yeah, I like always. Like when you tell a story. That’s a good one. And so now back to the wreaths again. We don’t call them Christmas wreaths. You said they’re called. What, again?”

Carol Davis – They are veterans Memorial rates. We are remembering them respecting ban and honoring their victory over death.

Angela Barrett – “And so, for those who’ve never been to one of these ceremonies, can I go over? What happens? And then we’ll get to how we get there to that. You name some of that, but you’re remembering one. But I talk about that day and how special it is.”

Carol Davis – “Well, people hesitate sometimes. They think that you’re going to be depressed coming out to a cemetery. You’re not the. It’s the final resting place for thousands of our South Carolina veterans. And when you step on that property, a calm comes over. You. You know that those veterans at peace are at peace there. We go there to make that happen.”

Carol Davis – “It’s a trick trying to take care of thousands of people. But because of the ones that volunteered. It happens. And it happens smoothly. We had the ones of the military that participate. We have the ones of the Jared season, the scouts and the adults and the organizations. Our sheriff’s department, everybody, all the ones come together to make it happen.”

Carol Davis – “And when you come out that day, you will see what it really means. We have a wonderful program. Music, good people speaking that let you know from their heart what it means to honor of the veteran. I will say that you’ll have a few laughs. The Department of Correction and the Sheriff’s Department have donated busses to help us transport people into the cemetery.”

Carol Davis – “Because we have so many a time, we literally have thousands. We had about 7000 last year. And so we don’t have vehicles in the cemetery for that protection. So the joke is you’ll be riding the prison bus if you had to put it, getting on. Will wonder if you’ve written it before or would they care less again.”

Angela Barrett – When.

Carol Davis – Arts get a really big kick out of it? But it’s because everyone has come together that all the ones. All the ones.

Angela Barrett – “Yeah. Now there is a in an official ceremony. I know, like, for when you go to a funeral. A lot of times you hear taps and, just going to assume that that is played there, as well. And visually.”

Carol Davis – Absolutely.

Angela Barrett – “I got to cry on that one anyway. But,”

Carol Davis – “There is a funny little story about that from the 16th year. And when we had our first ceremony. I was involved with a deployment program, out at Fort Jackson and the 1/71 were the ones that accommodated us for everything that we asked for to help. And so when I approached them and I said, I want taps and I want a 21 gun salute.”

Carol Davis – “They said, no, you don’t. Oh, no, no, no, I want a 21 gun salute. No, Miss Carroll, you do not want a 21 gun salute. Now, I thought, well, what do I want? He said, you want cannons? I want Anna, I want handguns have froze. For the first several years, we had cannons. And then I got a call after the same ceremony one year from the director, and he said, Miss Carroll, we can’t have cannons anymore.”

Carol Davis – “And I went, why not? He said, well, you know that nice new columbarium that we built? He said, well, the cannons repercussion kind of cracked them.”

Angela Barrett – Oh. Whoa.

Carol Davis – So that was the last time we had cannons. But Fort Jackson. And so we’re going to have in place.

Angela Barrett – Of that now.

Carol Davis – We have the 21 gun salute.

Angela Barrett – “All right, so we’re bringing that. All right, for now.”

Carol Davis – “We’re back to the 21 gun salute, and we get that. And, Fort Jackson, McIntyre. Shaw Joint base. Yes. They all participate. They all help. And we had just numbers of that. I’m just oodles of veterans.”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah. Fantastic. Yeah, I’ve seen videos. I’ve just never personally been. My goal is obviously this year to get there. Oh, you, So now and these, these are the people that place the wreaths on, the grave site. They do that during this ceremony or is that already been done?”

Carol Davis – “Oh, no no no no, the, that’s the wreath placement ceremony immediately follows the actual ceremony program. And the our public is invited to go out and help place raise. Now we do have family placement starting at 9 a.m. that morning until 1130, where families can come in and place their wreaths prior to the ceremony. Okay. They had the honor of placing their wreath and spending a little time there and and with their family and and I don’t want to say enjoy, but feel that closeness with them.”

Angela Barrett – “For sure should be a joyous, to be able to do that. And we’ve been talking about this, but we’ll give everybody it’s December 14th. What? Yeah.”

Carol Davis – Correct. The actual ceremony starts at noon. The busses will start bringing the public in at ten. Yeah. Starting Easter? Yeah. Our parking. Is it the Blue Cross Blue Shield parking lot on Percival Road? You will be directed because you will not be the. The sheriff’s depart will not let you into the cemetery. So you will be directed straight to that parking area.

Carol Davis – “And, there’ll be plenty of people to tell you where to park and hop on a bus. And I will tell you, security is tight, so don’t get upset if a dog sniffs you. It’s a good dog.”

Angela Barrett – “Long as you’re not getting anything wrong, or your.”

Carol Davis – Long as you got nothing on you. You’re okay.

Angela Barrett – “Now, how did you get started in this? How did you get involved?”

Carol Davis – By accident. Again?

Angela Barrett – I don’t believe that.

Carol Davis – “I was working with, Like I said, the deployment program for Task Force Marshall at. At Fort Jackson, and, the cemetery wasn’t even built then, but a friend of mine was working with the program over at Florence National Cemetery. And she said, you know, Carol, she said, you really ought to get the program going here at Fort Jackson.”

Carol Davis – “And that’s about there is a cemetery finished yet. But what we did is she went with me, bless Laurie’s heart. And we talked to Jean Lynch while our. And, I will say he was he was very sweet, very tongue in cheek. When I explained to him the type of program I wanted to do and he said, well, mascara.”

Carol Davis – “Let me just say this. He said, I’ve worked many cemeteries that had had the program, and probably the best you can get is get a few people to help you unload the truck and put out the race as a you do not know the Midlands of South Carolina because we are the most military friendly community there is and people are just waiting for an opportunity to be told what they can do to remember and honor our veterans.”

Carol Davis – “And he just smiled. And the first year, we only had 346 graves out there. But we had more people than that that first year. Each year it has grown. And Jean Lynch, well, I actually retired last year. And he said, you know, I have to admit you did it. He said, never in my wildest imagination that I think this, this ceremony would be the size it is and reach as many people.”

Carol Davis – “He said, you are our number one program. I said, well, thank you, but don’t thank me. Thank all the people, all the ones that said yes. I get to hear all the oh, you did great. I didn’t do great. Our team did great. I mean did great. One person cannot do this that it’s analyzable.”

Angela Barrett – “Right. I agree it does. It does take, more than one, but it does take a leader. And I think you’ve proven that for sure. Now, when did you. You said when you first started there? We. The first time y’all had 16 years ago, the ceremony. There were only. How many graves?”

Carol Davis – “346. And how many do you have now? There I go. This year, 17,000 wreaths. There are 17,000 people buried there, but there are not that many headstones.”

Angela Barrett – “And,”

Carol Davis – “But the reason we set our goal for this number is to keep ahead of the game a little bit each year. Because the cemetery is growing so rapidly, they’re averaging 125 burials a month. And with Florence filling up and Buford filling up, everyone will be coming here that wants to be buried at the national set, a national cemetery.”

Carol Davis – “Now, that’s not to say that all of the graves are filled at Florence and Buford, but they’re all spoken for. Gosh, they’re already been crying. So ours is increasing rapidly.”

Angela Barrett – “Right. Yeah, I would imagine, yes, at that rate. Now, Lewis Carroll, you are a lithium, a cancer survivor, correct?”

Carol Davis – “Oh, yes. I didn’t know you knew that.”

Angela Barrett – “Well, one more, testament to, what a strong person you are. Tell me a little bit about that experience. I know it was when you finally rang the bell. I know that was a probably a.”

Carol Davis – Heck I was. I danced to the bell.

Angela Barrett – “Yeah, I bet you did. Now, And when was that? The. When you, Your last cancer treatment.”

Carol Davis – My last cancer treatment was in August of 19.

Angela Barrett – Wow. Wow. Congratulations.

Carol Davis – “And, so I pleaded my five year.”

Angela Barrett – Yes. Congratulations. And that is a big step. And I.

Carol Davis – “It is mad, not February. My doctor walked in that room, just a few weeks ago with the biggest smile on his face, and I went, is that a good smile? He said, you’re still my miracle patient.”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah, because you actually had stage four.”

Carol Davis – I did.

Angela Barrett – “Yeah. Well, I am telling you, I know that people say this all the time, but when you have watched people in your family or friends with cancer and someone like you, is ups, a lot of times it is mind over matter. You have to have that mindset and then obviously a good team of doctors, but I mean good.”

Carol Davis – Team of doctors and the good.

Angela Barrett – “Lord. That’s right. That’s exactly right. A lot of prayers. But, yeah, just one more testament to your, your strength. And, I’m sure that plays a lot with your leadership and how well you, have done there.”

Carol Davis – “There again, a lot of people supporting me.”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah. In the team. Absolutely. So now you also had something coming up, the night this coming Monday, right?”

Carol Davis – “Is that right? I do have. Well, December 9th.”

Angela Barrett – I was December 9th.

Carol Davis – “That’s right. December nights are is. But I actually do have something coming up. It’s Monday, and I’ll tell you about that in a minute. But. All right, December 9th, we had the Race Across America ceremony at the South Carolina Veterans Memorial on the state House grounds. Yeah. And, and that will be at noon, and the public is invited.”

Carol Davis – “And in keeping with that, on, Monday at 9:00 at the state House of Representatives, Chris Wooten and Representative Micah Caskey will be presenting us with the governor’s proclamation claiming December is Race Across America Month and the state of South Carolina.”

Angela Barrett – “Oh, nice. He’s from Lexington, where I am.”

Carol Davis – So you’re sanctioned to meet her? That’s right.

Angela Barrett – “Yeah. So the nights at noon will be at the state House, and that’s December night. And then December 14th at new the Connecticut there early, like Fort Jackson held at the Fort Jackson. Now, how far are y’all away from the goal that you guys.”

Carol Davis – “Right now. I’m kind of sweating bullets. It’s the same this time. Every all of a sudden. Oh my gosh, I forgot the order. And we have until the 3rd of December. But we’re about 5000 short right now, so yeah yeah, yeah. But there again, we are within 3000 of our actual need. So between that goal and the need.”

Carol Davis – “So, I have confidence I had. I sweat bullets this time every year that the community comes through.”

Angela Barrett – “And so what we need is, people to purchase wreaths and or donate whatever, right?”

Carol Davis – “Yeah. I mean, they can go online and donate. They can, contact me. I can send them a form. On our Facebook page, you can go there and go through, not PayPal. What is it on there where you can donate?”

Angela Barrett – “Oh, okay. I’m not sure which one it is. But. Yeah. So. Okay. So for anybody listening, you need to go right now to the Facebook page. I it is,”

Carol Davis – “There’s a form on the Facebook page where I do a QR code and go straight to our three for two page for every two weeks that are donated. The national organization, will donate a third wreath. Three. And that website is Wreaths Across america.org/fc 0015.”

Angela Barrett – “Right. And so if you’re just typing in it’ll be read across America. Fort Jackson National Cemetery or South Carolina Fort Jackson National Cemetery, I think is how it goes. But if or what, you know,”

Carol Davis – “You come out the Facebook page, other.”

Angela Barrett – “The website, if you just it is.”

Carol Davis – Still in reach across America. Yeah. Wreaths crawl sweetheart. That’s that’s not org and then SC NC will bring you to the that page the main page. Or you can after the.org you can do slash SC 0015 to go to the three for two page.

Angela Barrett – “Perfect. So guys we need some donations and we need some wreaths. But we only have gosh today’s the 12th. So we don’t have very long before the third before the cutoff. So exactly now as far as the public, if people want to go, do they need to purchase tickets or they just just show up at school and get on the prison bus.”

Carol Davis – And there is no age limit. You can be one day all or you can be 250 years. Okay. You can. Everyone is welcome.

Angela Barrett – “Perfect. Now, I know that I think you’re volunteered for physical volunteers to help. I think that cutoff has already come down, so. But if people would like to get involved, maybe for next year, because this does take a enormous amount of people, it does to plan because you’ll no more finish this. And I think I asked you a long time ago, two.”

Carol Davis – “Weeks, we’ll have two weeks to rest, but actually we’ll have four weeks to rest. And then it’s time to clean up the cemetery and start all over again.”

Angela Barrett – Right? So you don’t get a whole lot of a break there. It really does take a full year. So they can also go to the website or on Facebook page to sign up for volunteers for an extra.

Carol Davis – “Scan, and they will be able to sign up that day. When they go to the information tent at Blue Cross and they’ll be able to just sign up at Bud Food, put on our contact list to be notified for next year.”

Angela Barrett – “Perfect, perfect. Well, Carol, thank you so much for, coming on today and talking to us about, Wreaths Across America. This was interesting. I can’t wait to physically get there this year. Again, I’ve seen videos, but never physically been there, and I think this is going to be phenomenal. I encourage everybody to, again, go online right now and, either the Facebook or the, website and donate.”

Angela Barrett – “We’re, we’re kind of behind on our, donations and wreaths that we need. Right. So let’s get on that, guys. Absolutely.”

Carol Davis – I have confidence and faith in everyone that. That’s right. It’s going to happen.

Angela Barrett – “And that’s right. Well, thanks again for coming.”

Carol Davis – “Thank you sweetie, I appreciate that.”