Jordan, Graham, and now BURNS

Retired Blowing Rocket editor awarded one of state’s highest honors

By Jeff Eason

What do Michael Jordan, Charles Kuralt, Maya Angelou and the Rev. Billy Graham all have in common?

They are all recipients of the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, the highest civilian honor that can be granted in North Carolina.

From left, N.C. Rep. Cullie Tarleton (D-93) presents retired Blowing Rocket editor Jerry Burns with the Order of the Long Leaf. Photo by Jeff Eason

Last Sunday, North Carolina Representative Cullie Tarleton awarded the latest Order of the Long Leaf Pine to Blowing Rock’s Jerry Burns for his 44 years of service to the community as editor of The Blowing Rocket.

The award was made in a ceremony in the lobby of the Keyes Building of the Rumple Memorial Presbyterian Church in Blowing Rock, following the weekly Sunday morning services. Burns has been a congregant at Rumple his entire life.

“Burns was honored for his service as editor of the Blowing Rocket for 44 years, his years as a volunteer firefighter with the Blowing Rock Fire Department, his service as a member of the Blowing Rock Town Council, being a founder of the Blowing Rock Rescue Squad plus numerous other civic endeavors,” said Tarleton.

In addition to Burns and those previously mentioned, other recipients of the Order of the Long Leaf Pine have been UNC president William C. Friday, cartoonist Doug Marlette, author and poet Fred Chappell and artist Bob Timberlake, among others.

The Order of the Long Leaf Pine was created in 1965, and to date the Order has been awarded to nearly 7,000 distinguished individuals. Presented by the Governor of North Carolina, the Order of the Long Leaf Pine is awarded to people “who have a proven record of extraordinary service to the state. Contributions to their communities, extra effort in their careers, and many years of service to their organizations are some of the guidelines by which recipients are selected for this award.”

The Order of the Long Leaf Pine awarded to Burns on Sunday, reads in part: “Reposing special confidence in the integrity, learning and zeal of Jerry Burns, I, Beverly Perdue, do by these presents confer The Order of the Long Leaf Pine with the rank of Ambassador Extraordinary, privileged to enjoy fully all rights granted to members of this exalted order, among which is the special privilege to propose the following North Carolina toast in select company anywhere in the free world:

Here’s to the land
Of the long leaf pine,
The summer land
Where the sun doth shine,
Where the weak grow strong
And the strong grow great,
Here’s to ‘down home,’
The Old North State!