City dedicates Burry Park

The City of Hartsville now officially has a new park.

On Thursday, Oct. 2, Hartsville Mayor Michael Holt and members of the city council joined State Reps. Jay Lucas and Denny Neilson and members of the Burry family to dedicate the new park on Cargill Way in memory of the late Charles E. Burry.

Holt opened the ceremony and reflected on last Monday’s murder of Hartsville resident Keith Hancock. “This has been a difficult week for all of us.”

He added this was a fitting tribute, however. “I can think of no better way to celebrate this community than to celebrate the life of one of our leading citizens,” Holt said of Burry.

Burry, and his wife Wilma, moved to Hartsville in 1959 to start their own business after Charles’ service in the Army Air Corps and travels around the country and South Carolina.

Burry opened and operated Hartsville 5 & 10, which was located in the parking lot of what is now Wachovia and remained open for 15 years. He was also an important and active member of the business community. Burry was instrumental in organizing the Hartsville Parking, Beautification and Business Improvement Commis-sion as well as serving on the board of the Hartsville Chamber of Commerce.

In 1972, Burry opened Burry Bookstore in downtown Hartsville and operated it along with his daughter Emily Burry Phillips for 25 years. From 1985 to 1990, Burry managed the Coker College Bookstore and greatly enhanced the store’s contribution to the college. He was also a member of several civic clubs and taught Sunday school at the First Baptist Church.

Gregg Welborn, a member of the Cargill Task Force, recognized Howard Coker, Dr. Howard Tucker and Bobby Goodson for their leadership to develop the Cargill property, former site of the old Hartsville Oil Mill. “Very few communities have such an opportunity to redesign and rebuild an area of this size in their downtown,” Wellborn said.

Lucas echoed Holt’s sentiments. “This has been a tough week for Hartsville,” he said, “but this is a good way to end it. What a fitting tribute.”

Neilson said she was honored to speak at the event and that Hartsville was a better place because of Charles Burry.

Dr. Charlie Burry Jr., principal of Hartsville High School, spoke on behalf of the Burry family. He told the many in attendance of his father’s past from his time in the Army Air Corps until his death in 1996. “The first thing I can tell you,” Burry Jr. said, “is that he never would have dreamed that such a place as this would bear his name, and he probably wouldn’t have allowed it.” Personal credit and exposure, Burry Jr. said, were not goals to which his father aspired. “I guarantee you personal recognition never crossed his mind,” he said.

Burry Jr. told the audience of his father’s work ethic and courage that allowed him to invest everything in the small retail store in Hartsville and the joy his father received as a result of it. “My dad told me right before he died,” Burry Jr. said, “that it had been one of his dreams to own a business on main street in a small town and how blessed he’d been to bring his family to Hartsville, and in his words, ‘not have one regret.’”

Burry Jr. said his father did more than manage two successful businesses and provide for his family, he worked hard to make the city better as well.

“As a Hartsvillian,” Burry Jr. concluded, “my dad would be so proud of this today and so pleased that there is another generation of selfless people who love Hartsville and who are perpetuating his philosophy of doing things for the greater good. Every aspect, civilian or military, of this wonderful addition to our city epitomizes his belief that ‘you’ve got to put something back.’ I think I can speak for our entire family when I tell you it is that ideal, above all else and more important than any individual, that is what Burry Park should represent and inspire others to do.”

The city will also be placing a veteran’s memorial at the park at a later date to commemorate the city and state’s military veterans.