Mother, daughter honored by family, Pee Dee Coalition

Some people know how to keep a secret.

For nearly a year, Maureen Wilson Thomas and her mother, Veronica Thomas, both of Hartsville, were kept in the dark about plans to name the medical exam room at the new Durant Children’s Center 4th Judicial Circuit Satellite in Hartsville in their honor.

Sunday they got a big surprise.

“We had no clue until we showed up today for the ceremony,” Thomas said after a brief dedication ceremony Sunday at the facility at 510 W. Carolina Ave.

She and her mother are both active in supporting and involvement with the Pee Dee Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Assault and are both donors, said Ellen Hamilton, executive director of the coalition, which operates the Durant Children’s Center.

The exam room, now known as the Veronica Wilson and Maureen Wilson Thomas Medical Exam Room, was sponsored by Veronica Wilson’s sons and Maureen’s brothers, Drs. Gerald A. Wilson and Dennis A. Wilson, both Columbia surgeons, and Maj. Gen. Cornell A. Wilson, USMC.

“It is so nice to have a facility that honors their mother and sister by helping children,” said Pat Segars of Hartsville, president of the Pee Dee Coalition’s Darlington County Chapter Board.

“We’re just overwhelmed and so pleased and honored that this is taking place,” said Thomas. “It’s unfortunate that we have to have places like this, but we just thank God that he has allowed us to be a part of it.”

Hamilton said the two honorees have been supporters of the coalition from its early days.

Veronica Wilson is a retired school teacher who taught at Hartsville Middle School. Maureen works for the Darlington County School district as records manager and has been with the district for 10 years. Before joining the district, she worked for Carolina Power & Light Co., now Progress Energy, for 27 years.

Maj. Gen. Wilson, speaking for the family, said he and his brothers embraced the opportunity to honor their mother and sister when approached by coalition representatives.

“We jumped at the chance,” he said.

He said his mother and sister are unsung heroes who make good things happen.

“It’s true. It still takes a village to raise a child,” Maj. Gen. Wilson said.

Dr. Susan B. Luberoff of Columbia, the medical examiner for the center, said opening a satellite facility in Hartsville makes sense.

“This really is a logical extension of what they do in Florence,” she said. “This center is a place where we evaluate the child. It’s the place where healing starts for the child and the families.”

Luberoff said the medical exam room is designed and decorated to be a functional exam room while offering a comforting environment for children.

Based in Florence, the Durant Children’s Center is a child advocacy center operated by the Pee Dee Coalition that offers forensic interviews, medical exams and therapy to children suffering from abuse or neglect.

Officials with the center say the distance of communities such as Hartsville, Society Hill and Cheraw and the transportation issues faced by many victimized families frequently discourages families from seeking services from the Durant Center.

Durant Center officials have for some time sought to open a satellite facility to bring its services closer to those more distant and rural communities.

The Hartsville satellite does that, they say.

“All of us wish there was not a need for a center such as this, but the reality is there is a need,” said Gloria Bell of Hartsville and the coalition board.

The house itself, which once served as a physician’s office, was donated to the coalition for the purpose of serving as a satellite center.

The Plant A Seed Of Hope Capital Campaign has been working to raise funds for the center.

Center staffers have been seeing children on a limited basis in recent weeks, Hamilton said. The center had its official opening along with an open house Thursday afternoon.

In addition to the medical exam room, the new facility includes 13 rooms, including a child and family reception area, a volunteer and administrative assistant area, a multi-disciplinary team office, child therapy room, conference and training room, a resource library, counseling and advocacy room, forensic interview room, a prevention room, restrooms and a kitchen.

Each room is sponsored by donors.