(Photo courtesy of the Hiott family)

     Gary and Eloise Hiott with their grandchildren their last Christmas together
     December, 2005 (Front row: Salley Hiott, Emily Harper, Becca Hiott, Alli
     Hiott, Lander Hiott; back row: Morgan Harper, Shane Floyd)



        “You know the old saying—‘You can’t demand respect. You earn it.’ He certainly earned it—from his family, from his peers, from everybody.”
        Davey Hiott used those words to describe a man who has meant so much to him. “I was fortunate,” he told this writer, in an interview with The Christian View. “He was my Dad, my boss, my friend, my neighbor, and everything else.”
        Respect is a word that many could use to describe their feelings for Gary Lander Hiott, Jr., who passed away on May 1, 2006 at the age of 88.  He was well known to and well loved by the business world, his many friends, his church family, his fellow Rotary members, and, most of all, his family.
        “One of the greatest things my Daddy left to me is the gift of unconditional love,” his daughter Kay told this writer. “He showed me - in human form - the great love that my Father in Heaven has for me. That kind of love is so precious and gives me something to strive for in my own personal relationships. I had the privilege of working with my Daddy every day for 30 years, and I learned so much from him, not only about the business, but about life. I enjoyed his stories about ‘how it used to be’. I consider myself very fortunate and blessed to be his daughter.”
        “There are no words to express how I felt when I was with my Daddy,” said daughter Kerry, who added that she loved him as a little girl might love her Daddy, even after she was grown. “He was a great listener who cared about me,” she said. “He was encouraging not only by his words but by his presence. He always spoke a kind word and was slow to anger. No one will ever take the place of my Daddy.”
        “Despite all that he accomplished in life, he always remained humble,” said son Al. “If you didn’t ask him specifically about his involvement in something, he’d never tell you for fear of sounding boastful.”
        “He was so proud of his family,” said his wife of 53 years. “I have such good memories,” said Eloise. “He has been a part of my life all of my life. We were together 24 hours a day. We were such a caring and loving family. His family was his life.”
        Gary was the patriarch—of four children (Kay and Wes Ballard, Al and Dena Hiott, Kerry and David Harper, and Davey and Lisa Hiott) and seven grandchildren (Shane Floyd, Becca and Alli Hiott, Morgan and Emily Harper, and Lander and Salley Hiott). 
        The Hiott family was well established in Pickens County generations before. Gary’s grandfather, Rev. D.W. Hiott, was a well known preacher and also longtime Moderator for the Piedmont Baptist Association who was instrumental in helping start area churches and also owned The Pickens Sentinel.
        The newspaper business got into his family’s blood, as Rev. Hiott’s sons, Gary, Sr. and Whitsitt, and then two of Gary, Sr.’s sons, Gary, Jr. and David, followed in his footsteps. The Hiott family would own The Pickens Sentinel for more than half a century, until selling the newspaper in 1978, at which time the Hiotts opened Hiott Printing in Pickens. Two of Gary, Jr.’s children, Kay and Davey, would follow their father into the family printing business. Hiott Printing Company printed The Baptist Courier for many years, and Gary served as a trustee for The Baptist Courier. The Hiotts would continue to print The Sentinel until then owner Jerry Alexander sold the newspaper in 2002.
        The Hiott wives have worked in the family business, as well. Eloise worked alongside her husband in the printing business, just as Gary’s mother, Eunice, operated The Sentinel with her sons after her husband’s passing. Eunice had used her income as Pickens Postmaster during the Great Depression to finance the newspaper, and she accepted eggs or firewood for a year’s subscription to the then four-page newspaper. The Hiotts kept the newspaper alive during the Depression, and saw it grow into a thriving business.
        Today, Davey continues his position managing Hiott Printing, in addition to his duties as a member of the State House of Representatives. (On May 2, Rep. B.R. Skelton moved that, when the House was to adjourn, it be adjourned in memory of Gary Hiott. The House also stood in silent prayer for the Hiott family before adjournment.)
        “This is the only job I’ve ever had,” said Davey. “He brought me up in this business. I started when I was about eight years old. I would come after school and empty trash cans and sweep the floor. I guess I worked my way up, or had the privilege of being promoted when it came time for Dad to think about retiring. He taught me everything, from the first day until the last day. I have never been to a class on printing. Everything I know about the printing business I learned from Dad and Mom.
        “I’m one of the fortunate people in this world who had an opportunity to spend a lot of time with their Dad,” said Davey. That time made for many good memories, but also makes missing him that much harder. “There is not a time that goes by that I don’t miss him,” he said. “I catch myself, coming out of my office sometimes, wanting to ask his advice on something, and then I realize that he’s not going to be sitting there when I come through.”
        Even after his retirement, Gary had kept up with new technology in the printing business. The Army Air Corps veteran also read history books and kept up with the current news. “That was the newspaper background in him,” said Davey. “Reading the newspaper at the table every morning was what all of us did. We would read the newspaper, because we were in the newspaper business.”
        Gary could often be found, in his later years, visiting with old and new friends who would come by to see him at the printing office. “He loved to sit around the table and talk to his buddies,” said Davey. “They would drink coffee and relive old stories and catch up on new things. A lot of times, I would walk by and listen to some of their stories. I’d watch them laugh and have a good time.”
        Summer was the time of year, Davey said, that Gary and his friends would begin talking about football—not just any football, but the Pickens High School Blue Flame.
        Like his father before him, Gary was a big fan of Pickens football. His father, a former Editor of The Pickens Sentinel, in fact, had been the person to give the team its name. The Big Blue, a book written by then Sentinel Editor Ben Bagwell and L.C. Tankersley about Pickens football from 1925 to 1975, attests that, in a late 1920’s edition of The Sentinel, Gary Hiott, Sr. wrote of the team burning through the defenses of the opposition ‘like a blue flame.’ From that day, the name of the team was settled. The team that had been known as The Wildcats was now and forever The Blue Flame.
        From 1950 to 1978, Gary, Jr., then Editor of The Pickens Sentinel, had walked the sidelines covering the football games for the hometown newspaper. After the Hiott family sold The Sentinel, Gary continued to support his team. He would never miss a home game for 55 years.

            
                                                                                        (Photo by Karen Brewer)

            Gary Hiott, holding a copy of The Big Blue, about Pickens High football, 
            was given the concrete bench that he and his family had 'made their 
            home' on Friday nights.        

 
        In a February 1, 2001 interview, Gary recalled fond football memories for this writer, as he was honored by Pickens High School and its Athletic Association. Before the home stands of the high school football stadium came down, to make way for new ones, Gary was one fan who took home a piece of the stadium and half a century of memories. For 23 years, he had sat in the same reserved seat, No. 372, and his alma mater repaid his loyalty by giving him the concrete bench that he and his family had made their home on Friday nights. 
        As Gary sat on the bench and thumbed through his copy of The Big Blue that day, familiar names with younger faces appeared on its pages. David Day, Pickens County’s Tax Assessor, David Stone, Pickens County’s Sheriff, and Dr. Mendel Stewart, recently retired as Pickens County’s School District Superintendent, all played football at Pickens High. 
        “One of my best memories of a football game was once when Pickens played Greer,” Gary said. “Mendel got loose on a long touchdown run right in front of me, right down the sidelines. He was a runningback, and was he a good ballplayer. And fast—he could outrun those boys.”
        Other football greats called to mind included Rudy Hayes, who would play for the Clemson Tigers and then the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Rick Anthony, who played for the Chicago Bears. “Some good football players have come out of Pickens,” Gary said. “Pickens has always been a sports town. Football has meant a lot to Pickens. It’s got a good tradition here.” 
        Gary recalled the first time he ever heard the word ‘football.’ “I was just a little fellow,” the then 83 year old said. “My father came home crying one night, and I asked my mother why, and she said, ‘Easley beat Pickens in the football game.’ ” 
        The Easley-Pickens rivalry stands to this day.
        “One year, Pickens was really mad,” said Gary, “because they went down to Easley to play at old Glenwood Park, before Brice Field was built, and Easley had the National Guard and bayonets down there.”
        Another moment to remember was when Easley Green Wave fans brought a hearse to Pickens for ‘the body of a dead team.’ When they arrived, however, Pickens fans had firehoses ready for them.
        Gary recalled what he called “one of the funniest things that happened on Bruce Field”, between teammates Spec Bivens and Gerry Owens. “The opposing back got loose down the sidelines for a long run,” explained Gary. “Spec was playing safety. He was coming in this direction, and Gerry Owens was coming in that direction. Then, the guy stepped out of bounds, and they couldn’t tackle him. Ol’ Gerry just plowed into Spec Bivens, just laid him out. Spec got up and said, ‘What are you hitting me for? I’m on the same side you are.’ Gerry said, ‘I ain’t gonna run this far without hitting somebody.’”
        “He loved Pickens football, and he enjoyed talking about the history of Pickens football,” Davey said of his father. In 2005, a local television station interviewed Gary about the history of the Blue Flame. 
        That last football season, both Gary and his good friend Eugene Hooper, also a huge supporter of Pickens High School athletics, were unable to walk down the stadium steps, Davey explained. But they still watched their beloved Blue Flame play. “We parked up on the hill, parked our cars side by side,” said Davey. Gary was the second recipient from the Pickens High School Athletic Association of the Gene Hooper Fan Appreciation Award, in 2002, the first recipient being Hooper. They both passed away in 2006.
        Both Gary and Gene, however, will be at the football games in spirit, the Blue Flame spirit that never dies.
        The Hiott family still has that seat, No. 372. The bench sets inside a flower garden area near the swimming pool. “Every time we’re at the pool, we see that seat 372,” said Davey.
        Gary enjoyed other sports as well, including golf. 
        “He played golf growing up,” said Davey. “We found a set of his clubs—his old wood cane poles—several years ago in the garage. He was pretty good at it, from what I understand, but he hadn’t played in 40 years.”  
        “When he was teaching me how to play golf when I was a kid, he showed me the fundamentals, but didn’t get angry when I wouldn’t follow his example exactly as he did it,” said Al. “It was only later that someone told me that I could certainly learn to play from him, because he was one of the best golfers in Pickens in his younger days. My Dad never would have told me that, and, in fact, he didn’t even admit it when I asked him to confirm what I was told.”
        Gary’s love for the game led him to buy tickets for the Masters Tournament in Augusta, Georgia every year for more than half a century. “Until a few years ago, he went every year on Friday with some friends,” Davey explained. “Then, his health got to where he couldn’t walk that much,” he said. “He still got the tickets, but he wasn’t able to go himself.”
        Gary was the last surviving charter member of The Pickens Rotary, which was organized in 1949. Son Davey joined the organization several years ago. 
        “He loved Rotary,” said Davey. “Each Wednesday at 12:00, he thought it was time to start moving toward Rotary. He really thought a lot of the people in Rotary.” 
        Gary was one of the first recipients of The Paul Harris Fellow Award, the highest honor one can receive in Rotary, named for the founder of Rotary International. “I had the privilege of receiving it myself, later on,” said Davey, “and Dad and Mom presented me mine. That meant a lot to me.”
        Gary received the inaugural Citizenship and Service Award, given by Duke Power and presented by George Acker on behalf of the Pickens Chamber of Commerce in 2005. “That was a high honor for Dad,” said Davey. “He was sort of caught off guard that night. He was very humbled by it. The very first one was given to Dad.”
        A very important part of his life was his love for his Lord and for his church, and he lived the Christian life as an example for others to follow. His favorite book of Scripture, his family said, was the book of Romans. “He studied his Bible all of the time,” said Davey. “We had family devotions every morning when I was growing up. We’d come to the table and have a devotion every morning, Saturday included. He expected us to act the way we were supposed to act, saying, ‘yes, ma’am; no, ma’am; thank you; please.
        “He loved his church,” Davey said of Pickens First Baptist. “We were brought up to be in church every Sunday morning, every Sunday night, every Wednesday night, and any time in between, if there was something going on. He didn’t just send us. He went with us. He taught us to be there. He taught us to respect the church and respect the people in the church and respect the Pastor and staff. He served as a deacon for a number of years. He loved his church and spoke very highly of it and always had the utmost respect for the Pastor of the church.”  (Pickens First Baptist’s current Pastor, the Rev. Dr. Fred Stone, and former longtime Pastor, the Rev. Dr. Lloyd Batson, officiated at Gary Hiott’s Service of Celebration and Remembrance on May 3, 2006 at Pickens First Baptist Church.)
        Gary taught a Sunday School class for teenage boys for many years, and taught both of his sons when they were each around 13 years of age. In later years, he had joined the Robinson Memorial Sunday School class. “On promotion Sunday in the church, I would kid him about being promoted,” said Davey. “He would say, ‘No, this is the last class before heaven.’”
        His home is in heaven now, but his home is also in the hearts of those who knew him, especially his family.
        “He was happiest when his family was around,” said Davey. “I’ve seen him go out of his way to make sure his family was with him, his children and grandchildren, and anybody else that wanted to be a part. I’ve seen him welcome everybody into the fold. There were no strangers when it came to our house.
        “One thing I remember most from when I was growing up was that my friends were always welcomed at our house. Even today, my friends will tell me that they remember going to our house, when we were growing up, doing things at our house, because it was always open and friendly. We were allowed to do our own thing, but our house was always open for all of our friends.”
        Friends were made to feel like family. And his family was his life.

Publisher’s Note:
        I am one of many who miss the presence of Mr. Gary Hiott. I appreciate that his family told me at his passing, “He thought a lot of you, and he thought a lot of that paper you’re doing.” Mr. Hiott was always encouraging to me, from my years as a newspaper Editor and since I left to publish my own publication, The Christian View. I was receptive to any advice he could give, because he had many years of experience and a wealth of knowledge and wisdom. He leaves a legacy and great footsteps to follow.