After listening to people praise him and thank him for 22 years service to the veterans of Laurens County, Carey Bolt did the Carey Bolt-iest thing you can imagine - he went around the room thanking everybody else.
Bolt's staff organized a retirement drop-in Friday at the Veterans/Voting Office in Laurens, as the director of the Laurens County AND Greenwood County offices announces his retirement after 22 years on post. Bolt's first career was in the Army starting in 1973 and retiring after 23 years, leaving the service as a sergeant. He says at that time he needed a job, so he worked as a Fountain Inn police officer and as a Fed Ex driver. Some of the speakers at the Friday retirement party remembered their first encounter with Bolt in that Fountain Inn role.
Former State Representative Mike Pitts, now a Laurens County Magistrate, nominated Bolt for appointment as the Veterans Affairs Officer, a move he said he has never regretted but he did have some interesting phone calls from county officials regarding Bolt's - uh - insistence that things be done right by the veterans community of Laurens County.
The veterans office used to be a closet on the ground floor of the Historic Courthouse; eventually, its office space expanded; and, now, since that building has undergone an extensive renovation, Bolt's offices are part of a grand staircase that takes visitors to the second floor courtroom/county council meeting chamber. As they needed alternate space during the renovation, the County decided to move Veterans and Voting into a renovated grocery store on Bolt Drive in Laurens -- while Carey Bolt's retirement party was going on in the room that the county council has been using for its meetings during the courthouse renovation, Early Voting for Decison 2026 was going on across a hall in another large room.
It seemed appropriate for the day - for, without the service of Veterans, Democracy and Voting would not be a right we enjoy in the United States of Anerica.
This county building's lobby is decorated with reminders of the military and the veterans' service to the nation. The Veterans Affairs Office also has a van dedicated to taking veterans to doctors' and other appointments. They have acquired a laptop and printer so that a caseworker can go home-bound veterans to sign them up for benefits.
It just seems right, with all the renovations and moving that Veterans Affairs has undergone during Bolt's tenure, that this building, also, is undergoing continued renovations. It is going to become a headquarters for Emergency Services & Management, in addition to Veterans and Voting.
In addition to Pitts' remarks, State Representative Luke Rankin presented Bolt with a United States Flag flown atop the U.S. Capitol, from the office of Congresswoman Sheri Biggs. Other veterans officers and the veterans rep from U.S. Senator Lindsay Graham's office also spoke about Bolt and his staff's work on behalf of Laurens County veterans. Members of the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars also thanked Bolt for his service. Sheriff Don Reynolds thanked Bolt for his friendship and expertise, as the LCSO employs severals veterans among its workforce.
Pitts said Bolt's willingness to become BOTH the veterans officer for Laurens and Greenwood counties has saved the offices money that can go right back to veterans benefits -- in Laurens County that means that an office that costs $330,000/year to run is responsible for returning $56 Million in government benefits to their rightful recipients.
Just like Laurens County, Greenwood County now has a Hall of Heroes inside the Veterans Center that used to be the Laurens County Library. Bolt said converting the library into a veterans center saved the building from being torn down. Bolt and a volunteer committee have served the Laurens County Hall of Heroes for the past 19 years - now, the formerly large and space-consuming plaques for the recipients are being replaced by laser-printed plaques that look more professional and make the sometimes weathered and discolored pictures of the veterans into sharp and clean, black and white images. This also allows plaques to be grouped -- by family, by community and/or by service branch. Two years ago this September, the Laurens County Hall of Heroes induction was conducted at Presbyterian College just after Hurricane Helene.
The Laurens County Hall of Heroes is inside the Hillcrest Square Center, and is available for public inspection any time the center is open. This building does contain court, so you should expect to have to pass through a metal detector, staffed by the Laurens County Sheriff's Office.
For many years, Bolt, the late King Dixon, and others lobbied the County government to place a Military Services monument on the North side of the Historic Courthouse, now completely renovated. That never happened and, instead, the City of Laurens has developed this area into an events plaza.
Instead, the Military Services Monument is on the West Main Street grounds of the Laurens Library (this was funded as other local projects were by the 2020 Capital Projects Sales Tax). The County's Memorial Day service, in conjunction with the Cities of Laurens and Clinton, was conducted just last week at this monument.
One of the people that Bolt made a special point of thanking during this retirement party was Paul O-Dell, a World War II surviving veteran who this year received a special medal from the nation of France for landing just after the D-Day invasion and assisting with millions of other American soldiers in the liberation of France from Nazi Germany. Though he did not land at Normandy, O'Dell's service in France is still remembered fondly by the nation in special commemorations given to hundreds of WWII veterans.
June 5 was Carey Bolt's retirement from - though possibly not the end of - his service to his fellow veterans.
June 6 was the 82nd Anniversary of The Allies storming the beaches of Normandy, also known as D-Day.
