Port Royal icon was surprised with SC’s highest civilian honor Friday. Here’s why
Former Port Royal Mayor Sam Murray was presented with South Carolina’s highest honor in a surprise ceremony on Friday.
The Order of the Palmetto is the state’s highest civilian honor presented in recognition of a lifetime of extraordinary achievement, service and contributions on a national or statewide scale, according to the Office of the Governor’s website. The award is presented only to natives or residents of South Carolina.
Murray was the mayor of Port Royal between 1995 and 2019 and served on the Town Council for 17 years before he was elected mayor.
“I’m not one of them people who care about awards,” Murray told The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette. “I just try to do what I can for the people of Port Royal.”
State Rep. Shannon Erickson and state Sen. Gerald Malloy presented Murray with the award during a ceremony for another purpose, the official opening of the Pinckney Porter’s Chapel at Naval Heritage Park in Port Royal.
Port Royal’s current Mayor Joe DeVito said town staff recommended Murray for the award, and the state lawmakers took it from there.
“We got you,” Town Manager Van Willis told Murray, teasing him about the surprise.
“Yea, you got me,” said Murray, who retired in 2019 after 41 years of public service.
Gov. Henry McMaster immediately signed the order, Erickson said, which isn’t always the case.
“He’s been an icon in Port Royal for over 40 years,” Erickson said.
Murray, 82, a retired educator, moved to Beaufort County in 1962, fresh out of college. He never left.
As mayor, he helped usher in the long-awaited sale of the Port of Port Royal to private developers and welcomed Port Royal’s role in a national park dedicated to the Reconstruction era.
He also helped oversee Port Royal’s population boom as the town grew outside of its downtown village, and as new housing subdivisions went up in the community that is home to two military bases.
