This month’s Spotlight is a little different than the others I’ve shared in the past. I usually get to spend a significant amount of time interviewing the member, asking them a lot of questions about their endeavors taking the opportunity to learn about them before I share their story. Since I started doing these spotlights, I elevated the member, strategically staying behind the camera, quietly capturing my subject, unseen, letting the words on the page speak for me.

The 81st Annual Meeting was my first time attending an LREMC Annual Meeting, and I must say the energy and excitement surrounding the event exceeded every one of my expectations. I was told in advance that members look forward to the annual meeting and that this will be an experience like no other. They were right. The Annual Meeting felt like a huge family reunion. A great gathering where relatives you haven’t seen in a while show up, but you still feel the love even though you haven’t seen them in a while.

One of my duties as the communication specialist at LREMC was to capture the 81st Annual Meeting with my camera so we’d have photos to memorialize the occasion. My goal was to see and not be seen. But somehow, Betty Oxendine saw me standing there with my camera as they were driving through to cast their vote. She stopped briefly, and we had this exchange.

“Sir, are you taking pictures for that Carolina Country Magazine.”

I replied, “Yes Mame, I am.”

She said, “I’d really like to be in that magazine.”

I told her that I could make that happen.

I asked for her name, and she responded, “Betty Oxendine, that’s easy to remember.”

So, Betty Oxendine, I am a man of my word, and this Member Spotlight is for you. Thank you for joining us at the 81st Annual Meeting and stopping to have your picture taken. It’s honestly one of the best pictures I took that day.