The 14th Annual Jimmie Dyess Symposium at the Augusta Museum of History saw a full crowd on Thursday evening.
The yearly seminar celebrates the legacy of Marine Lt. Col. Jimmie Dyess by presenting the Distinguished American Award for acts of heroism, both military and civilian.
The museum’s rotunda was full well before the free public even started at 5 p.m., with attendees still streaming in. After an invocation by Rev. Eric Biddy, rector of St. Paul’s Church, the event began with a performance of America by Russell Joel Brown of Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA.”
The evening’s honorees were Red Cross volunteer Nancy Hussey, renowned former head of athletics at Augusta University Clint Bryant, and Medal of Honor recipient Jim McCloughan.
Hussey has received several awards community service, including the Red Cross Volunteer Service Award, the United Way Alvin W. Vogtle Award and the Augusta University Spirit of Service Award.
She has stitched more than a dozen needlepoint kneelers for the Washington National Cathedral, including for Presidents George H.W. Bush, Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford, as well as for Red Cross founder Clara Barton. For years she volunteered as a “baby whisperer” at the Children’s Hospital of Georgia, rocking babies to sleep in the neonatal intensive care unit.
Bryant oversaw athletics at what is now AU for more than 30 years, promoting the academic as well as athletic success of students. He also helped found the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League Peach Jam and has volunteered with community organizations, such as 100 Black Men of Augusta and the Boys and Girls Club.
Bryant emphasized that his career in intercollegiate athletics has fundamentally been about relationships.
“In order to love your country, you must first love your community,” Bryant said in his address at the symposium. “In order to love your community, you must first love your family. In order to love your family, you must first love God.”
McCloughan received the Congressional Medal of Honor in 2017 for his service as a combat medic in Vietnam, saving the lives of 10 Americans and one Vietnamese interpreter while operating in a kill zone.
He taught psychology and sociology and coached wrestling, football and baseball in South Haven, Mich. for nearly 40 years, and was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2019.
McCloughan said that his medal, and his military service, were primarily about “love.” He recalled praying to God to allow him to survive the war to tell his father he loved him, and another occasion, when the grandson one of the men whose lives he saved wrote him a letter thanking him, as well as him.
“Love is the most powerful thing in the world,” McCloughan said, exhorting attendees to thank veterans by enjoying their freedoms and living a life of compassion. “If we could go by the golden rule, there would never be a war, but we just can’t seem to get it.”
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
