State’s highest civilian honor presented to former Conway Councilwoman

Former long-serving Conway City Councilwoman Jean Timbes got the shock of her life recently when she was presented the Order of the Palmetto, the state’s highest civilian honor.

Timbes said several members of her family came to visit and together they headed to the Crooked Oak in Downtown Conway for supper. When they arrived, she noticed that all of the members of the current city council were there. At some point she saw S.C. Senator Luke Rankin headed toward her.

“I still didn’t put two and two together,” she said.

After a few minutes, Timbes, her children and grandchildren, all of the members of Conway City Council, along with city staff members, Administrator Adam Emrick, deputy administrators Mary Catherine Hyman and John Rogers and public information officer June Wood, all gathered for the momentous presentation.

Timbes was nominated for the award by S.C. Senator Luke Rankin, who also presented the award.

Rankin said Timbes was deserving of the prestigious award, pointing out that not everyone who is nominated receives it. Although a committee vets the nominee, the Governor alone has the final say on who receives it.

As for Timbes, he said, she warranted the award due to her contributions to the city, business and education, as well as service to others. In her role as a council member, she touched the lives of many people not just in Conway, but across the State, Rankin said.

He called Timbes a “classy lady” and said she had a great career working on behalf of Conway making it the successful town that it is today, working together with others and showing great vision, great persistence and great faith in seeing things through. 

In addition to her years in council, Timbes is also a retired master teacher of mathematics with the Horry County School District. However, during five of her teaching years she was on loan to the State of South Carolina for its traveling teacher program that took her into low achieving districts working to lift their academic levels.