Thinking he was there to celebrate the 40th wedding anniversary of he and his wife, David Whisenant, at a surprise presentation on Saturday, received the Order of the Long Leaf Pine.

This award, as noted on the society’s website, is the highest honor awarded by the governor that is presented to individuals who have a proven record of extraordinary service to North Carolina.

Following the reading of a proclamation by Darrell Hinnant, mayor of Kannapolis, and some remarks by Susan Kluttz, former mayor of Salisbury, Whisenant thought that was all that would be happening, but he saw his granddaughters, Ava, 10 and Maisie 8 standing nearby.

“I didn’t know what they were doing,” he said, but he did notice Ava was holding a framed something.

He said he thought “this is great. They made something.”

She came forward to the microphone and started to read, but Whisenant said he still didn’t know what it was.

“I knew it said things about North Carolina. It just didn’t hit me,” he shared. “And I think it was maybe during the last sentence that I thought this might be the Long Leaf Pine and when I figured that out, I teared up.”

After Ava completed reading the certificate, she handed it to Maisie who, in turn, presented it to their granddad, which, he noted, made the receiving of this honor even more special.

Noting that during his career, he had covered perhaps five or six people getting this award and thinking “wow, this is so cool, this is a big deal.” However he didn’t consider that he would be on the receiving end.

And, he added, it’s usually the governor or a high state official making the presentation, which is why he didn’t even consider that it was this award when they came forward.

But, he said, “it was much more special.”

Whisenant shared that his son Kyle had to teach them a little about what it was they were reading and presenting so “when Ava read it she knew what she was reading. She had an understanding of what it was about,” he said.

And thanks to the videoing of the event by one of his former co-workers, he can watch and treasure this special moment in the future.

“That made me really happy,” he noted.

Along with his granddaughters, Whisenant was joined for the special time by his wife Jtan and son and daughter-in-law, Kyle and Anna, many of his WBTV co-workers, a lot of folks from church and additional friends and people he has met over the years through his work.

Whisenant said receiving the award means a lot and he will treasure it, and added, with a chuckle, he was looking for a place to put it in his study.

However, he continued, “I don’t do anything by myself and I feel like over the last few weeks, as much as I appreciate it, I feel like I’ve been honored beyond my achievements. I feel that God made it possible for me to have this job. Other people have supported me along the way and helped me in all aspects of that and so I didn’t really do anything on my own. I just was willing to be available to do this.”

In addition to expressing his appreciation for the award, Whisenant also noted his thanks and appreciation for those that attended the event on Saturday.

While the gathering was, in fact, not for their anniversary as he was told, he said he did make sure he acknowledged their special day. Also to commemorate their anniversary, live music was performed by their son and friends from high school who had a band during that time and got back together specifically to play for this occasion.