Commander’s Reception and concert held in Camden
November 15, 2017
By W. Thomas Smith Jr.
Maj. Gen. and Mrs. Thomas S. Mullikin hosted friends and members of the S.C. State Guard (SCSG) at a pre-performance reception prior to a chamber music concert at the Fine Arts Center of Kershaw County, earlier this month. The third-annual “Commander’s Reception” was held at the Mullikin home in Camden, S.C., Monday evening, Nov. 6.
Mullikin [pictured speaking top left] spoke briefly about the significance of the SCSG, both in terms of the Palmetto State’s rich military history and as a practical matter of the SCSG’s being a key component organization within the broader S.C. Military Dept., providing the full range of emergency response services to the citizens of South Carolina during a natural or man-made disaster.
“The annual reception and chamber music concert is but one of the ways, Virginia Ann and I like to say, ‘thank you’ to these volunteer men and women for their selfless, exemplary service to our state,” says Mullikin. “We hope that our open-home and an evening-out begins to express something of our appreciation to them and our devotion to the overall – often unsung – work of the State Guard.”
Following the reception, attendees departed for the concert performed by world-acclaimed musicians; cellist Edward Arron, pianist Phillip Bush, and flutist Tara Helen O’Connor.
The evening’s performance included pieces composed by Bach, Arvo Pärt, Gaubert, Debussy, and Weber. [For additional information, please visit http://www.fineartscenter.org/events/2017/11/06/chamberone17/]
The S.C. State Guard is an all-volunteer state defense force which traces its lineage to the state’s First Provincial Militia founded in 1670. The SCSG is component arm of the S.C. Military Dept., which also includes the S.C. Army National Guard, the S.C. Air National Guard, the Emergency Management Div., and other elements.
For additional information about the SCSG, please visit http://www.sg.sc.gov/.
