Dr. Wayne Shearer presents award to great-granddaughter, Kameron Hampton
photo by Mandi Hampton
As a member of the Hixson Kiwanis Club for a number of years, Dr. C. Wayne Shearer has on occasion presented the club’s Citizenship Award to Hixson Elementary School student honorees and those from the other Hixson area schools the club honors.
But on Tuesday, he received an unusual opportunity — giving the award to his great-granddaughter, Kameron Hampton.
While the club presents the award, the honoree is selected by the faculty at Hixson Elementary. Dr. Shearer — a World War II pilot, a retired colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve, and a longtime former Red Bank optometrist -- had no idea she was going to receive the award until a fellow club member called him a few days earlier and asked him to present it.
Saying yes became quite easy after he found out Kameron would be the recipient, he said. She is the daughter of Tori and Mandi Hampton and granddaughter of Dr. Shearer’s daughter, Cathy Shearer Morris.
Kameron, who won other awards during the school’s fifth-grade promotion ceremony at Hixson First Baptist Church, was unaware she would be the recipient until her name was announced.
Most of the audience was also unaware her great-grandfather was the presenter until Dr. Shearer proudly told them after describing the award.