Community leaders gathered Wednesday at the Lee County Courthouse for the unveiling of a portrait of Sanford native and former North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Dennis Wicker.
Wicker, an attorney who served in the North Carolina House of Representatives from 1980 to 1992 before becoming lieutenant governor, was on hand with his family Wednesday, and was joined by fellow attorneys, current and former elected officials, and other friends in the old courthouse on Horner Boulevard for a brief ceremony presided over by retired Judge Gerald Arnold.
“One of the things my parents taught me was to give back to your community, and that we should try to leave things better than we found them,” he said. “So in the years ahead, I hope when people look at this portrait they will want to help make Lee County better than they found it.”
Wicker said he’d had both “a lot of successes” in both his legal and political careers, but pointed to one in particular he was most proud of.
“My most satisfying success wasn’t toughening drunk driving laws or securing money for the civic center,” he said. “My biggest success was legislation that stopped the then-governor from putting a hazardous waste dump in Lee County. Can you imagine what would have happened if that was located here? Long and short, Lee County would have shut down.”
Also speaking were attorneys Jimmy Love Sr., himself one of Wicker’s former law partners and also a former legislator, and Norman “Chip” Post.
“Some people in life have a certain magic about them. Dennis is one of those people,” Post said. “He’s special as an attorney. But being a special lawyer wasn’t enough for Dennis – he wanted to get involved in community service and politics. And it was nice to get him out of town for a while so the rest of us could have some business.”
Love said the portrait is “precisely where it should be,” because the courthouse is the perfect place for “a testament to the life and service, and integrity, and the love of the people of Lee County” Wicker exemplifies.
“The state of North Carolina called and Dennis Wicker answered,” Love said. “His leadership naturally led him to the second highest office in North Carolina, and he is still the only statewide candidate ever elected from Lee County.”
Samantha Martin, chair of the Lee County Board of Commissioners, read a proclamation at the event honoring Wicker for his service.