Roland Hall, former Roseboro mayor and town councilman, was presented with the Order of the Long Leaf Pine at the annual BloomFest on Saturday morning.
Order of the Long Leaf Pine presented during annual BloomFest
A large crowd gathered in downtown Roseboro for BloomFest this weekend. The annual festival attracted hundreds of people of all ages for live entertainment, food trucks, arts and crafts, and much more.
ROSEBORO — The town of Roseboro was in full bloom over the weekend, as the annual BloomFest graced downtown streets with plenty of food, live entertainment, bouncy houses for the kiddies and, of course, flowering plants for sale. But this year’s festival also included a local man receiving the highest civilian honor one can receive in North Carolina.
As the opening ceremony got underway, former Mayor and longtime Councilman Roland Hall was surprised with the Order of the Long Leaf Pine.
County Commissioner Chip Crumpler introduced Hall to the crowd gathered around the town stage. “Mr. Roland Hall was my grandmother’s neighbor and he attended the church I was raised at, so I’ve known Mr. Roland for a long time, and I’ve always admired his community spirit,” Crumpler stated.
He shared highlights of Hall’s military and community service, saying that Hall joined the National Guard in 1955, and then transitioned to the U.S. Air Force, where he served until 1967. After his Air Force service, Hall joined the U.S. Army, serving two tours of combat duty in Vietnam. He received the Army commendation medal two times, and he also received the Bronze Star twice. He retired as a chief warrant officer. After his military service, he worked with Sampson Community College for many years, and was elected to the Roseboro Town Council in 1992. “He served on the town council for many years until he was elected mayor in 2007,” Crumpler shared.
Hall has served on many boards throughout the county, region and state, including the Mid-Carolina Council of Government, the Fort Bragg Regional Land Use Committee, Sampson Community College Foundation, the Roseboro-Area Economic Development Committee and the Western Sampson Commerce Group, Sampson Regional Medical Center Foundation board, the Sampson County Economic Development Advisory Board, Mid-Carolina Workforce Development Board, and the Sampson-Clinton Rotary Club, where he’s been chosen as a Paul Harris Fellow twice.
“If anybody ever deserved to be awarded the Order of the Long Leaf Pine,” Crumpler said, “it’s Mr. Roland Hall.”
After receiving the award from Crumpler and County Commissioners Lethia Lee and Eric Pope, Hall stated that he was thankful for the people he’s been associated with throughout the years. “I appreciate the people of Roseboro and Sampson County, and everything that they represent.”
He pointed to Roseboro Mayor Alice Butler’s opening speech, in which she thanked the sponsors who help to make BloomFest possible. “It’s that kind of teamwork that makes a difference,” he said. “I learned very young in life about the importance of hard work. My brother Leamon is in the audience. He can attest to this. We were a family of five children. Growing up during the end of the 1940s and early ’50s, we had it tough. A lot of people who were with us during that period of time had it tough.”
He added that he learned from his community how to work together and make the best of tough situations. “We learned from our parents, we learned from each other, we learned from our schooling, we learned from the church, we learned from the community what hard work and helping each other is all about.”