{"id":42399,"date":"2026-05-14T14:28:45","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T18:28:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/?p=42399"},"modified":"2026-05-14T14:28:45","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T18:28:45","slug":"trustee-emeritus-baxter-wynn-receives-order-of-the-palmetto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/trustee-emeritus-baxter-wynn-receives-order-of-the-palmetto\/","title":{"rendered":"Trustee Emeritus Baxter Wynn receives Order of the Palmetto"},"content":{"rendered":"

Civic leader, retired pastor and Furman University Trustee Emeritus Baxter Wynn received the Order of the Palmetto on May 7.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The state\u2019s highest civilian honor, the Order of the Palmetto recognizes lifetime achievements and contributions to the State of South Carolina and the recipient\u2019s community.\u00a0 Wynn\u2019s nomination was kept under wraps as the people who know and love him worked behind the scenes.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn a million years I wouldn\u2019t have thought it,\u201d Wynn said. \u201cWhen my wife told me you could have blown me over with a feather. I shouted, \u2018I\u2019m not worthy!\u2019\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"A

Trustee Emeritus Baxter Wynn<\/p><\/div>\n

The people who know him would disagree. Wynn may have retired after 28 years as Minister of Pastoral Care and Community Relations at First Baptist Church in Greenville, but his record of civic leadership spans decades across many community boards and organizations: United Ministries, the Community Foundation of Greenville, the Chamber of Commerce of Greenville, Greenville Forward, United Way of Greenville County, Leadership Greenville, the Alliance for Quality Education, Genesis Homes, the YMCA and the Urban League of the Upstate.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDr. Wynn\u2019s life exemplifies decades of principled leadership dedicated to strengthening communities, advancing equity, and improving quality of life for South Carolinians \u2013 especially in Greenville and the Upstate,\u201d said Furman President Elizabeth Davis.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As chairman of the Urban League of the Upstate Community Housing Corporation, he navigated partnerships with other local organizations to revitalize the Viola Street neighborhood. He championed unity and understanding across differences, co-chairing an initiative that invited people of different backgrounds to share a meal with one another.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He raised $11.1 million for human services as chairman of the 2000 United Way Campaign and helped raise more than $8 million to help McCall Hospice House of Greenville continue providing compassionate end-of-life care.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At Furman, Wynn chaired the Board of Trustees\u2019 Special Task Force on Slavery following the 2018 Seeking Abraham report \u2013 work that continues to shape Furman\u2019s commitment to building an inclusive community.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBaxter\u2019s calling has always been a distinctive blend of pastoral ministry and community service,\u201d said Tony McDade, Furman trustee. \u201cHe is a true servant leader. While First Baptist Church \u2013 Greenville has been Baxter\u2019s flock, Greenville itself has been his parish.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Receiving the Order of the Palmetto was surreal and humbling, Wynn said. He\u2019s been dreaming of cutting the proclamation he received into hundreds of pieces to hand out to everyone who has been part of the initiatives and groups he volunteered his time to. \u201cIt\u2019s never a single person, it\u2019s an entire team that\u2019s responsible for these,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Baxter is a retired pastor who has spent decades of his life championing education, affordable housing, hospice care and civic unity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":401,"featured_media":42396,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2944,3269],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-board-of-trustees","category-honors-and-awards"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/401"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42399"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42399\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42402,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42399\/revisions\/42402"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}