On Wednesday, March 13, TKC’s Chairman, Graeme Keith, was honored with the Mecklenburg County Council’s Eagle Scout Alumni award. He was chosen as the recipient because he has unmistakably exceeded the Eagle Charge throughout his life. The Charge reads:

You are a marked man

As an Eagle Scout, you have assumed a solemn obligation to do your duty to God, to Country, to your fellow Scouts and to mankind in general.

This is a great undertaking.

Mr. Keith first recited the Eagle Scout Charge in 1948 in Greenwood, SC and he has spent the last 70 years honoring every word of it.

Ken Bueley, TKC's CFO, introduced Mr. Keith in a speech that painted a picture of a man who fully emulated that charge.

Mr. Keith's professional life began when he graduated from Davidson college before serving as an artillery officer in the United States Army.

Following his military service, he began his incredibly successful career in banking. During said career, he met Billy Graham, who would become Mr. Keith's good friend. This friendship inspired Mr. Keith to become Chairman of the Board of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association where he still serves as director. Additionally, he is a board member of Samaritan’s Purse.

He was the first chairman of Communities in Schools, which had its beginning in North Carolina and grew into a national program.

He is a former board chairman for the United Way of the Central Carolinas and a former board member of the Arts and Sciences Council.

In 1992, Mr. Keith was honored with the Order of the Long Leaf Pine—the most prestigious award bestowed by the state of North Carolina to one of its citizens.

That is quite a list, a great undertaking, a list worth emulating.