Dan@BcTelegraph.com
Family members, Union County law enforcement officers and community leaders gathered at Lake Butler’s Lakeside Park this afternoon to plant a Southern magnolia honoring three fallen Union County officers: Deputy Hal P. Croft, Special Deputy Ronald Jackson and Deputy Renee Azure.
“Today, we’re planting more than a tree. We’re planting a living memorial,” said Anya Griffis, who organized the ceremony. “This tree will stand where our community gathers.”
Griffis said the magnolia will be lit with blue lights this Christmas, when Lake Butler celebrates the season at the park.
Croft and Jackson were shot and killed May 23, 1961, while serving an arrest warrant in Raiford. State Road 100 in Union County was dedicated to the two deputies in 2012.
Azure was killed on August 6, 2002, in an automobile crash while responding to a burglar alarm in Raiford at 12:20 am.
Azure had served with the Union County Sheriff’s Office for five months, was the agency’s first female deputy, and had been in law enforcement for two years. She was survived by her 3-year-old daughter Faith, her parents, and a sister.
In 2002, the state legislature designated State Road 121 within Union County as “Deputy Renee Danell Azure Memorial Highway.”
Sheriff Brad Whitehead said the Jackson family could not attend because of a medical appointment.
“It’s always an honor and privilege to stand in front of a crowd and remember those who gave it all,” Whitehead said. “The families here are the ones that have to live with this year in, year out. But we promise you, we will never forget.”
Relatives of each officer helped set the tree into the ground and added shovels of soil before a moment of silence.
