Judy Bass Selected as Recipient of 2025 James R. Stevens Service to Garner Award
A longtime Garner resident with over 30 years of service to the community has been named the 2025 recipient of the James R. Stevens Service to Garner Award.
Judy Bass was recognized for her tireless work preserving Garner’s history, honoring the area’s veterans and creating meaningful and engaging civic spaces.
A longtime Garner resident with over 30 years of service to the community has been named the 2025 recipient of the James R. Stevens Service to Garner Award.
Judy Bass was recognized for her tireless work preserving Garner’s history, honoring the area’s veterans and creating meaningful and engaging civic spaces.
“Judy Bass has made a lasting and multifaceted impact on the Garner community through decades of volunteer service—most notably, through her leadership in historic preservation by way of the Garner History Museum at the Depot, and her central role in the creation of the Garner Veterans Memorial,” the award nomination said.
“It is a great honor to receive the James R. Stevens Service to Garner Award,” Ms. Bass said. “I never imagined that my name would be in the same group as some Garner legends and some of my heroes and friends. An award such as this can be attributed to friends and others who provided support and inspiration along the journey.”
Ms. Bass, who retired as Garner’s town clerk in 2015 after 18 years of stellar, mostly behind-the-scenes service with the Town, is well known in the community for the countless volunteer hours she has devoted toward making two transformational projects a reality.
Garner Veterans Memorial
“Her most visible and lasting contribution is her leadership on the Garner Veterans Memorial project,” the nomination submission said. “Beginning in 2006, Judy served on the steering committee that oversaw every stage of the memorial—from early vision to community fundraising, design and dedication.”
Ms. Bass played a role in helping to raise over $500,000 for the project, working with a brick sale campaign that continues today as part of the Walkway of Honor.
She also helped organize the dedication ceremony for the memorial in May 2013. The event brought together over 1,000 attendees, military flyovers, elected officials and families of veterans. The memorial, and the citizen-driven initiative to get it funded and built, would be a key success story that helped Garner earn All-America City recognition the month after the dedication.
Today, the memorial—with its numerous engraved panels that honor the fallen and offer historical background on America's armed conflicts—is the backdrop for the Garner Memorial Day observance and plays a significant role in the community's Veterans Day and Independence Day events as well.
The memorial, which also features red-clay earthcasts by world-renowned artist Thomas Sayre, has been recognized by the American Institute of Architects-North Carolina and is listed by veterans organizations as a model of respectful civic remembrance.
“Judy’s work to bring the Veterans Memorial to life has ensured that Garner’s heroes are remembered with the dignity they deserve—not just now but for generations,” the award nomination said.
Garner Area Historical Society
Ms. Bass also has been a longtime leader in the Garner Area Historical Society, having served as president and continuing as a board member of the non-profit.
Under her guidance, the organization was able to transform the historic train depot in Downtown Garner into the Garner History Museum. The depot building had been located on Garner Road and was in poor condition. It was moved to a location at the corner of Pearl and Main streets, underwent extensive renovations and opened in November 2021 as the new focal point of the community's history.
After the museum opened, Ms. Bass oversaw the collection and curation of photos, documents and artifacts "that connect generations of Garner residents to the town’s rich past," the award nomination said.
Ms. Bass is currently leading the campaign to restore the interior of the historic railroad caboose next to the museum. Contributions to that restoration effort can be made by visiting garner-area-historical-society.org.
Just recently, Ms. Bass was named to the Wake County Historic Preservation Commission, where she will bring a Garner perspective to a body that promotes the preservation of important aspects of local culture, history and architecture.
Ms. Bass' decades of volunteer service to Garner also has included work outside of honoring veterans and preserving our town's history. Through the years, she has been involved in causes such as the Caroline Ball Family Foundation and the Community of Hope Ministries' Garner of Hope.
“Judy’s accomplishments—the founding of the Garner History Museum, the effort to restore the historic Caboose and the creation of the Garner Veterans Memorial—are not simply projects. They are legacies," the award nomination said. "Each represents years of persistence, leadership and coordination, carried out with care and vision. These landmarks serve as daily reminders of Garner’s past and values, and they foster a sense of place and pride for residents and visitors alike."
The award nomination added: “The spirit of this award lies in honoring those whose service is foundational—who help shape the identity of Garner through sustained contributions that stand the test of time. Judy Bass is that kind of person. Her fingerprints are on some of the most cherished and enduring parts of Garner’s civic landscape. She has helped define what Garner values, remembers and celebrates. For all these reasons, Judy Bass represents the very heart of what the James R. Stevens Award was created to recognize.”
About the James R. Stevens Service to Garner Award
The James R. Stevens Service to Garner Award was established by the Stevens family to recognize individuals who have made substantial, outstanding contributions to the Town of Garner over a period of many years. Preference is given to nominees with 20 or more years of service. Non-residents of Garner are eligible recipients if the award committee determines that they meet the criteria necessary to receive the honor. Individuals also can be recognized posthumously.
Via Town of Garner
Volunteer : Meals on Wheels
Looking for a way to volunteer locally in Garner and help some neighbors?
Meals on Wheels allows older adults in Wake County to maintain their dignity and independence and remain in their homes. When a volunteer delivers a meal to a homebound recipient, we are not only providing a meal, but we are also providing a visit and a check up. It is comforting to family members to know that someone is stopping in daily to be sure that everything is okay.
Looking for an opportunity to serve your Garner neighbors?
Consider Meals on Wheels of Wake County
Meals on Wheels of Wake County, provides our homebound and senior neighbors with a nutritious hot meal, along with a check-in and visit. Our services provide the opportunity for seniors to continue living well nourished, independent and safe lives, in their own homes and communities.
Volunteer
The most convenient and impactful way to help is by becoming a volunteer. Volunteering only requires about 1-2 hours of your day to help feed an older or disabled neighbor in your community.
Need Meals?
The goal of Meals on Wheels of Wake County is to nourish and enrich our clients’ lives through the services we provide. Our Home-Delivered Meals program helps our clients maintain a healthy lifestyle and remain living independently by providing nutritious meals, a weekly safety check, and friendly interaction.
Volunteers Needed for The Wall That Heals Garner Display
Hundreds of volunteers are needed to assist the thousands of people who are expected to experience The Wall That Heals when it visits Garner’s Lake Benson Park on March 31 through April 3.
Hundreds of volunteers are needed to assist the thousands of people who are expected to experience The Wall That Heals when it visits Garner’s Lake Benson Park on March 31 through April 3. Recent visits by The Wall in Wake Forest and Tarboro had crowds of more than 20,000.
The Wall will be open 24 hours per day. There is no admission charge.
The biggest opportunity to serve is by volunteering to be an ambassador. Ambassadors are trained during a one-hour session on Wednesday, March 30 at 6 p.m.
The session includes information about the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., The Wall That Heals, the Mobile Education Center that travels with The Wall, and instructions on how to find a particular name on The Wall. Ambassadors will be given tools to assist guests.
Volunteers can sign up for two or three-hour shifts, or multiple shifts, at the garnerwall.com website under the volunteer section.
The Wall That Heals is 376 feet long and 7.5 feet tall at its highest point. Its panels have been engraved with the names of the more than 58,000 United States service members who perished in the war.
The Wall That Heals travels with a Mobile Education Center that provides information about the war, the Memorial and items that have been left at The Wall.