A well-known Garner resident who enjoyed a long career as a trusted local journalist, served as a Town elected official and has helped guide the direction of Garner Fire-Rescue was named the 2024 recipient of the James R. Stevens Service to Garner Award.  

Joe Sample, who has resided in Garner for 55 years, was selected as the winner of the Town’s prestigious public service award following the award committee’s annual review process. The honor is bestowed annually on a person or persons who have made significant contributions to the Garner community over an extended period of time.  

Mr. Sample will be formally recognized at the Town Council’s Aug. 27 work session, which will start at 6 p.m. in the Ronnie S. Williams Council Chambers in Town Hall (900 7th Ave.).  

“Joe Sample has served the Town of Garner both on the main stage as well as behind the scenes for decades,” the nomination application states. “His service spans many different areas of the community including the local government as well as civic organizations. He built his businesses and his home in Garner. He embodies what the James R. Stevens Award was designed to recognize—service to Garner.”   

An Indiana native, Mr. Sample gained widespread recognition in the community as owner, publisher and editor of the now-defunct Garner News community weekly in the 1970s and 1980s. He covered Town Council meetings and kept Garner residents up to date on local government affairs and other matters of public interest.   

“He kept our citizens informed and connected, entertained readers with insightful commentaries and opinions and helped maintain the community spirit we enjoy today,” the nomination application says.   

Mr. Sample used his voice at the newspaper to, among other things, champion construction of the Garner Senior Center, which would open in 1991 and has been a popular recreation center serving primarily adults ages 55 and over.  

Mr. Sample would go on to hold the elected position of Town Alderman (now called Council Member) from 1991 to 1999, serving four two-year terms on Garner’s elected decision-making body.   

During Mr. Sample’s tenure as an Alderman, the nomination notes, Mr. Sample and his colleagues “made quite a strategic move to merge [Garner’s] water and sewer systems with the City of Raleigh. That merger has proved to be one of the most critical and visionary decisions made by elected officials in the history of the Town. It has resulted in ensuring adequate capacity for the foreseeable future.”  

The merger has kept the utility bills of Garner residents significantly lower than they would otherwise be, the nomination observes.  

As an Alderman, Mr. Sample advocated for a July 4th celebration at Garner High School then, a few years later, at the newly acquired Lake Benson Park. The celebration at the park was moved to July 3 so that the Town could book the North Carolina Symphony. This past year’s July 3rd Independence Day Celebration was the 30th such event at the park. The symphony is still one of the main draws for the event.  

Mr. Sample has been an advocate and supporter of Garner Volunteer Fire-Rescue for over four decades, working in capital campaigns in its early formative and developmental years to fund the construction of facilities and the purchase equipment and supplies, the nomination notes.    

He was appointed by the Town in 2008 to serve on the GVFR Board of Directors. He currently serves as president of the agency’s Board of Directors. During Mr. Sample’s 16-year tenure on the board, Garner Fire-Rescue has received national accreditation, one of fewer than 400 out of 30,000 fire departments in the United States. The agency also has received a national Insurance Services Office rating of 1 (ISO-1), one of less than 20 out of 1,200 such ratings in North Carolina.

Just recently, Garner Fire-Rescue has agreed, in principle, to merge with the Town of Garner and become an operational department under the authority and management of the Town.

Mr. Sample also has been “instrumental in the creation of the GFR Citizens Fire Academy, the lifeblood for recruitment” and has “supported the improvement of community outreach for the department,” the nomination said.  

As highlighted in the nomination, Mr. Sample’s civic involvement has been evident in numerous other ways as a “behind-the-scenes supporter of the Garner community both in deed and spirit over the past 50-plus years.”  

In 2018, Mr. Sample became a charter member of the newly established Garner Area Historical Society and was elected to serve on the organization’s Board of Directors. He has supported fundraising efforts for restoration projects including the now-restored depot museum, and he has purchased numerous bricks honoring former Town officials, mayors and leaders of the community.  

Mr. Sample also has been a capital campaign supporter for construction of the original Garner EMS facility and of the Garner Veterans Memorial at Lake Benson Park. Over the years, he has been a generous supporter of Garner Area Ministries, the North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center and the Garner Rotary Club’s OysterFest scholarship fundraiser.   

In summing up Mr. Sample’s significant and diverse contributions to Garner, the nomination application says: “Whereas Joe has been a successful businessman in Garner, his avocation represents the epitome of service to the community and his fellow man. By his very nature, he chooses not to maintain a high profile, but instead rather quietly supports numerous organizations of vital interest and service to Garner and its citizens.”  

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. This is in keeping with James Stevens’ tradition of service spanning decades. 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. 

Joe Sample