The last time Clay Jones visited the South Carolina State House, he was on a third-grade field trip. But he returned to Columbia this January for a drastically different - and unique - occasion. The trip also included a visit to the South Carolina Governor's Mansion.

Jones was one of 10 linemen honored by Gov. Henry McMaster during his annual State of the State address on Jan. 29 for their response to Hurricane Helene, the deadliest storm ever to hit South Carolina.

"The damage from Helene was devastating," McMaster said halfway through his address. "But we responded magnificently. Joining us here tonight are a few of the men and women who worked day and night - some for weeks - at dangerous heights and around high-voltage electricity to get the power back on."

The governor then asked the group seated in the chamber's balcony to stand and be recognized. The linemen were greeted with a standing ovation.

"It was really cool. It was an honor to represent Blue Ridge," Jones says, adding he made the trip with his wife, Kadalynn.

"She had been to the State House before and helped me work my way around there this time. Kadalynn handled the outage great. She was able to wash my clothes and bring hot meals to our crew. I didn't get to see her as much then, and that was the roughest thing. It was special to go with her on this trip."

McMaster privately expressed his thanks to Jones and others, and the state's longest serving governor gifted each of them a special coin.

Blue Ridge's system suffered extensive damage due to Helene, resulting in more than 1,000 broken poles and nearly 65,000 members without power at the time of peak outages.

Jones, a line foreman, says he was grateful to have his crew of linemen, Cole Roper, Grant Winchester and Garrett Smith, working alongside him during the restoration process.

"We had over 800 linemen here at one time, and no one got hurt," he says. "We followed every safety protocol and did everything we could to restore power."

Jones has known co-op life since he was 16. His family worked for Blue Ridge before he was born. Dianne Lyles, his aunt, retired in December, after 35 years of service.

Through the summer and winter help program, Jones worked as a groundman when school was out at West-Oak High School. The job came together thanks to a friendship between his father, Terry Jones, and former Senior Vice President of Operations Sam McMillan.

"Sam was the main reason I got a job here. We were always good friends, and he gave me the opportunity to work and get to know people at Blue Ridge when I was in high school."

In October 2012, Jones became a full time employee at Blue Ridge. A sense of community and service to others is what has made him feel right at home with the co-op.

"Everybody has everybody's back here," Jones says. "It never falls on one person. This is like a family organization in that everybody is good to each other and the people we serve daily. It's been a great company to work for."