By Victoria Musheff
At the start of the 2025 Emeritus College Holiday Market and Social on December 2, Victoria (Vicki) Gillis, Clemson Professor Emerita of Literacy, awarded a Quilt of Valor to old friend and fellow Emeritus College member Larry Grimes, Professor Emeritus of Applied Economics and Statistics. On the face of it, it was a touching tribute to a friend who had served in the Navy during the Vietnam era — but the back story is a bit more complicated and certainly more interesting.
Around the turn of the century, Gillis chaired the initial committee meeting for one of her doctoral students. She knew all the other committee members except for the statistician. During conversation, she discovered that she did know the statistician, Larry Grimes — they shared a date in high school: “He had taken me to one of his high school dances in the early 1960s.” They laughed about that in conversations at committee meetings for the doctoral student — small world.
Fast forward 25 years. Gillis was awarding a Quilt of Valor to a friend from North Georgia College, who happened to ask if she knew someone he believed had taught at Clemson. They had been next-door neighbors living in married student housing when graduate students at Georgia, but had lost touch. It was Larry Grimes! Gillis reconnected the two through email.
In this process, she learned that Grimes had also attended North Georgia but had transferred, been invited by Uncle Sam to serve his country, and had finished his schooling after his service. She was thrilled to be able to award Larry a Quilt of Valor, as a part of an interesting journey from their first meeting as high schoolers to the present as fellow Clemson emeriti.
Grimes shared that after his 1963 high school graduation in Monroe, Ga., he attended North Georgia College (now University of North Georgia) followed by the University of Georgia until the summer of 1966. His college work was interrupted when he enlisted in the US Navy reserves in August 1966, reporting for active duty in December. He was honorably discharged in October 1970 and spent two additional years in the reserves.
After boot camp in San Diego, he was assigned the billet of Radioman (communications) and achieved the rate of E-05 (Petty Officer second class). He spent the better part of four years aboard four different destroyers visiting ports in the North Atlantic, Mediterranean, Caribbean, South Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Red Sea and Persian Gulf.
“I took seriously the saying ‘Join the Navy and see the world,'” Grimes said.
Once discharged, he married Marty Rankin (from Florida) and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Animal Genetics and Statistics at the University of Georgia, funded largely by the GI Bill. After two years, Grimes was offered a graduate research position in quantitative genetics and statistics at The Ohio State University, where he finished his Ph.D. in 1978.
He was happy to return south with his wife Marty to accept a position in the Experimental Statistics Department at Clemson University where his duties in teaching and research led to interactions with very many “Clemsonites,” the heart of the University. While he retired after 28 years, joining the Emeritus College in 2006, Grimes continued to work in various positions through the spring of 2018.
Grimes reflected that he enjoyed his delightful opportunities in the Navy and higher education.
“That was a wonderful 40-year experience. We dearly love Clemson but because our three children and twelve grandchildren all moved to North Carolina, we felt it was time to begin a new chapter.”
After a few years in Georgia, the couple relocated south of Charlotte to be near their family.
Receiving the Quilt of Valor is truly an unsurpassed honor for Grimes.
“It is a particular expression of thanks and recognition not only to me but to all veterans who were willing to set aside a few years of our own pursuits in service to our country some, like me, in a small way and some in a very large way,” he said. “Many thanks especially to Vicki Gillis and her team of quilters. It was very fitting that the presentation take place at a Clemson Emeritus College event since Clemson has been so much a part of our lives.”
