The story of the Greenwood Genetic Center is far more than the bonding and tenacity of two students of genetics and their families beginning before genetics was recognized das a medical specialty, before there were departments of genetics in the nation’s universities, before there were board examinations and accredited training programs in genetics.

The GGC is a Greenwood Story. It adds a new entity to Greenwood’s rich history of landmark institutions. It involves innumerable faces in the parade of Greenwood personalities who championed its existence with energies and resources.

The GGC is a South Carolina Story. It filled a vacuum in clinical genetics services in the state. It called on Public officials, most importantly Charles Barnett and Phil Massey, for the sustained commitment to have the capacity for disability prevention in the state.

The GGC is a national story. It capitalized on the discovery that folic acid supplements could prevent severe birth defects of the spine and brain by setting up the nation’s first statewide neural tube defect prevention program.

The GGC is an international story. It claimed hands, voices, and hearts from within the USA (Rod Howell, Art Aylsworth, Ken Jones) and from around the globe (Jurgen Spranger, Jules Leroy, Dick Smithells, Viteslav Orel, Josef Gecz, Giovanni Neri, Alasdair Hunter). These diverse authorities brought recognition to the GGC and expertise in the wide-ranging scope of medical genetics.

More than anything else, the GGC is the stories of Tiffany and Jeremy and Thomas and Jonathan and Stephen and the numerous other unnamed patients who taught Hal, Roger, and the entire faculty and staff important lessons. These were lessons of patience, perseverance, and humility.