With the familiar “All rise! Oyez, Oyez, Oyez,” Lt. Ray Shearin opened the Vance County Courtroom on Thursday afternoon, but it wasn’t for a legal proceeding – it was for the retirement ceremony of Clerk of Superior Court Henry L. Gupton.
Looking out over the gathering of well-wishers, Gupton called it “a humbling experience” to see people from across the county and from across the state to be a part of his retirement sendoff.”
“It’s been an honor to serve the citizens for 38 ½ years,” Gupton said. First appointed to the clerk’s position in 2017, Gupton was elected in 2018. He worked in the Vance County Sheriff’s Office and was a magistrate before taking the job as clerk of court.
Retired Superior Court Judge the Hon. Henry W. Hight, Jr., recalled a much different clerk’s office when his father, Henry W. Hight, Sr. was clerk.
There were manual typewriters, inkwells and pens and a cranky mimeograph machine that was used to print the court calendars.
“Henry Gupton was not yet born,” Hight said.
In his roles as a deputy sheriff and magistrate, Hight cited Gupton’s empathy toward people who “wanted to be heard and needed to be respected” as strengths that also would later serve him in his role as clerk of court.
He answered a plea from Franklin County to provide a clerk well-versed in juvenile proceedings when that county’s staff was sidelined by COVID-19. Hight was filling in then, and when Gupton responded, it was “problem solved, thanks to Henry,” he said.
Resident Superior Court Judge John M. Dunlow echoed Hight’s sentiments. When Vance County – indeed, the world – was trying to put in place precautions during the COVID-19 pandemic, Dunlow said Gupton’s concern “shone through. He was genuinely concerned – (for) not just his staff, but every employee that was coming in and out of the courthouse…to conduct business.”
Then, in April 2024, when electronic court filing system went live, the Vance County staff rose to the top as a team that really had a good handle on the intricacies of eCourts.
“Clerks from all over North Carolina were coming here to Vance County to see how they were doing it,” Dunlow said, adding that it was a testament to Gupton’s leadership and to his staff that the local office had become a shining star in program implementation.
The Hon. John W. Davis said he was a young judge when he first met a fellow he said looked an awful lot like Kenny Rogers, who appeared in the doorway of the office where Davis was, “smiling and laughing, just being Henry,” Davis recalled.
“Not long after, you were made clerk of Superior Court,” he said, adding that Gupton has always been a great help to the district court judges. “Anything we ask for, he provide it. He is loving, but he is always the consummate professional…that all of us should try to emulate.”
Sheriff Curtis Brame shared memories of the Brames and the Guptons growing up on Spring Valley Road.
“Henry and I go back a long way,” Brame said. He recalls times when he’d share a meal at the Gupton home and other times that Gupton would come to Brame’s mother’s house to eat.
Working together over the years, whether at the sheriff’s office, as magistrate or clerk of court, Brame said, “We have always had a working relationship together. We didn’t always agree, but we learned to disagree and move forward in unity for the greater common good, not for him, not for me, but the citizens of Vance County.”
“Henry, I appreciate all the years of working with you,” Brame said.
“Congratulations, my friend.”
Click Play for Audio of the Ceremony
