President Donald Trump signed legislation Friday renaming the veterans’ outpatient healthcare clinic in Statesboro for Ray Hendrix, who after a lengthy Army National Guard career worked to improve services for veterans and for the clinic’s establishment.

House Resolution 3946, introduced in October 2017 by Rep. Rick Allen, R-Georgia 12th District, was co-sponsored by all 13 other members, Republicans and Democrats, of Georgia’s delegation in the U.S. House, where it was approved on a voice vote May 21. The wording of the resolution was then amended slightly in the Senate, where its sponsor was Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Georgia, chair of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.

The Senate approved the amended version by unanimous consent Nov. 27, and the House accepted this final Senate version by unanimous consent Dec. 10. As signed by the president, the law recognizes both the full name “Ray Hendrix Department of Veterans Affairs Clinic,” and the short form “Ray Hendrix VA Clinic.”

“Sgt. Maj. Ray Hendrix committed his life to serving our nation and defending the freedoms that we as Americans are so blessed to hold dear, and with what he did for veterans even after his service,” Allen said in a phone interview.

Bulloch County native Robert Ray Hendrix served 42 years in the Army and National Guard, with command sergeant major being his highest rank. He also became an official advocate for veterans at the state and national levels, remaining a member of Georgia’s Veterans Service Board until his death in September 2015 at age 83.

Beginning during his National Guard service, Hendrix was active in the American Legion for 60 years. He served as commander of the veterans organization’s local Dexter Allen Post 90 and rose to be a district and state commander, among other organizational offices. Elected as an American Legion National Executive Committee member, he represented Georgia on the national board for 10 years.

Three consecutive Georgia governors appointed Hendrix to the State Veterans Service Board.

Working with other American Legion volunteers, he helped organize regular van transportation for Statesboro-area veterans to the VA clinics in Augusta and Dublin, which are also home to VA hospitals. At the time, those were the only locations for veterans here to be treated by doctors and nurses in the Department of Veterans Affairs system, whose services are provided free to veterans.

Fought for clinic

So Hendrix also led in the drive to bring a VA community-based clinic to Statesboro.

“He worked to get this clinic in Statesboro tirelessly and, as I’ve said before, would not take ‘no’ for an answer,” Allen said. “Not only did he have to go around the state to get all of the veterans organizations to agree to it, he had to get the Veterans Administration to agree to it, and then to get it done we had to have an act of Congress.”

That earlier congressional action establishing the clinic was carried forward by then-Rep. John Barrow, the Democrat who represented the 12th District before Allen won the seat in 2014.

But Hendrix had led the petition drive. A Dec. 22, 2007, Statesboro Herald story put the number of signatures veterans presented to Barrow at more than 5,800. The clinic, affiliated with the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center in Augusta, opened in March 2013 in an existing building on Northside Drive East in Statesboro.

It has now been serving area veterans for more than five years, with some expansion in services.

“I think a way to deal with some of these problems we’re having in some of these mammoth VA centers may be this satellite (clinic) idea, because I have heard nothing but good reviews from people who use the clinic in Statesboro,” Allen said. “I don’t know that our office has had any complaints. At least they haven’t been voiced to me.”

Two-year process

Naming the clinic for Hendrix took a second, literal “act of Congress,” as Allen put it. Allen had already contacted Statesboro officials before City Council passed a resolution of support in December 2016.

Allen said he hopes that a ceremony at the clinic can be scheduled in the early part of 2019, but the naming became official immediately with the president’s signature. Allen had contacted members of Ray Hendrix’s family. His wife, Mary Hendrix, had a birthday Friday.

“We’re so excited,” their daughter Diane Long told the Herald. “I understand it happened on Friday, and that was my mother’s 85th birthday, so what a wonderful birthday present.”

Although family members are elated to see Hendrix recognized posthumously in this way, “he was not one to toot his own horn,” she added.

“He worked and did things for veterans and it was obvious in all the things that he did, but he wasn’t out there for this to happen,” Long said. “But I think he’s probably looking down and smiling now.”

The Hendrixes have another daughter, Jennifer Kimbrell, and a son, Mike Long, and a number of grandchildren. All live nearby.

Lined up support

To be able to introduce the bill, Allen had to collect letters of support from local chapters of organizations such as the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and Georgia Southern University’s Student Veterans Association, according to information provided by Allen’s deputy press secretary, Carlton Norwood Jr.

Allen also needed to have Georgia’s House delegation sign a letter of support and to receive a similar letter from both of Georgia’s U.S. senators. Georgia’s State Senate also provided a proclamation. After the bill passed in the U.S. House, Allen’s office needed to receive letters from the Georgia statewide chapters of the American Legion, the VFW and the Disabled American Veterans, or DAV, Norwood wrote, explaining how the process took two years.

This was not the kind of legislation that gets a separate signing ceremony, but Trump signed it along with other bills and resolutions.

“Obviously the president is a huge supporter of our veterans initiatives and was delighted to see this get done,” Allen said.

Herald reporter Al Hackle may be reached at (912) 489-9458.