Correctional Officer To Be Inducted Posthumously Into Hall Of Fame | Community Spirit

Lexington County Detention Center Correctional Officer Kimberely Shaye Harrison will be inducted posthumously into the South Carolina Law Enforcement Officers Hall of Fame at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, May 2 at the Hall of Fame Memorial Room Rotunda, 5400 Broad River Road, Columbia.

Lexington County Sheriff James R. Metts said he will join Harrison’s mother and siblings at the induction ceremony for Harrison. On December 26, 1999, Harrison collapsed of heart failure while on duty as a correctional officer at the Detention Center. Harrison, who was 34, will be inducted into the Hall of Fame because she died while on duty as a correctional officer.

Yvonne Walker, Harrison’s mother, said that she misses Harrison, adding that time has not lessened the loss of her daughter nor erased memories of her daughter.

“I think about Shaye every day,” Walker said. “I appreciate her fellow officers remembering her. I want to thank everyone who was involved in making this honor for Shaye possible.”

Rebekah Felkel, Harrison’s sister, said she named her daughter after Harrison and thinks often about her late sister.

“I like to think that my daughter Shaye has some of my sister’s personality and spunk,” Felkel said. “Shaye still holds a special part in my life and heart. I am truly honored and thankful that other persons have seen fit to recognize Shaye for how special she was.”

Harrison began working at the Detention Center as a correctional officer on October 18, 1999, Metts said.

Harrison previously worked for three years as a telecommunications operator for the Lexington County Department of Public Safety, Metts said. Harrison was the widow of Sgt. Thomas Clyde Harrison, who was shot and killed on January 15, 1993 while he was on duty as a law enforcement officer with the Orangeburg Department of Public Safety.

“Shaye was a friendly and out-going person who was extremely dedicated to her duties as a correctional officer,” Metts said. “Shaye treated everyone fairly, regardless of their personality or background.”

Harrison graduated from Orangeburg Christian Academy in 1983 and attended Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College and Bob Jones University, Metts said.