Chris Koon (center) is joined by his children Will and Sabin as they unveil the statue of his wife and their mother, Judge Tanya Gee. Photo by Josh Cruse
The City of West Columbia held a statue unveiling of former judge the Honorable Tanya A. Gee at the West Columbia Riverwalk Friday, August 16.
“This is a joyous moment for our family, a mountain top experience,” Chris Koon, Gee’s husband, said. “If you didn’t know her, the best way I could describe Tanya is she had an aura about her. There was something special about her, and you realized the minute you met her that she was special. You could tell she was kind and approachable. She had a knack for seeing things in people that most didn’t see.”
Gee went to law school at the University of South Carolina and later served in various roles at the South Carolina Court of Appeals. One of those roles was as a clerk, where she met West Columbia mayor Tem Miles.
“My mind remembers her wonderful legal and writing skills,” Miles said. “The memories that I feel are those of her carrying her first kid around at a Halloween party at the court, her goofing around with all of us, her playing catch with a nerf ball at the office, us all making up silly dances and skits between while working on cases, the way she refused to let the profession overtake her as a person, the incredible way she fought for her life.”
A family picture was also included with the ceremonies.
After clerking, Gee became a chief judge of the South Carolina Court of Appeals. Then in 2015, she was elected to a seat on the South Carolina Circuit Court. In 2016, she passed away following a battle with cancer.
While she made an impact as a judge, one of Gee’s lasting legacy’s was her affinity for the Congaree River. According to Koon, Gee made it a priority to visit the Riverwalk almost daily. A few years after her passing, the Court of Appeals unveiled a judicial portrait of Gee. However, Koon and a family friend, Whitney Harrison, felt more could be done to honor Gee.
That is where the idea for a statue began. Koon reached out to Kelsey Sawyer Carter, the executive director of Camp Cole, who at the time had just unveiled a statue of her brother, Cole, at the camp. Carter connected Koon with Charles Pate Jr., a sculptor from Greenville. Pate used pictures Koon provided from a previous trip he and Gee had taken to California as inspiration for the judge’s statue.
The plaque on Judge Tanya Gee’s statue.
Once that part was addressed, Koon then had to raise the money. While friends and Gee’s former colleagues stepped up to help, it was the South Carolina Bar Foundation that provided the biggest assist, according to Koon.
Once a plan was in place to build a statue and the funding was in place, it was time to search for the right location. After searching throughout the region, Koon decided to look in West Columbia. It only took one meeting with Miles and the West Columbia staff to pinpoint the perfect location, the West Columbia Riverwalk. Jamie Hook, with the City of West Columbia, found a spot with a view of the river.
“We are so glad this landmark is going to forever be associated with the Riverwalk and the City of West Columbia,” Koon said. “It’s incredibly appropriate.”
Koon said he believes Gee’s statute to be the first judicial statue of a female judge in South Carolina.
“She was inspiring,” Koon said. “She inspired all of us. She could inspire you to do better and to be better, to be a better version of yourself. I think that is what we want people to feel when they see this statue. We want them to experience it and walk away inspired to be more than they could be.
“Tanya moved here from Michigan right before her senior year of high school. She didn’t grow up here. When she got here, she didn’t know anybody. She didn’t have any connections. She didn’t come from outrageous wealth or influence. By the time we lost her, she was only 39 years old, and despite multiple battles with Sarcoma, she had done enough and touched enough people to basically warrant immortality.”
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