Ginger Brame had forgotten she was in the Order of the Long Leaf Pine.

The teddy bear maker, then known as Ginger Thomas, received the state honor after working as a summer intern for the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences during Gov. Jim Hunt's second term.

"When the internships ended that year, we were all invited to the Governor's Mansion for a cookout or picnic as well as I can remember," she wrote in an e-mail to Dome.

She recently stumbled across the certificate in her attic and almost threw it out, not knowing what it signified.

"Looking at your list of notables, I think I'll hang onto my certificate a little longer, just in case I run into one of the celebrity members," she said. "Then I can honestly say we have something in common as members of the Order of the Long Leaf Pine."

In recent years, the Order has been awarded to retiring state employees with more than 30 years of experience, not necessarily to interns.