1941
George Edwin Tate Sr., April 10, 2015, Greenville, S.C. Tate served in the U.S. Army during World War II. He was commandant of the USAR School and founded Tate Furniture. During his furniture career, Tate was named Business Man of the Year by the Greenville Chamber of Commerce. He also spent 25 years in banking, retiring from Wells Fargo. Tate Plaza at Liberty Bridge is named in his honor. A leader of Wofford alumni events in Greenville, Tate most recently organized the annual feeding of the Wofford football team. He was a charter member of Phi Beta Kappa at Wofford.
1945
David Lee Bishop Jr., March 24, 2015, Spartanburg, S.C. Bishop was a pilot in the Army during World War II. While serving he was shot down, captured and held as a prisoner of war for several months in Germany. He helped found Bishop Furniture Co. and served the community through the United Way, Civitans, Hospice and Mobile Meals.
1947
Adlai Cornwell Holler Jr., March 10, 2015, Charleston, S.C. Holler was a commissioned Army Air Corps pilot during World War II and a U.S. Air Force chaplain from 1952 to 1982, during which time he was awarded the Legion of Merit. He was assigned stateside and overseas in Italy, Spain and Vietnam. After military retirement he served as a United Methodist pastor and counselor.
1949
Richard Leonhardt Heaton, April 27, 2015, Atlantic Beach, Fla. A U.S. Navy veteran of World War II, Heaton was a member of Kappa Sigma fraternity at Wofford. He was employed by Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. for 40 years. He loved gardening, hiking and photography.
1950
James Alvin Cannon, March 22, 2015, Fountain Inn, S.C. A third-generation funeral director, Cannon was one of four founding members and a past president of the Fountain Inn Chamber of Commerce. He served on the city council, as a volunteer firefighter and helped organize Fox Run Country Club. He was a charter member and past president of the Lions Club.
Addie Clyde Tomblin, March 31, 2015, Spindale, N.C. Tomblin was proud of his textile mill roots and his service in the Philippines during World War II. Tomblin’s obituary states that he and his wife, Janet, were the first to be married in the Wofford College chapel. He practiced law until his retirement in 2006, serving as the attorney for the town of Spindale for 31 years.
Dr. Fraughton Godbold Ford, March 14, 2015, Walhalla, S.C. A retired college professor and U.S. Army veteran of the Korean War, Ford was a Sunday School teacher and secretary of the Walhalla Lions Club.
Charles Y. Workman Jr., April 5, 2015, Rock Hill, S.C. When his father died, Workman left college to run the family business, the Workman-Greene Co. Later he joined Cleveland Cotton Products Co., where he managed the sales force for 23 years. He served in the Army National Guard.
1951
Billy Smith Davis, May 12, 2015, Columbia, S.C. Davis received his draft notice the same day as his Wofford diploma. He served in the U.S. Army from 1951 to 1953 before beginning his career with First Federal Savings and Loan in Spartanburg. He retired from Union Federal Savings and Loan.
1952
James “Jimmy” “Stick” Rufus Gordon, April 2, 2015, Spartanburg, S.C. A U.S. Navy veteran of World War II, Gordon retired as an agent from New York Life Insurance. He was a founder, loyal member and past president of the Wofford Terrier Club and past president of the college’s Alumni Association. He played on the 1949 undefeated football team, known as the “49ers.” Gordon was inducted into the Wofford Athletics Hall of Fame in 1986.
1953
Dr. Robert Evans Holman, March 18, 2015, Elloree, S.C. A veteran of World War II, Holman spent more than two years “before the mast” aboard the USS Frost and received the Presidential Unit Citation for sinking five Nazi U-boats. Holman practiced medicine in Elloree for 55 years, even on his back porch if that’s what his patients needed. He and his wife, Pat, wrote several books and articles, including “The Black Bag” and “Homeward Bound.” He was poet laureate for the Edisto Medical Society and founder of the Elloree Free Clinic and the Left Bank Medical Society. The college awarded Holman the Distinguished Service Award in 2006, and the town of Elloree held several Bob Holman Appreciation Days. He made more than 300 bluebird houses, now scattered throughout the Southeast, that he gave away to friends and family.
1954
Henry Clarke Bynum, May 7, 2015, Sumter, S.C. Bynum was a member of Kappa Alpha Order and the Wofford tennis team. He founded Bynum Insurance Co. and was active in his church and in the community.
Frank Love McElwee Jr., April 17, 2015, Clover, S.C. A U.S. Army veteran of World War II, he began teaching at York Elementary School right after graduation. He was the first principal of York Junior High School and then became a counselor for the South Carolina Vocational Rehabilitation Department.
George Turner Perrow Sr., May 17, 2015, Cameron, S.C. A retired farmer and former co-owner of Cameron Cotton & Seed, Perrow was active in the church and community. He was a veteran of the U.S. Air Force.
1955
George “Jerry” Jester, April 22, 2015, Salina, Kan. Jester left Wofford to play football for the University of Wyoming, where he later was inducted into the football hall of fame. He retired from the U.S. Army in 1974.
1957
James Anderson Berry Jr., April 1, 2015, Union, S.C. A first lieutenant and pilot in the U.S. Army, Berry was a Realtor in Atlanta, Ga. He played piano by ear and was a master photographer, sketch artist and ornithologist.
Craig Templeton, April 18, 2015, Napa, Calif. Templeton attended Wofford on a basketball scholarship. He spent two years in counterintelligence with the U.S. Army before enjoying a long career with New York Life. He believed in public service and was proud to have donated his body to the Stanford School of Medicine.
1958
Donald James Petersen, May 8, 2015, Columbia, S.C. Petersen served as a medic in the U.S. Marines during World War II. He worked as a pharmaceutical sales representative before owning and operating Carolina Surgical Specialties Co. for 24 years. He and his wife loved to travel.
1959
Alvis Jesse Bynum, April 19, 2015, Sumter, S.C. A member of the Wofford tennis team and Kappa Alpha Order, Bynum worked in banking before going to work for Cities Supply Co., where he served as president for 27 years. He was an active member of the community.
Donald Ray Dagenhart Sr., April 5, 2015, Lanett, Ala. Dagenhart enjoyed a long career with Milliken & Co. and Interface Flooring Systems. He was a Boy Scout leader, Little League baseball coach and active member of his church.
1964
Carroll Dean Solesbee, March 23, 2015, Moore, S.C. A self-employed CPA, Solesbee was a U.S. Army veteran and member of the North Spartanburg Rotary Club.
Nathaniel Sylvester II, April 20, 2015, Cape Carteret, N.C. He opened his first Piggly Wiggly grocery store in 1966 and his second in 1978. Sylvester served the Cape Carteret community in a variety of ways for 37 years.
1968
Robert Grimmett Gray, March 22, 2015, Charlotte, N.C. Gray served in the U.S. Army, rising to the rank of captain. He enjoyed a successful career in medical sales.
1969
LeRoy Edward Dennis Jr., April 23, 2015, Brunswick, Ga. Known for his humor and wise counsel in church, community and business matters, Dennis enjoyed family and friends after his retirement.
1970
Thomas Neil Lentz, May 13, 2015, Hickory, N.C. Lentz served as one of two students, along with six faculty members, in Graz, Austria, during the summer of 1969 to develop an experimental curriculum for Wofford. He served as an instructor of art history and studio art at Wofford from 1972 to 1976. Lentz worked in advertising in New York before joining Broyhill Furniture in Lenoir, N.C. In 2006 he established an Internet-based wellness company, where he was principal and co-owner until his retirement in 2012. He served as president of Wofford’s Alumni Association in 1994.
1972
Michael John Roebuck, March 4, 2015, Shelby, N.C. Roebuck was the assistant athletics director for academic services at Gardner Webb University, where he cared for student-athletes as if they were his own children. He trained for and competed in marathons, triathlons and an Ironman competition.
1979
Michael Allgood Johnson, April 26, 2015, Greenville, S.C. He served as the Wofford student body treasurer twice and president of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. He was vice president of his family’s business, Old Colony Furniture Co.
1981
Milledge Thomas Pitts Jr., March 13, 2015, Columbia, S.C. He was the owner and operator of Absolute Titles, a real estate title research company.
1989
Verner Freeman “Rose” Tate Jr., April 26, 2015, Spartanburg, S.C. He worked for Adidas for years and served as the music minister at Skylyn United Methodist Church.
Friends
Blanche “Bonnie” Yvonne Bellamy Gordon, March 21, 2015, Spartanburg, S.C. A 1952 graduate of the University of Tennessee, Gordon was the 1951 Wofford Homecoming Queen. The wife of James “Jimmy” “Stick” Gordon ’52, she was a schoolteacher and community volunteer.
Jane Gage Fishburne Hipp, May 6, 2015, Greenville, S.C. Hipp was the mother of Wofford trustee Neel Hipp. She was an avid supporter of education, establishing an endowed scholarship at Wofford.
Edward Patterson “Pat” Perrin, May 21, 2015, Spartanburg, S.C. A longtime supporter of Wofford, Perrin was a retired attorney with the firm of Perrin, Perrin, Mann & Patterson. He was well loved in the Spartanburg community for his philanthropy, humor, community service and character.
Orville Stanley Smith Jr., May 3, 2015, Columbia, S.C. Smith was a former trustee of Wofford College. He helped the state of South Carolina develop a statewide technical college system and the Riverbanks Zoo. He purchased a tiger cub as the first animal for the zoo.
Elaine Stone Wagner, April 28, 2015, Spartanburg, S.C. Wagner worked as a high-fashion model for Hattie Carnegie in New York right out of college. She later worked as the fashion coordinator for Jonathan Logan. Later she took art classes and studied painting. She taught studio art at Wofford as well as in the Spartanburg community before her retirement.