1949
Purdy B. McLeod Jr., May 8, 2021, Columbia, S.C. McLeod was a veteran of the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Army, where he reached the rank of colonel. He served in World War II (Navy), Korea and Vietnam (Army). He was twice wounded in combat in Korea and was cited for gallantry in action. He served in many capacities in the United States between wars and overseas assignments, including service in the Pentagon in the Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, National Military Command Center. After retiring from the military in 1975, he earned a master’s degree and then accepted a position in the South Carolina Emergency Division, Office of the Adjutant General. Subsequently, he became the emergency management coordinator in the Office of the Governor, where he was serving during Hurricane Hugo and helped to coordinate the evacuations.
1950
Henry Allen Johnson Jr., April 28, 2019, Newton, N.C. Johnson had a career in the financial industry. He was a veteran of the U.S. Navy who served during World War II. He was a member of First Baptist Church in Newton and Masonic Lodge-Catawba #248.
1959
LaFon Carabo Dees, Sept. 6, 2021, Atlanta, Ga. Dees was a founding member of Wofford’s Investment Advisory Committee to help oversee the college’s endowment. He also established the LaFon and Winston Dees Family Athletics Scholarship Fund to support a Wofford basketball student-athlete. He spent many years in the sales and sales management field before transitioning to the financial industry. Prior to his retirement in 2015, he was a senior vice president at Morgan Stanley for 32 years. He was a U.S. Army veteran, serving as a first lieutenant Airborne Ranger company commander. He enjoyed food, traveling, spending time at Hilton Head Island with his family and watching Wofford sports. He was a longtime member of Peachtree Road United Methodist Church.
Marvin Douglas “Woody” Tuck, June 10, 2019, Old Hickory, Tenn. After serving in the U.S. Navy, Tuck began a career in sales, and he had territories that spanned North America. He loved to travel, and his favorite trip ever was to Australia, where he made many enduring friendships.
1960
Richard Crook Adkins, Sept. 10, 2021, Fort Mill, S.C. After a career as a commercial banker, Adkins pursued a professional acting career. He was a veteran of the U.S. Army, reaching the rank of first lieutenant. He played baseball and was a cheerleader while at Wofford. He enjoyed tennis and was a competitive shag dancer. He also enjoyed choreographing dances that incorporated steps from the many forms of dance he pursued. He was an outdoor enthusiast who enjoyed fishing and taking trail rides with his grandsons and their friends. He was an active member of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, where he served on the vestry.
Rev. James Franklin Hood, July 16, 2021, Seymour, Tenn. Hood served more than 40 years with the South Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church. He enjoyed spending time with his grandchildren, watching sports and fishing.
1961
Dr. Benjamin Louis Allen Jr., Sept. 9, 2021, Greenville, S.C. Allen was the chief of staff at the Shriners Hospital for Children in Greenville from 1989 to 2006. He served in the U.S. Air Force Reserve, achieving the rank of first lieutenant.
1962
Dr. Julius Howard “Jay” Stokes Jr., Aug. 29, 2021, Georgetown, S.C. Stokes graduated from the Medical University of South Carolina and completed his internship in internal medicine at Lankenau Medical Center in Philadelphia, Pa., and completed his residency in ophthalmology at Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia. His medical training was interrupted by the Vietnam War, where he served as a captain in the U.S. Army. He was chief of ophthalmology at Fort Rucker Army Medical Center in Alabama and also was the ophthalmology instructor at the Medical Training School for Flight Surgeons for the Army and the Air Force. After completing his medical and ophthalmology training, he returned to Florence, S.C., where he practiced with his father and two brothers at the Stokes Regional Eye Center. He was a past president of the Florence County Medical Society. He enjoyed hunting, fishing and spending time on his boat, The Flounder.
1967
Samuel Alexander Cothran Jr., Aug. 20, 2021, Summerville, S.C. Cothran worked in the newspaper business for a number of years before launching a career in insurance that spanned decades. At one time, he owned the largest insurance agency in the area. He also owned a travel agency for a number of years. An avid outdoorsman, hunter and fisherman, he was a member of several hunt clubs and also was a longtime volunteer with Ducks Unlimited, including serving as state publicity chairman. He was a member of the Carolina Yacht Club, the Jamestown Society and the St. Andrews Society.
1968
Charles Lecel Alley, Aug. 28, 2021, Concord, N.C. Alley was a longtime corporate educator, developing and teaching leadership classes for Belk and Bank of America. He enjoyed writing and telling stories, ancestry research and traveling.
Marion Broadus Welborn Jr., Sept. 17, 2021, Anderson, S.C. He was the former owner and operator of Welborn Shoes. He later worked in real estate and as an auctioneer. He was a member of St. John’s United Methodist Church.
1972
Russell Austin “Rusty” Kelley, Sept. 3, 2021, Columbia, S.C. Kelley participated in ROTC at Wofford and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army after graduating. He trained in air defense artillery at Fort Bliss, Texas, and later returned to Fort Jackson as a training officer. After his military service, he began a career in the financial industry. He retired in 2013. He enjoyed recreational boating and was a skilled fly fisherman and an occasional golfer.
1977
Dr. John Herbert Ferguson, Aug. 19, 2021, Little Mountain, S.C. Ferguson practiced 36 of his 40 years in family medicine at the Pinner Clinic in Peak, S.C. He was a member of the Medical University of South Carolina College of Medicine Alumni Board of Directors, where he continued to serve as mentor and clinical instructor to medical students until his retirement in October 2020. He was a member of Lake Murray Presbyterian Church, serving as an elder and as a member of the missions committee. He was the scoutmaster of Boy Scout Troop 411 for 27 years, guiding 103 young men to attain the rank of Eagle Scout and leading nine crews to Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, N.M. He loved music, the outdoors and cycling.
1982
Christopher Oliver Davis, Aug. 14, 2021, Knoxville, Tenn. Davis served in a variety of positions, including president, at Prestige Pillow, a family-owned company in Conover, N.C. He earned an MBA at Wake Forest University. He was a Rotarian and a supporter of the arts.
1986
Edgar Vaughn Fetzer, Sept. 18, 2021, Durango, Colo. An experienced mountaineer, Fetzer was on a solo trip in the Sangre de Cristo Mountain Range when he fell during his descent from Blanca Peak. He was a longtime resident of Fairbanks, Alaska, and lived and taught in Napaskiak, Alaska. In 2015 he moved to Durango. He later exchanged his teaching career for one in nursing. Both of these professions gave him freedom to pursue adventure, which he did at every opportunity. His playground was vast, including the mountains of Alaska, the Wind River Range in Wyoming, the Desert Southwest, South America, Mount Everest and many special places in between.
1989
Suzanne Krydynski Flynn, Sept. 15, 2021, Spartanburg, S.C. Flynn spent more than 30 years in the insurance industry, most recently as a client services consultant with HUB Carolinas. She was active in student government while at Wofford.
FRIENDS
Ruth Reynolds Brannon, Aug. 28, 2021, Weaverville, N.C. Brannon served as assistant to the president of Wofford College for more than 23 years. She was a member of First Baptist Church of Spartanburg, where she was the director of the baby nursery department of the Sunday school for more than 25 years. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Winthrop University in 2000 at the age of 74.
Gerhard Grommer, Aug. 26, 2021, Spartanburg, S.C. Grommer and his family have owned and operated Gerhard’s Café in Spartanburg for 28 years. He graduated from the Hotel Austria Culinary School and earned the title of master chef. He was an avid hunter and fisherman and enjoyed spending time on his farm. He was the father of Josef Grommer ’12, a former football player and track and field student-athlete.
Cynthia Elizabeth Moseley, Aug. 28, 2021, Spartanburg, S.C. A graduate of Converse College, Moseley gathered, organized and documented family papers and other possessions, which now form the Moseley Collection held by the Spartanburg County Public Libraries. She was a user of and advocate for the local library, which named its upper-level gallery and meeting space the Cynthia Elizabeth Moseley Gallery in her honor. For a time, she worked for the Social Security Administration and the Converse College library. She was a member of the Episcopal Church of the Advent. She was long active in Spartanburg life, particularly the arts. Her grandfather, Daniel Allston DuPré, was a Wofford professor for more than 50 years. Her mother, Helen DuPré Moseley, who grew up on Wofford’s campus, in 1934 was named Spartanburg’s first female postmaster by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and was an artist known for her paintings of surreal figures.
Robert Cunningham Richards Sr., Aug. 17, 2021, Clover, S.C. Richards was a plant operations engineer with Wofford. He was a captain in the Army Corps of Engineers during the Vietnam War, where his primary function was oversight of mobile Bailey bridge construction. After his service in Vietnam, he helped fulfill his father’s lifelong dream of owning a farm in Elko, Ga. A graduate of Clemson University, he served for a number of years on the university’s agricultural engineering advisory board.