Charles Forrest Fowler (January 19)
James Louis Weatherly (February 5)
Julie Mae Quick Crosland (February 24)
Betty Lou Brockinton Fowler (March 31)
Elizabeth “Lib” Walker Miller (May 19)
Josie Bennett (May 19)
Rev. J. Stuart Hepler Sr. (June 29)
Harry P. Covington (July 1)
Joseph Pledger “J.P.” Hodges (July 13)
Iris Evans Cottingham (August 31)
Charles Forrest Fowler, 19, was born October 9, 1990 in Bennettsville, to Stephen Joseph and Victoria “Vicki” Lynn Snyder Fowler. He was a 2009 graduate of Marlboro Academy where he played soccer, golf, basketball and baseball. He was a student at Tri-County Technical College in Pendleton. He was a member of First United Methodist Church, Bennettsville, S.C., and was involved in the UMYF and Salkehatchie Summer Mission Program. Charles loved life and was an avid hunter, fisherman and outdoorsman.
Charles departed this life January 19, 2010, leaving behind to cherish his memory: his parents of Bennettsville; a brother, Joseph Fowler of Bennettsville; a sister, Brooke Fowler of Gaffney, S.C.; maternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Charles E. Snyder of Winston-Salem, N.C.; paternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Forrest Fowler of Bennettsville, S.C.; maternal aunts and uncles, LeAnn and Kim Phillips of Gaffney, S.C.; Tony and Jane Snyder of Winston-Salem, N.C.; paternal uncles and aunts, Arch and Jenny Fowler of Columbia, S.C., Julian and Mary Blanche Fowler of Florence, S.C., and Kay Fowler of Charlotte, N.C. Also, cousins, Charlotte and Hannah Kerry, Amy and Charlie Snyder, and Chris, James and Mason Fowler.
His funeral was held Friday, January 22, 2010 at First United Methodist Church. Pallbearers were Slade Avent, Adam Carabo, Patrick Cousins, Thomas Dees, Sam O'Neal, Austin Dixon, Blake Dixon, Eric Locklear, Randy Luckett and Joseph Nichols.
Burroughs-Cooper-Kiser Funeral Home, Bennettsville, was in charge of arrangements.
James Louis “Jim L.” Weatherly died Friday, February 5, 2010. Born in Marlboro County, he was a son of the late James Marshall and Helen Barefoot Weatherly. He was the owner of Jim’s Wash and Dry and was a member of First United Methodist Church. He was a retired firefighter with over 25 years of service and was an active volunteer with the Boy Scouts. He was an avid sportsman and golfer.
Surviving are his wife, Mrs. Jennie Arthmann Weatherly of Bennettsville, and a cousin, Francie Weatherly of Lexington.
The funeral service was held Sunday, February 7, at 2 p.m. at Whitner-Evans Funeral Home.
Services for Mrs. Julia Mae Quick Crosland, 67, will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday at the First United Methodist Church with burial in Oak Ridge Cemetery. Visitation is 6-8 p.m. Saturday at Whitner-Evans Funeral Home.
Mrs. Crosland entered The Church Triumphant on Wednesday, February 24, 2010. She died at her home.
Born August 9, 1942, in Cheraw, she was a daughter of the late Dwight Perry and Virginia Rivers Quick. A homemaker, she was an active member of the First United Methodist Church, a member of the Senior Circle, the Garden Gate Garden Club and a former member of the Junior Charity League.
Surviving are her husband, Clifton Brown “Cliff” Crosland, of Bennettsville; a son, Clifton Brown “Skip” Crosland Jr. (Cathey), of Irmo; a sister, Janie Q. Dellinger (Terry) of Atlanta; an uncle, Gerar Rivers of Cheraw and an aunt, Naomi Boatwright, of Chesterfield.
Pallbearers were Otis Harrison, Carl Mackey, Chris Miller, Darrin O'Tuel, Michael O'Tuel, Billy Joe Quick, James Quick and Cliff Swann.
Betty Lou Brockinton Fowler
Mrs. Betty Lou Brockinton Fowler, 84, wife of Arch Forrest Fowler, died Wednesday night, March 31, 2010, at Commander Nursing Center in Florence.
Visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, April 2, 2010, at Burroughs Cooper Kiser Funeral Home, which is in charge of arrangements.
Funeral services will be conducted at First United Methodist Church at 11 a.m. Saturday, April 3, 2010, with burial following in McCall Cemetery.
Born in Madison, Georgia, on June 6, 1925, she was the daughter of the late William Burroughs and Virginia Turnell Brockinton and grew up in Kingstree.
She attended Columbia College and received her bachelor's degree and master's in education from the University of South Carolina. She taught in the public schools of Marlboro County for a number of years.
She was a longtime active member of the First United Methodist Church, where she sang in The Chancel Choir. She was active in several cultural organizations in the community.
Surviving are her husband, of Bennettsville; three sons, Arch F. Fowler Jr. (Jenny) of Columbia; Julian B. (Mary Blanche) of Florence; and Stephen (Vicki) of Bennettsville; a sister, Mrs. Virginia Gee of Kingstree; and seven grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorials to First United Methodist Church Building Fund, P.O. Box 456, Bennettsville, S.C. 29512.
Elizabeth Walker “Lib” Miller, 74 of Lakeshore Drive in Bennettsville passed away on Wednesday morning, May 19, after a long illness. She was the widow of Edward Winston Miller Jr, also of Bennettsville.
Lib Miller was born in Henderson, N.C., on August 18, 1935 and was the only child of John Nathaniel Walker and Lillian VanDyke Walker. She spent her early years in Orum, N.C., a town she remembered fondly and where she developed an early appreciation of music. Playing the piano for her grandmother VanDyke was one of her favorite childhood activities, as well as her growing love for singing and the piano music of Frederic Chopin. As a teenager, she once had the opportunity to sing at a Billy Graham revival.
Lib graduated Enfield High School in 1953 and entered Greensboro College as a voice major. She studied voice under E. L. Williams, whom Lib always considered a mentor and friend. While at Greensboro College, she developed a love for the late 19th Century style of French vocal art song, as well as sacred vocal music and jazz. Lib’s fondest memories from Greensboro College were her years singing in the Greensboro College Glee Club, where she had the opportunity to sing in venues up and down the east coast. It was at Greensboro College that she developed close friendships with her seven suite mates — friendships that continue today.
While at Greensboro College, Lib met Winston Miller, who was a student at nearby Wake Forest University. They married in Gibson, N.C., in August 1957. Lib and Winston moved to Bennettsville in late 1958 where Lib started what became a 51-year career teaching piano and voice to hundreds of students.
She and Winston had four sons: Ed, John, Van and Chris.
Lib’s great personal joys were her children, family and her music students. She always taught her children to strive for excellence. She expected the same from students and for them to adhere to the highest standards when practicing and performing. For 51 years, her teaching year ended with a combined voice and piano recital by her students. In the 1960 and 70’s, she sang in the Bennettsville-based “Lawrence & Company.” Over the past 10 years she was an active singer and soloist in the Laurinburg-based “Melancholy Babies.” She was a member of the First United Methodist Church Choir for almost 50 years. In 1987, Lib performed her personal best when she gave a voice recital in Bennettsville which featured some of her favorite French art songs and culminated with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s exquisite solo vocal cantata “Exsultate Jubilate.”
In her mid-life, Lib discovered foreign travel and never was really free of the “travel bug.” Over the years, she had several opportunities to travel to England and Scotland. She also traveled to Germany, Italy and France. After Winston passed away in 2006, she spent much of her time traveling and visiting her children and grandchildren in Virginia and Georgia. Her last foreign trip was in late 2008, when she and her former college roommate traveled to the Czech Republic and Hungary.
Mrs. Miller is survived by four sons, Edward Winston Miller III of Augusta, Ga., John Nathaniel Walker Miller of Atlanta, Ga., Rogers VanDyke Miller of Alexandria, Va., and Christopher Andrew Miller of Salem, Va. She also survived by four grandchildren, Benjamin Winston Miller and Zachary John Miller, both of Augusta, Ga., Richard Nathaniel Miller and Jacob Dalton Miller, both of Salem, Va.
Friends may visit the family from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Friday at McDougald Funeral Home and Crematorium in Laurinburg. Funeral service will be held 11:00 a.m. Saturday at the First United Methodist Church in Bennettsville. Burial will be at the McCall Cemetery in Bennettsville.
BENNETTSVILLE — Josie Bennett, age 96, died May 19, 2010 in Dundee Manor.
Born in Marlboro County, she was the daughter of the late William W. and Elizabeth Stanton Bennett.
She was retired from Southern Bell where she was a telephone operator for many years. She was a member of First United Methodist Church and was a member of the Billy Raley Sunday School Class. She served for many years as a pianist for many churches in the community for services.
She is survived by one brother, Thomas W. Bennett and his wife Eleanor of Mauldin, and many nieces and nephews.
Graveside services were held May 22, at McCall Cemetery in Bennettsville.
Norton Funeral Home of Cheraw served the family of Ms. Bennett.
--from Marlboro Herald-Advocate, Bennettsville, S. C., Thursday, June 10, 2010.
BENNETTSVILLE – Rev. J. Stuart Hepler, 90, died Tuesday, June 29, 2010.
A Service of Death and Resurrection will be at 2 p.m. Friday, July 2, at First United Methodist Church. Interment will follow in the family plot at Roselawn Cemetery, McColl. Visitation will be Thursday, 6-8 p.m. at Burroughs Cooper Kiser Funeral Home, Bennettsville.
Rev. Hepler was born in Thomasville, NC, on April 19, 1920, the son of the late Early Henderson and Martha Susan “Mattie” Hanner Hepler.
He was graduated from the Fair Grove High School near Thomasville in 1938, and entered Mars Hill College in 1940, transferring after one year to Furman University.
His Furman studies were interrupted by World War II, as he entered the U.S. Army in January 1943 at Camp Croft. He served three years in the European Theatre, participating in the battles of Ardennes and Rhineland.
Upon the completion of his army service, he returned to Furman University from which he was graduated in 1948. He then attended Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, KY, graduating in 1952. While there he met his life partner, the former Anne Elizabeth Roberts of Columbia, SC. They were married on July 2, 1950, in Park Street Baptist Church, Columbia, and celebrated over 55 years of marriage together before her death on May 19, 2006. Stuart is being interred beside Anne on their 60th wedding anniversary.
All of Rev. Hepler’s pastorates were in South Carolina: Welsh Neck Baptist Church, Society Hill; Beulah Baptist Church, Horrell Hill; Mount Pisgah Baptist Church near Jefferson; Sand Hill Baptist Church near Varnville; Gum Branch Baptist Church near Hartsville; and the First Baptist Church, McColl, where he retired in 1982 after 14 years as pastor of that church. He continued serving as interim pastor for other churches, including Brownsville Baptist Church near Blenheim.
He was raised in the Methodist church, of which his mother was a member, and the Baptist church, of which his father was a member. He made his profession of faith, received his call to preach, and preached his first sermon in the Methodist church. He was baptized, ordained, and served his ministry in the Baptist church. He was a member of First United Methodist Church, Bennettsville.
Surviving are three sons, Rev. James S. (Beth) Hepler, Jr., of Bennettsville, Robert E. (Janine) Hepler of Laurinburg, NC, and Frank B. Hepler, Sr. of McColl; eight grandchildren, James S. “Jamie” Hepler III, Amy Beth Hepler, Matthew M. Hepler, Eric Hatchell, Jessica Hatchell, Jonathan Hepler, F. Byron Hepler, and Cathy Hepler (Joe) Wells; and a sister, Hannah Hepler Watford of Thomasville.
He was preceded in death by a sister, Hope Hepler, in 1946, and a brother, Earl H. Hepler, Jr., on May 12, 2010.
Memorials may be made to First United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 456, Bennettsville, S.C. 29512.
