Longtime architect sketches life after retirement

SUMTER — For the better part of the past century, Charles McCreight has made a living out of sketching grand plans. With pen and pencil and paper, the Sumter architect has meticulously put together the designs for what would later become a school or a fire station or a bank or maybe even a home.

While the 85-year-old Columbia native is continuing to sketch out the blueprints of his life — most recently bringing his retirement into the mix — there are still additions and changes to be made.

McCreight recently announced he will be closing his architectural firm at 202 W. Calhoun St. and ending his tenure as an architect after about 60 years. But it’s not off to sunny Florida or the golf course for him, he said.

“I’m not retiring to get out of work. I still want something to do,” he said. “I just don’t know what just yet.”

McCreight knew exactly what he wanted to do while he was growing up. His father had a friend who was an architect, and when McCreight was younger, he would tag along with his father on visits, watching the family friend create designs for buildings. McCreight subsequently fell in love with the craft.

After graduating from Columbia High School in 1944, McCreight joined the Army Air Corps during World War II as an aviation cadet. A physical ailment kept him from flying planes, but he was assigned to Flight Engineer School and was stationed at the Rock of Gibraltar to aid a B-17 air group following World War II. He left the service in 1946.

McCreight went on to attend Clemson University, graduating in 1951 and moving to Sumter soon after to work with an architectural firm. McCreight, the late Harry Demosthenes and the late O.B. Riley started their own firm in 1959.

McCreight has been responsible for designing hundreds of facilities in Sumter.

“I don’t really have a style, I guess,” he said. “I’m more traditional than anything. I like to keep it simple. And I don’t really specialize in any particular types of buildings. I really liked designing schools, though.”

While McCreight wasn’t in the spotlight for a lot of Sumter’s past growth and development, he usually had a hand in helping people accomplish things, said Mayor Joe McElveen.

“He’s certainly not an unknown person in the community, but he was one of those people who was a major player behind the scenes,” said McElveen.

Aside from his design business, McCreight also worked in numerous community organizations, including stints as chairman of the Sumter Development Board and president of the Greater Sumter Chamber of Commerce.

McCreight also is a devout Christian, a quality McElveen said shines through, and a spirited and fun-loving person. But his biggest passion, friends said, is his family: wife Peggy and children, Nancy, Randy and Bobby McCreight and Cathy Hall.

He’s someone Item Editor Hubert Osteen considers “one of the best friends I have ever had.”

“I can’t imagine him ever retiring. He just has so much energy and a zest for life that few ‘seniors,’ for lack of a better word, possess,” said Osteen. “In fact, I don’t believe he’s retiring. He’s faking it.”

Osteen and his wife, Jackie, still live in the home McCreight designed for them more than 40 years ago. He touted McCreight’s charity and willingness to help out in the community.

“I believe he has done more free architectural work for groups, organizations and worthy causes than any other architect I’ve ever known about. He has always been so generous with his time and his contributions to this community,” he said.

While McCreight will still be involved in the community, he is moving on from architecture after six decades in the business.

The profession has changed over the years, he said. Before, McCreight would be responsible for everything from lights to air ducts. Now, there are specialists that take over those duties, and regulations and restrictions can at times stifle creativity, he said.

“I used to have control over more aspects of a building. We used to do it ourselves. Now, a lot of times, it’s not worth the worry and the effort,” said McCreight, who said he misses the days when he could let his creativity flourish.

McCreight won’t be going far.

“I’m still going to be in this building. I just don’t know what I’m going to do yet,” he said. “I’m closing in on 86. I just hope down the line to finish well.”