In hometown, Drummond eulogized as ‘great friend and mentor’

John Drummond never sat down to a meal without first saying grace.

When the late senator, who died Saturday, took a seat to have lunch with coworkers and friends a week before his death, all eyes were on him as he said grace. Afterward, eyes and ears stayed at attention as he told war stories his friends never tired of hearing, despite countless retellings.

“When we used to sit at lunch, there might be something on the plate or something someone said that would jog a memory in him,” said Carol Cheek, a longtime friend and employee at Drummond Oil Co. “I never thought there would be a day when I wouldn’t hear those stories.”

Born Sept. 29, 1919 in Ninety Six to mill workers James and Fannie Drummond, the senator was first a pilot and paratrooper, serving as a captain in the U.S. Air Force in World War II. All six of his siblings served in the military during the war.

Though he later had a 42-year career as a state legislator, Cheek said he learned his greatest lessons in the war. His plane, a P-47 Thunderbolt named “Raid Hot Mama,” was shot down near the town of Gieville, France, and Nazi soldiers kept him for 10 months as a prisoner of war in a German prison camp. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, nine Air Medals, three Battle Stars, a Presidential Citation and two Purple Hearts for his service.

“Mr. Drummond did a lot in his lifetime, but he always said the time he spent in World War II was the best time of his life,” Cheek said.

A room in his Greenwood office is plastered with war memorabilia and photos of friends and loved ones, which he was surrounded with even as his friends cared for him in his last weeks. A replica model of his plane stands beside a page of a remote-controlled airplane magazine, which features an article about an RC plane unknowingly modeled after his.

“His whole life, from the time he enlisted, was about service to the people,” said Bob Meritt, Drummond’s former chief of staff.

A lifetime of service

Drummond began his political career with two years in the state House of Representatives, before he was elected in 1966 to the state Senate in District 10 – where he spent 42 years serving Greenwood and surrounding counties until 2008.

“He was truly a man of the people,” Meritt said. “He was a man’s man.”

Punctual and dedicated, Drummond would give Cheek a schedule of his daily events whenever the Senate was in session, and he never strayed from it. While he was known in the legislature for ignoring party lines and working with anyone who wanted to do what was best for the state, he also made time for any constituents who reached out to him.

“You felt like he helped you,” Cheek said. “You would always get a letter from him, even if sometimes the letter just said he had done everything he could.”

Between reading five newspapers from across the state and monitoring national and local news on TV, his passion for state politics can still be seen on his bookshelves. He kept a copy of every legislative manual since he was elected – from 1967 to 2008. The first is a sliver of a book compared to the last, and Cheek said he would often look at them and tell her that the state was no better off for its multitude of laws.

Drummond preferred to keep another book with him when he was at the Statehouse – the bible. During a particularly heated and contentious session, Cheek said he sat down at his desk and began reading Revelations.

“He told me, ‘What I was reading sounded a lot like what was going on around me,’ ” Cheek said.

A family man

When Drummond returned home to Ninety Six after the war, he married Holly Self and had three children: Brick, Bob and Dick.

“He loved Ms. Holly with a passion – loved his family with a passion,” Meritt said.

While he was away during legislative sessions, Holly would take care of business back home. She took extensive notes on any constituent who called with a problem, and would manage the family and business while he was away.

“He made sacrifices with his service – he was gone a lot,” Meritt said, “but Ms. Holly kept the home fires burning.”

Holly died in 1999, and while the loss certainly shook Drummond, Sen. Floyd Nicholson said his continuing love and compassion was awe-inspiring.

“The world, for him, revolved around her,” Nicholson said, “and the way he bounced back to do what he knew she wanted him to do was inspiring.”

Len Bornemann, former head of the Greenwood Chamber of Commerce, said he and his wife remember the love and respect Drummond showed for Holly.

“When she was with him, his eyes would light up and just seem both excited and blessed that she was at his side,” he wrote in an email. “After Miss Holly’s passing, we would often see his gentle side, knowing how much he missed her.”

Drummond’s compassion and dedication was an influence to Bornemann’s son, he said, as the late senator hired David Bornemann as a part-time student intern in his Columbia office and encouraged him to pursue a career in law and public service.

While he impacted many people throughout his life, Craig White said Drummond was more than a friend – he served as a father figure for him, and a surrogate grandfather for his own children. Now a vice president at Self Regional Healthcare, White was vice president of legal and government affairs at Fujifilm when he met Drummond in 1988.

Their professional relationship quickly became a friendship, and White invited Drummond to a company-sponsored fishing event with his 7-year-old son, Parker.

“It was a really special day,” Parker, now 24, said. “That was the first day I ever met him.”

Parker didn’t get the chance to know much about his paternal grandparents, and his maternal grandparents died shortly before the fishing trip. During the trip, Drummond told him he didn’t know his grandparents well either, and that as a boy he would get sad hearing the song “Over the River and Through the Woods.”

“When we got home, I asked my son to write the senator a thank-you note,” White said. “My son didn’t show me the letter. I got a call from Columbia, Sen. Drummond said ‘I got this note from Parker.’”

White said at the end of the note, Parker had told Drummond that since he didn’t have any grandfathers, he wanted Drummond to be his grandfather. After that, he was family for Parker and his sister Katie.

“He was just such a part of the family, like a father figure to me and a grandfather to the kids,” White said. “My son went on to West Point, and I think part of that was the influence he had on the kids.”

Drummond attended Parker’s Eagle Scout ceremony for Boy Scouts of America, chatted with him weekly while he attended West Point, was there at his graduation from the Army Airborne School, and was at Parker’s wedding earlier this year.

“He really is the greatest man I ever met, and has had such a positive impact on my life.”

Local legacy

Through his work in the Senate and with local business, Drummond’s name brings fond memories to countless people throughout the Lakelands. Nicholson, who won Drummond’s Senate seat after his retirement from politics, said he stays inspired by his predecessor’s dedication to doing the right thing for South Carolina.

“It was a great honor to know him,” he said. “He always displayed that enthusiasm to do what’s right. He always told me you have to work across the aisle to get things done. Greenwood and the state are better off for having him.”

Rep. Ann Parks said she knew of Drummond since she was a girl, and that his influence was instrumental in her decision to become a politician.

“He was the one that I always turned to to get answers,” she said, “and he was like that for everybody. He was always there for everybody.”

In Drummond’s 10 consecutive terms in the Senate, he served as committee chairman for the Ethics, Labor, Commerce and Industry; Fish, Game and Forestry; and Finance committees. He was elected president pro tempore in 1996, the highest position in the state Senate.

“He basically had legendary status, even then, and it flourished and grew over the years,” said longtime friend and local attorney, Robert Tinsley. “First and foremost, he was a great American – he was a war hero, he was industrious – while he was in the legislature, he connected with the past while embracing the present, and having the foresight for the future of South Carolinians.”

He helped pass legislature promoting education, worked tirelessly to support teachers, was sympathetic to legislation benefiting veterans and had a sensible, logical approach to lawmaking, Tinsley said. While working on Drummond’s campaigns and working with him to campaign for others, Tinsley said he came to have a deep respect for the senators love for the people he served.

“I basically spent my entire life supporting this man because of his importance to the people,” he said. “His whole life is a bridge over all kinds of waters – troubled waters and calm waters -- and he wanted to make sure they were the cleanest of waters. He was a great friend and mentor, and his representation was for all people, all of the time.”

This story was originally published September 4, 2016 at 11:29 PM with the headline "In hometown, Drummond eulogized as ‘great friend and mentor’."