They left the Midlands a better place
BARBARA BISE
She fussed over nearly every costume and prop for more than 125 plays during that time, and even took the stage her to occasionally act. Her career in banking and financial planning also enabled her to serve as the group’s bookkeeper.
Bise was known for hugging actors for encouragement when they struggled with doubt. The theater’s costume shop named after her was her second home.
At a retirement party shortly after becoming ill, she was told that “your fingerprints and love are everywhere at Village Square Theater.”
Away from the theater, Bise was a long-time choir member at Providence Lutheran Church.
Seven months after her death, on March 23 at age 81, husband Sonny followed. The pair were sweethearts at Brookland-Cayce High School.
Tim Flach
CHUCK BRAMLETT
Bramlett spent 19 years in the Air Force and 23 years with the West Columbia Police Department. He received numerous awards during his time in the Air Force, and was selected as Officer of the Year at the police department in 2009.
“He was very humble, especially with his military career,” said daughter Chrissy Wofford. “He didn’t boast about it.”
Throughout his careers, Bramlett found time for his family and his community. He loved to cook for neighbors and charity events, among them a fundraiser for James “Tripp” Holland, a West Columbia Police Officer shot while serving a bench warrant.
Before Bramlett died, he was just about to launch a third career – small engine repair. His son, Doug Bramlett, said the work came easily to his father after time spent in the military working on jet engines. And even after death, his legacy of helping other continues.
“We donated a lot of his veins to go toward open heart surgery, the arteries and stuff ... his bone marrow to cancer patients, and they grafted some of his skin for burn victims,” his son said. “We figure if he was here to choose, that’s something he would have chosen.”
: He died July 21 at age 61.
Glen Luke Flanagan
ADELLE ADAMS BRAWLEY
And so when Ernest passed Sept. 21, Adelle followed not long after – five weeks later, on Oct. 26 at age 90.
Given the nickname “Lil Sue” to differentiate her from her mother, Adelle Adams, Adelle Brawley was a homemaker and “far more than that,” said her son Paul, the Richland County auditor and one of six Brawley children.
Brawley had an outgoing personality and never met a stranger. When the children were young, even though the family didn’t have much, Brawley was always willing to share with friends and neighbors.
Brawley was among Richland County’s first black poll managers once African-Americans gained the right to vote. She was eager to assist people voting for the first time and to encourage people from the community to exercise their right to vote.
Brawley and her husband championed civil rights and saw their children become part of the movement themselves – Paul, as a third-grader, was the first African-American student at Horrell Hill Elementary thanks to his parents’ appeal to the school board; and their daughter Lucinda became the second African-American and first black female to attend Clemson University. Lucinda’s husband, Harvey Gantt, was the first.
Sarah Ellis
HENRY CREDE
Crede joined the Navy in 1940 at age 16 with the permission of his mother. He witnessed first-hand the horrors of war, including the deaths of friends during the North Africa, Sicily and Italy campaigns.
Crede ended up in Boston by chance, where he lived until his passing May 12 at age 91.
In November 2014, Crede’s dream of dedicating a statue came true. He returned to Columbia to dedicate a life-size bronze statue of a sailor in Memorial Park. It is to honor all of the South Carolina Navy veterans who served in World War II, in memory of Crede’s shipmates who were killed in the war.
Crede, who worked as a supervisor for the Polaroid Corp. until his retirement in the 1970s, paid the estimated $90,000 for the statue and plaza out of his own pocket.
Why did Crede choose Columbia instead of Boston for the tribute? “It’s easy,” he said at the time. “Columbia is my home.”
Jeff Wilkinson
ROY FRICK
He often argued that providing county services is similar to farming – hard work and no frills.
“Most politicians don’t know how to subtract,” he would say. “They just know how to add.”
Like baseball star Yogi Berra, Frick sometimes mangled language in making a point. “We’re going to open a Pandora’s keg of worms,” he fussed in warning about unforeseen consequences of decisions.
The millionaire chicken farmer from Batesburg-Leesville long was the only Democrat on the nine-member council.
He died Feb. 9 at 88.
Tim Flach
GEORGE BOWMAN HARTNESS
Hartness led the way as the museum’s founding president in 1950 and actively supported it until his death June 9 at age 96.
“He was pretty young when he launched the museum, so we’re ever grateful for his time and his leadership at that moment,” said Columbia Museum of Art executive director Karen Brosius.
Hartness, a University of South Carolina alum, owned One Thousand Gervais, an antiques store. He also was a charter member of the Decorative Arts Trust Board of Governors, and he and his wife, Isola Carmen Sherrard Hartness, founded the Decorative Arts and Architecture Symposium programs at the Columbia Museum of Art.
Hartness served in the Marine Corps and received a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart.
Brosius said Hartness was a warm and welcoming Southern gentleman who was generous with his time and loved sharing his knowledge of history. She said he loved three-dimensional art.
“He just loved looking at what an artist can do with the materials at hand and making it into something exquisite,” Brosius said. “He was a connoisseur.”
Jane Moon Dail
DORIS HILDEBRAND
After moving to the historic Waverly neighborhood in Columbia from San Antonio, Texas, in 1969, Hildebrand did a lot.
She quickly adopted the neighborhood where her husband, James Hildebrand, was born and raised. She relished working with the elderly and for others who needed her advocacy.
Hildebrand became president of the Waverly Neighborhood Improvement Association and was involved in the Columbia Council of Neighborhoods. She played a key role in bringing revitalization to the neighborhood.
Along the way, the “mayor of Waverly” gained a reputation for sinking her teeth into projects and seeing them through. “If you wanted it done,” her husband said, “you talked to her.”
Hildebrand was also active in her church. She served at Jones Memorial AME Zion in several capacities, including president of the Sanctuary Choir and chair of the Board of Stewards. Hildebrand was inducted into the Columbia Council of Neighborhoods Hall of Fame in 2011.
She was 73 when she died Jan. 31.
Avery Wilks
THALI HONEYCUTT
She would walk miles and miles each day, generally refusing rides even from friends and acquaintances. For Honeycutt, walking was a matter of asserting her self-sufficiency, said Juanita Warthen, a friend for more than 25 years.
She often walked to St. Peter’s Catholic Church in downtown Columbia, where for years she was an alter server and something of a “mother hen” to fellow acolytes, whom she helped instruct.
She was known to sometimes walk from downtown to the Lexington Walmart, a nearly 30-mile round trip, just for the fresh air or to pick up something at the store.
Honeycutt was often seen at the State House, where she took interest in the actions of state lawmakers, and at the University of South Carolina, where she took a variety of classes in her decades-long pursuit of higher learning.
Honeycutt was intelligent, insatiably curious and an avid reader, Warthen said.
While visiting Honeycutt in the hospital, where she lay ill with cancer, Warthen noticed her hospital room filled with books. Warthen brought her friend a copy of Harper Lee’s newly released novel “Go Set a Watchman,” only to find out Honeycutt had never read its predecessor, Lee’s classic “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
Honeycutt finally got to read the book soon before she died Aug. 27. She was 65.
Sarah Ellis
ANTHONY MANIGAULT HURLEY
“They organized the organizing committee for our establishment,” said James T. McLawhorn Jr., president and CEO of Columbia’s Urban League. “Their role was very significant. They had to stand in the community to bring a diverse group of committee people to the table.”
Hurley and his family ran Manigault-Hurley Funeral Home, Columbia’s oldest family-owned funeral home, which served generations of African-Americans for more than 90 years. The family in 2014 made the decision to close, after Hurley had become ill.
Hurley died Jan. 10 at age 79.
At its annual fund campaign and equal opportunity dinner on November 3, the Columbia Urban League dedicated its program to Hurley’s memory.
“He set an example of what can be accomplished through community involvement and volunteer leadership,” said McLawhorn. “He was like a beacon for others who would like to get engaged in the community and make a difference. He is a testimony and an example of what you can do to transform lives.”
Dwaun Sellers
NANCY ‘PAT’ LEWIS
Friends and family called her “Pat,” though she also went by Nancy. But back in the 1950s, she took on the personas of “Daisy Mae the Hillbilly Girl” and “Patsy O’Neal the Hollywood Starlet.”
Born in Columbia, Lewis became a well-known professional wrestler by her early 20s. As “Daisy Mae,” Lewis dressed as a hillbilly – barefooted, hair in pigtails and wearing rolled-up blue jeans – and traveled all over the country for matches.
She was promoted as the “Tomboy of the Ozarks,” “Mistress of the Mulekick” and “Bubble Gum Champ.” She famously skipped around the ring and popped bubbles in the faces of her opponents. Lewis even appeared on “What’s My Line” with Eva Gabor in August 1953.
As big a star as Lewis became on the mat, friends and family remember her as a better person off of it. She settled down in West Columbia, starting a family and joining Shiloh United Methodist Church. She rarely talked about her wrestling days, preferring to leave her time in the limelight in the past.
“Pat” was known for putting others before herself and helping others behind the scenes, never seeking recognition. She could “find good in the devil,” her husband would say.
Lewis died June 23, prompting some members of the professional wrestling community to write tributes to the former star.
Avery Wilks
JOAN WILHIDE
The smell of the baking bread that filled the Wilhide home was “absolutely wonderful,” said her husband of 54 years, Jim Wilhide. Jim and their children were always on standby ready to sample whatever they could, he said.
After communion on Sunday, adults and children in the congregation would line up to eat Joan’s leftover bread. Joan was involved in church and sang in the church choir for 40 years. She eventually needed shots to her vocal chords to keep her voice from changing.
“I’ve been a soprano all my life, I’m going to stay a soprano,” Joan told her husband.
Cassie Cope
This story was originally published December 30, 2015 at 5:57 PM.