Category: 1957

Homer A. Bodiford, Jr. ’57, 76, of Oakland, Fla., died Oct. 17, 2011. His wife is Patricia Borch Bodiford, P.O. Box 86, Oakland, FL 34760.

The Hon. Phillip Dyches Sasser ’57, of Conway, S.C., died April 11 at home. Born Dec. 30, 1934, in Conway, he was the son of James Archibald Sasser, M. D., and Martha Dyches Sasser. He was a member of the S.C. and Horry County Bar Associations, the First Baptist Church of Conway, and attended Christ the Servant Lutheran Church. A graduate of Davidson and the University of S.C. School of Law, Representative Sasser was a member of Kappa Sigma fraternity. He proudly served his country in the S.C. National Guard. Upon passing the S.C. State Bar exam, he began his legal practice in Conway, where he became a partner in Burroughs, Green, and Sasser Law Firm. In 1968, he was elected to the S.C. House of Representatives, where he served two terms. Hallmarks of his career included serving as city judge for Conway and on the board of trustees for the Medical University of South Carolina. Upon the end of his service on the MUSC board, Sasser was named trustee emeritus. Among his greatest accomplishments, Sasser counted establishing “Fishing Day for the Handicapped” as a charter member of the Waccamaw Sertoma Club. Sasser was preceded in death by his parents, his precious wife of 47 years, Martha “Pat” Dusenbury Sasser, and his brother, James Archibald Sasser, Jr. ’55. Survivors include children, Phillip Dyches Sasser, Jr. (Beverly), Martha Sasser Hunn (Ralph), Sallie Sasser Glover (David), and James Richardson “Ritchie” Sasser; brothers, Charles Sasser ’63 and Marshall Sasser ’58, 2349 Steep Landing Rd., Conway, SC 29526; and three grandchildren, Brigitte Hunn, Berkeley Glover, and Shelley Sasser.

John Henry Gray III ’57, of Winston-Salem, N.C., died peacefully March 5 at the Kate B. Reynolds Hospice Home from Alzheimer’s disease. Gray was born April 11, 1935, in Washington, D.C., to the late John Henry Gray, Jr. and Elizabeth Nattress Gray of Statesville, N.C. He graduated from Davidson and Wake Forest College Bowman Gray School of Medicine. He completed a one year internship at the Medical College of Virginia, one year as a resident in internal medicine at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, Tex., two years of graduate training as a fellow in internal medicine at the Cleveland Clinic, and additional graduate training as a fellow in hypertension-renal disease there. He served his country for two years as a senior assistant surgeon in the Public Health Service Reserve Corps of the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare in Washington, D.C. Gray moved to Winston in 1968 to begin his practice and become board certified in internal medicine. He practiced for 30 years. He leaves behind his cherished and loving wife of 37 years, Mary Bailey Gray, 1771 Robinhood Rd., Winston-Salem, NC 27104, and his daughters, Emily Anne Gray and Amy Elizabeth Gray (Steven David Brook). Gray loved the great outdoors with boyish enthusiasm. He was an avid fly fisherman. He truly believed in practicing conservation so that others could enjoy what he had experienced in his life.

James Clagett Taylor, Jr. ’57 died July 10. He was born in Spartanburg, S.C., in 1935 to Annie Laurie and J. Clagett Taylor, Sr. He returned to Sebring, Fla., with his parents at age four. He received his B.A. from Davidson. He was a proud member of the Sebring High School and Davidson College bands. He also obtained a master’s degree in international relations at the American University in Washington, D.C. His thesis on the political development of the African nation of Tanganyika was later published by both Oxford and Princeton Press. In 1958 he married Patricia Kressly of Easton, Pa., and in the spring of 1961 they went with their six-month-old daughter to Rhodesia in Southern Africa as educational missionaries for the Methodist church. Both their sons were born during the five years they worked there. When they returned to Florida, Taylor attended the University of Florida in Gainesville in the newly developing African studies program. Meanwhile, he received a position as a Foreign Service officer for the U.S. Department of State. He was assigned to several different countries to work in their U.S. Embassies: Jamaica, West Indies, Zambia in central Africa, and Venezuela, South America, as well as a cultural exchange with a man from Mauritius back in Washington. Following a tour in Washington and the desk officer for South Africa, the family returned to Sebring in 1979 due to ill health of his dad to help in the family businesses. A few years later, he was taking courses at Polk Community College to study citrus growing, as well as joining with Joel Stevenson to purchase and run Webster Manufacturing, which Hank Webster, Joel’s father-in-law and Taylor’s father, had originally started. He supported the Sebring Blue Streaks and was proud to see two sons follow him as graduates of SHS. He is survived by his wife of 53 years, Patricia Taylor, 5959 Sun N. Lake Blvd., Apt. B303, Sebring, FL 33872-7645; a daughter, Debbie Valencia (Pablo); sons, J. “Jim” Clagett Taylor III (Sue) and John A. Taylor (Katherine Livingston); and eight grandchildren, Laura and David Valencia, James Clagett Taylor IV and Kristen Taylor, and Forrest, Johnny, Patricia, and Daniel Taylor.

William Waters Duke ’57, 74, of Lancaster, S.C., passed away Aug. 14 at his home. He was born Oct. 3, 1935, in Charlotte, N.C., a son of the late Charles Moss and Willie Catherine Waters Duke. Duke’s family moved often during his youth, settling in Lancaster in 1945. Duke received his B.S. degree from Davidson and was a 1961 graduate of the University Of Pennsylvania School Of Medicine. His postgraduate training was at the University of North Carolina and the University of Alabama following medical school. He practiced medicine for almost 40 years. He was a fellow of the American College of Physicians (FACP) and was a fellow of the American College of Gastroenterology (FACG). Duke was a founding member of Covenant Baptist Church of Lancaster, and he was a member of the Lancaster Gideon Camp and the Lancaster Rotary Club. Duke is survived by his wife, Georgianna Beckham Duke, The Wade-Beckham House, 3385 Great Falls Hwy., Lancaster, SC 29720; three sons, Jonathan Waters Duke (Beverly), William Derrick Duke (Valrie), and Charles Wessinger Duke (Elizabeth); a daughter, Georgianna Scott (Philip); 10 grandchildren, Paige Duke, Meg Duke, Katie Duke, Emily Duke, Dallas Duke, Wilson Scott, Anna Scott, Gracie Scott, James Wessinger Duke, and William Alexander Duke; a great-grandchild, Railee Brown; a brother, Charles M. Duke (Dotty); and a sister, Elizabeth D. Jones (Chris).