Committee Report

April 5, 2023

H. 4040

Introduced by Reps. Gilliard and Stavrinakis

S. Printed 04/05/23--H.

Read the first time February 28, 2023

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The committee on House Invitations and Memorial Resolutions

To who was referred a Concurrent Resolution (H. 4040) to request the Department of Transportation name the portion of Garden Street from its intersection with Hoff Avenue to its intersection with Huntley Drive in the, etc., respectfully

Report:

That they have duly and carefully considered the same, and recommend that the same do pass:

DENNIS MOSS for Committee.

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A concurrent RESOLUTION

to request the department of transportation name the portion of garden street from its intersection with hoff avenue to its intersection with huntley drive in the city of charleston in charleston county "bill sharpe way" and erect appropriate signs or markers at this location containing these words.

Whereas, William Herschel Sharpe was born on August 24, 1918, in Thorsby, Alabama, the third son of Webster and Lucy Jones Sharpe. Surrounded by his loving family and friends, he died peacefully on February 24, 2012; and

Whereas, raised in Clanton, Alabama, he completed the eighth grade and defied what then was considered common practice to pick cotton in the field. Instead, with encouragement from his mother, Bill attended the private Thorsby Academy and graduated from high school. He furthered his education at Southern Union College, a two-year institution, completed a bachelor's degree at Piedmont College in Demorest, Georgia, and earned a master's degree at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill; and

Whereas, what ultimately would become a long career in education was interrupted by war. Drafted into the Army, Bill served most of the war in the China-Burma-India Theater working in a field hospital that treated mostly Chinese troops. With help from Chinese guards, he taught himself to speak fluent Chinese which led to him serving as an interpreter for the hospital unit and a promotion to lieutenant; and

Whereas, after the war, he journeyed back to the United States where he was joined in marriage to the love of his life, the former Kathryn Moye, in Charleston's Circular Congregational Church. The union lasted for sixty-three years until her death in 2009, and produced two sons, William and Mark. The church remained a center of Bill's life where he sang in the choir, served as church president, and along with his wife, helped lead the fight to integrate the church in the 1960s; and

Whereas, Bill resumed his teaching career in the Charleston County school system, served as principal of Stono Park Elementary for ten years, and coached basketball, volleyball, football, and tennis. He left the teaching profession and became a successful salesman of educational materials with IBM where he broke sales records and was the leading salesman in the country; and

Whereas, a talented and natural athlete, Bill played both basketball and tennis in college, but his real love was tennis. In the 1960s, he began weekly tennis games at his house with a large and ever-evolving cast of friends, a tradition that continues to this day. Retiring from IBM, he launched his third career as a tennis professional and was instrumental in getting the City of Charleston Tennis Center approved; and

Whereas, a gentle man with an irrepressible sense of humor and a joyous outlook on life, who devoted himself to God and country, family, and community, it is only fitting and proper that members of the General Assembly pay homage to William Herschel Sharpe by naming a portion of a street in the City of Charleston in his honor. Now, therefore,

Be it resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring:

That the members of the South Carolina General Assembly, by this resolution, request the Department of Transportation name the portion of Garden Street from its intersection with Hoff Avenue to its intersection with Huntley Drive in the City of Charleston in Charleston County "Bill Sharpe Way" and erect appropriate signs or markers at this location containing these words.

Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to the Department of Transportation.

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