S.C. mourns Patterson
COLUMBIA -- Grady Patterson Jr., South Carolina's longtime former state treasurer and a World War II fighter pilot , died Monday. He was 85.
The services
Visitation will be 7-9 p.m. Wednesday at Shandon Presbyterian Church, where he served as a deacon and an elder. The funeral will be 1 p.m. Thursday at the church in Columbia. Burial will follow at Elmwood Cemetery with full military honors.
His longtime spokesman Trav Robertson said the retired Air Force general and treasurer of 37 years died of natural causes.
Additional story
S.C. leaders remember Grady Patterson, published 12/8/09
Patterson was from the textile town of Calhoun Falls. He flew combat missions for the Army at Iwo Jima, and, in the Air Force, during the Korean War and the Berlin crisis.
His interest in flight was sparked one day while working on his family's Abbeville County farm. "One day, I was out in the field chopping cotton and these three yellow and gold planes flew over," he said in January 2007. "I looked up and said, 'Hmmm. I believe I'd like to do that.' "
He was called up as an Army Reserve member while attending Clemson University and got his first chance at the controls.
"You just kind of think fast. 'Here I am in this thing by myself,' " he said of his first solo flight. Flying taught him always to "anticipate what's coming next," he said.
After the war, Patterson earned a law degree from the University of South Carolina and joined the South Carolina Air Force National Guard.
The Berlin crisis was a Cold War confrontation that eventually led East Germany to erect the wall in 1961 to stop the flow of refugees out of the Soviet occupation zone to the West. Robertson said Patterson's unit flew to Berlin from Spain to protect planes and supplies going to and from the city.
Upon his retirement from the Air National Guard in 1984, the Legislature promoted Patterson to lieutenant general. He had flown every combat plane stationed in South Carolina, from the P-51 through the F-16. President Reagan awarded him the Distinguished Service Medal of the United States.
"He was a dedicated family man, public servant and an American hero," states a release sent by Robertson. "Instead of using his energy and talents for other endeavors, he gave his life to the people of South Carolina."
Patterson served as an assistant attorney general for eight years before first winning the treasurer's office in 1966, following the death of longtime state Treasurer Jefferson Bates.
For nine terms, he held the job of paying the state's bills and making money through investments. As treasurer, he sat on the state's five-member Budget and Control Board that handles billions in spending and borrowing decisions.
Patterson is survived by his wife, Marjorie, six children and 13 grandchildren.
