William Herschel Sharpe

William Herschel Sharpe of Charleston, S.C. died peacefully at age 93 on February 24, 2012, surrounded by friends and family. He was born in Thorsby, Alabama on August 24, 1918, the third son of Webster Sharpe and Lucy Jones Sharpe. He was predeceased by his wife, Kathryn Moye Sharpe, his parents, and his two brothers, Frank Sharpe and Hubert Sharpe. He is survived by his two sons, William H. Sharpe, Jr. (Katherine Thompson), Mark S. Sharpe and his wife Charlotte, all of Charleston, SC; and four grandchildren, Camryn Danielle Sharpe, William H. Sharpe, III, Hayle Kathryn Sharpe, and Harper Danielle Sharpe.

William (as he was known growing up) was raised in nearby Clanton, Alabama. While the common practice back then in rural Alabama was to go through the eighth grade and then pick cotton in the fields, Bill (as he was later called) wanted more out of life. So, with the encouragement of his mother, he attended the private Thorsby Academy and was graduated from high school. He then was graduated from Southern Union College, a two-year college, and finished his bachelor's degree at Piedmont College in Georgia. He later obtained a Master's Degree from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

While at Piedmont, he met the love of his life and his future wife, the former Kathryn Moye, of Barnesville, Georgia. After graduating from Piedmont, he started what would ultimately be a long career as an educator, but was soon drafted into the Army. He served for most of the war in the China-Burma-India Theater, working in a field hospital in Burma that treated mostly wounded Chinese troops. With the assistance of the Chinese soldiers guarding the hospital, he taught himself to speak Chinese fluently. He soon served as a Chinese interpreter for the hospital unit, and for this work he received a battlefield promotion to lieutenant.

After the war, accompanied by the popular song of the same name, he made a sentimental journey by way of a troop ship back to the United States, where he married the love of his life, Kathryn Moye. Their marriage lasted 63 years until Kathryn's death in 2009; the song Sentimental Journey remained his and Kathryn's special song for the rest of their lives.

Bill was married in the Circular Congregational Church, and the Church remained a center point of his life thereafter. He was active in church affairs, sang in the choir, and was a frequent soloist, for many years singing a spiritual as part of the Christmas service. He served as president of the church, and together with his wife Kathryn, helped lead the fight to integrate the church in the 1960's.

Bill taught for many years in the Charleston County schools, and during his career coached basketball, volleyball, tennis, and football. After serving as the first principal of Stono Park Elementary School for ten years, he left the teaching profession for a successful career selling educational materials with a division of IBM, where he broke sales records and was the leading salesman in the country.

He loved music and was a talented, natural singer. In addition to singing in the church choir, he was for many years a popular and in demand singer at weddings. When with family and friends, rarely would much time pass without his launching into a song.

He was a talented natural athlete, playing both basketball and tennis in college. But his real sports love was tennis. He taught his sons (and anyone else interested) tennis, which he correctly praised as a sport that could be played all of one's life. He began in the 1960's a tradition of weekly games of tennis at his house with a large, ever-evolving cast of friends and regulars, a tradition which continues to this day. After his retirement from IBM, he had a third career as a tennis teaching pro. He actively played tennis into his late 80's. He was instrumental in getting the City of Charleston Tennis Center on Farmfield Avenue approved.

He loved people, and had an irrepressible sense of humor. His friends would usually be greeted with his latest joke, story, or self-composed limerick. He rarely found himself in a situation that he did not believe could be improved by the application of a little humor.

He was a truly gentle man, with a joyous outlook, who showed us by example a life well-lived. He will be greatly missed by his many friends and family. As we grieve his loss to us, who could not also breathe a prayer of thanks to God for a life that gave so much joy, humor, and support to his family, his church, his professional community, and his wide circle of friends.

The relatives and friends are invited to attend his funeral services Monday, February 27, 2012 in the Circular Congregational Church at 11:00 am. Interment, Churchyard. Family will receive friends Sunday, February 26, 2012 between 5 – 7 pm in J. HENRY STUHR, INC., WEST ASHLEY CHAPEL.

Memorials may be made to Circular Congregational Church, 150 Meeting Street, Charleston, SC 29401.

A memorial message may be written to the family by visiting our website at www.jhenrystuhr.com.