Singleton and Related Genealogy Pages
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1915 - 2011 (96 years)| Name | Buford Stuckey MABRY [2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12] | |
| Suffix | Sr. | |
| Birth | 1915 | Sans Souci plantation in Stateburg, Sumter County, South Carolina  [4, 8] |
| Gender | Male | |
| Education | he attended the General Sumter Memorial and Hillcrest High School before graduating from the University of South Carolina in 1936 [4] | |
| HIST | of Sumter, South Carolina A humorous author, he published two delightful books, “And a Bar of Octogan Soap” and “Some Dogs are Like That - And Horses and Mules Too”, depicting his boyhood antics. A baseball player in high school and with Sumter’s American Legion teams, he also coached the Florence American Legion baseball team during the summer of 1939-1940. After his discharge from the service, Mabry returned to Sumter County, where he was employed in the office of the county superintendent of education, the late W. O. Cain. Upon Cain’s retirement, Mabry was elected to replace him. He is the last living member of the 1929 Sumter P-15’s Baseball team (the first team). Buford Mabry Sr.: 1915-2011 ITEM FILE PHOTO Buford Mabry Sr.: 1915-2011 Storyteller extraordinaire Buford Mabry Sr., center, died Thursday at the age of 96. BY JOE PERRY jperry@theitem.com A son of San Souci plantation in Stateburg, a soldier and a storyteller extraordinaire, Buford Mabry Sr. died Thursday at the age of 96. "You never met a finer man in your life than that man. He was everybody's friend," said Jimmy Hodge, athletic director for the American Legion P-15's. Hodge moved to Sumter in 1955 and quickly grew to admire Mabry, with whom he had a strong friendship. Mabry, he pointed out, had been the last surviving member of the first American Legion baseball team Sumter fielded in 1929. "A God-fearing man and a gentleman in every phase of the game. I could sit down and listen to him tell those stories all day long and never get tired of it. And you'll laugh till your sides hurt - he could tell you the funniest stories, and they were true." Mabry, who lost a leg in World War II, never complained about a thing, Hodge said. "The sun was shining every day in his life, and that's the way it's supposed to be," he said. "He was fun to be around - he had so many good stories. Good stuff you loved to sit down and share with your preacher. What a great man." Many of Mabry's stories are collected in two books he authored: "And a bar of Octagon soap," from 1983, and "Some Dogs are Like That ... and Horses and Mules Too," from 1988. Mabry drew on his many years spent hunting and on horseback and his love of the outdoors. "Without doubt, the greatest storyteller I have ever had the good fortune to be associated with and call friend is Buford Mabry," wrote Bill Nettles in the foreword of Mabry's first book. Mabry's storytelling talent, Nettles wrote, vividly brought to life the people and events of yesteryear. "He can put you in Horatio on a moonlight night or in a Wateree swamp canebrake, even if you have never heard of either, and make you dreadfully sorry you weren't there." Mabry's well-loved humor held no malice, Nettles wrote. "Buford Mabry is a genuine person with a heart as big as the outdoors he loves," Nettles wrote. After Mabry graduated from Hillcrest High School and the University of South Carolina, he taught and coached athletics in Florence County and also coached the Florence American Legion baseball team from 1939 to 1940. Immediately after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he volunteered for the U.S. Army and was commissioned, serving as an infantry platoon leader with the 99th Infantry Division in Europe. He lost a leg to a German mine but met his future wife, Eugenia, a nurse in an American tent hospital. Eugenia Bradford Mabry said she and her husband married in January 1946, the same year in which he became Sumter County's superintendent of education, a post he would hold for 33 years until his retirement in 1979. Gene Mabry said her husband had a "sparkling wit." "He was gentle and kind. And he liked to tease - he was witty. He was a marvelous storyteller," she said, "and he loved hunting and fishing." Her husband always had a good answer to anything, she said, and loved to read, especially about the history of South Carolina. He was highly sought after as an after-dinner speaker and always kept people entertained. "He didn't preach. He wasn't a moralist. He told stories that were funny and had people laughing," she said. Her husband suffered physically from the loss of his leg, she said, but never complained and was an accomplished horseman. He was also very civic-minded and involved with numerous organizations. "He was a very capable man. He could plan ahead. His minister told me one time he had never seen anybody that could go right to the core of a problem and get it solved or have a solution," she said. He loved their children and enjoyed entertaining his children's friends with his many stories, she said. "He was fun to be with," she said. "He will be missed." Hodge said he was heartened he had the pleasure of knowing Mabry for many years. "The world needs more people like that man," he added. Mabry, who received the Purple Heart and the Combat Infantryman Badge, will be buried in the Episcopal Church of The Holy Cross cemetery in Stateburg where his Medal of Honor-recipient brother, Maj. Gen. George Mabry Jr., lies in eternal state. Posted in Local news, News on Saturday, September 10, 2011 at death- he had 4 grandchildren and 9 great-grandchildren Buford S. Mabry Sr. Buford S. Mabry Sr., 96, husband of Eugenia Bradford Mabry, died Thursday, Sept. 8, 2011, at Tuomey Regional Medical Center. Born in the Stateburg community, he was a son of George L. Sr. and Alberta Stuckey Mabry. Mr. Mabry attended General Thomas Sumter Memorial School and was a 1932 graduate of Hillcrest High School. He was the last living member of the first Sumter American Legion Post 15 baseball team. He was a 1936 graduate of the University of South Carolina, where he served as co-organizer and president of the Carolina Players and also played on the baseball team. Mr. Mabry was an educator. He taught school and coached baseball at Tans Bay High School in Florence from 1938 to 1940. He also served as coach of the Florence American Legion Baseball Team from 1938 to 1941. He served as an infantry officer in the 99th Division in World War II, until he was wounded by a landmine while on a combat patrol. While in the military hospital in Malmedy, Belgium, he met an American Red Cross worker, Eugenia Redd Bradford of Columbus, Ga. They were married in 1946. He received a Purple Heart and the Combat Infantry Badge. Mr. Mabry served as the Sumter County Superintendent of Education from 1947 to 1979. He was a charter member of Aldersgate United Methodist Church, where he served on the official board and taught youth and adult Sunday school classes. He served as an officer in numerous organizations including Sumter District Chairman Boy Scouts of America, secretary of Mac Boykin Chapter Game and Fish Association, president of the S.C. Wildlife Federation, president of the S.C. Superintendents of Education, president of the Sumter Kiwanis Club, and served on the American Legion Fair Committee 1947-1996, and the American Legion Baseball Committee. He was honored as Sumter Jaycee Young Man of the Year 1947, Mayor's Outstanding Citizen of Sumter 1996, and recognized as an outstanding supporter of the Sumter County 4-H Horse Club Committee. He was awarded one of the 1998 Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Awards by the State Legislature. He was a member of the Sumter Jaycees, Sumter Kiwanis Club, American Legion, The Progressive Club, The Society of Men of the High Hills of Santee, and the Sumter County Historical Society. His hobbies included serving as co-organizer and secretary of the Black Jack Beagle Club and as president of the Mine Hill Hunting Club. He was an avid horseman who raised, trained, and showed Plantation Pleasure horses. He was the author of two books about his early life in Stateburg. He was an after-dinner speaker who traveled throughout the state to present humorous talks and talks concerning historically significant information. Surviving are his wife of 65 years of Sumter; one son, Buford Mabry Jr. and wife, Elizabeth Mabry, of Lexington; two daughters, Eugenia "Gigi" Mabry Huckabee and husband, Dr. Eddy Huckabee, of Lexington and Sarah "Sally" Redd Mabry of Rockford, Ill.; four grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by a brother, Bert Mabry; a brother, Maj. Gen. George Mabry; and a sister, Virginia Mabry. The family will receive friends from 2:30 to 4 p.m. Sunday at Aldersgate United Methodist Church. Funeral Services will follow at the church with Dr. Webb Belangia officiating. Burial will be in the Episcopal Church of the Holy Cross cemetery at Stateburg. Pallbearers will be E.W. Nettles III, Boykin Sanders, Paul Gardner, Ben Mabry, Sam Crawford and Burke Watson Jr. Honorary pallbearers will be Dr. Philip Brandt, Dean Benenhaley, John Mark Benenhaley, Robert "Butch" Galloway, Bud Hickman, Billy Goodson, members of The Progressive Club, and the Kiwanis Club. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Episcopal Church of the Holy Cross at Stateburg, 335 N. Kings Highway, Sumter, SC 29154 or to Aldersgate United Methodist Church, 211 Alice Drive, Sumter, SC 29150. Online condolences may be sent to www.sumterfunerals.com. Elmore Hill McCreight Funeral Home & Crematory, 221 Broad St., Sumter, is in charge of the arrangements, (803) 775-9386. Posted in Obituaries on Saturday, September 10, 2011 [2, 4, 8, 9, 13, 14] | |
| MILI | Immediately following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he resigned his teaching position and volunteered for the U. S. Army. He was commissioned and served as an infantry platoon leader with the 99th Infantry Division where, within a period of three days, he lost a leg to a German “shu” mine and met his wife-to-be, Eugenia, a nurse in an American tent hospital. [4] | |
| Occupation | after graduation, he taught and coached athletics in a rural high school in Florence County, South Carolina [4] | |
| _UID | 869080254E8344309D211A207ABA07E11462 | |
| Death | 8 Sep 2011 | Tuomey Regional Medical Center, Sumter, Sumter County, South Carolina |
| Burial | 11 Sep 2011 | Episcopal Church of the Holy Cross Cemetery, Stateburg, Sumter County, South Carolina [9] |
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| Person ID | I105331 | Singleton and Related Families |
| Last Modified | 24 Oct 2023 | |
| Father | George Lafayette MABRY, Sr., b. 7 Feb 1884 d. 19 Mar 1954 (Age 70 years) | |
| Mother | Alberta STUCKEY, b. 28 Oct 1884 d. 9 May 1951 (Age 66 years) | |
| _UID | 6C0F1FC72A134948B521B1B50E53543A5AEA | |
| _UID | 6C0F1FC72A134948B521B1B50E53543A5AEA | |
| Family ID | F17152 | Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Family | Eugenia Redd “Gene” BRADFORD, b. 1915, Columbus, Georgia d. 25 Mar 2019, Covenant Place, Sumter, Sumter County, South Carolina (Age 104 years) | |||||||
| Marriage | 1946 [7] | |||||||
| _UID | AF6C947480DF4B05A3ED99704BDD5CC3B287 | |||||||
| _UID | AF6C947480DF4B05A3ED99704BDD5CC3B287 | |||||||
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| Family ID | F17368 | Group Sheet | Family Chart | ||||||
| Last Modified | 23 Jun 2009 | |||||||
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