Robert Glenmore “Glen” SHARP

1921 - 2013  (91 years)

• Name	Robert Glenmore “Glen” SHARP  [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
  Birth	18 Sep 1921	Grovanie, Georgia
  Gender	Male
  HIST	Glen Sharp GLEN SHARP Robert Glenmore Sharp, 91, husband of May Clarke Bynum Sharp, died Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013, at Covenant Place. He was born Sept. 18, 1921, in Grovania, Ga., the eldest son of Elise Brown and Charles Grover Sharp. Before he started school, his entire family moved to Edinburgh, Texas, to try their hand at citrus farming. After the move, his father, grandfather, grandmother and aunt died within a 10-year period. The farm failed to adequately support the family, and his experiences in Texas during the Great Depression strongly influenced his outlook on life and determination to be successful. Mr. Sharp graduated from high school and attended junior college in the Rio Grande Valley before entering the University of Texas at Austin on the eve of World War II. As a teenage Boy Scout, he lost an eye in a camping accident. This prevented him from serving his country in the armed forces during the war, as did his two younger brothers, Walter and Dabney, a 21-year-old navigator who died when his plane was shot down. Hired from college by Pan American Airlines, Mr. Sharp nonetheless found a way to serve by becoming a management trainee soon placed in charge of building and running new airports in Latin America secretly subsidized by the U.S. government as part of the war effort. During that period he worked in Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Nicaragua and became conversant in Spanish. After the war, he returned to the University of Texas and graduated in 1945 with a degree in business management. Observing from his experience at Pan American Airlines that primarily Ivy League graduates were chosen for upper level management positions in large corporations, he decided to start his own business immediately upon graduating. After a brief stint in a family friend's propane gas business in Georgia, he borrowed startup funds from his mother to launch his own company in South Carolina, choosing Sumter as the headquarters of Suburban Propane Gas Inc. in 1947. There he met and married his wife, May Clarke Bynum, in 1949, and they began their family. A few years later his brother Walter joined him in the business, which grew to become the largest propane gas business in S.C. with over 100 employees and with nine offices statewide. The Sharp brothers prided themselves on always maintaining adequate reserves to service all their customers even in the face of the energy shortages of the 1970s. In 1991, at age 70, he merged the company with South Carolina Electric and Gas (SCANA Corporation) and retired to pursue philanthropic and community interests. He served as chair or co-chair in capital campaigns benefiting his church Trinity United Methodist, Tuomey Hospital, the Boys & Girls Club, Covenant Place and the Sumter YMCA. He was a former board member of Tuomey Hospital, a board member of the Tuomey Foundation where he served as a life member, and a board member of the National Bank of South Carolina. Morris College and the Medical University of South Carolina were also favorite charities of his. A fitness enthusiast, he was usually the earliest member to arrive at the Y and worked out there each morning often beginning as early as 5 a.m. He liked playing golf with his close friends. During and after his career he served on the boards of Sumter Coatings, Williams Furniture and Vaughn Basset Furniture companies. He was past president of the South Carolina Liquified Petroleum Gas Association and the National Liquified Petroleum Gas Association. Among the local clubs to which he belonged, the Knock Rummy and the Fortnightly were his favorites. He enjoyed vacationing at Pawley's Island and hosted a Sharp family gathering there each year the week of July 4. When presented with the Chamber of Commerce Sumter Business Person of the Year award in 1989, Mr. Sharp said, "I feel Sumter has done so much for me, I don't really know what to say. I'm speechless." Surviving are his wife of 63 years, May Clarke Bynum Sharp; two daughters, Esther Bynum Sharp and Elise Sharp Moore (Wayne); four grandsons, Galen Michael Haggerty, Thomas Sharp Hearn, Chad Moore and Ford Moore. Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 29, at Trinity United Methodist Church with the Rev. Kevin Gorry officiating. A reception will follow at his home, 211 Wactor St., where the family will also receive visitors from 4 to 6 p.m. Monday, Jan. 28. In lieu of flowers, he would have appreciated your contribution to any of the above-mentioned charities. Private burial will be held at Sumter Cemetery. The family would like to express appreciation to Mr. Sharp's caregivers, Denice Clemmons, Elaine Mack, Gorman Wicker, Leithia Greene, Lou Dixon, Marie Singleton, Minnie Thomas, Jenny James and the caring staff at Covenant Place. Online condolences may be sent to www.sumterfunerals.com. Elmore Hill McCreight Funeral Home and Crematory is in charge of the arrangements. (803) 775-9386. Posted in Obituaries on Sunday, January 27, 2013 Glen Sharp had profound impact on Sumter Photo Provided A young Glen Sharp, left, is seen with his brother, Dabney, an aviator who died in World War II when his plane was shot down. By GRAHAM OSTEEN The remarkable Glen Sharp was 91 years old when he died Jan. 26 at Covenant Place. Like everyone who knew and admired Mr. Sharp, I suspect few of us knew as much about him as we thought until we read his fascinating obituary. He was born in 1921 in Grovania, Ga., which is 50 miles south of Macon in the middle of nowhere. As a young child he moved to Edinburgh, Texas, a town 30 miles from the Mexican border that appears on the map to be about the farthest south you can get in this country. He lost his father, grandfather, grandmother and aunt within a 10-year period in the late 1920's and early 1930's and like many of his generation grew up poor and affected in powerful ways by the Great Depression. He was determined, smart and very resilient. As a teenager, he lost an eye in a Boy Scout camping accident, and during World War II, he lost a 21-year-old brother, Dabney, an aviator whose plane was shot down. During the war he served his country by working for Pan American Airlines, and this is where it sounds like a good spy novel: According to his obituary, he was "placed in charge of building and running new airports in Latin America secretly subsidized by the U.S. government as part of the war effort. During that period he worked in Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Nicaragua and became conversant in Spanish." The seemingly quiet and conservative Mr. Sharp just got a lot more mysterious for me after that bit of information. Kind of like the guy in those Dos Equis beer commercials - the "most interesting man in the world." He received a business degree from the University of Texas at Austin after the war, and in 1947 started Suburban Propane in Sumter. In 1949 he married a "local girl," the inimitable May Bynum Sharp, and they raised two fine daughters - Esther and Elise. Esther, I might add, was once a fearless, muckraking local reporter for The Sumter Daily Item under the guidance of my father and grandfather. At age 70, in 1991, Glen merged Suburban Propane with South Carolina Electric and Gas (SCANA) and began yet another new life, this one devoted to philanthropy and community service. There are countless stories about his generosity in Sumter and throughout South Carolina, but there are probably even more that no one but his immediate family will ever know. Just last year, for example, his daughters, Elise and Esther, made arrangements to sell Glen's car and give the proceeds to the Salvation Army Boys & Girls Club of Sumter. That sort of quiet generosity has always been typical of the Sharp and Bynum families, and the Sumter community has always benefitted as a result. He will be missed, and we are all fortunate to have known such a great man. - - - Congratulations to my friend Hal Turner on being named Sumter Businessman of the Year at last week's Chamber of Commerce retreat. It was a well-deserved honor for Hal, whose list of accomplishments as a builder and businessman seem to get more impressive each year. And that's in spite of his Clemson education and close association with Harby Moses. Graham Osteen is a co-owner of Osteen Publishing Co. and Editor-At-Large of The Item. Contact him at The Item, 20 North Magnolia St., Sumter, S.C., 29150; graham@theitem.com, or call 803-774-1352. Posted in Opinion, Columnists, Graham osteen on Sunday, February 10, 2013  [1, 2]
  HIST	Glen Sharp GLEN SHARP Robert Glenmore Sharp, 91, husband of May Clarke Bynum Sharp, died Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013, at Covenant Place. He was born Sept. 18, 1921, in Grovania, Ga., the eldest son of Elise Brown and Charles Grover Sharp. Before he started school, his entire family moved to Edinburgh, Texas, to try their hand at citrus farming. After the move, his father, grandfather, grandmother and aunt died within a 10-year period. The farm failed to adequately support the family, and his experiences in Texas during the Great Depression strongly influenced his outlook on life and determination to be successful. Mr. Sharp graduated from high school and attended junior college in the Rio Grande Valley before entering the University of Texas at Austin on the eve of World War II. As a teenage Boy Scout, he lost an eye in a camping accident. This prevented him from serving his country in the armed forces during the war, as did his two younger brothers, Walter and Dabney, a 21-year-old navigator who died when his plane was shot down. Hired from college by Pan American Airlines, Mr. Sharp nonetheless found a way to serve by becoming a management trainee soon placed in charge of building and running new airports in Latin America secretly subsidized by the U.S. government as part of the war effort. During that period he worked in Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Nicaragua and became conversant in Spanish. After the war, he returned to the University of Texas and graduated in 1945 with a degree in business management. Observing from his experience at Pan American Airlines that primarily Ivy League graduates were chosen for upper level management positions in large corporations, he decided to start his own business immediately upon graduating. After a brief stint in a family friend's propane gas business in Georgia, he borrowed startup funds from his mother to launch his own company in South Carolina, choosing Sumter as the headquarters of Suburban Propane Gas Inc. in 1947. There he met and married his wife, May Clarke Bynum, in 1949, and they began their family. A few years later his brother Walter joined him in the business, which grew to become the largest propane gas business in S.C. with over 100 employees and with nine offices statewide. The Sharp brothers prided themselves on always maintaining adequate reserves to service all their customers even in the face of the energy shortages of the 1970s. In 1991, at age 70, he merged the company with South Carolina Electric and Gas (SCANA Corporation) and retired to pursue philanthropic and community interests. He served as chair or co-chair in capital campaigns benefiting his church Trinity United Methodist, Tuomey Hospital, the Boys & Girls Club, Covenant Place and the Sumter YMCA. He was a former board member of Tuomey Hospital, a board member of the Tuomey Foundation where he served as a life member, and a board member of the National Bank of South Carolina. Morris College and the Medical University of South Carolina were also favorite charities of his. A fitness enthusiast, he was usually the earliest member to arrive at the Y and worked out there each morning often beginning as early as 5 a.m. He liked playing golf with his close friends. During and after his career he served on the boards of Sumter Coatings, Williams Furniture and Vaughn Basset Furniture companies. He was past president of the South Carolina Liquified Petroleum Gas Association and the National Liquified Petroleum Gas Association. Among the local clubs to which he belonged, the Knock Rummy and the Fortnightly were his favorites. He enjoyed vacationing at Pawley's Island and hosted a Sharp family gathering there each year the week of July 4. When presented with the Chamber of Commerce Sumter Business Person of the Year award in 1989, Mr. Sharp said, "I feel Sumter has done so much for me, I don't really know what to say. I'm speechless." Surviving are his wife of 63 years, May Clarke Bynum Sharp; two daughters, Esther Bynum Sharp and Elise Sharp Moore (Wayne); four grandsons, Galen Michael Haggerty, Thomas Sharp Hearn, Chad Moore and Ford Moore. Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 29, at Trinity United Methodist Church with the Rev. Kevin Gorry officiating. A reception will follow at his home, 211 Wactor St., where the family will also receive visitors from 4 to 6 p.m. Monday, Jan. 28. In lieu of flowers, he would have appreciated your contribution to any of the above-mentioned charities. Private burial will be held at Sumter Cemetery. The family would like to express appreciation to Mr. Sharp's caregivers, Denice Clemmons, Elaine Mack, Gorman Wicker, Leithia Greene, Lou Dixon, Marie Singleton, Minnie Thomas, Jenny James and the caring staff at Covenant Place. Online condolences may be sent to www.sumterfunerals.com. Elmore Hill McCreight Funeral Home and Crematory is in charge of the arrangements. (803) 775-9386. Posted in Obituaries on Sunday, January 27, 2013 Glen Sharp had profound impact on Sumter Photo Provided A young Glen Sharp, left, is seen with his brother, Dabney, an aviator who died in World War II when his plane was shot down. By GRAHAM OSTEEN The remarkable Glen Sharp was 91 years old when he died Jan. 26 at Covenant Place. Like everyone who knew and admired Mr. Sharp, I suspect few of us knew as much about him as we thought until we read his fascinating obituary. He was born in 1921 in Grovania, Ga., which is 50 miles south of Macon in the middle of nowhere. As a young child he moved to Edinburgh, Texas, a town 30 miles from the Mexican border that appears on the map to be about the farthest south you can get in this country. He lost his father, grandfather, grandmother and aunt within a 10-year period in the late 1920's and early 1930's and like many of his generation grew up poor and affected in powerful ways by the Great Depression. He was determined, smart and very resilient. As a teenager, he lost an eye in a Boy Scout camping accident, and during World War II, he lost a 21-year-old brother, Dabney, an aviator whose plane was shot down. During the war he served his country by working for Pan American Airlines, and this is where it sounds like a good spy novel: According to his obituary, he was "placed in charge of building and running new airports in Latin America secretly subsidized by the U.S. government as part of the war effort. During that period he worked in Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Nicaragua and became conversant in Spanish." The seemingly quiet and conservative Mr. Sharp just got a lot more mysterious for me after that bit of information. Kind of like the guy in those Dos Equis beer commercials - the "most interesting man in the world." He received a business degree from the University of Texas at Austin after the war, and in 1947 started Suburban Propane in Sumter. In 1949 he married a "local girl," the inimitable May Bynum Sharp, and they raised two fine daughters - Esther and Elise. Esther, I might add, was once a fearless, muckraking local reporter for The Sumter Daily Item under the guidance of my father and grandfather. At age 70, in 1991, Glen merged Suburban Propane with South Carolina Electric and Gas (SCANA) and began yet another new life, this one devoted to philanthropy and community service. There are countless stories about his generosity in Sumter and throughout South Carolina, but there are probably even more that no one but his immediate family will ever know. Just last year, for example, his daughters, Elise and Esther, made arrangements to sell Glen's car and give the proceeds to the Salvation Army Boys & Girls Club of Sumter. That sort of quiet generosity has always been typical of the Sharp and Bynum families, and the Sumter community has always benefitted as a result. He will be missed, and we are all fortunate to have known such a great man. - - - Congratulations to my friend Hal Turner on being named Sumter Businessman of the Year at last week's Chamber of Commerce retreat. It was a well-deserved honor for Hal, whose list of accomplishments as a builder and businessman seem to get more impressive each year. And that's in spite of his Clemson education and close association with Harby Moses. Graham Osteen is a co-owner of Osteen Publishing Co. and Editor-At-Large of The Item. Contact him at The Item, 20 North Magnolia St., Sumter, S.C., 29150; graham@theitem.com, or call 803-774-1352. Posted in Opinion, Columnists, Graham osteen on Sunday, February 10, 2013
  _UID	E662A4070CDA4A7C871EF8750BC9E6AB16C0
  _UID	E662A4070CDA4A7C871EF8750BC9E6AB16C0
  Death	26 Jan 2013	Covenant Place, (Sumter, Sumter County, South Carolina)
  Burial	29 Jan 2013	Sumter Cemetery, 700 W. Oakland Avenue, Sumter, Sumter County, South Carolina   [1]
  	Elmore-Hill-McCreight Funeral Home & Crematory, Sumter, South Carolina Elmore-Hill-McCreight Funeral Home & Crematory, Sumter, South Carolina
  Person ID	I284137	Singleton and Related Families
  Last Modified	11 May 2015

  
  

  Father	Charles Grover SHARP   d. Bef 26 Jan 2013
  Mother	Elise BROWN   d. Bef 26 Jan 2013
  _UID	6C54B654A87346AFAA5C0CCB2B53B2654C19
  _UID	6C54B654A87346AFAA5C0CCB2B53B2654C19
  Family ID	F190867	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	May Clarke BYNUM,   b. 9 Nov 1927, Tuomey Hospital, Sumter, Sumter County, South Carolina d. 23 Jan 2015, Covenant Place, (Sumter, Sumter County, South Carolina) (Age 87 years)
  Marriage	1949  [1, 4]
  _UID	90A19E9EAB06452FB5FC212D1913A8E348BB
  _UID	90A19E9EAB06452FB5FC212D1913A8E348BB
  Children	1. Esther Bynum SHARP   2. Elise Brown SHARP
  Family ID	F152156	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	29 Jan 2015

  
  

• Sources

  [S19082] Glen Sharp. [S19185] Glen Sharp had profound impact on Sumter. [S20175] William E. Bynum Jr. [S22044] May B. Sharp. [S22376] Alvis Jesse Bynum. [S22423] Henry Clarke Bynum.