William "Bill" Mccown, Iii

William Brearly McCown III, 81, passed away in his home Friday, December 6, 2019, after a brief illness. A funeral service will be held at 12:00 noon on Monday, December 16, 2019 at Darlington Presbyterian Church. The family will receive friends from 4:00 until 6:00 on Sunday, December 15 at the funeral home.

He is survived by his three daughters: Melissa McCown (Scott Saby) of Raleigh NC,  Betsy McCown Harris of Florence and Meredith McCown of Darlington , and four grandchildren: Hayns Harris, Dorothy Harris, Crayton Saby and Will Saby. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his wife of 55 years, Gail.

Born on July 18, 1938, Bill, or "Billy" as he was known for many years, was the only child of William Brearly McCown Jr. and Dorothy Delle McDonald McCown, and was a lifelong resident of Darlington SC, and member of Darlington Presbyterian Church.

He graduated from St. John's High School in 1956 and was the president of his senior class. He attended Clemson University from 1956-1961, where he fired the touchdown cannon, served as Country Gentleman and was the Tiger mascot, the first Tiger to be seen on national television! He was the Clemson mascot when Clemson played in the 1959 Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, when the Tigers played #1 ranked LSU, which was broadcast by NBC. His favorite stories of his time as the Tiger included defending his Tiger tail from Georgia Tech "rats," as freshmen were called, during some pre-game "attacks," and traveling by train to the Sugar Bowl with his fellow cheerleaders, including best friend and head cheerleader Erwin Abel of Greenwood, SC. He was recognized as the "oldest living Tiger" at the mascot reunion at Clemson Homecoming 2014.

Following his graduation from Clemson in 1961 with a BS in Forestry, Billy married his sweetheart, the former Linda Gail Green of Winston-Salem, NC, whom he met on a blind date by his cousin Lee McCown Huey, who was a classmate of Gail's at Coker College. Billy and Gail celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary prior to Gail's death in 2016.

Shortly after their honeymoon, Billy and Gail struck out for Fort Sill Oklahoma for Army artillery school. He continued his career in the Army as a member of the 101st Airborne Division out of Fort Campbell, Ky. Following the end of his service in 1963, they returned to Darlington, where he went to work for Darlington Bank and Trust as a teller, and continued to his banking career at the same location through mergers and acquisitions for more than 20 years. He graduated from South Carolina Bankers School and The School of Banking of the South from Louisiana State University in Louisiana.

In 1986, McCown and other community leaders decided that Darlington needed a community bank with Darlington roots to ensure that banking needs of the local community would be served by a local community bank. Darlington County Bank, with McCown as its President and CEO, opened for business on March 10, 1986, in the heart of Darlington. In April 2009, the bank changed its legal name to Dedicated Community Bank and began doing business as DCB, Your Dedicated Community Bank.

While serving as President and CEO of DCB for 17 years, he also served as president of the Independent Banks (IBSC) of South Carolina from 1994-1995 and continued as past president for many years. He was named IBSC Banker of the Year in 1999.

In addition, he volunteered with several local civic organizations, including: The Darlington County Heart Fund and the Saleeby Development Center. He was a member of Kiwanis, the American Legion Post 13, Boy Scouts of America and the Darlington Chamber of Commerce.