Obituary of James McCarter Gaston

James McCarter Gaston, Sr., a native of Chester County, SC, lately of Columbia, passed away on December 23, 2017. He was preceded in death by parents William Wylie Gaston II and Marion McCarter Gaston, and an infant daughter Vivian Virginia Gaston. Born June 29, 1930 and called "Jimmy" by family and neighbors, Jim grew up in the Lewisville section of Eastern Chester County where his ancestors settled in the 1750s. He was raised on a small dairy farm and spent happy hours in his father's country store at Gaston's Curve on Highway 9 between Chester and Richburg. Jim attended church at Fishing Creek Presbyterian and classes at Oakley Hall School. For several years as a teen, he brought by train a prize winning cow to the State Fair and slept each night with the cow in its stall. Prize money was saved for his college education. A 1947 graduate of Lewisville High School, Jim ranked third in his class for academic achievement and was the highest ranking male. Clemson College further developed Jim's leadership skills where he achieved the rank of First Lieutenant and platoon leader. He served one year as vice president of the Dairy Club, as circulation manager of The Tiger, and was faithful to the Chester County Club. He graduated in 1951 with a B.S. in Agriculture, Dairy Science. Soon after graduation Jim was bound for action in Korea, commissioned as a second lieutenant, combat platoon leader, Reconnaissance Company. In 1952, Jim was honorably discharged with the rank of first lieutenant, returned to South Carolina, and took the position of assistant county extension agent for Lancaster County. It was at Camp Long as a 4-H Leader that he met his future wife JoAnn McCarty of Aiken, who was there with 4-H members from Anderson where she was a home demonstration agent. The couple married on September 18, 1954. In 1955, Jim joined the Cotton Producers Association, a farmer's co-op based in Georgia which became the Corporation Gold Kist. In the first of several miracles in his life, he survived being blown out of his office in a Waynesboro, Georgia grain elevator explosion. He went on to manage farm stores in Covington and Moultrie before becoming a district manager for a territory that included Southwest Georgia, Southeast Alabama, and Northwest Florida. In 1967, Jim was made district manager for the new territory opening in South Carolina which would encompass seven stores and grain marketing facilities. The family moved from Moultrie, Georgia to Orangeburg. In 1969, Jim was presented with a new opportunity as assistant manager of Gold Kist Grain Division at the home office in Atlanta. In the next ten years, he held the titles of procurement manager Gold Kist Soy and Grain, manager of Soy and Grain, manager of Gold Kist Oil-seed Processing and Grain Division, and manager of Gold Kist Commodity Services Division. In 1981, Jim founded his own business Gaston Commodities which he located at Hilton Head Island. In 1986, he moved the business to Chester County and took up residence again in the home in which he was born. He and his brother created a partnership and began developing properties in the county. By 1987, Jim had transitioned totally into real estate sales and development. In 2003, he incorporated his own agency Gaston Properties. Throughout Jim's business career he never turned down an opportunity to serve his industry, government, church or school. He served on the Boards of the USDA Federal Grain Inspection and the Grain Committee of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives. He was a board member of the Georgia Feed and Grain Association and served eight years as secretary-treasurer of the Georgia Soybean Association. In the 1970's, Jim served as deacon and then elder of Roswell Presbyterian Church of Roswell, Georgia. He chaired the Finance Committee through an ambitious new sanctuary building program. Also in those years, he served on the Board of Directors of the Atlanta Clemson Club and became president. In later years, Jim was president of four Chester County organizations: Clemson Club, Chester County Forestry Association, Board of Realtors, and the Greater Richburg Association. He was a member of Chester County's first Planning Commission. Jim also served as post commander of VFW 5930. Another miracle witnessed by family and friends occurred in 2000, when given a grim prognosis, Jim put the full weight of his positive thinking behind the eradication of acute myeloid leukemia. In 2011, as dementia was beginning to cloud Jim's memory, he was named a South Carolina Ambassador for Economic Development, an honor of which he was especially proud. In December of 2013, he began a new life in assisted living in Columbia, but continued to follow in the newspapers the changes in his beloved Chester County. Jim is survived by a brother, William Wylie Gaston III (Fran) of Atlanta, Georgia, a sister, Harriet Gaston Owens of Clinton, South Carolina, two sons, James McCarter Gaston, Jr. of Columbia, Harry Hastings Gaston of Chester, and a daughter, Holly Greer Hyten (Jeff) of Roswell, Georgia. A visitation is planned for early January in Chester County. The family is grateful for the angels of Brookdale Assisted Living and Lighthouse Hospice.