Obituary of LeRoy "Roy" Evans McLaurin, Jr.

Edisto Island - LeRoy “Roy” Evans McLaurin, Jr., 87, husband of Virginia “Ginger” Tompkins McLaurin, died Saturday, December 28, 2024, at Covenant Place in Sumter. Roy, of Edisto Island, formally from Sumter, SC, was born to the late Leroy E. McLaurin, Sr and Mary Sue Tindal McLaurin on October 20, 1937. He grew up in Barnwell, SC, where both of his parents taught school, with his father serving as principal and eventually superintendent. It was in Barnwell where, at the age of 4, his father taught him his life passion of fly-fishing, and in Sumter where his favorite uncle, HD Tindal, taught him his passion for quail hunting – with Roy’s first love, his dog, Buster. These passions, followed closely by his love of South Carolina, stayed with him his entire life. Roy was an outdoorsman through and through. In 1955, he entered the University of South Carolina on a football scholarship and a Naval ROTC scholarship and majored in mechanical engineering – causing Coach Warren Giese to comment, he'd never give a scholarship to anyone majoring in engineering again. The hours demanded by both of these commitments were strenuous to say the least. But Roy did both. His senior year, however, found him back in the classroom (another love), tutoring football players. After graduation, Roy entered the Navy and for the three years he served, traveled the world -- including on a ship ordered to Cuba, in 1962, for the Cuban Missile Crisis when President John F. Kennedy called it off. After his time in the Navy, Roy returned to the University to pursue a master’s degree in mechanical engineering. It was then that he met and married his first wife, Karen Greer McLaurin, the mother of his three boys. Roy’s desire was to live his life in South Carolina, doing what South Carolina boys were raised to do. Hunt and Fish. And he did. He designed and built their home on a pond in Sumter, and raised their three boys, passing his passions down to them. After Karen died in 1998, Roy moved to Edisto Beach, to a house he had built with the trees that had been blown down on his property by Hurricane Hugo in 1989. It was there, in 2000, that he ran into Ginger, (Tompkins), his old college sweetheart, and they were married in 2003. Roy and Ginger continued his passion for fishing by traveling to Scotland, Alaska, California, Oregon, Washington State, Yellowstone, Wyoming, and of course the Chattooga in North Carolina and up and down the Florida Keys. He only improved with age. He is survived by his wife, Ginger; his three sons, Dr. Brent Tindal McLaurin, Lloyd Greer McLaurin, Scot Whaley McLaurin; one stepson, R. Read Gignilliat (Carla); three stepdaughters, Gill M. Gignilliat, McIver G. Williamson, Leigh G. Pound (Kit); three granddaughters, Tindal McLaurin Yard (Lee), Alison Whaley McLaurin, Taylor Grace McLaurin; one step-grandson, Austin Gignilliat (Kristen); six step-granddaughters, Sellers W. Valimohamed (Arslan), Helen Williamson, Laney Pound, Claire Pound, Sister Mary Augustine (Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma, Michigan), Saylor Gignilliat; and one great granddaughter, Whaley Pauley. He was predeceased by his parents and his first wife. A Memorial Service will be held at 1:00 PM on Saturday, January 4, 2025, in the Chapel of the Elmore Hill McCreight Funeral Home with the Rev. Wey Camp officiating. A private burial will be held at a later date. A celebration of Roy’s life will be held Jan 15, 2025, at his beloved Edisto Island. Memorials may be made to the Tunnel to Towers organization, 2361 Hylan Boulevard, Staten Island, NY 10306, or to a charity of your own choice. On-line condolences may be sent to www.sumterfunerals.com Elmore Hill McCreight Funeral Home & Crematory, 221 Broad Street, Sumter, is in charge of the arrangements (803) 775-9386.