James Clement "Jim" Ulmer Jr.

James Clement 'Jim' Ulmer Jr.

MOUNT PLEASANT -- James Clement "Jim" Ulmer Jr. 88, of Mount Pleasant, husband of Cecelia Shuler Ulmer, went to his heavenly home Sunday, April 11, 2021, after battling leukemia.

Son of the late James C. Ulmer Sr and Dolly Berry Ulmer, Jim was born in and spent the majority of his life in Elloree. He and his wife have lived at Franke at Seaside Retirement Community in Mount Pleasant for the last 10 years.

As a graduate of Elloree High School, Jim played football, baseball and basketball. He was Elloree's first Eagle Scout and spent many summers at Camp Barstow, where he became an Explorer Scout leader and camp counselor. He graduated from Clemson College in 1955, where he majored in agriculture and livestock, was in ROTC and played on the Tigers baseball team. In the summers, during college, he was a lifeguard at Santee State Park and taught swimming lessons to many in the community.

Jim was married to his high school sweetheart, Cecelia, for 63 years. They have three children, Marty Chaplin (Drew) of Florence, Laurie Ulmer (Dawn) of Sullivan's Island, and Marykay Martin (Tim) of Mount Pleasant. He has five grandchildren, Andrew Chaplin (Elise) of Florence, Caroline Adams (Brandon) of Charleston, Jamie Ammons (Matt) of Florence, Lauren Hilton (Bryce) of James Island, Alex and Rivers Ulmer of Sullivan's Island (students at Clemson). He has four precious great-grandchildren whom he adored, Cecelia and Sutton Adams, Collin Ammons and Holder Hilton. He was anticipating the arrival of another great granddaughter, Riley Ammons, next week.

A devout Christ follower, Jim was a member of First Baptist Church of Elloree, where he sang in the choir, taught Sunday school, served as chairman of deacons and served on numerous committees. For many years, he drove the church bus for youth and senior citizens' outings to wherever they wanted to go. For the last 10 years, he had attended First Baptist Church of Mount Pleasant. This man loved Jesus with all his heart!

A pillar of the community, Jim served on Elloree Town Council for 20 years, Elloree Volunteer Fire Department for 30 years, was a member and president of the Lions Club, served on the board of directors at Brookland Boys Home and was very active in the Orangeburg County Republican Party. Jim was actively involved in his children's school, Clarendon Hall in Summerton, where he was always seen on the sidelines keeping stats at his son's football games. Over the years, Jim was involved in many successful business ventures. In addition to farming cotton, soybeans and corn, Jim was a cattle farmer, partner in Elloree Massey Ferguson tractor dealership, owned and operated a trucking business and co-owned the Corner Store and Restaurant. Jim also followed in his father's footsteps and became a partner in the Elloree Gin Company. He retired in 2008 at 70 years old.

One of Jim's passions was Clemson University sports, and he was a long-time IPTAY member. Without a doubt, his greatest passions were family and friends and mentoring children of all ages. He reflected the perfect example of unconditional love to his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. In addition to being an amazing father to his own, he served as a father figure to many other children in the community. He taught copious amounts of children how to swim, dive, sail and water ski, coached Little League and T-ball and made sure that children got to Sunday school or church youth group. Many children in Elloree still think of Jim as their second dad. They all loved "Mr. Jim!"

Special gratitude is extended to his wonderful caregivers, Clare Heslin, Dottie Todd, Emily Froebrich, Lucille Beaufort, Makeesha Fludd, Rebecca Nesbitt and Whitney James, Home Instead Senior Care and all of the wonderful nurses and doctors that helped us on this journey. We will always remember hearing "Hey Mr. Ulmer!" every time we walked into a doctor's office. Thank you all for laughing at his jokes and treating him with kindness!

Visitation will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday April 13, at Fogle-Hungerpiller Funeral Home in Elloree.

Funeral service will be held at 3 p.m. Wednesday, April 14, at First Baptist Church of Elloree. Burial will follow in the Santee Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to First Baptist Church of Elloree, P.O. Box 387, Elloree, SC 29047; or the Elloree Heritage Museum, P.O. Box 54, Elloree, SC 29047.