Thomas Monroe Hendley, Jr.

***Due to unforeseen circumstances, the service for Mr. Thomas M. Hendley, Jr. have been postponed until a later date.  Kiser Funeral Home will update service times when they become available.***

Cheraw, SC

Thomas (Tom) M. Hendley Jr. passed away peacefully November 11, 2025. He was born in Concord, North Carolina on December 7, 1940, the son of the late Thomas M. Hendley Sr. and Ethel Boswell Hendley. He moved frequently in his youth due to his father’s job supporting the war effort during World War II.

During high school, Tom moved to Cheraw where he enjoyed playing football, basketball, and baseball. The mention of his name often led to people saying how they remembered the homerun he hit on top of the old high school building. He then attended the University of South Carolina on a U.S. Navy ROTC scholarship and played centerfield as a walk-on with the baseball team.

Post college he trained as a naval aviator; he subsequently trained as a helicopter pilot. He was assigned to Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron 3 (HS-3 “Tridents”), Naval Air Station Norfolk, VA, where he would deploy and fly from assorted aircraft carriers. He participated as one of the helicopter pilots recovering astronauts from the Gemini Space Program Missions that splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean. While assigned to the Atlantic fleet he participated in multiple antisubmarine warfare missions in the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea. Tom’s last tour in the Navy was as a flight trainer at NAS Pensacola.

It was in high school where he met the love of his life Louise (Lou) Overton and subsequently married her in December 1963 at the beginning of his active-duty service in the U.S. Navy. As his terrible disease slowly consumed his once sharp mind, his one constant was his desire to be by Lou’s side.

After the Navy, he worked for Celanese for four years before the family moved back to Cheraw. He began working as an internal accountant for a private business for a time. Then in 1985 with three children he managed to study for and pass the Certified Public Accountant Exam to become a CPA and continued working as a CPA until his retirement at age 70. He was also a huge Gamecock fan attending all home games for many years, and like every loyal Gamecock fan always said, “wait until next year.” He was also an avid birdwatcher.

He is preceded in death by his parents, and two brothers James Thad Hendley, Sr. and Jerry Boswell Hendley.

He is survived by his wife of the home, his sons Thomas M. Hendley, III of Mount Pleasant, SC and Franklin O. Hendley of Cheraw, SC and by a daughter Corry L. Hendley of Cheraw, SC. He is also survived by grandchildren Katherine Hendley of Mount Pleasant, SC, Nathan Hendley of Burlington, VT, Viva and Alice Lang of Cheraw, SC.

The family would like to thank our long-term caregivers Jennie Teal and Beth Newsome for their love and support over this last year. They have been of great comfort to us all.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to St. David’s Episcopal Church. P.O. Box 68, Cheraw, SC 29520 or the St. David’s Cemetery Association P.O. Box 1196, Cheraw, SC 29520.

Kiser Funeral Home has been entrusted to serve the Hendley family in their time of grief.

Online condolences may be made at www.kiserfuneralhome.com.