Wade "Ronnie" Crow

Bennettsville, SC
Wade R. "Ronnie" Crow
It is with deep sorrow that the Crow family announces the death of their beloved husband, father, grandfather, brother, and uncle, Wade R. "Ronnie" Crow, of Bennettsville, SC.
Mr. Crow passed away peacefully on Friday, January 19, 2024, at his beach cottage in Cherry Grove, surrounded by his family. A service to honor and celebrate his life will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, January 25, 2024, at Burroughs Funeral Home in Bennettsville. The Reverend Taylor Coates, The Reverend Harry R. Easterling, Jr. and the Reverend Jerry Springs will officiate. The family will receive friends from 5:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, January 24, 2024, at the funeral home.
Ronnie graduated from McColl High School with fond and lasting memories, having served his last year as president of the student body. He graduated from Clemson College in 1960 and attended graduate school at Duke University before entering Walter F. George School of Law, Mercer University, in Macon, Georgia. Upon graduating from law school and taking the bar exam, he joined the law firm of John Charles Lindsay, Sr., Bennettsville, as an associate, having worked there for several years during summers and holidays. Ronnie was most grateful for the years he practiced law with Jack Lindsay and his close association with dear friends Ed Cottingham, Harry Easterling, Sr., Billy Goldberg, Dupre Miller, and Mackie Mills, all who taught him to be a good "country lawyer."
As an attorney, Ronnie was licensed in the state of South Carolina and had special privileges to practice in North Carolina. He was also admitted to the Federal District Courts in South Carolina, United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond, Virginia, and the United States Supreme Court in Washington, DC. He was a member of the American Bar Association, The South Carolina Bar Association, and the Marlboro County Bar Association. He served terms as secretary and president of the county bar association. Ronnie was very appreciative of the encouragement and advice Buddy Newton, Jack, Edward, and Harry Sr. gave him when, after much thought, he entered countywide politics in 1974, and later statewide politics. After resigning as president of the Marlboro County Democratic Party, he was elected to the first elected Marlboro County Council; served as an elected member of the South Carolina General Assembly, House of Representatives, first term on the Judiciary Committee and second term on the Ways and Means Committee; the South Carolina State Reorganization Commission; and in 1980, as Mayor of Bennettsville. He served on many committees for economic development during his years in Marlboro County.
In 1988 he was elected to the South Carolina Highway Commission by the General Assembly and began a career helping the citizens of Marlboro, Dillon, Darlington, and Chesterfield Counties improve their statewide and countywide road systems. He was chosen to chair the Marlboro County Transportation Committee, serving for many years. He was honored November 12, 2008, when the South Carolina General assembly saw fit to name the Marlboro County SCDOT Maintenance Building on SC Highway 38 in his honor, "Wade R. Crow Maintenance and Engineering Office Building."
He was a life member of the Masonic Lodge in McColl, South Carolina, as Master Mason. He was also a Shriner in OMAR Temple.
Ronnie and his late brother, Gene, were given their first horses when they were eight and six years old. Horses were a part of the Crow family life for more than 50 years. Ronnie and daughter Cindi showed saddle horses and rode saddle horses throughout the southeast, winning many awards. Later, the entire family enjoyed fox hunting regularly with the Moore County Hounds in Southern Pines, NC, and the Camden Hunt in South Carolina. It was great fun for everyone to be a part of this sport for so many years and especially when the fox hounds were brought to hunt across Marlboro County's open lands and in the beautiful woods. Granddaughter, Jean Kaye McInnis, showed hunt horses and fox hounds during the fox hunting years.
Ronnie is survived by his wife, devoted friend, and companion of more than 60 years, Elaine Evatt Crow; daughter and son-in-law, Cindi and Duncan McInnis of Longs; granddaughter and husband, Jean Kaye and Brian Bilton of Little River; grandson and wife, Allen and Emily McInnis of Shalotte, NC; great-granddaughters, Lyndi Rae Bilton and Isabelle Rose McInnis; two nieces, Gina Jablokov (Igor) of Raleigh, NC and Resa Davis (Mike) of Chapin, SC; a great-niece, Eugenia Hartness, of Raleigh, NC; sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law, nieces and nephews, Donna and Henry Price of Clemson, Che Che and Charlie Goldman of Charleston, Robyn and Jason Jordan of Clemson, and Anna Hamilton of Travelers Rest, Jon, Jay, and Summer Hamilton, Jackson and Brandt, all of Charleston.
Memorials may be made to the Howard Hucks Fund or the Arthur Buchannan Fund of First Methodist Church, P.O. Box 456, Bennettsville, SC 29512, or to a charity of one's choice.
Online condolences may be mad at www.bfhbennettsville.com.
Burroughs Funeral Home is honored to assist the Crow family.
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