Chauncey Depew "'Bubber'" Gregory Jr.

1928 - 2021

A local leader since 1951, C.D. "Bubber" Gregory Jr., 93, died Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2021.To Bubber, civic responsibility was a duty as well as a privilege. Through personal commitment, high energy and many hours of hard work, he strived to make Lancaster a better place to live.
Bubber was authentic – a Southern gentleman, enthusiastically welcoming both guests and strangers, and genuinely sorry to see them leave. A natural athlete, Bubber played college football and baseball. He enjoyed a good tennis game for most of his adult life and ran every morning for 50 years.
Born in Lancaster on Jan. 15, 1928, to Chauncey D. Gregory Sr. and Gladys Gray Gregory, Bubber graduated from Lancaster High School in 1944. After graduation, he attended the McCallie School in Chattanooga, Tenn. In 1946, he volunteered for the Navy and spent two years aboard the USS Princeton, where he played on the ship's baseball team. These Navy teams introduced the sport of baseball to parts of East Asia.
After his Navy service, Bubber entered Furman University, graduating in 1951. He then joined his father, C.D. Gregory Sr., at Builders Supply Co., a successful retailer of building materials for contractors. The company had been purchased by his grandfather, William Thurlow Gregory ,in 1909 as a vendor of lumber, coal and ice. Bubber was named president of Builders Supply in 1966 and worked there until shortly before his death.
He was active in many national trade organizations. He served on the Dealers Advisory Board of Builders Marts of America and was president of the Carolinas-Tennessee Building Dealers Material Association. He has served as president of the Lancaster Jaycees and was chosen by the S.C. Jaycees as one of 10 outstanding presidents.
In 1971, he was named Lancaster's Boss of the Year. In 1957, he received the Distinguished Service Award as Lancaster's Outstanding Young Man of the Year and the Civitan Club's Citizen of the Year in 1979.
In 1956-57, Bubber served as president of the Merchants Association, which under his leadership became the Lancaster County Chamber of Commerce. During his tenure, the chamber was reorganized and membership more than doubled.
He was instrumental in all aspects in the founding of the University of South Carolina Lancaster. He later led the successful drive to raise $3.5 million, which enabled USCL to build a new physical education center. The center was later named the C.D. Gregory Jr. Health and Wellness Center. It is now the Gregory Family YMCA.
Bubber served as chairman of the Executive Committee of the Elliott White Springs Memorial Hospital and as a member of the Lancaster County Medical Endowment Board of Directors. He was president, a member of the board of directors and a Paul Harris Fellow of the Lancaster Rotary Club.
Other honors include the Furman University Board of Trustees, president of the Lancaster Toastmasters Club, chairman of the Educational Foundation of USC Lancaster and member of the Young Presidents Organization. He was an active member and deacon of First Baptist Church and a founding member of Covenant Baptist Church.
Bubber had an interest in education that led to a program sponsored by Builders Supply to encourage kindergarten through sixth-grade students to excel in school. During each six-week grading period, Builders Supply awarded gifts to all students who met goals such as perfect attendance, honor roll and most improved, and hosted a special party with dinner, entertainment and prizes for those students who had made straight A's.
Bubber is survived by his his wife of 40 years, Betsy Woltz Gregory, four children, Chauncey K. Gregory (Sherri), Alice Gray Gregory, Richards Gregory and Mary Leigh Gregory Ryan; five grandchildren; his sister, Carol Hodnett, of St. Petersburg, Fla.; a niece and a nephew.
Visitation will be held from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 27, at Catawba Falls, 4223 Cedar Creek Road, Lancaster. Funeral services for Mr. Gregory will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 28, at First Presbyterian Church in Lancaster, with the Rev. Edgar McCall presiding. The family asks that masks be worn by those attending. A private family burial at Westside Cemetery will precede the service.
Memorials may be made to the Educational Foundation of the University of South Carolina Lancaster, P. O. Box 889, Lancaster, SC 29721. Memorials to the foundation may be designated for either the Gregory Family YMCA or the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce Endowed Scholarship in Honor of C.D. Gregory Jr. and Charles A. Bundy Sr.