Robert Carson "Bobby" Thigpen

Robert Carson “Bobby” Thigpen, Jr, 83, of Florence, passed away on Monday, September 3, 2018. He was the husband of Teresa Jones Thigpen to whom he was married on December l5, 1956.Bobby was born in Sumter October 23, 1934, the son of the late Robert Carson Thigpen, Sr. & Lillian Ruth Hodge Thigpen. He graduated from Manning High School in 1952 and was a U.S. Army veteran, and was a Christian and a member of Trinity Evangelical Presbyterian Church. He spent most of his adult life in Florence, moving here in 1964. He was a retired engineer from the CSX Railroad with 40 years of service.He was past president of the SCL Railroad Retired Men’s Club. He was a member of the Sumter County Genealogy Society, Three Rivers Historical Society and the Clarendon County Historical Society. He was a member of The Pee Dee Rifles. He bowled on the Senior All Stars league for many years. He played softball with the Darlington County Senior softball team until he was 71 years old. He loved to fish in the lakes on the Little and Big Pee Dee rivers in his one man boat. His biggest hobby was working on genealogy, which he started doing the morning after he retired in 1997. His greatest joy was to find another piece of the family puzzle and to share his findings with others. He co-authored several cemetery books and donated many books of obituaries and other genealogical information that he had assembled to the Florence County Library’s Carolina Room and to the Clarendon County Archives. He compiled several books from articles with information gleaned from The State newspaper during the time period of the 1891 to 1922. One of which was on his beloved hometown of Paxville, SC. They too were donated to The Clarendon County Archives. He was a volunteer tax counselor for Taxaide, for many years, which does individuals income tax for free. Surviving in addition to his wife are 2 sons, Robby Thigpen of Florence, and Jeffrey & Peggy Thigpen of Nichols; a daughter, Kristal Jones of Florence; two granddaughters, Victoria Galloway of Florence and Scarlet Jones of Florence; and a great-grandson, Anthony Michael Powell and great granddaughter Alaina Marie Davenport. He was predeceased by a brother, Ray Thigpen, of Paxville. The family will receive friends from 6 – 8 PM Wednesday, September 5, 2018 at Stoudenmire-Dowling Funeral Home. Funeral services will be held at 3:00 PM Thursday at Trinity Presbyterian Church.Entombment will follow in the Florence Memorial Gardens Mausoleum. Memorials may be made to Brewington Cemetery Fund, 895 Pleasant Grove Road, Lynchburg, SC29080.