Walter Bethune Brandon COLUMBIA – Walter Bethune Brandon died Saturday, September 8, 2007, at Still Hopes Episcopal Retirement Community in Columbia. Mr. Brandon was born December 1, 1918, in Detroit, Michigan, the youngest of four children to Walter Craighead Brandon and Frances Bethune Brandon, of Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan. After graduating high school in Washington, D.C., he attended The Citadel for two years before accepting his appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. His class was graduated early in December of 1941, following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Mr. Brandon reported for duty on board the USS Portland, a heavy cruiser assigned in the Pacific theater in World War II. During the war, Mr. Brandon was involved in thirteen major naval battles including the battles of Midway and Coral Sea, before attending flight training at Corpus Christi, Texas. After the war, he was stationed in Washington, D.C., when he met and married Betty Varian Crews of Columbia in December of 1954. Mr. Brandon attended, and later instructed at the War College in Newport, Rhode Island. In 1962, he retired from the Navy at the Norfolk Air Station in Norfolk, Virginia, in the rank of Commander. Mr. Brandon and his family moved to Columbia, South Carolina, where he attended the University of South Carolina and received a master of engineering, specializing in transportation planning and engineering. After receiving his degree, Mr. Brandon worked with Wilbur Smith and Associates for twenty years, as well as twenty years with the LPA Group, both of Columbia. He received the prestigious Order of the Palmetto from Governor John C. West and was named a Palmetto Gentleman in 1971. He was a member of the Columbia Navy League, The St. Andrews Society, The Quadrille Club, and Trinity Episcopal Cathedral. He has been an avid golfer and enjoyed reading. Mr. Brandon is survived by his wife, Betty Varian Crews Brandon; and three children, Varian Crews Brandon Hunt of Atlanta, Georgia, Walter Bethune Brandon Jr. Skip of Fredericksburg, Virginia, and John Wilkins Crews Brandon of Columbia. Also, surviving are two grandchildren, Katherine Monnett Brandon Katie and Cameron Marshall Brandon of Fredericksburg, Virginia; a nephew, W. Croft Jennings Jr. of Columbia; and a son-in-law, Bruce Otis Hunt of Atlanta, and daughter-in-law, Nancy Douthett Brandon of Fredericksburg, Virginia. He was predeceased by his sister Elizabeth Brandon Jennings (Mrs. W. Croft Jennings) of Columbia, Agnes Brandon Cadwell (Mrs. Sidney Cadwell) of Hockessin, Delaware, and Samuel Craighead Brandon of Houston, Texas. The family will receive friends from 6-8 p.m. Tuesday at Still Hopes retirement Community in the main house. Services will be held Wednesday 3:30 p.m. at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral. Burial will follow in Elmwood Memorial Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be made to Kanuga Episcopal Conference Center, P.O. Box 250, Hendersonville, NC 28793-0250. Dunbar Funeral Home, Devine Street Chapel, is assisting the family.
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