A concurrent RESOLUTION

 

To Request the Department of Transportation name the portion of United States Highway 76 (Hillcrest Drive) in the City of Laurens in Laurens County from the intersection of North Harper Street to Hillcrest Square "Judge Joseph Wilson McGowan III Memorial Highway" and erect appropriate signs or markers at this location containing these words.

 

Whereas, the Honorable Joseph W. McGowan III was born on February 4, 1952, in Charleston, the son of Joseph W. McGowan Jr. and Ellen Virginia Mims McGowan. He attended the Charleston area public schools and graduated from St. Andrew's Parish High School; and

 

Whereas, while in high school, he played keyboards for a number of groups, among them the Miracle Makers, the Shoresmen, the Dawks, the Malibus, the Testament, and the Counts at venues in Charleston, Columbia, on Folly Beach, the Isle of Palms, and as far away as Boston, backing up recording artists that included the Original Drifters, Major Lance, and the Tams; and

 

Whereas, Judge McGowan furthered his education earning a bachelor's degree with honors from Newberry College in 1974, where he was initiated into the Kappa Alpha Order social fraternity, becoming the chapter's president his senior year. He later was admitted into the fraternity's Graves Province Court of Honor; and

 

Whereas, the judge earned his juris doctorate degree from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1978 and entered private practice with the law firm of Abercrombie & McGowan in Laurens. He served as a commissioner of public works for the City of Laurens, and he served on the University of South Carolina Board of Visitors. He was said to be a proud Gamecock; and

 

Whereas, he was elected to the Eighth Judicial Circuit Family Court of South Carolina on February 10, 1999, to serve Abbeville, Greenwood, Laurens, and Newberry counties. Judge McGowan held this post for nearly two decades before retiring in 2017 and starting what would become a successful mediation practice; and

 

Whereas, the Honorable Judge Joseph Wilson McGowan III passed away on Saturday, May 31, 2025, following a life well lived as a family man and true public servant. It is only right and fitting that he is remembered with a portion of highway in the City of Laurens named in his memory. Now, therefore,

 

Be it resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring:

 

That the members of the South Carolina General Assembly, by this resolution, request the Department of Transportation name the portion of United States Highway 76 (Hillcrest Drive) in the City Of Laurens in Laurens County from the intersection of North Harper Street to Hillcrest Square "Judge Joseph Wilson McGowan III Memorial Highway" and erect appropriate signs or markers at this location containing these words.

 

Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to the Department of Transportation.

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