Leaving South Carolina
by
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It would take a better writer than I am to summerize this book in a page or two or even to select a passage that might appeal to all but here is what one writer said about LEAVING SOUTH CAROLINA:
"The book is many things but it is not boring. Pawley unflinchingly tells of his childhood exploits: many were dangerous, and even more were embarrassing....'I always thought my life was very mediocre and average,' Pawley admits 'but when you total all of these things up on paper it looks somewhat interesting.' His humble, self-deprecating style charms where other...books drag. Perhaps his life has been an average life as he says, yet is has been full of entertainment value - and lessons learned. Short but descriptive anecdotes dot the book's surprisingly swift 256 pages."
So said editor of The News and Press on April 5, 2007
Another writer reviewing the book for The Belton News, said:
"He was seven years old when he came to Columbia where his father was the Art Director at the Columbia Museum of Art...(LEAVING SOUTH CAROLINA) is a very light-hearted account of his family, which was quite large, and the normal things that boys do as children. The book takes you through his life in the Air Force and his experiences...and all the times he was "leaving South Carolina." I thoroughly enjoyed the book and would recommend it to anyone of any age to read...The book has adventure, happiness, sadness, and very serious topics in it. Since the author and I are in the same age range, I definitely related to some of his remembrances...The author has some great concerns about the quality of life and the state of affairs of our country during our times and they are justly warranted. He believes, as do I, that we have yet to see just how difficult times will be in our future. The Great Depression will, unfortunately, not be our greatest depression."
Perhaps a list of the chapters of this book would be helpful:
1. Arriving in South Carolina
2. The Kidnapping and the Lightning Storm
3. The Fire and My Native American Friend
4. The Rescue and the $5 Reward
5. The Frog in the Classroom
6. Numismatics and Judge Seabrook Whaley's Beach House
7. Carolina Clay, Suicide, and Land at $5 an Acre?
8. Not Quite Rock and Roll
9. Another Rescue and Another Death
10. High School
11. Advanced Typing
12. Myrtle Beach and Drug Smuggling
13. Darlington
14. The USAF, the Destruction of LA, and the Fuel of the
Future
15. Information Specialist and West Texas Politics
16. Jerry Van Dyke and the UN Representative
17. Home Again
18. Back to Columbia
19. Leaving South Carolina
20. A Yankee Salary: $2 an hour
21. Koscot Interplanetary, Inc.
22. NATPAC
23. The Charismatic Renewal
24. The X-Files
25. Friends
26. The Day After Tomorrow
27. EPILOGUE: Space and Beyond
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About the Book
About The Book
LEAVING SOUTH CAROLINA is the true story of a young boys move to South Carolina, and, as he grew to manhood, his search for the meaning and purpose of life with friends and classmates who aspired to greatness - one grew up to be a Hollywood producer, another Chief Justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court. It is a story of faith and hope and perserverance; a story of kidnapping, nearly fatal auto accidents, murder, suicide, and the search for love and success.
It is a story that includes the bravery of one member of "The Greatest Generation" ("The Lone Bomber of Rabaul") and the colorful politics of West Texas; a story of crashing on a sofa in author Micky Spillane's home one night in Myrtle Beach to crashing in an automobile and spending two days in a coma.
About the Author
Richard Pawley was raised in Columbia and Florence and is the oldest of eight children. He graduated from McClenaghan High School and attended the University of South Carolina for more years than he cares to admit. He has worked as an apple packer, a warehouseman, a journalist, a photographer, an employment interviewer, a salesman, among other things. He also has twenty years experience in clean room laboratories running computerized robots, electron microscopes and other equipment for manufacturers like IBM and Philips. For the past ten years he has lived with his wife by the side of a pond in rural Dutchess County in upstate New York. They often visit friends and family in South Carolina.