John Lincoln Padgett

John Lincoln Padgett, a devoted husband, dad, and longtime worker at Westinghouse in Hampton, died Nov. 5, 2019 at Colleton Medical Center in Walterboro. He was 85.

He was born August 29,1934, in Hampton County, one of 11 children and the oldest son of J. L. and Katie Mae Wynn Padgett of Hampton. With his four siblings who survived past early childhood, the family lived and worked in a number of locations, including Fairfax and Miley, before settling permanently in Hampton.   He graduated from Wade Hampton High School in 1956 and took a job at Westinghouse Micarta Plant in Hampton, where he worked for 30 years until he retired in 1994.  In 1960 he married the love of his life, Eliza Mary Ann DeLoach of Varnville, and they remained married for nearly 60 years. They had one son, who was born in 1966, and they lived for most of their lives in the same house in the Nixville area. He was a Mason of the Crocketville Masonic Lodge, and a member and former deacon at Hopewell First Baptist Church.

A lifelong fan of country music, he got to go to the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville in the early 2000s. He enjoyed fishing and other outdoor activities, playing with (and occasionally teasing) children and the numerous cats and dogs he had over the years, and volunteering with the Boy Scouts, including a stint as scoutmaster of Troop 664 in Hampton in the 1980s.

During his final years, he suffered from macular degeneration and other health problems that limited his ability to get out as much as he would have liked, but he never lost his sense of humor, even joking with hospital staff on his last day, and he remained a good and jovial friend to everyone he happened to meet.

Preceding him in death were his parents; five siblings who died in infancy; a sister, Alice Theresia, who died when she was eight; sisters Virginia Evelyn Moody and Lula Mae Gooding High; and brother Jimmy Edward Padgett.

He is survived by his wife, Eliza Padgett, of the home; a son, John Brewton Padgett, and daughter-in-law, Esther Kay Padgett, of Brevard, North Carolina; a sister, Judy Carol Branton, of Lady's Island; and many nieces and nephews, who all knew him as "Uncle John."

Funeral services will be 11 AM Friday at Hopewell Baptist Church conducted by Rev. D.W. Feaster with burial in the Hopewell Cemetery with Masonic Rites.

Visitation will be 5 to 8 PM Thursday at Peeples-Rhoden Funeral Home located at 300 Mulberry Street West in Hampton.

The family suggests that those who wish may send memorials to the American Macular Degeneration Foundation, PO Box 515, Northampton, MA 01061 or the National Kidney Foundation, Inc., 30 East 33rd Street, New York, NY  10016.