William "Willie" Elmer Allison, II

William Elmer (Willie) Allison II, 80, of Columbia SC, died peacefully in his sleep on July 18, 2024, in hospice at Columbia’s VA hospital. 

Born on  November 12, 1943, to William Elmer Allison and Josephine Allison, Willie is survived by his twin sister, Dargan Richards, who took such good care of him in his later years, and by his loving brother, Jack. (His other loving brother, Joe, died in 2010.) Also surviving Willie are his son, Will Allison, his daughter-in-law, Deborah Way, and his cherished grandchild, Hazel Allison-Way, all of South Orange, NJ; his son, Shack Allison, his ex-wife, Elizabeth Cain, and his devoted niece, Jean McAlister, all of Ridgeway, SC; his ex-wife, Elyse Moriarty, of Buford GA; and the rest of his beloved extended family.

Willie grew up on his family’s dairy farm; graduated from Lower Richland High School in 1961; and spent two years in the Navy, stationed in Bermuda, Nova Scotia, and Guantanamo Bay. After a semester at the University of South Carolina, Willie was eager to start making money, so he dropped out and eventually began buying and selling heavy construction equipment, a career that would take him to North Carolina, Georgia, California, Virginia, and Tennessee.

Willie spent the last twenty-five years of his life back home at Tupelo Farms, where he cared for his father; doted on his dachshund, Louie; took pleasure in mowing the grass and otherwise puttering around; and, together with his siblings, hosted annual corn boils featuring Beaufort stew, boiled peanuts, and a wide and convivial circle of family and friends who gathered under the farm’s sprawling live oaks—trees planted when Willie and Dargan were born.

A racing fan, Willie served as a NASCAR track steward at Columbia Speedway in the late 1960s, though he came to prefer watching basketball and baseball, especially the Atlanta Braves. Willie could tie a cherry stem in a knot with his tongue. Though he suffered from short-term memory loss later in life, his long-term memory, particularly for numbers, was remarkable. To the end, he could recall his Navy service number, his old telephone numbers, and the model numbers of countless dozers, graders, scrapers, and loaders. He was an omnivorous reader and once bought an entire roomful of paperbacks at a used bookstore; on the drive home, grocery sacks of books filled the trunk and backseat of his prized 1973 Pontiac Firebird Formula 455. Other things Willie liked: comic strips (especially B.C. and Calvin and Hobbes), Looney Tunes cartoons, Monopoly, science fiction, camping, menthol cigarettes, assisting Jack with projects, and relaxing with Dargan under a shade tree near his bird feeders. Most of all, Willie loved his family. Things he didn’t like: being cold, and grits without salt.

Willie was a man of many wisecracks, all of them well-worn. If you asked how he was doing, he might say he was getting old, “but it sure beats the alternative.”  He also said not to spend money on his funeral and to have a GTOBG party instead. Then he’d wait for you to ask what that meant. “Glad the old bastard’s gone!” But of course we aren’t.

The South Carolina Cremation Society is assisting the family. Please share memories and messages on the online guest book by clicking on the “Leave A Tribute” tab above.