S/Sgt. Gaines O. Boone – Nov 24, 1924 – Sept 14, 1921 – 372nd BS TTO
Obituary
Funeral Services for Gaines Orin “G.O.” Boone, who died on September 14, 2021 will be held at Bethel Lutheran Church in White Rock, South Carolina on Saturday, September 18, 11am, with the Rev. Megan Lineberger presiding. The family will receive friends from 10am-10:45am in the church. Interment will follow in Bethel Lutheran Church Cemetery.
Mr. Boone, the son of D.A. Gaines and Sudie Bryan Boone, was born on 29 November 1924 in Greenwood County, South Carolina. He graduated from Saluda High School, where he played center on the 1941 state championship football team. He then volunteered for the Army Air Corps and flew 38 combat missions in the South Pacific as a ball turret gunner. After the war, he received two degrees: a B.S. from Newberry College in 1948; and a M.Ed. from the University of South Carolina in 1951.
Mr. Boone devoted his career to public service. His first jobs were teaching and coaching football at Clinton, Ninety-Six, and Kingstree high schools. He then joined the FBI in 1952 and served as a Special Agent in Chicago, Minneapolis, and Washington, DC. In 1958, he returned to Florence, South Carolina – where he served as an arson investigator for the National Board of Fire Underwriters. In 1970, Mr. Boone moved to Irmo, South Carolina and took a position in the Governor’s Office. There, he developed the South Carolina Law Enforcement Radio Communications Plan and served as Director of Emergency Management. For his excellence and dedication in this role, he was granted the Order of the Palmetto by Governor Richard Riley and featured in Personalities of the South (1973 and 1974 editions). Mr. Boone then finished his career with the Environmental Protection Agency. Here, he helped implement the Emergency Preparedness and Community Right-to-Know Act, which still shapes how dangerous chemicals are monitored across the country. In recognition, he was awarded the EPA Bronze Medal for Commendable Service, before retiring in 1991. Mr. Boone also served in the leadership of two professional societies: the Association of Public Communications Officers and the Society of Former FBI Agents.
Mr. Boone was a dedicated volunteer and community leader. He regularly taught Sunday School for several decades. He also served in the leadership of three Lutheran Churches, the Lowman Home, and the South Carolina Federation of Independent Colleges. Mr. Boone was a founding member of the Pee Dee Kiwanis Club, which he represented at international conventions as chapter president. He was particularly generous to his alma mater, Newberry College. Mr. Boone served on its Board of Trustees (including six years as Chairman), as president of the Alumni Association, as a member of two presidential search committees, and on its Foundation Board of Visitors. He was especially proud of raising funds for four athletics scholarships and initiating the “Send a Car to Newberry College” program. In honor of his contributions, Newberry College named him Outstanding Alumnus in 1996.
In his many activities, Mr. Boone was supported by his loving wife of sixty-six years, the late Elizabeth Rice Boone. Together, they were awarded the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award by Newberry College in 1981, and later, the Service to Mankind Award by the Chapin Sertoma Club.
Mr. Boone is survived by – his son and daughter-in-law, Andrew and Cheyrl Boone of Chapin, South Carolina; his daughter and son-in-law, Marilyn and Dean Kimbrell of Atlanta, Georgia; grandson George Boone and his wife Karin of Sydney, Australia; granddaughter Mandy (Kimbrell) Psiaki and her husband David of Atlanta, Georgia; grandson Wilt Boone and his partner Brooke Steenwyk of Boone, North Carolina; and great-grandchildren Katherine and Gaines Psiaki. He was predeceased by his wife, Elizabeth Rice Boone; brothers William Arthur and Claude Wayne Boone; and sisters, Lois Perry, Winona Smith, and Ilene Davis.
The family greatly appreciates the outstanding care, support, and hospice given to Mr. Boone by Dr. Carroll Pinner III and his staff at the Pinner Clinic. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that memorials be made to either the “G.O. and Betty Boone Scholarship Fund” at Newberry College (2100 College Street, Newberry, SC 29108) or Bethel Lutheran Church (PO Box 367, White Rock, SC 29177).
