Obituary of Joseph R. Kuykendall

Joseph Raymond Kuykendall of Cayce, went on to be with our Lord on July 27, 2023. He was born on June 6, 1939, in Laurens, SC, and grew up in Clinton, SC. He moved to Washington, D.C., after graduating high school to work at the Federal Bureau of Investigation headquarters. (As a mailroom employee, he met and rode the elevator with J. Edgar Hoover). He worked his way into administration for support personnel in the Columbia office. He worked thirty-five ½ years for the FBI when he retired in 1995. He also served 2 years stateside in the Army during the Vietnam War. He was married to Marion J. Kuykendall for fifty-two ½ years when she went to be with our Lord in December 2017.

He is survived by his son, Rev. Monte Kuykendall of Evans, GA. He was preceded in death by his father, Cephas R. Kuykendall, and his mother, Gaynell Eskew Kuykendall, both of Clinton, SC, and his sister, Joan, and his niece, Elizabeth.

Joseph was involved in his church (Mill City Church, formerly known as First Baptist of Cayce) as a deacon and a Sunday School teacher, as well as a member of the Gideons and a 32-degree Mason. He also donated consistently to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. He loved to play his guitar for fun, both his Gibson acoustic and three-pedal steel guitar. Both instruments he played by ear.

Services will be held Saturday, July 29, at Mill City Church. Visitation will be at 11 AM, and a memorial service will be at 12 PM. Rev. Dr. Ken Harmon will be presiding.

In lieu of flowers, donations in his honor may be made to either St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (https://www.stjude.org/) or Gideons International (https://www.gideons.org/).