Obituary of Maurice Bessinger

L. Maurice Bessinger, Sr., of West Columbia, entered the presence of his Lord and Saviour on February 22nd, 2014. He is survived by Barbara Williams Bessinger, his loving and devoted wife of sixty-one years; his two sons, Lloyd (Betsy) Bessinger and Paul (Carol) Bessinger; his two daughters, Debbie (Michael) Bennett and Joanna (John) Morgan; grandchildren Tiffany (Brad) Prince, Reese (Kelly) Bessinger, Ryan (Emily) Bessinger, Ashley (John) Wood, Angela Smith, Paul (Kim) Bessinger, Candace Bessinger, Cody Bessinger, Chris (Christina) Bennett, and Carolyn (Peter) Shvetz; eleven great-grandchildren; one sister, Betty Roberts of Charleston, two brothers, Thomas Bessinger and Robert Bessinger, both of Charleston; and many nieces and nephews. Maurice was the eighth of eleven children born to the late Joseph Jacob and Genora Thomas Bessinger on the family farm near Orangeburg on July 14, 1930. His later childhood and adolescent years were spent in Holly Hill, SC, where he lettered in four high school sports and worked with his father in the family restaurant. After serving three years in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, he returned to his beloved South Carolina, married, and established Piggie Park Enterprises in Cayce in 1953. He served as president of the South Carolina Restaurant Association in the 1960's. During the mid-1970's he accepted Jesus Christ as his Saviour and was used of the Lord in helping to bring his immediate family and many others to a saving knowledge of Christ. He had a deep burden to see others come to have a personal relationship with Christ and, in 1980, began operating the Lighthouse Mission through which he reached out to many of the less fortunate coming to the Columbia area. Maurice loved his family, the state of South Carolina, Gamecock sports, raising animals on his farm later in life, and cherished being known as "your ole' Barbeque Buddy." The funeral service will be at First Baptist Church of West Columbia at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, February 27th. Visitation will be held at the Thompson Funeral Home of West Columbia on Wednesday, February 26th, from 6:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. Honorary pallbearers are David Bogden, Al Fallaw, Harold Finch, James Hamilton, Spruce McCain, Larry Pressler, Rev. Lonnie Shull, Steve Sloan, Richard Stoudemire and Joe White. Serving as pallbearers are his grandsons and husbands of granddaughters. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Juvenile Diabetes of South Carolina, 3608 Landmark Drive, Ste. C, Columbia, SC 29204 or to the Alzheimer's Association of West Columbia, 3223 Sunset Blvd., Ste. 100, West Columbia, SC 29169.