Barbara Jean Owen Wessinger

Barbara Jean Owen Wessinger entered into a much-deserved eternal rest early Sunday morning, June 23, 2024. She was born in Pendleton, S.C., on Dec. 11, 1930, in the house built by her great-great-grandmother, where her father and grandmother had also been born. She lived there on the farm with her grandparents, “Dee” and Ollie Owen, and parents, Ansel Ojie Owen and Ruth Elizabeth Griffith, until she was five, when she moved only a mile away to the little cottage her father built. She remembered sitting in her little rocking chair in the wagon with their other furniture, not at all happy to be leaving the farm, so she made frequent trips back to play with her cousins and the children of the farm’s tenant workers. One of those women taught her to count in Cherokee, and another, who had a baby every year, kept Barbara supplied with little ones to play with and pretend they were her own. She was feisty and independent even as a child: she once chased her cousin around the yard with a hatchet because he had disparaged her great-grandfather (but the cousin got his revenge when he tried to drive the old farm car with her in the rumble seat in back, and she fell off and under the car). Disobeying her grandfather’s strict order, she went to the barn to saddle her horse by herself and had to escape up the feed shaft when it turned on her. And, though she loved the beach, she never learned to swim; she nearly drowned once when fishing with her great-grandfather at the branch and had a fear of water ever after. Bright and quick to learn, she started first grade at five and rode to school with a neighbor who was a teacher, only to discover one morning that the school had burned down during the night. The school was rebuilt, and she was proud to be called up on stage when her great-great-uncle was honored as the oldest living Confederate veteran in the Upstate.
The family moved to Gainesville, Georgia, during WWII, when her father was a supervisor at the Bell bomber plant. There she enrolled at the Brenau school of music and became a very accomplished pianist. Moving back to the Upstate as a sophomore, “Bobbie Jean” was graduated from T.L Hanna High School for girls in Anderson, where she was active in the Beta Club, the Commercial Club, and the Color Guard. She attended Anderson Junior College, but when her daddy wanted her to major in music and she wanted to major in business, she quit and went to work at the bank. Her head for numbers earned her many accolades, and she was even called on to repair some of the money-counting machines. She also worked in the early years of television, first as a production assistant and then as a model for some of the women’s programming. Her flair for fashion, her talent, and her lovely face earned her a spot on the May Court and then a crown as Miss Anderson; she went on to become the first runner-up in the Miss South Carolina pageant in 1949.
Dating several Clemson “boys,” in 1954 she met and married Norman Carl Wessinger, who predeceased her in 2011. They moved to Richmond, VA, where Carl was a dental student, and where she worked as the executive assistant to the president of First & Merchants Bank, frequently interacting with Governor Stanley and Senator Byrd. The growing family moved to Clinton, S.C. in 1958, where Barbara made many friends through bridge club, supper club, St. John’s Lutheran Church, and state dental society meetings, and where she and Carl became one of the founding couples of the Clinton Cotillion. Four children were eventually born, and Barbara devoted herself to them, never missing football, baseball, or basketball games, cheerleading events, recitals, plays, or concerts. She was a Blue Bird leader and served as ad-hoc room mom and substitute teacher for her beloved youngest son’s classes. In her later years she welcomed ten grandchildren and was expecting her twentieth great-grandchild by the end of the year. She was as devoted to them as she was to her own children, telling anyone who would listen about her family and everyone’s activities.
Those surviving family members are son Dr. Karl Derek Wessinger (Jean) of Gray Court and his daughters Dr. Rebecca Wessinger (Gina Brunello), Jessica Prescott (Collins), Jennifer Stover (Neil), and Dr. Emily Revis (Cole); daughter Karen Wessinger Carroll, Esq. (David) and children Will Carroll (Kimberly), Katie Helmick (Bradley), Daniel Carroll (Ashley), and Ben Carroll; son Dr. Kevin Owen Wessinger (Jodie) and children Kelli Wessinger (Michael Veale) and Alex Wessinger; and son Brian Norman Wessinger. The family extends its heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to Amber Sparrow, Barbara’s indispensable caregiver and friend; neighbor Brenda Stewart, who supplied many home-cooked meals as well as hours of conversation and news; and friend Nancy Chapman, who received a phone call every day of the year and kept Barbara and Brian apprised of all Clemson games.
Visitation will be Sunday, June 30, at 4:00 at Pinelawn Memory Gardens, 28808 Hwy 76 East, Clinton, SC, followed by a service at 5:00.
Barbara loved gardening, birds (especially redbirds and hummingbirds), music, her dogs, and her family. Please remember her by planting a flower, setting out a birdfeeder, swinging to some big band music, taking your dog for a walk, or by making a memorial donation to SC Special Olympics, Attn: Memorial Giving, 204 Palmetto Park Boulevard, Lexington, SC, 29072 or to Broad Street United Methodist Church, 310 N. Broad St., Clinton, SC, 29325.

Gray Funeral Home of Clinton is assisting the Wessinger family with services.