By Jason Evans

Staff Reporter

jevans@thepccourier.com

PICKENS COUNTY — C. David Stone, the man who was South Carolina’s longest serving sheriff, has died.

C. David Stone

Stone died Tuesday at age 83.

First elected Sheriff in 1969, Stone was re-elected 10 ten times, serving 44 years until his retirement in 2012. At the time of his retirement, he was the second longest-serving sheriff in the United States.

During a ceremony for retiring Pickens County Sheriff’s Office employees at the end of 2021, Stone looked back on his career.

“Good things come to an end at some point,” he said. “I thought that I would be there forever. I’ve learned better. After I sit around awhile, after the election, I got up in my shed and started talking to myself, and I found out that I was getting older. Of course, I wasn’t ready to go, but I don’t have any regrets.”

Before becoming sheriff, Stone served on Pickens City Council.

During his career, Stone was named Sheriff of the Year three times by the South Carolina Sheriffs Association.

He received the American Legion Outstanding Law Enforcement Award and the Strom Thurmond Award for Excellence in Law Enforcement.

In 2008, he was awarded the Order of the Palmetto, the state’s highest civilian honor.

In May of 2013, the South Carolina General Assembly adopted a resolution honoring Stone “for his long and dedicated service and outstanding contributions to law enforcement for the past forty-four years.”

In October 2019, Stone was inducted into the South Carolina Law Enforcement Officers Hall of Fame during a ceremony in Columbia.

At the retirement ceremony, Stone said his father C.W. Stone, longtime chief of the Pickens Police Department, gave him some good advice early in his law enforcement career.

“Treat people just like you want to be treated, and things will work out,” he said. “That’s sort of my motto.”

See more coverage in the next week’s Pickens County Courier on sale December 23.