From These Roots

Rufus Garner Rushton was born in Oconee County, South Carolina, on October 23, 1919, to parents Christopher Columbus Rushton and Martha Melinda Sanders Rushton. He spent the first years of his life on a farm in Oconee County and was the fifth child born out of eight. His older sister, Elsie, died in 1917 of diphtheria when she was just 6 years old. Around 1923, the Rushton family relocated to the Monaghan Mill community in Greenville, where Christopher Rushton found employment in the textile mills, reflecting the broader migration of many South Carolina families from agricultural life to mill work during the early twentieth century.

Rufus’s life changed forever in 1930 when his mom died suddenly at the age of 38. It is not completely clear what happened to Rufus after the death of his mother, but according to Jean Martin Flynn in her book “North Greenville Junior College: A History”, Rufus ended up homeless as a teenager. According to Flynn’s account, “one day in the summer of 1940, the Greenville Welfare Office called Dr. Donnan and asked him whether he could take care of a boy the police had picked up in Greenville. The boy had no home and was spending his time on the streets. Dr. Donnan told the case worker to send the boy up, and so Rufus Rushton came to North Greenville. The Elks Club gave ten dollars a month towards his support, Dr. Donnan provided him some scholarship work, and the school bore the rest of the expense.”

Rufus was placed in the 8th grade when he started at North Greenville, and he also worked as a taxi cab driver for the Yellow Cab Company. He finished the 9th grade before, on December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and brought the United States into World War II. A few days later, on December 11, 1941, Rufus traveled to Charlotte, North Carolina, and enlisted in the United States Army.

Following his enlistment, Rufus trained at Fort Jackson in South Carolina and later at Camp Wheeler in Georgia and Fort Benning before ultimately being stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. There, he served as a private first class paratrooper. On November 5, 1942, he married Mildred Carolyn O’Shields. After a brief trip to Georgia, Rufus returned to military duty while Mildred remained in Greenville awaiting his return from overseas service.

In August 1943, Rufus deployed to the European Theater as a member of the 101st Airborne Division. During his service abroad, he participated in campaigns across France, Holland, and Belgium. He survived multiple combat jumps, including the D-Day invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944, one of the most consequential military operations of the Second World War. Throughout his deployment, students and faculty from North Greenville maintained correspondence with Rufus, reflecting the deep connection he retained with the institution that had offered him stability and opportunity during his youth.

Rufus’s military service came to a tragic end during the Battle of the Bulge. On January 3, 1945, while fighting in Belgium, he suffered a severe abdominal wound caused by shrapnel. Although surgeons initially repaired the injury, he developed pneumonia and died on January 7, 1945. Rufus was only twenty-five years old. He is buried in Graceland West Cemetery in Greenville, South Carolina.