Friends, family, dignitaries and colleagues gathered for a bridge dedication ceremony in Jacksonboro at the ACE Basin Fish Camp on Monday, Sept. 21 to honor retired Sen. Peden McLeod.
The South Carolina General Assembly passed a resolution in May to honor McLeod at the request of the Department of Transportation by naming the bridge that crosses the Edisto River along U.S. Highway 17 in Colleton County the “Senator Peden McLeod Bridge.”
Barnwell Fishburne, vice-chairman of the SCDOT Commission, was gratified that the request was met by the assembly. “I am delighted to be here today to give this award to Peden,” said Fishburne. “He is very deserving.”
Representative Robert Brown of House District 116 thanked McLeod for his many years of service, and Rev. McKinley Washington read a humorous, but eloquent, letter from Sen. Margie Bright Matthews regarding the time she spent as a teenaged Senate page for McLeod and how he had greatly influenced her life.
Sen. Larry Grooms said, “I greatly appreciate the service of the McLeod family, and what they have done for the state of South Carolina. I don’t know where Colleton County would be today if not for Peden McLeod. I have always been amazed at the prosperity of Walterboro compared to surrounding towns and counties, and that is because of the vision of Peden McLeod.”
McLeod has a supportive family and a long and distinguished resume of service. He is married to Mary Waite McLeod and together they are the parents of four children and have 10 grandchildren.
He graduated from Wofford College in 1962 and from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1967. For more than 50 years McLeod has been a leading member of the South Carolina Bar.
In 1988, he founded the Bank of Walterboro, now the Bank of the Lowcountry, and currently serves as its board chairman and chief executive officer.
McLeod is a permanent member of the United States Fourth Judicial Circuit Conference, was a member of the House of Delegates for the South Carolina Bar from 1975 to 1983, and served as a member of the Walterboro City Council from 1970 to 1972.
In his list of other community contributions, McLeod served as commander of Post 93 of the American Legion from 1971 to 1972 and district chairman of the Boy Scouts of America from 1967 to 1971; was a member of the South Carolina Law Review and the Society of the Wig and Robe during his law school years; and received the Jaycees Distinguished Service Award in 1972.
McLeod also had a distinguished career in the General Assembly. Elected to the House of Representatives in 1972 from Colleton County, he served as assistant majority leader from 1977 to 1979; was chairman of the Joint Appropriations Review Committee from 1978 to 1979; was elected to the Senate in 1979; became chairman of the Senate Medical Affairs Committee; and remained in the Senate until Oct. 1, 1990, when he became code commissioner and director of the Legislative Council, a position he held until Feb. 16, 1998. In the latter capacity, he was a commissioner of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws and serves as a lifetime member, the secretary of the Judicial Council of the State of South Carolina, and a commissioner of the Constitutional Ballot Commission. He was also awarded the Order of the Palmetto by former Governor David Beasley.
The members of the South Carolina General Assembly passed this resolution stating, “It would be fitting and proper to further recognize the good works of this son of South Carolina by having a bridge in his beloved Colleton County named in his honor.”
At his dedication ceremony, McLeod graciously accepted the highway sign and framed resolution, and remarked, “I am grateful to the people who elected me and gave me the opportunity to serve them. I always believed that I should always do what was right and never give up,” said McLeod. “I am very proud of my record of service. I gave a lot of time and effort to Colleton. I could not have done any of this without my family. I would like to thank my wife, who worked so hard to campaign for me, and my children.”
