Funeral services for Cezar Harrison “Buster” McKnight, conducted by the Rev. Robert Shuler, were held Friday, March 5, 2010, at Bethesda United Methodist Church in Lake City. Burial, directed by Redmond-Richardson Funeral Home, followed at Lawrence Brown Cemetery in Salters. Mr. McKnight, 97, died Monday, March 1, 2010, at Carolinas Hospital Systems in Florence. He was born September 18, 1912, in the White Oak Community of Williamsburg County, a son of the late Gillie Roosevelt McKnight, Sr. and Mary Witherspoon McKnight. He was married to the late Mrs. Geraldine Lawrence McKnight. He received his formal education at Cooper’s Academy in the Bethesda Community and graduated from a high school in Orangeburg. He also attended South Carolina State College. He was a lifelong member of Bethesda United Methodist Church, where he served as a member of the trustee board. He was also a member of the Prospect Masonic Lodge No. 404. He began his career as an educator, teaching grade school in many counties in South Carolina. He later served as principal at Earles Colored School in Andrews and St. James Elementary School in Gourdin. He left the educational field to pursue farming. During this time, he was also employed at the Redmond Funeral Home. He moved to Brockon, Massachusetts, where he worked as a shoe sole cutter until his retirement. In 1972 he returned to Williamsburg County and he started to work for the King City Cab, until he founded, owned and operated the McKnight’s Taxi Service.
Survivors are: two children, Edward McKnight (Ruby) and Mary O’Neal (Ralph); four sisters, Willie M. Witherspoon Myers, Neomi W. Wilson, Flora W. James and Jacqueline Hagin; six grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.