The Belton News - Belton, South Carolina

Wednesday, August 30, 2000

Dan Coward . . . a friend remembered

Letter to the editor

The recent passing of Dan Coward brought back a flood of memories of growing up in Belton during the 1940s and '50s.  I considered him my best friend during that period, and although I have seen him only a few times over the past forty years, Dan retained the same magnetic humor and intellectual curiosity that he had demonstrated as a kid.

In 1946, my family moved next door to the Cowards on O'Neal Street, and as an older fourth-grader Dan felt obligated to educate me on some facts of life that my parents had not yet seen fit to divulge.  Within a week of moving in, Dan had explained Santa Claus and where babies came from.  Knowing the latter to be an anatomical impossibility I called him a liar and we had our first argument.  Belton was a simpler place in those days as barefoot boys of our generation may remember.  Order was maintained by Chief Land and J. B. Lindsey plus any other adults who caught us misbehaving.  A quarter allowance would go a long way on Saturday with 14¢ matinee at the Joy Theatre, a 10¢ comic at Horton's and penny bubblegum at Haynie's Drugstore.  Chasing fire trucks on bicycles added excitement during those pre-TV years.  

Dan had a much later curfew than I, so we stretched a garden hose between Dan's kitchen and my bedroom so we could talk after hours.  One night Dan blew cigarette smoke through the hose, and my father, on a midnight trip down the hall, detected a sinful smoke from my room.  I confessed to smoking rather than betray our "phone system."

Dan's widowed mother, Mrs. Sue Coward, was co-editor of The Belton News and had encyclopedia and other reference books at home.  Dan's imagination and curiosity about astronomy was all-consuming.  He made rocket ships from bathroom rolls and paper-mache moonscapes.  He ordered a set of telescope lenses from Grit earnings and built an instrument with a cardboard tube found at the printing office; and one clear night we saw the moons of Jupiter.

At age 11 we joined Boy Scout Troop 31, which met every Monday night at the log cabin off River Street.  Mr. Guy Durham was our Scout Master and about one notch below God in our eyes.  With pipe-smoke curling around his bushy eyebrows he would tell stories about Indians and camping.  None of us had uniforms and we did little camping, but we learned to tie knots, worked on merit badges, and older boys like Bradley Rice, David Acker and Jimmy Hampton led us in close-order drills.  Dan Coward and Herbert Austin provided the entertainment.

In a universal sense Dan was one of the most knowledgeable people I have ever met; but Dan's curriculum never coincided with that of Belton High School's.

Years later I came home one weekend from college and Dan had just returned from an Army tour in Germany.  Thinking I would show off something I had just learned in physics, I asked him if he knew the two different methods used to determine the speed of light.  He proceeded to explain both methods.  As with the origin of babies, he was right again.

Although Dan did not graduate with us, the Class of 1956 claims him for our own.  I'm sure my classmates and many people of Upstate South Carolina will remember Dan Coward for many years to come; as a humorist, magician, loving husband and father, and as a generous friend.

                                             ~ Don Kay, Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina

The Greenville News - Greenville, SC

Monday, August 14, 2000

Thomas Daniel Coward, Greenville

Thomas Daniel "Dan" Coward, 63, of 307 Watkins Road, died Aug. 12, 2000, at his home.

Survivors: wife, Rachel Duncan Coward; a son, Nathan Daniel Coward; a daughter, Terry Coward Barnett of Canton, Ga.; a stepdaughter, Rebecca Lynn Phillips of Taylors; a brother, Joe Coward of Belton; and three grandchildren. Predeceased: parents, Nathan A. and Susan Queen Coward, a brother, Allen Coward, and a sister, Lena Jackson.

Memorial service: 2 p.m. Tuesday at Belton Presbyterian Church by the Rev. Will Nickles, with visitation at the church following the service.

Omit flowers. Memorials: Vista Care, 22 Tindal Ave., Greenville, SC 29605. -- Cox Funeral Home, Belton.