Family of William Richardson TIMMONS

Husband:	William Richardson TIMMONS ( - )
Wife:	(unknown)
Children:	William (Bill) Richard TIMMONS , Jr. ( -2005)
	Charles TIMMONS ( - )

Husband: William Richardson TIMMONS

Name:	William Richardson TIMMONS
Sex:	Male
Father:	Charles Edward TIMMONS (1861- )
Mother:	Annie Nash MCLEOD ( - )

Child 1: William (Bill) Richard TIMMONS , Jr.

Name:	William (Bill) Richard TIMMONS , Jr.
Sex:	Male
Spouse:	Eva MCDONALD ( - )
Death	31 Dec 2005
Burial	3 Jan 2006	Woodlawn Memorial Park

Child 2: Charles TIMMONS

Name:	Charles TIMMONS
Sex:	Male

Note on Child 1: William (Bill) Richard TIMMONS , Jr.

GREENVILLE, S.C. - Upstate businessman William "Bill" R Timmons, Jr. (SC Delta Class of 1945), who was the second generation to run his family's Canal Insurance Co., has died. He was 81. Timmons died Saturday (Dec 31, 2005) at his home. A cause of death was unavailable.

 

Timmons was chairman of The South Financial Group, chairman of Canal Insurance board of directors and trustee emeritus of Furman University. Timmons and his late wife, Connie, were also elected to the Furman Athletic Hall of Fame.

 

The Greenville native served in the Army Air Corps then returned home to attend Furman University. He left school when his father died in 1948 and began working in the family business.Timmons and his brother Charles grew the family-owned company into an industry heavyweight with more than 240 employees and almost $1 billion in assets.

 

The funeral service will be held on Jan. 3 at 11 a.m. at the First Baptist Church. Timmons will be buried in Woodlawn Memorial Park with full military honors after the funeral.

 

TIMMONS FAMILY PLEDGES $4 MILLION TOWARD ON-CAMPUS ARENA AT FURMAN; TRUSTEES VOTE TO PROCEED WITH PR

GREENVILLE, S. C.-- Furman University officials announced today that a prominent Greenville family has contributed $4 million toward the construction of a multi-purpose arena on campus.

The major lead gift for the arena, which will allow the Furman basketball team to play its home games on campus for the first time in nearly 40 years, is being provided by Greenvillians and longtime Furman supporters Bill Timmons, Jean Timmons Pelham, and Charlie and Kitty Timmons. Bill, Jean and Charlie are the children of the late William R. Timmons of Greenville, who graduated from Furman in 1914.

 

During its spring meeting Saturday, the Furman Board of Trustees gave its approval to proceed with the arena project and to name the building Timmons Arena. In addition to hearing about the Timmons gift, the trustees learned that another $2 million has been pledged toward construction of the building.

 

According to Furman president David E. Shi, the Timmons commitment has been a catalyst for many other donors. "We now need only $1 million more in pledges to complete the project," Shi said, "and we are working with several athletic supporters who can make this happen."

 

Construction must begin late this summer if the arena is to be completed by the start of the 1997-98 basketball season. The new building, which will be situated in a wooded area near Paladin Stadium, will seat approximately 5,000 for basketball. It will also be the site for major university and community events.

 

"My brother, sister and I have followed Furman basketball since the end of World War II, and we are pleased that our gift will help make an on-campus arena a reality," said Bill Timmons, who attended Furman after serving in the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II and is currently in his fifth term on the Furman Board of Trustees. "We believe that the Furman basketball program will benefit from the new arena in much the same way that Furman football has benefited from playing in Paladin Stadium. We hope that this gift will continue to encourage others to contribute to this project."

 

While preliminary plans for the new arena have been completed, a final cost for the building has not been determined.

 

"Many Furman supporters have long dreamed of having such an arena on campus," Shi said. "Now, thanks to the generous financial contributions of people like Bill Timmons and his family, it is going to happen."

 

While Furman has discussed the possibility of an on-campus arena for years, the latest discussions took on added urgency with the scheduled closing of Greenville Memorial Auditorium after 38 years of hosting Furman's home games. This will leave the university without a place to play basketball. Furman had played its games at the auditorium since leaving its downtown campus and moving to its present location in the late 1950s.

 

After much study, Furman officials determined that the planned 17,000-seat Bi-Lo Center, which will replace the auditorium and is scheduled to open in 1998, was not a viable alternative. The cost of renting the Bi-Lo Center promised to be significantly higher than for the auditorium, and Furman, which rarely sold out the 6,000-seat auditorium, could not expect to the fill a facility three times larger.

 

"We carefully considered playing in the new Bi-Lo Center," Shi observed, "but decided it was not best for us. The decision to build our own arena is a good example of an institution having to choose among imperfect alternatives and to do so at a time and within a time frame not of our making."

 

In addition to serving as the home for the men's and women's basketball and volleyball programs and providing office space and training facilities for the athletic department, the new arena will seat about 6,000 people for a variety of other events. Shi said the facility will be used for such university functions as student-sponsored concerts, recitals, major academic conferences, and graduation ceremonies.

 

Bill Timmons is the former vice president and secretary of Canal Insurance Company, and currently serves as chairman of the company. Charlie Timmons is president of Canal Insurance, and his wife, Kitty, is a 1948 Furman graduate. Jean Timmons Pelham, a member of the Furman class of 1942, is active in community and church affairs.

 

Several years ago, the three Timmons siblings established the William R. and Eva McDonald Timmons Music Scholarship at Furman in memory of their parents.