Charles H. “Charlie” Gray Jr. ’72, director of alumni and parents associations at Wofford, has worked over the years to provide learning experiences for alumni and friends of the college, including international travel, “orbiting seminars” in South Carolina, and American Revolution and Civil War Roundtables that hold regular dinner meetings on the campus.
Recently, William Pinckney Irwin IV ’68 and Susan Adams Hodge Irwin made a gift to Wofford’s Sandor Teszler Library in Gray’s honor consisting of family memorabilia dating back to the early days of the college in the courthouse village of Spartanburg and a collection of more than 20 classic books related to history and culture.
Pinckney Irwin is retired after a career in the textile industry. Susan Irwin is the daughter of the late Dr. G.B. Hodge ’38, a prominent Spartanburg surgeon and civic leader who received an honorary doctorate from the college in 2003.
The Irwin family history has been intertwined with that of Wofford and the South Carolina Upstate since the 1840s, when William Irwin arrived from Virginia and began a career in education. He also managed a hotel, served in the Confederate Army, and was a lay leader in the Episcopal Church. The family also was heavily involved in the early years of the development of the historic Hampton Heights subdivision.
According to Dr. Phillip Stone ’94, Wofford College archivist, some of the interesting items in the collection include a diploma from one of the literary societies at Wofford that was presented to William Pinckney Irwin I of the Class of 1872; an autographed copy of “Travels with Ted and Ned” by Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C, president emeritus of the University of Notre Dame; and classic biographies of political and military leaders such as Winston S. Churchill, Robert E. Lee and James F. Byrnes.