Herbert Leroy Templeton

Herbert Leroy Templeton, 86 of Bluffton, SC, passed away peacefully at his home on August 21, 2019.

He was the only child of Leona Marie Henderson and Arthur Leroy Templeton, born on May 28, 1933, in Omaha, Nebraska.  At the age of five, the family moved to the Chicago suburb of Brookfield, Ill where he was raised.  He attended Riverside Brookfield High School, graduating in 1951, and earned a degree in Business Management from the University of Illinois in 1956. Lee was drafted by the U.S. Army in 1956, discharged in 1958, and spent one year of his service at NATO headquarters in Izmir, Turkey, ultimately attaining the rank of Specialist 3rd Class.

Lee maintained a strong work ethic throughout his long life. During his childhood, he had several paper routes and worked at a clothing store while in high school.  After his tour of duty in the service, he worked as a salesman before ultimately running his own sales rep firm selling packaging materials and machinery to the food industry.

He was married to Debora Morris Shoemaker, who would become his ultimate soulmate for just short of 25 years of marriage after being introduced in 1993 by Deb’s oldest son Geoff on a blind date to attend a performance of the play Tony n Tina’s Wedding in Chicago. Geoff had lost a football bet to Deb and had to provide a date for the evening. The couple soon exchanged wedding vows on April 16, 1994, and eventually built their dream home in Bluffton, SC in 2003 after living in Hinsdale, Ill for 9 years.

Lee was extremely giving with his time. He was a member of Bluffton United Methodist Church and volunteered his time regularly by delivering Meals on Wheels and taking on church-related projects that no one else wanted to tackle: bringing life to a dead irrigation system, supervising the laying of sod, implementing personal name tags, and designing and providing an automobile church window sticker.

Lee was preceded in death by sons Steven and Garry, and wife Debora. He is survived by his granddaughters, Alyssa Jeanne and Kara Noelle Templeton, and Deb’s three children, Geoff, Robin and Samuel Gailey.

Memorial services will be held at 11:00 am, Friday, September 13, 2019 at Sauls Funeral Home, 90 Simmonsville Rd., Bluffton with burial at 1:00 pm in the Beaufort National Cemetery, Beaufort, SC.

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