‘Take this seriously’: SC coronavirus death hits home for prominent Hilton Head family
The coronavirus has hit home for one of Hilton Head Island’s most prominent families.
Camden legislative lobbyist Jack West, son of the late Gov. John C. West of Hilton Head, died Wednesday of complications from the coronavirus, The State newspaper reported.
His passing was at least the eighth coronavirus-related death in South Carolina, and the first in Kershaw County, where more cases of the virus have been found than anywhere else in South Carolina, The State reported.
“Well respected in Camden as a community leader, West, 71, most recently served as a lobbyist for the SC Children’s Coalition, the S.C. Stevedore’s Association, the Carolina Sporting Dog Association and the S.C. Cities Coalition,” the newspaper reported.
For Shelton W. Bosley of Hilton Head, the passing of her older brother comes as a surprise, and a lesson for everyone in the state.
Her brother was in good health. About three weeks ago, he developed a little cough, almost like a spring allergy. But he did not have a fever, and thought he did not have symptoms of the COVID-19 coronavirus, she said.
Jack West would soon stay home from work as an act of caution, she said.
He went to the emergency room in Camden on Sunday, March 15, and the staff sent him to a Columbia hospital, where he died 10 days later.
“Who knows how he got it,” Bosley said. “That’s the disconnect with us, and the warning for everyone. He had no problems. He was working. That’s why it is so important to listen to what the (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) says.”
Bosley said people need to stay separated to keep from spreading the virus and more quickly stop its impact on society.
“My message is that we must all take this seriously.
“People talk about quarantine being ridiculous,” she said. “It’s not ridiculous when it’s your family.”
A sad aspect of the coronavirus pandemic is that family members cannot be with a loved one as they are dying.
“Families all over the world are going through this,” Bosley said. “You can’t see him and tell him, ‘Oh, I love you. You were a great big brother.’ I said it on a voice text message that those wonderful nurses were so gracious to try to share with him. I hope he heard it. I don’t know.”
Jack West was named for his father, who helped smooth race relations in a deeply segregated state, as a legislator and then governor from 1971 to 1975.
West and his wife, Lois, moved to Hilton Head in 1981 following his service as U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia.
Both were prominent in civic affairs. The Sue West Educator of the Year Award, a major Hilton Head honor, was named for their daughter-in-law.
John West practiced law on the island, and in one instance played a key role in the island’s future.
He was the trustee’s attorney for Hilton Head Holdings Corp., parent company of five island communities, including Sea Pines, which filed for bankruptcy in November 1986, sending the island’s economy into a tailspin. He and his close friend, U.S. District Judge Sol Blatt Jr., who kept the case rather than turn it over to the bankruptcy court, guided the island’s then-largest employer through the sale of the bankrupt company’s holdings.
Shortly before John West’s death in 2004, the S.C. Transportation Commission named an overpass on the Cross Island Parkway the “Ambassador John C. West Overpass.”
This story was originally published March 26, 2020 at 10:30 AM.
