Ralph Ellis James Sr.

As to told by son Ralph Jr.:

Ralph Ellis James was born September 13, 1912, in Greer, SC, to Samuel Henry James, October 1, 1881, and Floride Sunnie Holtzclaw, July 10, 1885.  He attended school in Greer and in high school he played football for Greer High School.  He was the quarterback for the team and also was the punter and kicker as well.

After graduation from high school he attended Clemson University in Clemson, SC.  When the Great Depression occurred in 1929 he was not able to return to Clemson for the second semester due to finances.

At a local basketball game in Greenville, SC, he met Evelyn Watson, September 15, 1914.  On July 20, 1937 he and Evelyn were married in Greenville.

He was a traveling salesman for several years after their marriage for Liggett and Myers Tobacco Company.  Once while traveling he picked up a male hitch hiker.  At one point the hitch hiker pulled out a paper sack and had what appeared to be a gun inside.  He was instructed to turn off on a dirt road.  At one point he was told to stop and the hitch hiker told him to get out of the car.  When he refused the hitch hiker hit him across the nose with what turned out to be a piece of pipe in an “L” shape.  With that he hit the hitch hiker in the face causing the passenger door to open and the hitch hiker fell out of the car.

In 1937 he went to work for Sullivan Hardware Company in Greenville, SC, where he was employed for 32 years.  He traveled out of Greenville until 1946 when he was transferred to Sullivan Hardware in Spartanburg, SC, where he was in training as a future manager in Asheville, NC.  He and family lived in Greer during this time and then moved to Asheville in 1947 where he became the manager.  In the 1950’s he was named Secretary of Sullivan Hardware Company of NC, Inc.

He was very active in the Lions Club in Asheville for over 30 years.  In the 1950’s he was elected the first President of the Lions Club in Biltmore.  He was a Mason and later became a Shriner.

He and his wife, Evelyn Watson James, lived in Oak Forest in Arden, NC for many years.   Later in life they joined Calvary Episcopal Church in Fletcher, NC, until his death in 1969.  He and his wife are both buried in the church cemetery.