Black History Month Profile

Jerry E. Halmon, Staff Reporter

“To be a servant for God and try to help someone every day,” is the motto Deacon Everett C. Capers has tried to live his life by.

Deacon Everett C. Capers a native of Bamberg, SC. has been a leader most of his life. When he joined the U.S. Army in June of 1951, the military was still segregated. In 1952, he became a member of the first military unit to be fully integrated. In 1957 he became a member of a team assigned to organize the first air evacuation unit, which became the beginning of the wide use of helicopters for medical evacuation.

Deacon Capers, as he is known by those who know him, after retiring from South Carolina State University as maintenance trade worker foreman, not content to sit down, organized and has led the Boy Scout Program at his church (Thankful Baptist Church) for the last 12 years.

The Thankful Baptist Church in Bamberg recognized Deacon Capers for his many years of service to the church and community with a plaque on Sunday. Church Pastor Rev. Dr. Luns C. Richardson said that “Deacon Capers never quits on whatever task he is given.”

Deacon Capers joined the Army in 1951 and in 1957 he was assigned to the Army signal school at Ft. Monmouth, New Jersey, where he took ADPS repair and Digital Subscriber Terminal Equipment repair courses. He served in Vietnam from April 1968 to April 1970.

He retired from the Army in 1971 with twenty years of honorable service. He earned the following medals and awards; Bronze Star with oak leaf clusters, Army Accommodation Medal with two oak leaf clusters, Vietnam Accommodation Medal with an oak leaf cluster, Good Conduct Medal with four clusters, Army Occupational Medal (Germany) National Defense with oak leaf cluster, Parachutist Wings and M114 expert medal.

After retiring from the military, he taught electronics technology at Denmark Technical College from 1971 to 1973. In 1973 he transferred to South Carolina State University to work in maintenance as Trade Worker Foreman. He retired from S.C. State in 1992.

In recognition of his service to the Boy Scouts of America, Deacon Capers received the Whitney M. Young Jr. Service Award, Edisto District Achievement Award and the Scoutmaster Key. He is a Boy Scout Commissioner and Charter Organization Representative.

Deacon Everett C. Capers is son of the late Frank and Rosa L. Young Capers. He received his public education in the Bamberg County Schools. He graduated from Richard Carroll High School in May of 1951. He was ordained a deacon in the Thankful Baptist Church in 1973. He became Chairman of the Deacon Board in 1998. He is married to the former Flossie Mae Johnson (September 10, 1956). They are the proud parents of two daughters; Brenda D. Capers Miller and Beverly A. Capers Haynes (Ricky) and three granddaughters Devonnia D. Miller, Dominique E. Miller and Hope N. Haynes.