Dr. Basil Manly IV

He was educated in the Greenville Public School system. Basil attended Furman University for 2 years before entering the US Army, where he served from June 1943 to March 1946. He served in the 490th Military Police Escort Guard and the 232nd Infantry Regiment of the 42nd Infantry (Rainbow) Division. He was the squad leader of a machine gun squad. He was awarded the Combat Infantry Badge medal and two Bronze Star Award medals. He was discharged as a Tech Sergeant (platoon sgt). Upon leaving the Army, he returned to Furman, where he graduated in Pre-Med in 1947.

Basil married Sarah Letitia Gillespie, the daughter of Elsie Burnett and Victor Harris Gillespie, on 11 September 1947. He attended the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, SC. After graduating, he and Sarah moved back to Greenville, where he was in general practice for 8 years.

In 1960, he entered the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Medicine and two years later finished his residency in ophthalmology at Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia. Upon returning to Greenville, he practiced ophthalmology for 33 years.

On 27 March 2009, he married Genevieve Peace Leake Sakas, whom he had known since junior high school. She and her first husband, John, had been patients of his since his return to Greenville.

He was a staff member of the Greenville Hospital System, Saint Francis Hospital, and Shriners Hospital.

He was a member of First Baptist Church, served on the Board of Deacons for 20 years, and was a member of the Fellowship Sunday School Class.

He was an initiate of Recovery No. 31 Freemason Lodge, where he served as a Master Mason and Master of the Lodge. He received his 33rd Degree in 1971. He served on the Shrine Hospital Board of Governors for 8 years and was later appointed emeritus . Basil was the founding trustee chairman of the Scottish Rite Foundation of SC, and served 8 years as its Chairman. He was a member of the York Rite bodies as well.

He was a founding trustee of the Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond.

Basil is survived by his beloved wife Genevieve; his children, Sherri M. Cornish, Basil Manly V, Jean M. McDowell, and Mary M. Mounce; his grandchildren, Sarah C. Mannear and husband Scott, Lindsay H. McDowell, Meredith A. McDowell, and Katherine G. Cornish; and great-granddaughter, Emerson Kelly Mannear. Basil’s wife, Sarah, died 20 December 2007 in New Delhi, India, while on a mission trip.

The family will receive friends, Friday, February 24, 2017 at First Baptist Church Greenville at 1:00 pm with a Memorial Service at First Baptist at 2:00 pm.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Scottish Rite Foundation of SC, 817 Cleveland St., Greenville 29601, Shriners Hospital, 950 W. Farris, Greenville 29605, or to Furman University, 3300 Poinsett Highway, Greenville 29613.