William "Bill" Tupper Austin

William T "Bill" Austin, 92, of Columbia, SC passed away on December 10, 2024. Visitation will be on Sunday, December 15, 2024, from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM at Roselawn Funeral Home. The Celebration of Life will follow at 2:00 PM in the chapel of the funeral home with Rod Selman officiating. He will be laid to rest at Roselawn Cemetery.

William T Austin is survived by his wife of 7 yrs, Nancy G Whaley; son, Stanley Austin (Harriet) of Decatur, AL; daughter, Mary Anne White (Jerry) of Columbia, SC; brother, Kenneth Austin (Phyllis), 18 grandchildren, 35 great grandchildren and 1 great great grandchild.

He was preceded in death by his wife of 42 yrs, Clara Horn Austin; his next wife of 12 years, Mary Hall; daughter, Carolyn Montgomery; sons, Rusty Austin, Tim Austin, and Steve Ward; his parents, Christopher and Mary Lou Austin; brothers, Keith, Norman, Kirk and Charles Austin; 1 sister, Marilyn Stroud; grandchildren, Ben Chandler and Ashley Austin Terry.

Bill Austin came to Alabama in the late 1950's. He was a civil engineer and worked with road crews for the interstate systems. Bill went to work for a large company out of Birmingham that built the HSV Airport Tower. He later decided that he wanted to start his own business, and followed his father-in-law, Walter Horn, into the trucking business. He started with one truck hauling cotton to the Carolina's. Bill decided rather quickly that he could make more money if he had more trucks and drivers, so he ordered 5 more. After a few years, he started getting local accounts like GE and the Paper Mill. By the end of his career, he owned East-West Transportation with 250 trucks and a terminal in Priceville, AL.

When Bill’s wife of 42 years passed away, he met and married Mary Hall from Rome, GA. In 2012, Mary got sick and they moved to Columbia, SC to live with his daughter, Mary and her husband, Jerry. After his wife Mary passed, he reconnected with a longtime friend, Nancy Whaley. They would have been married 8 yrs in January had he lived. Bill will be greatly missed by all who knew and loved him.

Pallbearers will be his grandsons Shane Austin, Cain Austin, Bradley Austin, Blair Gatlin, Daniel Gatlin, and Rod Selmen.