Pep Dargan, 84, stock broker was talented golfer
October 27, 2022
Perrin Quarles Dargan Jr. of Mount Pleasant, a former stock broker and long-time resident of North Litchfield, died Oct. 20, after a long and courageous battle with pulmonary fibrosis. He was 84.
Known as Pep, he was born on July 27, 1938, in Spartanburg, the first son of Perrin Quarles Dargan and Mary Hart Greene Dargan. His mother died when he was 2 and his grandmother helped raise Pep and his brother, Bob. His father later married Mary Louise Hodge of Chattanooga, Tenn..
Growing up in Spartanburg, Pep earned his Eagle Scout rank. He had passions for reading and sports. He was a serviceable basketball player, principally a shooting guard with an unstoppable ambidextrous hook shot, but his true gift was golf. He and Bob traveled around the Carolinas competing successfully in youth golf tournaments and otherwise preying on unsuspecting older golfers.
His golf career would lead him to many of the world’s great courses, including the Old Course at St. Andrews, Gleneagles, Augusta National, Pebble Beach, Cypress Point and Wade Hampton, to name a few. Following back surgery in his early 70s, he would shoot his age and under many times, frequently on his challenging home course, The Reserve. He notched two holes-in-one, separated by an epic 50-year drought.
After graduating from Spartanburg High School, Pep attened Davidson College, where he became a member of the Kappa Alpha Order. He transferred to Wofford and joined the golf team. The move added fuel to his budding romance with his Converse College sweetheart, Helen Butler Freeman.
They graduated college in the spring of 1960 and married on June 18.
Mr. Dargan had a successful career as a stock broker, principally with the firm of A.G. Edwards, which allowed him to provide a wonderful life for his family.
He was a perfect gentleman with impeccable manners. It didn’t take much to make him happy. He was as pleased with a cheeseburger as any fine meal. He loved to say, “Hard to beat a good burger!”
He was both parts of fun-loving: funny and loving. He had a delightful sense of humor and an infectious laugh. He was kind, generous and deeply caring. He listened to others and responded thoughtfully, offering sage, considered advice, but only when asked. He was, as one of his grandchildren noted, “an amazing listener.”
He was Pops to his 10 grandchildren and his four step-grandchildren. They adored him and glowed in his presence. No matter their many and varied paths, he reveled in their journeys, never directing and always applauding. He responded to their good news and accomplishments with one of his favorite words: “Wonderful!” They eagerly anticipated the moment when Pops’ Goodie Box would appear, overflowing with sweet treats.
Mr. Dargan was also a recovering alcoholic who, at his death, had remained unflinchingly abstinent for nearly 50 years, during which time he counseled many people who were struggling to emerge from darkness. He was selfless in his commitment to always being available to those in need.
He was a committed Christian, who was baptized and raised Presbyterian, but after marrying Butler was given the choice of becoming an Episcopalian or becoming an Episcopalian. So he did. He served his Lord and his congregations in his Episcopal and Anglican parishes on the vestry, as senior warden and long-time treasurer. His faith defined and gave structure and meaning to every moment of every day of his life.
Mrs. Dargan died in 2007. The next year, he married the former Louisa Freeman, Butler’s first cousin and lifelong friend. They fell in love while grieving Butler’s death
Pep and Louisa lived 14 years together in a loving home surrounded by their combined five children and 14 grandchildren.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by his brother, John Bachman Hodge Dargan; his children, Helen Dargan Jones (Robby), Perrin Quarles Dargan III (Lisa) and Louise Dargan Hughes (Allen); his step-sons Charles Freeman Macloskie (Danae) and John Freeman Macloskie; his grandchildren, Mary Helen, Robert and Perrin Jones and Amelia Jones Spiers (Will), Sanders and Annie Dargan, and Chaplin, James, Josh and Dargan Hughes; and his step-grandchildren, Emma, Mary Hope, Amelia and Frampton Macloskie.
His brothers, Robert Lide Dargan II and Richard Lawton Dargan, died before him.
A funeral service was held Monday at The Abbey. Memorials may be made to The Abbey or Friendship Place.
There is a guestbook at mayerfuneralhome.com.
