William R. “Bill” Parton Jr., age 77, a resident of Lexington, S.C., and formerly of Oliver Springs, died Tuesday, Jan. 29, at his home.

Mr. Parton was born Sept. 22, 1935, in Anderson County. He graduated from the Oliver Springs High School in 1951, and following his high school graduation, he attended the Knoxville Business College.

Before his retirement in the mid-1980s, he was a well-known Oliver Springs business man who co-owned, with his father and brother, local coal strip-mining operations, Parton Coal Mining and Tri-County Mining Company. [Read more…]