LANCASTER, SC ~ David Lindsay Pettus passed away on Saturday, January 18, 2020 at the Wayne Patrick Hospice in Rock Hill as the result of a fall suffered several days before.  Born on May 16, 1940 in the Indian Land section of Lancaster County, he was the son of Calvin Hall Pettus and Bessie Kathryn Rodgers Pettus.  Lindsay's father died when he was nine, and as he grew older, he assisted his sister Louise in running the family business, which was a general store and cotton gin.  He graduated from Indian Land High School in 1958.  Lindsay served his country in the U. S. Army Reserve from 1963 to 1968.  Lindsay decided to become a real estate agent, and worked in the field for over fifty years, specializing in farms, acreage, and industrial sites.  He assisted in securing property for a number of new schools in Lancaster County.

Lindsay leaves a remarkable legacy in the fields of local government service, education, land conservation, local history, and preservation of historic properties.

Lindsay Pettus served as a member of Lancaster County Council for three terms.  He worked tirelessly to promote Lancaster County, and his foresight and leadership helped to develop decisions and policies which prepared Lancaster County for the growth that is occurring today.

He was proud to represent the Indian Land area but worked for the benefit of the whole county.  While with the county, he also served on the board of the Catawba Regional Council of Governments and a number of other local and state entities.  His public service also led to a lifetime of support for education at all levels.  In 2015, he was named to the Lancaster County School District Hall of Fame for his support for public education.  He also strongly supported USC-Lancaster and was a Friend of the Medford Library and the Educational Foundation.

Lindsay Pettus developed a sincere interest in local history, not only of the Indian Land area where he grew up, but of all Lancaster County.  His constant research led to his office becoming a repository of family histories, articles, books, and artifacts. In much of his research, he worked with his sister Louise, a professor of History at Winthrop University.  He served for many years as President of the Lancaster County Society for Historical Preservation.  This group sponsors the appreciation and preservation of local history and sites.  The group over the years has placed historical markers, researched families and individuals, and encouraged the preservation of historic properties. Lindsay especially loved researching the lives of famous natives of the county.  Perhaps the most important work of this group has been the preservation and restoration of the Old Presbyterian Church, built in 1862 on West Gay Street in Lancaster, which is now the Cultural and Performing Arts Center.  Lindsay worked tirelessly over the years to clean and restore the building and the cemetery, and the site is now a great asset for Lancaster.  Lindsay also worked to place a number of buildings on the National Register of Historic Places, to place historical markers, and was instrumental in the recognition of the Lancaster County Courthouse and Old Jail as National Historic Landmarks.  When the Katawba Valley Land Trust was created, Lindsay made sure that the organization worked to protect cultural as well as natural resources.  The land trust has several historic preservation easements on historic properties and has conservation easements on almost 1,000 acres on battlefields related to the American Revolution.  Lindsay's efforts led to the first protection of land related to the Battle of Camden in Kershaw County, and the Hanging Rock and Buford battle sites in Lancaster County.  Lindsay was also very interested in the history and culture of the Catawba Indian Nation.  Over the years, he developed an extensive collection of Catawba pottery.  He was instrumental in the creation of the Native American Studies Center at USC-Lancaster and in the acquisition of the 1,000-piece Tom Blumer collection of Catawba pottery that forms the core of their collection.  Lindsay also served as church historian for many years of his home church, Belair United Methodist.

As a boy, Lindsay spent time exploring the fields and woods around his home, especially the Catawba River.  This led to an appreciation of nature and the realization that proactive conservation was needed to protect important natural resources.  In 1974, he joined the Nature Conservancy, and helped lead the effort to form a chapter of the organization in South Carolina, serving on the initial board and helping to hire the first state director.   As of 2020, the organization has protected 370,000 acres in the state. A project of special interest to Lindsay was Forty-Acre Rock in eastern Lancaster County.  Through his efforts, The Nature Conservancy and the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources created a Heritage Preserve, and the site is now recognized as a National Natural Landmark.  He served as a member of the National Park Service Advisory Board, assessing the services at national parks and helping to plan for new park designations.   Although an active member of other national organizations, such as The Trust for Public Land, the Conservation Fund, and the National Audubon Society, Lindsay became convinced that the most effective conservation work could be done on the local level.  He served as co-chair of the Catawba River Task Force, a citizens' advisory committee organized in the late 1980s to plan for the impacts of urban development on the Catawba River.  Following the completion of the task force work, he organized the Katawba Valley Land Trust (KVLT) in 1992 to protect land and water resources in the Catawba River Valley and surrounding areas.  Serving as President for 25 years, he led the group in protecting land through conservation easements, acquisition, and transfer to other agencies.  To date the group has protected over 10,700 acres of land in five counties and has conducted numerous publications, public information, and research activities.  In the 1990s, Lindsay conceived of the idea of a greenway through the City of Lancaster to protect open space and flood plain areas.  By piecing together many properties, this is now the Lindsay Pettus Greenway, owned primarily by KVLT, and a public access trail is now under construction.  Other areas of emphasis for KVLT have been Catawba River frontage, the Landsford area, the Great Falls area, and Forty Acre Rock-Flat Creek Natural Heritage Preserve.

Lindsay Pettus has been a friend to many in his lifetime, from important public figures to those in need, whom he quietly and unobtrusively helped in many ways.  Over his career, he has received recognitions and awards for service which are too numerous to mention.

Lindsay was predeceased by his parents and his brother, Hall Pettus.  He is survived by his sisters Louise Pettus of Rock Hill and Peggy Grow of Macon, Georgia, by his devoted special friend Susan Sides of Salisbury, North Carolina and by a number of cousins and nieces and nephews.

Funeral services will be held on Sunday, January 26 at 3:00 pm at First United Methodist Church in Lancaster, located at 200 West Gay Street.  Visitation will precede the service from 1:00 to 2:45 pm.  A burial service will follow at Belair United Methodist Church, 8095 Shelley Mullis Road, Indian Land, South Carolina.

In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to the Katawba Valley Land Trust (P. O. Box 1776, Lancaster, S. C.  29721-1776); The Nature Conservancy, South Carolina Chapter (801 Gervais Street, Suite 202, Columbia, S. C.  29201); or Belair United Methodist Church (8095 Shelley Mullis Road, Indian Land, S. C.   29707).