The Boy Who Never Stopped Helping

Major James Lide Coker of Hartsville, South Carolina was a gutsy man of God and an entrepreneurial genius who founded twenty-one successful businesses. He grew up in the Old South but became one of the most forward-looking leaders of the New South. His business odyssey alone makes a fascinating story, but his expansive heart and keen vision extended well beyond commerce. Perhaps the greatest multi-dimensional leader who ever lived, he was a pacesetter in women's education, a passionate leader of the Christian faith, and progressive in race relations. Grounded in the faith and ahead of his times, he concluded his own book on the Civil War with these words: "There is one great result of the war between the States for which we are truly thankful: slavery is abolished." Though he was high-born, he and his family were brought low. He bravely defended his homeland, fighting with Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson in Virginia, where his brother was killed. Then James's left thigh was shattered at the Battle of Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, and he became a prisoner of war. Delirious with pain, he had several harrowing escapes from death before finally returning home to Sherman-devastated South Carolina. He lost almost everything, including the use of a leg. But with extraordinary valor, he rose up with a crutch and a hoe to re-establish his farm, and in a time of crisis and carpetbaggers, he went on to lead the economic, educational, and spiritual rebound of his region. James became the wealthiest man in South Carolina but remained humble all his life. His war agonies and physical weakness enabled him to identify with the harshest realities of the human condition and with the plight of the disenfranchised. When his diligent post-war labors brought rivers of prosperity, he made sure they flowed through to bless countless others. A deeply spiritual man, Coker also faithfully taught Sunday School for forty years.