George Joseph Scoff

We lost George Scoff on Thursday February 13, 2025 after a series of health challenges. The family is grateful to Dr.'s Greg Fulcher and Steve Madden and their respective staff for the love and care they showed. George, 86, was born on August 16, 1938 to the late George Scoff, Sr. and Elizabeth Cesar Scoff.

Celebration of Life Services will be held 2:00 pm on Saturday February 22, 2025 at Temples-Halloran Funeral Home. A Livestream of the service will begin at 1:50 pm. A gathering of friends and family will be held one hour prior to the service at the funeral home.

He is survived by his wife of 30 years, Pamela McNeill Lanham Scoff.  His was first married to Gloria Silvernail, the mother of David and Ellen.  He then married Marilyn Alls, the mother of twins John and Stephen, Robby and Missy.

He is survived by:

Son David Charles Scoff, his wife Jacquie, daughter, Marisa and her husband, Spencer Churchhill;

Daughter Ellen Therese Midden, her husband, Buz, daughters, Micah and Faith and son Caleb James. Caleb and his wife Abby blessed George with his first great grandson, Abel Ellis John James;

Twin sons Stephen Joseph Scoff and John Paul Scoff, John’s wife, Sarah Blazer, daughter Lena and son Hudson;

Son Robert Edward "Robby" and his sons, Noah and Nathan;

Daughter Michele Andre’ "Missy," her husband Nathan Bergeron and daughter Lily;

Niece Beth Ann Mattern Luke, her husband Scott and nephew Michael Mattern.

He gained his bonus family when he married Pam; stepsons, Creighton Marc Lanham and Craig Lanham, Craig’s wife Andrea and their sons, Reid and Ellis Lanham.

He was loved and admired by Pam’s brothers, Allen and David McNeill and Larry Perkins, their five children and twelve grandchildren.

In addition to his parents, he was predeceased by stepson, Craig Lanham and his sister, Sissy Mattern and her husband, Freddy.

Sadly, most of his grandchildren didn’t live locally and he was not able to spend as much time with them as he wanted. He was instrumental in the lives of Reid and Ellis, who spent many, many weekends with him.

George played football at Clemson under the great Frank Howard, finishing his mechanical engineering degree at Tri-State University in Indiana. He retired from Xerox after thirty years as an engineering technician, forming 50 year friendships with Paul Allen, Lamar Oldham and the late Chuck Slater.

After his love for his family, his greatest passion was sailing.  Learning to love the southern warm weather at Clemson, he headed back to South Carolina in the mid-70’s so he could sail year-round. He spent many years as a member of the Lake Murray Sailing Club where he passed on his love for sailing being involved in youth sailing camps teaching many kids the “right way” to sail.  In the mid-90’s, he became an active member of the Columbia Sailing Club where he made lifelong friends. He was also active in LMYRA (Lake Murray Yacht Racing Association) serving in many capacities, including commodore.

He had many different boats but finally realized his dream of owning a Stonehorse sailboat. His children and grandchildren all shared his love of sailing (to different degrees).  One of his fondest memories was when his four oldest grandchildren asked to come spend one of their college Spring Breaks sailing with him on Lake Murray.

George was raised as a “cradle Catholic” but joined Pam as a Presbyterian, where he grew the most in his faith, and he was a former active member at Trinity Presbyterian where he formed many close friendships.

His children and grandchildren were spread out all over the US, living in 7 different states.  Most vacations were spent having wonderful visits with them.  As the children and grandchildren grew, so many wonderful times were spent at their weddings, going to his “beloved Steeler games” and hiking and camping adventures.  George was so looking forward to Faith’s wedding in May. He was proud of being 100% Croatian and he took Pam on her first cruise, going to the Mediterranean and spending one full day in Croatia joined by David and Ellen.

We were fortunate to celebrate milestone birthdays with him with all of the family coming together.  In the last 30 years, he was blessed to have all the family together at least once a year and his children visited as often as possible from far away.

As his children described him, he was curious, a lifelong learner, hardworking, affable with a great sense of humor and a loyal friend—like a fine wine, he got better with age.

He will be missed.  We thought we would have more years with him.

In lieu of flowers, the family would like memorial donations in George's memory made to: Trinity Presbyterian Church , 1000 Greenlawn Drive, Columbia, South Carolina, 29209.

Temples- Halloran Funeral Home proudly assists the Scoff family in their time of grief.