WEST COLUMBIA, SC – Mr. Joseph Earle Ouzts, Jr., 92, died Thursday, July 18, 2013.

Funeral services will be held at 3:00 PM Saturday at Little Stevens Creek Baptist Church, Edgefield, with the Reverend Dr. Charles Wilson officiating. Interment with military honors will follow in the church cemetery. The family will receive friends one hour before the service in the church.

Mr. Ouzts was born in Edgefield, SC, a son of the late Joseph Earle and Viola Fox Ouzts. He graduated from Edgefield High School in 1941. He had been a resident of Columbia since 1945, and he was a member of Holland Avenue Baptist Church, W. Columbia and former member of Eastminster Presbyterian Church, Columbia. A US Navy veteran during World War II, Mr. Ouzts served in the South Pacific Theater. After being discharged, he entered the University of South Carolina where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration. He graduated in the class of 1949, was a member of Delta Sigma Pi business fraternity, and was a member Gamecock Club for over 40 years. After graduation, he was employed in the accounting division at Colonial Stores for ten years. He was then employed with Young and Roberts and Merritt & Associates for 28 years before he retired in 1988.

He is survived by his beloved wife, Foye Furtick Ouzts; two daughters, Delly Ouzts (Tom) Young, Aiken, and Kathy Ouzts (Rich) Bonjour, Weddington, NC; a son, James Allan (Carol) Ouzts, Fayetteville, GA; six grandchildren, Tom Young, Jr., Bryan Earle Young, Andrew Scott Ouzts, Daniel Blake Ouzts, Jennifer Bonjour Flavin, and Stephen Joseph Bonjour; seven great grandchildren; and two sisters, Lucille O. Padgett, Johnston, and Mary O. Korrek, Edgefield. The family would like to thank his caregivers, Ceclia White and Sonia Stevenson.

Mr. Ouzts was preceded in death by his first wife, Marjory L. Ouzts, second wife, Evelyn C. Ouzts, five sisters, a brother, and a greatgrandson.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to the Little Stevens Creek Baptist Church Cemetery Fund, 1194 Meeting Street, Edgefield, SC 29824.

Mr. Ouzts’ online guest book may be signed at www.shellhousefuneralhome.com