Jeff Whitten, Contributor.

The message from my old friend Ewell Seymour showed up around 9:30 p.m. Monday night. “I’d like to publish an obituary,” he said. I replied I was sorry to hear it and would help get the obit to the right people at the Bryan County News.

At the time, I wondered which of Ewell’s many wonderful family members had gone on to their reward, and the thought made me sad. A minute or two went by, then Ewell shot me another text. “It’s for Pembroke,” he said, and then in a later text explained the context. 

The approval of a housing development which will change forever a city that had managed for decades to avoid becoming another Pooler or Richmond Hill or Rincon or Port Wentworth and in doing so had retained what made it what it was that had attracted so many to it in the first place. Alas, I thought. I asked Ewell to send it on. 

Here’s what he wrote: 

“Pembroke August 15, 1905-August 12, 2024 Born on the railroad and nursed on turpentine, our peaceful town passed into history on the evening of August 12, 2024 just shy of her 119th birthday. Despite the hard work, dedication and care of many of its 2,500 loving citizens, the cause of death is a 2,000 unit development on one of her main arteries. Despite her ignominious end, it was Pembroke’s hope that her death would serve as an example to her siblings when choosing their elected caregivers.

Survivors include: Generational families who have previously enjoyed a century of input and representation; a surrounding community of unincorporated ‘cousins’ who made and raised Pembroke and hate to see her go; admirers from across the state who watched her and cheered her strength, her dignity and her flags in the summertime; and young generations who will only hear of what a great lady she once was.

She requested neither flowers nor ceremony and the family will hold private ceremonies to let her spirit retreat back into the piney woods from whence she came and bleed to death in peace.

Rest assured, a new Pembroke will take her place. But she won’t be the same.”

Jeff Whitten is a retired editor of the Bryan County News. Ewell Seymour is a longtime friend of his.