Don Hallman Obituary

Don Hallman
N. AUGUSTA - Don Hallman, 83, of North Augusta, South Carolina, passed away on June 15, 2022, at Piedmont Hospital in Augusta, Georgia. He was admitted on May 11, and while in the hospital his doctors discovered a rare infection in his brain. The neurologists and infectious disease specialists at Piedmont, along with numerous ICU nurses, worked tirelessly to treat the infection but were ultimately unable to cure this difficult condition. Don passed away peacefully with his family by his side. He is survived by his loving wife of 60 years, Donna, three children, six grandchildren, two great grandchildren, and his sister, Kay Strickland.
Don Hallman was born on November 1, 1938 in Saluda County, South Carolina. He grew up on the family farm on what is now Hallman Road, in Ward, South Carolina, with his two sisters, Naomi and Kay, and his mother Mary and father Gordon Fhay Hallman. The family attended Dry Creek Baptist Church, just down the road from their house, and Don will be buried at the Dry Creek cemetery beside his mother and father. He loved the area where he grew up and we are happy that he is laid to rest within sight of his family home and the church and the land he loved so well.
Don was an excellent student. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Clemson University, and a PhD in Nuclear Engineering from North Carolina State University. In between his two engineering degrees, Don joined the Air Force and attended the Air Force Institute of Technology weather school at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington, where he met his wife, Donna, and then posted to Shaw Air Force base in Sumter, SC. After his time in the Air Force, Don worked in the nuclear industry his entire life. He started his career with DuPont at Savanah River, spent 3 years with a small start-up company, Radiation Technology, in Montreal, Canada, worked at Babcock and Wilcox in Lynchburg, Va., with Georgia Power at Plant Vogtle, and finished his career where he started, back at Savanah River, where he finally retired in 2008 at the age of 70.
Above all, Don was a family man and a father. While his children were young, Don coached little league football and baseball. When he wasn't coaching little league after work, Don loved working in his garden. He loved vacationing at the beach, and the family enjoyed many wonderful summer vacations at the Outer Banks and at Harbor Island. Don was always a sports fan, and he loved his Clemson Tigers. In his younger days he enjoyed traveling to Death Valley to watch the games in person, and in his later years he loved watching his Tigers on TV, taping the games on his VCR so he could watch them again, and again.
In his retirement, Don was very active in the local MathCounts competition. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to MathCounts of South Carolina to honor this passion, at https://www.mathcounts.org/about/donate-mathcounts. A celebration of Don's life will be held at 11:00 a.m., Thursday, June 23, at Dry Creek Baptist Church in Ward, SC., 472 Hallman Road, 29166. More details about the service are available on the Mercantile Funeral Home website. Arrangements have been entrusted to the care of Mercantile Funeral Home Johnston Chapel.
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