Robert Taliaferro Sorrells, spouse of the Reverend Dillman Baker Sorrells, died 2 May 2021 at age 88, after suffering from Alzheimer’s disease for several years. Born in New York City in 1932, Bob attended Staunton Military Academy in Virginia and then Vanderbilt University, which was interrupted for service in the U.S. Army. He returned to earn a degree in History and a Masters in English Literature from Vanderbilt. He subsequently earned an MFA in Creative Writing from the Writer’s Workshop at the University of Iowa.
Bob was a faculty member at Murray State University, Clemson University, and the University of Arkansas before leaving academia to focus on his writing. He published several books, including a book of short stories, The Blacktop Champion of Icky Honey, and a book of essays called On Breaking One’s Pencil. He was awarded a PEN/NEA Syndicated Fiction Award, and his work was often anthologized, including in The Best American Short Stories. Though he was primarily a fiction writer, Bob often said that a history he wrote of the Clemson University Experimental Forest was among the works of which he was most proud.
A long-time fan of the Atlanta Braves, he enjoyed listening to baseball on the radio, and wrote a short story about missing Hank Aaron’s 715th home run. He was also a great fan of the Clemson soccer team. He loved to walk for exercise and could often be seen striding briskly along the roads of Clemson.
Bob was a Unitarian Universalist for most of his adult life, and an early member of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Clemson. A great enthusiast of music, he sang for many years in the UU choir and created Gifts of Music, a series that aired on South Carolina Public Radio.
Bob is survived by his children Walter Arl Sorrells and Ruth Lindsey Sorrells, both of Atlanta; his grandson Jake Alfred Robert Sorrells of New Orleans; and by his loving wife of 59 years, the Rev. Dillman Baker Sorrells of Clemson.