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Olden Chester Todd, Sr. (87) of Murrells Inlet, SC passed away peacefully in his home on June 27, 2025. He was born on March 31, 1938 and a native of the low country area. Olden loved to tell stories of his humble beginnings in a small house with a wooden floor where they could see the chickens living beneath the house, where they would be kept for warmth and safety. He comes from generations of farmers during and beyond the lean years of the Great Depression and WWII growing everything from corn to peanuts, to cropping tobacco, raising and butchering livestock. Olden knew how to preserve and store everything they grew and caught with salt, a smoke house, or storing in a “dirt cellar” covered by pine needles. Many stories he would tell included taking people down memory lane of what Horry County looked like over the decades, including the dirt roads now known as Highways 707, 501, and 544, and the city road known as Highway 17. All of which somehow included him and his Dad and a donkey-pulled-wagon going to Conway to trade corn for grain and other supplies. An all-day trip for them back then. When the Korean War broke out, he joined the U.S. Army, where he served one tour and was stationed and traveled to Korea, Japan, and the Hawaiian outpost islands. After returning to S.C., he worked and learned the construction business which became his legacy from one end of Horry County to the other, and up into parts of Mount Pleasant (Charleston). As owner of OCT Construction, Olden estimated he had built, rebuilt (after hurricanes), or remodeled over 200 custom homes and businesses—all by word of mouth and no advertising other than a sign-magnet on his truck and boxes full of yellow No.2 pencils with his business name and phone number on them. Later in his career, he became the “go-to” man for designing and installing sprinkler systems and deep freshwater wells for homes and golf courses. His favorite story was about one customer who decided not to use him but opted for a company “fancy engineers.” When one of their large drill bits broke off 600 feet below (the depth always got deeper when he retold the story), and they couldn’t retrieve it, everyone they talked to said that Olden was the man for the job. He showed up and gave it a try with his machine and the bit dropped back down, to the snickerings of the crews watching. He pulled his machine up, made a few adjustments, and sent it back down; bringing it back up with the lost bit in tow on the second try and an invoice that made them remember his name. Olden was an avid freshwater fisherman and loved his time on the waters whether it was a river, the inlet, or lakes throughout Florida…he never came back without a load of fish or coolers full of shrimp. He had a sense of humor that took you by surprise most of the time, like catching adolescent alligators in his front yard (and saving them in the trash bin for Jeannette to find when she got home) or asking visitors to bring him either a “hula girl” or a million dollars when you asked him if he needed anything. He is survived by his two sons, Leroy (Dana) Todd, David Todd, his stepchildren, Vann Helms Jr., Dana (Rick) Clark, Lisa Oroson (Mark), Joe Helms, Leo (DiDi) Helms, and Rebecca (Annie) Helms; his brothers Glen Todd, Odell Todd, Jasper Todd, his sister Mary Garvin, many loving grandchildren, nieces, and nephews. He is predeceased by his mother, Ruth Audry Todd, his father Joseph Lloyd Todd, brother Johnny Todd, his sisters Audry McKinzie and Maggie Watson, his first loving wife and mother of his children, Fusako Ito “Shorty “Todd, his son Chester Todd, his daughter, Nancy Todd, and his second wife and love, Jeannette Todd. Funeral services will be held at 3:00 PM, Thursday, July 3, 2025 at Goldfinch Funeral Home, Beach Chapel. The family will visit with and greet friends following the service. Please sign the family's guestbook at: www.goldfinchfuneralhome.com Goldfinch Funeral Home, Beach Chapel assisted the family. --

Tributes

Olden Chester Todd

March 31, 1938 - June 27, 2025