Dennis C. Waldrop

Dennis Charles Waldrop was born to Charles Jordan Waldrop and Lucille Cunningham Waldrop in Slater in Northern Greenville County South Carolina, April 7, 1947 and grew up in the Sans Souci area. He earned his Eagle Scout award from Boy Scouts of America at the age of 12. He received his education at Parker High School, Greenville Technical College, and Furman University. He married Betty Ann Buchanan, from Easley, June 10, 1967. They moved to Simpsonville in 1977. He serves as the president of the Waldrop Company, a construction and real estate business.
Dennis C. Waldrop was the Mayor of Simpsonville, South Carolina from 1995 through 2011. Waldrop was elected to City Council in 1992, then Mayor Pro Tem in 1994. He assumed the position of mayor in 1995, upon the resignation of Pamela Osteen King. Waldrop was reelected in 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008, serving for twenty years until his defeat in the election of 2011. In this election, Waldrop was defeated Perry Eichor.
Under Waldrop's leadership as Mayor, the City of Simpsonville moved City Hall to more modern and larger facilities on N. Main St, computerized all City accounting and record keeping, updated and modernized City policies and procedures, and commissioned a study of employee wages, benefits and policies to assure fairness and competitiveness in the market. The new Simpsonville Activity and Senior Center was built to serve youth indoor sports and senior activities. Two new fire stations were built, equipped and staffed.
In 2003, Waldrop proposed and led the effort to construct Heritage Park, a park for youth sports and outdoor family activities, to promote Simpsonville's "family-friendly atmosphere." The proposal included a funding plan that used a "local accommodations and prepared food & beverage sales tax" to repay construction bonds, instead of raising property taxes. The park opened in 2005 and has been the home of hundreds of youth baseball and softball tournaments, including the Hap DuMont Little League Baseball World Series and the Carolinas Conference Ladies College Softball Championship Tournament. In 2007, a 13,500 seat amphitheater was added to Heritage Park and has since been the venue for many internationally known entertainers and thousands of fans visiting the city for the entertainment.
The park has, now, been recognized as one of the finest family recreation parks in the Southeastern United States by many and Simpsonville was recognized in 2010 as one of "The Ten Best Cities to Raise a Family" by Family Circle Magazine.
Waldrop has held a variety of positions, including service as the vice chairman of the Greenville/Pickens Area Transportation Study Committee (GPATS) and chairman of the Greenville County Mayors Association. He formerly served as president of the Greenville Home Builders Association, a director of the National Home Builders Association, and a director of the South Carolina Home Builders Association. He has previously been recognized as builder of the year by the Greenville Home Builders Association. Waldrop is the founder of Honor Flight Simpsonville, which became Upstate South Carolina Honor Flight, an organization that flies World War II veterans to Washington, DC to visit the World War II Memorial. He was Chairman of the Board of Directors of Freedom Weekend Aloft and is on the Board of Directors of that organization under its new name "Aloft."
Waldrop maintains many local memberships, including the Simpsonville Rotary Club, the Simpsonville Area Chamber of Commerce, the Greenville Technical College Brashier Campus Advisory Board, the Palmetto Forum Mayors & Administrators Group, Urban Land Institute and the Upstate Air Quality Study Group Steering Committee.
Waldrop has previously served as deacon at the Buncombe Road Baptist Church and enjoys fishing, hunting, reading, computers, and golf. He has two daughters—Amanda ("Mandi"), who died in October 2010, and Kathryn ("Katie"). He has two granddaughters, Kylie and Samantha, by Mandi. He has one grandson, Mason Mattison, and a granddaughter, Blakely by daughter Katie and her husband Brad Mattison. Dennis is married to the former Patricia Lynn Young of Miles City, Montana, his second wife.

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