Obituary of John Charles Hathaway

Graniteville, SC - John Charles Hathaway, 41, devoted and beloved husband of Mary Grace Hein Hathaway, of Graniteville, passed away October 11, 2018 surrounded by his family, due to complications related to his Marfan syndrome.

Born May 11, 1977 in Erie, Pennsylvania, he was the beloved son of Joseph Hathaway, Sr. and Nancy Maines Hathaway, tenderly raised with a deep Catholic faith and love for philosophy and literature.   He graduated from the South Carolina Honors College at USC with a B.A. in Philosophy and earned a Master’s in English at Valdosta State University. 

John was a devoted husband and father, and a Third Order Carmelite (John of the Little Way), who strived every day to live up to the Carmelite motto, “With zeal I have been zealous for the Lord of Hosts.”   Every day, he would pray the Divine Office and the rosary.  Embracing his suffering from Marfan syndrome, his joy was his faith in Jesus and His Church,  poured out on his wife, Mary, and his children, Alexandra, Gianna, Josef, and Clara.  A retired professor, he shared with them his knowledge of his many hobbies and interests informed by his Catholic faith such as: art, music, disability acceptance, writing, and literature, all while homeschooling the children. 

Were John to write his own obituary, he would say he was nothing but a giver of “worthless gifts,” (St. Teresa of Avila)  but he also recognized that “every moment we give God has immense value.”  While his youngest 3 slept, he recorded his Catholic prayer CD with his wife, Mary, and his oldest daughter, Alexandra, entitled “Hide Me In Your Wounds“ (available on Amazon). He also published several articles and essays, including delivering his talk, “Exercising Faith: C. S. Lewis, the Bible and St. Thérèse of Lisieux” at the Discovery Institute in 1998 and publishing an essay in Doors in the Air: C.S. Lewis and the Imaginative World.  He blogged frequently at https://lewiscrusade.wordpress.com/  , with the goals of “fighting for human dignity, the worth of the disabled, the salvation of souls and the Gospel of Life.”    His favorite topics included matters of the Catholic faith, saints, living with severe disabilities, family life, autism, Carmelite spirituality, humor, and his favorite authors (TS Eliot, Russell Kirk, Flannery O’Connor, Dietrich von Hildebrand, JRR Tolkien, and CS Lewis).  John was preceded in death by his unborn son, Lewis Hathaway,  his paternal grandparents William and Anne Hathaway, and his maternal grandmother, Mabel Maines. 

John will be lovingly remembered  by Mary, his wife of 18 years; his daughters, Alexandra, Gianna and Clara Hathaway; his son, Josef Hathaway; his parents Joseph and Nancy Hathaway; his sister, Kimberly Schaffer (Jeff); his brothers, Joe Hathaway (Tina) and Peter Hathaway (Julie); his grandfather, Bob Maines, Mary’s parents, Robert and Margaret Hein, Mary’s siblings and their families, and many other dear friends and family members.

The family will receive loved ones on Thursday, October 18, 2018 from 6-8PM with the Rosary being prayed at 6PM at George Funeral Home in downtown Aiken.

A Requiem Mass will be celebrated Friday, October 19, 2018 at 11AM at the Old Historic St. Mary’s on Park Ave.  Internment will follow at Calvary Cemetery, with a reception at St. Mary’s. 

In  lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to his memorial fund on the GiveSendGo website: https://www.givesendgo.com/GHRS#.W8QNumXt9jQ.facebook 

The Historic George Funeral Home, 211 Park Ave., SW, Aiken, SC 29801 (803-649-6234) has charge of arrangements.

Expressions of sympathy for the Hathaway family may be viewed or submitted by visiting our website, www.georgefuneralhome.com.