‘He loved Great Falls’: Small SC town’s nurse practitioner Terry Sims dies at 52
Terry Sims, the nurse practitioner in the tiny Chester County town of Great Falls, has died, according to officials and his medical practice.
Sims died Wednesday in Richland County, Chester County Coroner Terry Tinker said. Sims was 52 years old. The cause of death was not immediately known.
Officials at Sims Family Medicine in Great Falls said on Facebook that the practice Sims ran will remain open.
Sims spent his adult life in service to the community, said Britt Lineberger, Chester County EMS director who knew Sims for more than 30 years. Sims volunteered for decades with Great Falls Rescue Squad, then went to school to work in health care, Lineberger said.
“Terry Sims loved Great Falls and he loved the people of Great Falls,” Lineberger said. “He spent his life helping people. He always said he wanted to take care of the people and he did.”
Sims was valedictorian of Great Falls High School in 1988. He worked with legendary Great Falls Dr. Hollis Snead, the sole doctor based in Great Falls, until Snead’s death in 10 years ago.
The Great Falls community’s love for Sims and Snead was so great that in 2010 when county hospital medical officials considered closing the small medical practice, there were protests and community gatherings so large they had to be held in a high school gymnasium.
Sims ran the family medical practice following Snead’s death.
Beloved in Great Falls and Chester County
Word of Sims’ passing shook the small Chester County community of about 2,000 people between Rock Hill and Columbia in South Carolina that sits along the Catawba River. Hundreds of tributes and kind words were posted on Facebook and other sites, saying Sims touched and helped countless lives in his three decades of public and medical service.
Visitation is set for 3-6 p.m. Friday at Sims’ medical office at 503 Chester Ave., Great Falls, and 1-2 p.m. Saturday at Mount Zion Baptist Church in Great Falls. The funeral follows Saturday at 2 p.m. at the church, according to an obituary from Dantzler-Baker Funeral Home.
This story was originally published December 30, 2021 at 5:25 PM.
