The other investors were Jack’s friends from Columbia, and one was Bill’s father, owner of Edens-Turbeville Insurance in Columbia. The Turbeville’s built one of the first homes on Fripp in 1965 on Marlin Drive, which is still owned by the family.

Bill Sr. coordinated the very first Easter Sunrise Service on Fripp in 1967, and subsequently, Jack’s wife held church services every weekend after. Bill, Sr. passed away when Bill was only ten years old. At the time, Bill was not aware that some of the property owners on Fripp were his dad’s friends and fraternity brothers of Lambda Chi Alpha at the University of South Carolina. When Bill eventually enrolled at USC, he joined the same fraternity unbeknownst to him that his dad was an alumnus. Bill met friends who became brothers and, over time, learned that their dads were friends with his dad.

Bill majored in Insurance at USC.
“I’ll admit it. I was an insurance geek,” he jokes.
And it paid off.

He was President of his fraternity, an active member of IFC and an insurance major. He was being recruited by local agencies for his leadership and success in school. He joined Rooney and McArthur in 1981. And his first clients were his fraternity brothers and their dads. He worked for Rooney and McArthur for five years before moving to another agency for another five years. In 1991, Bill opened his own full service independent agency, Turbeville Insurance in Columbia selling personal and commercial lines and life and health policies. Over the years, Bill purchased and opened more agencies in Bishopville, Lexington, Columbia, Beaufort, Charleson, and Bluffton. He sold the Bishopville location and now has five offices across the state with over sixty staff members.

“It’s a fascinating business. Clients expect you do be everything, a CPA, an attorney, a construction advisor…everything. I’ve learned so much about different businesses and how they operate.” While Columbia is the home office to his business, Bill has maintained a permanent residence on Fripp for many years traveling back and forth a few days per week. “I love Fripp. I love the ocean, the beach, the natural beauty, the wildlife, and especially the fishing!” 

Bill is an avid and enthusiastic angler. In fact, one of his first jobs was at the marina on Fripp. He and his family frequently fished offshore tournaments. He remembers a King Mackerel Tournament, specifically, with his sons. They weren’t catching anything, and then the song, Takin’ Care of Business by Bachman-Turner Overdrive came on the radio. He said, “Sons, if we can’t catch a fish to this song, we are never going to catch a fish today.” And just like that, reels started spinning. They ended up winning two prizes in the tournament, biggest fish, and the aggregate. They certainly took care of business.

In 2010, Bill was reacquainted with his now wife, Megan. When he was in college, she was the younger sister of a fraternity brother and still in high school. She was then too young, and they went in different directions. Twelve years ago, they ran into each other at a USC Homecoming party and talked for an hour.

Still smitten after twelve years, Megan elaborates “It was such an easy reconnection. My brother and parents already knew Bill and thought very highly of him, as did I. He has more integrity than any other man I’ve ever met…besides my dad.” Bill and Megan married and shuffled between houses in Columbia, Charleston and Fripp. They had a house on Wahoo but moved permanently to their current house on Crooked Creek Lane four years ago.

“You know, I have a great life with my wife, my dog, boat, and a pool,” Bill smiles. Bill and Megan often take their 23- foot Sportsman to Pritchard’s or Bull Point for the day with their dog, Booger. Yes, Booger. Bill laughs, “I always wanted a male white lab, but Megan chose a female Golden Retriever, she got to pick the breed and sex, but I got to choose the name. We love her. She’s the agency mascot on social media.”

After Hurricane Matthew, Bill recalls Fripp looking like a war zone. He and Benji Hill took a boat to the island for three days after the storm. Trees were down, the golf course was flooded, roofs were crushed. The house on Marlin is in front of the 8th tee box on Ocean Point Golf Course. In disbelief while assessing damage, Bill explained, “The bag rack from the pro shop had floated all the way down to the 8th tee. I’d never seen anything like it.” Since 1965, that house had never flooded until Matthew.

Bill’s sister, Pebbles, still lives in the family’s original house on Marlin. His other sister, Kathy, lives on Fiddler’s Ridge. Bill has a close family, and thankfully they still call Fripp home. “My family is my largest asset.” Bill has three sons, Bill III, Patrick, and Michael and two daughters, Shannon and Kelly. Megan has a daughter, Morgan and a son, Ryan. The couple has eight grandchildren and entertaining an entire new generation of kids on the seaside paradise of Fripp Island. “We are truly blessed,” he says. In his personal and professional life, Bill practices two instilled values inherited from his father. “Tell the truth and do the right thing. That is the wonderful thing about Christians. None of us are perfect, but we’re all forgiven.”