Drew passed away in an automobile accident in Mozambique, Africa, on March 25, 2016, while faithfully serving in the Peace Corps.
A native of Irmo, South Carolina, Drew served as an education volunteer in Mozambique, where he taught secondary school physics in the village of Chitima, Tete Province. In his Peace Corps application, Drew wrote that in order to adapt to the Mozambican culture, he planned to “simply listen, observe and understand their way of life.” He was excited to learn new teaching techniques from his Mozambican community members and looked forward to hearing their personal perspectives on “the geography of the country, history, demographics, and their future.”
Drew was a graduate of Dutch Fork High School. He later received a bachelor’s degree in physics from The College of Charleston and was accomplished in the field of physics. He presented at the American Physical Society March Meeting in 2013, worked with the ExCitAtIon (Experiments at The Citadel on Atoms and Ions) group in the Department of Physics at The Citadel as an undergraduate student, and received the Sigma Pi Sigma Society of Physics Students Undergraduate Research Award in 2012. He also received an undergraduate research award from the NASA Space Grant Consortium in May 2010. Drew’s commitment to service began prior to serving as a Peace Corps volunteer. He was a physics and math tutor at the Citadel in Charleston and an Eagle Scout in Boy Scouts of America Troop 312. Drew loved music and was in the Dutch Fork High School Marching Band. He enjoyed playing the trumpet, guitar, drums, bass, and piano. He was also passionate about the outdoors, cooking, gardening, travel, and learning.
Drew is survived by his parents, Mrs. Kim F. Hagwood and Mr. Steven H. Hagwood and Mr. Roy Jennings Farr, III, and Mrs. Deborah Buff Farr, and his step-sister, Ms. Robbyn D. Young. Drew is the grandson of R. Jennings Farr, Jr. and the late Oleta Sanders Farr of Liberty, SC, of Jay Allen McJunkin and Mary Jo Seaborn McJunkin of Six Mile, SC of Mrs. Joyce D. Buff and the late Glenn A. J. Buff of Panama City, FL, and of James R. Hagwood and Jacqueline “Jackie” Hagwood of Bethune, SC. He is also survived by numerous aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends who have loved him dearly.