The Tankersleys of the River Falls area were known to produce some good tasting moonshine in the 19th and 20th centuries, but one of their boys went away to fight in World War II and returned to become a dreaded revenuer.

James Berry Tankersley, Sr., was born on Dec. 23, 1921, to Posey D. and Marie Price Tankersley. He was one of three sons; the other two were Posey D., Jr., known as Phil, and Lowell H. Tankersley. Their one sister was Imogene T. Osteen Gaston.

Jim Tankersley graduated from Parker High School in 1942 and entered Furman University. He left Furman to enlist in the U.S. Army. He served as a corporal in the 8th Air Force, in the 97th Bomb Group, serving for more than 36 months in combat mission.

After leaving the service, he returned to the River Falls area but had no interest in participating in the family’s moonshining legacy; instead, he began a career in law enforcement. Naturally, a few family units considered him a turncoat of sorts.

In 1954, he married Donnie Smith, who was to rise in civil service with Greenville County, to be the county’s Register of Deeds for 24 years. Thousands of deeds and other real estate papers bore the official Donnie Tankersley imprint.

Jim became an ATF agent with the U.S. Treasury Department in the Alcohol Tobacco Tax Division, participating in hundreds of raids in the Dark Corner and other upstate areas. He retired in 1987.

Following retirement, he remained very active in the South Carolina Law Enforcement Association and the National Association of Retired Federal Employees.

Both a Mason and a Shriner, he was a member of Sam Poe Lodge, a member of the Hejaz Temple and a member of the Hejaz Director’s Staff.

He died on July 15, 2006, after a lengthy illness of Parkinson’s disease, and was buried in the Gap Creek Baptist Church cemetery, where he had been a lifelong member.