Judge Kenneth Eaton was appointed by Governor Jim Hodges to fill the un-expired term of Patsy Stone. Eaton, a Florence native, is a graduate of Clemson University and the University of South Carolina Law School. He worked with the McGowan Law Firm in Florence from 1970 until his retirement in 1999.

Eaton served in the U.S. Army from 1964 to 1970 as an attorney in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps, and was honorably discharged with the rank of Major. During his tenure with the JAGC office, he served two years as a military trial judge.

Judge Eaton is past president of the Florence Optimist Club, past member of the Board of Trustees for the Pee Dee Area Rescue Mission and Pee Dee Housing Corp. He also is a lifetime member of the Central United Methodist Church, having served as a teacher, Chairman of the Administrative Board, Chairman of Trustees and Chairman of the Finance Committee.

Eaton and his wife, Joyce Medlin of Darlington, have two children, Andrea Eaton, a practicing attorney in Columbia, and Erin Eaton, a graduate student at Vanderbilt University.