Wilburn Carrol Gable, Jr. was born May 23, 1930, in Asheville, North Carolina, the son of Wilburn Carol Gable and Margaret Murdock Gable.
He attended public schools in Anderson, South Carolina, graduating from Anderson Boys High School in 1947, The Citadel in 1951, and the University of South Carolina Law School in 1958 (Cum Laude). He served in the Korean War as a commissioned 2nd Lieutenant and was discharged in 1953. He married Betty Kelly and they had two daughters, Carol Frances Gable, the Special Projects producer at WLOS-TV, and Elizabeth Faye Gable, a student at Bowman Gray School of Medicine. He was employed as an industrial engineer at Deering Milliken, Inc. until 1956, when he entered law school. While at the University of South Carolina Law School, he was Editor-in-Chief of Law Quarterly in 1958 and a member of the Wig and Robe.
He clerked for Chief Judge Clement F. Haynsworth of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, practiced law in Anderson and subsequently joined the firm of Watkins, Vandiver, Kirven, Long and Gable, which later became Watkins, Vandiver, Kirven, Gable and Gray.
Mr. Gable was a member of the Anderson County, South Carolina and the American Bar Associations. He served as a Vice-President of the South Carolina Bar for his Circuit. He was a member of the First Baptist Church, the Anderson County Club, the Elks Club and the S.C. Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse.