Obituary of Mary Tompkins

Mary Eleanor Thurmond Tompkins, 95, educator, civic leader, gourmet cook, devoted family member, and genuine friend of many, died July 15, 2004, at University Hospital in Augusta, Ga.Born in Edgefield on May 31, 1909, she was the youngest of six children of the late Eleanor Gertrude Strom Thurmond and the Honorable John William Thurmond, and was the last surviving member of her immediate family. After thirty-five years of marriage, she became the widow of John Robert Tompkins.She is predeceased by her brothers, Dr. John William Thurmond Jr., Dr. Allan George Thurmond and Sen. James Strom Thurmond; and sisters, Anna Gertrude Thurmond, and twin sister, Martha Evelyn Thurmond Bishop. Having been a loyal wife, loving mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and beloved matriarch of her family, she is survived by her daughter, Mary Thurmond Tompkins Freeman, and son-in-law, Ted Barron Freeman, of Lugoff; and three grandchildren, Ted Barron Freeman II, of Atlanta, Ga., Elise Townsend Freeman Crosby, of Georgetown, and Robert Tompkins Thurmond Freeman, of Washington, D.C.; and three great-grandchildren.A service of celebration for the life, and mourning, of the death of Mary Thurmond Tompkins will be held at First Baptist Church of Edgefield on Monday, July 19, 2004, at 10 a.m., conducted by her present minister, the Rev. Keith Goretzka, her former minister, the Rev. Dr. Lewis E. McCormick, and Derrell Billingsley, minister of music. Interment will follow at Willowbrook Cemetery of Edgefield.In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to First Baptist Church, Box 624, Edgefield, SC 29824; or to the Mary Thurmond Tompkins Scholarship Fund, Winthrop University Foundation Office, 155 Tillman Hall, Rock Hill, SC 20733.The family will receive friends Sunday, July 18, 2004, from 5 to 8 p.m. at Edgefield Mercantile Funeral Home.