Nancy Gooding Guthridge

BEAUFORT, SOUTH CAROLINA - Nancy Riley Gooding Guthridge, 98, died April 17, 2012, in Summerville, South Carolina.  Born May 5, 1913, at the family's Cohasset Farm, Crocketville, South Carolina, she was the youngest of eight children of William James and Mary Emily Webb Gooding.  Her first seven years passed among the farm's "primitive conveniences": heating by seven fireplaces, water from a well, lighting from kerosene lamps.  Schooling was in the village's four-room schoolhouse, grades one through high school. The family moved to Charleston in 1920, where Nancy continued school at James Simons, Croft, and Memminger schools.  After the death of her father in 1927, she attended high schools in Watertown, Connecticut, and Savannah, Georgia, the latter from which she graduated in 1930.  She graduated from Winthrop College in 1934.


Nancy and Donald John Guthridge of White Plains, New York, married on August 9, 1936, at Second Presbyterian Church in Charleston, South Carolina.  Nancy worked in Washington, D.C. for the Departments of Agriculture and Treasury and served on the staffs of Members of Congress Thomas S. McMillan and her sister the Honorable Clara G. McMillan. While her children were growing up in Arlington, Virginia, Nancy was active with school and community services, including the American Red Cross.  She sang with the choir of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Arlington and the Washington Cathedral Choral Society.  She was President of the Women's Golf Association at International Town and Country Club, Fairfax, Virginia. Retiring to Beaufort, South Carolina, in 1972, she joined First Presbyterian Church.  She organized a Women's Golf Association chapter at Pleasant Point Country Club on Lady's Island and chaired other golf associations in Beaufort County. Nancy volunteered with the American Red Cross, the Naval Hospital - Beaufort, the Cancer Crusade, literacy programs, and several Beaufort County fundraising drives.


Life for Nancy was an adventure and a celebration.  From her diary: "Hitch your wagon to a star.  Keep your seat, and there you are." Nancy's husband Donald died in 2001.  She is survived by three sons - Guy of Alexandria, Virginia, Clay of Arlington, Virginia, and John of Hollywood, Florida - four grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, a large and close extended family, and many loving and steadfast friends.  A memorial service will be held at 2:00 p.m., Friday, May 4, 2012, at the Chapel, Presbyterian Home, Summerville, South Carolina 29483.   The family suggests, in lieu of flowers, contributions to: South Carolina Historical Society, 100 Meeting Street, Charleston, South Carolina 29401.  Or: Beaufort Historical Society, P.O. Box 55, Beaufort, South Carolina