Elizabeth Marshall Marion

A beautiful and extraordinary lady has left our lives. Elizabeth Marshall Marion died at her home on June 6. She was born in Columbia on October 17, 1922, the eldest child of Helen Bruton and John Quitman Marshall.

She was educated in Columbia public schools and was the seventh generation of her family to graduate from the University of South Carolina. A proud Gamecock, she served on the Board of Visitors for University of South Carolina for sixteen years, presiding as chairman for six years. She was instrumental in organizing the Carolina Scholars Program.

At the end of World War II, in May of 1945, she married William Francis Marion and moved to Greenville. She immediately became a communicant of Christ Church Episcopal, and was an active member her entire adult life. She was a Sunday school teacher, a chapter leader, a Bazaar chairman, and a member of the Altar Guild. She helped organize, and was a charter member of the Greenville County Museum of Art Association. She was also a member of the Junior League, the Quadrille, the Monday Book Club, and the Colonial Dames of America in South Carolina.

She was a person of many talents and many interests. She loved life and loved people, and in return was loved by many. “Grinny” was a voracious reader, an avid bridge player, an energetic walker, a determined tennis player, a family historian – and a mender of fences at the farm for 30 years and in life forever! At the age of 80, she traded in her boring sedan for a blue convertible and a red baseball cap. As she said “a wonderful life!”

She was predeceased by her husband, William Francis Marion, and by her brother, Dr. Foster Marshall. She is survived by her sister, Jane Brooks Mays of Columbia; her brother, John Quitman Marshall of Columbia; daughters, Helen Molten and husband, Richard of Columbia and Mary Burnet Johnston and her husband Ellis; sons, Francis Marion, Jr. and wife Beverly, and Alex Marion and wife Kathy all of Greenville. She has ten grandchildren, three step-grandchildren, eleven great-grandchildren (with more to come!), many nieces and nephews, and numerous cousins, all of whom she took time to know.

“Grinny” attributed her longevity to “a puzzle a day, an apple a day, a nap a day, a walk a day.”

Funeral service 2 pm, June 9, 2016 at Christ Church Episcopal, Greenville with burial following in the Church cemetery.

For those wishing to make memorial contributions, please consider the Greenville County Art Museum, 420 College St., Greenville, SC 29601; Greenville Symphony Orchestra, 200 S. Main St., Greenville, SC 29601 or Christ Church Episcopal, 10 N. Church St., Greenville, SC 29601.