Ellen Scoville

Ellen Douglas Verner Scoville died to this life on Friday, December 7, 2018. A memorial service will be held on Sunday, December 9, at 2:30 p.m. at Eastminster Presbyterian Church, 3200 Trenholm Road, Columbia. The family will receive friends prior to the service from 1:15 until 2:15 pm in the Adult Reception Hall at the Church. Her family requests that memorials be made to the church and allocated to the Carolyn Holderman Fund or to a charity of one’s choice. Shives Funeral Home, Trenholm Road Chapel, is assisting the family. Mrs. Scoville died at the Presbyterian Home in Lexington. Born in Columbia on January 26, 1918, she was a daughter of James Spencer Verner and Eliza Bellamy Duffie Verner, and the wife for 64 years of Jack Miller Scoville who predeceased her in 2007. During World War II, Mr. Scoville served as a United States Army intelligence officer assigned to the China/Burma/India theater with headquarters in Kunming, China, where he remained until the conclusion of the war. Mr. and Mrs. Scoville were proud and patriotic Americans. She graduated from Columbia High School, attended Agnes Scott College and graduated from the University of South Carolina. She was a member of Tri Delta Sorority, the Junior League of Columbia and served on the Board. She served on the Board of Trustees of the Historic Columbia Foundation and on the Board of the Governor’s Mansion Commission. She was a member of the Holly Garden Club, the Junior League Fiction Club, the Current Literature Club, the Evening Music Club and the Remnants Club. She was a former member of the Anne Pamela Cunningham, D.A.R and the U.D.C, She was active in the Presbyterian Church serving as president of the women of the church at the First Presbyterian Church, President of Congaree Presbytery, W.O.C, coordinator of W.O.C for the Synod of the South East and a Delegate to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, US. Mrs. Scoville was well-known for wearing a small Christmas tree hat perched on her head on the Sunday before Christmas to bring joy to those feeling blue during the holidays. She began the tradition after her own mother died. A passionate watercolorist and poet throughout her long life, Ellen taught art lessons at the Presbyterian Home until age 90. Surviving her are her son, Jack Miller Scoville, Jr. (Lindsay), of Georgetown, S.C., daughter, Lucy Verner Scoville of Columbia and son-in-law, Patrick H Crawford, also of Columbia; and grandchildren, George Thomas McCutchen III (Shannon) of Columbia, William Henri (Ri) Crawford of Oakland, California, Margaret Ellen Bellamy (Belle) Crawford (Chris Smith) of Asheville, and Bonnie Elizabeth Verner Crawford of Baltimore, John Samuel Verner Scoville (Viviana) of Beaufort; Eloise Makemie Scoville of Asheville, Clarke W McCants IV of Greenwood, James Spencer Verner McCants of Mount Pleasant, William Bellamy McCants, a student at Clemson University; and nine great-grandchildren. Ellen was pre-deceased by her husband and daughters, Elise Duffie Scoville McCutchen and Mary Ansley Scoville Crawford, both of Columbia; and grandson, Jack Miller Scoville III of Georgetown. Ellen’s dry wit delighted all; her compassion and active church and civic lives touched generations of Columbians, and will be missed by many.

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Ellen Scoville

January 26, 1918 - December 7, 2018