Mary "Mimi" Montgomery Maddock, 74, passed away May 26, 2018, after succumbing to pancreatic cancer. As always, she was surrounded by family and friends.

Mimi graduated from Dreher High School in 1961, where she was selected as Homecoming Queen. She went on to graduate from the University of South Carolina with a Bachelors degree in Education and received her Masters in Education from the University of Alabama-Birmingham.

Mimi taught middle school for 23 years in Atlanta, Ga., Birmingham, Ala., and Columbia. She retired from teaching in 1988 to join her father, Miller Montgomery, and brother, Warner Montgomery, at The Star Reporter Newspaper. She worked as the executive editor and eventually became co-owner of the paper with her brother in 1996. Together they changed the name of the paper to The Columbia Star, increased the circulation by 500 percent, and created the website, www.thecolumbiastar.com .

Mimi became the publisher of The Columbia Star in 2009. In 2016, she stepped down to take the copyeditor position handing over all responsibilities to her son, Mike Maddock. This change allowed her more time with friends, family, her crafts, and her beloved dog, Keeta. Titles never mattered to Mimi, but if one was created for her, it would have been "the bright light" in The Columbia Star operation. She loved everyone at The Star and considered them all family.

Mimi grew up a member of St. John's Episcopal Church in Columbia. She was an original Kudzu Queen and served in many civic organizations. Mimi was most recently a member of the Richland County Coroner's Office Foundation Board.

Mimi was fiercely independent, living alone with her dog and working every day. She deeply cherished time with her family and friends. Whether she was having pizza with the girls, dancing with old classmates, visiting with neighbors from the past, having lobster with her cousin, or prancing up to a soccer field, baseball diamond, or tennis court in her giant sun bonnet to watch her grandchildren play, Mimi was always the life of the party.

Mimi was predeceased by her mother, Mary Gourdin Montgomery, and father, Warner Miller Montgomery, Sr.

She is survived by her son, John Michael Maddock, Sr., his wife, Tammie McCarley Maddock, and their children, McCarley Elizabeth, Ashley Montgomery, and John Michael Maddock, Jr.; her brother, Warner Miller Montgomery, Jr., his wife, Linda Sosbee, and his children, Chai and Jyoti; her sister-in-law, Mary Maddock Long of Atlanta, and her family; her cousins Carole Hunt, Al Montgomery, and Jan Montgomery and their families; Natasha Whitling of New York, NY, whom Mimi considered the daughter she never had; and her dog, Keeta.

The family would like to sincerely thank Dianne Ryan Light and Betsy Stuckey Groff for their incredible support and assistance and also the nurses and doctors at Lexington Medical Center and Agape Hospice for their professionalism, care, and companionship during this very difficult time.

Visitation is planned for Wednesday, May 30, from 5-7 p.m. at Shives Funeral Home, Trenholm Road Chapel, 7600 Trenholm Road Extension. The memorial service is planned for Thursday, May 31, at 3 p.m. also at Shives.

Shives Funeral Home, Trenholm Road Chapel is assisting the family. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to either the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) or the Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research.