Our Founder at Abney and Associates Foundation
by Noelia Steele researcherThe following article was taken from the
March 1969 edition of QUILLS, a monthly newsletter Published by Abney Mills.
This is one of our favorite articles and feels that it is a wonderful portrayal
of our founder.
SUSIE MATHEWS ABNEY (History)
was the widow of John Pope Abney, the founder
of Abney Mills. Mr. Abney died in 1942,
and so Mrs. Abney survived her husband by more than 26 years. Although she
preferred to remain in the background where business affairs were concerned,
Mrs. Abney, following the death of her husband, nevertheless exercised a strong
and benevolent influence over the subsequent development and expansion of Abney
Mills from an organization of five textile mills to the large company of 15
plants it is today (at the time of printing, March 1969).
She was born in Elbert County, Georgia, a
daughter of the late Pierce and Sallie Cade Mathews, but she had lived in
Greenwood most of her life. A loyal
member of the South Main Street Baptist Church, she lent generous support to
all church activities as well as to various civic enterprises, and she was held
in high esteem for her philanthropy and humanitarian efforts. In 1954 she received the honorary degree of
Doctor of Humanities from Lander College, and she served her alma mater,
Converse College, as a trustee for a number of years.
One of the organizations in which she took special
interest was the Connie Maxwell Children's Home in Greenwood. For 45 years she served as a member of the
governing board of Connie Maxwell, and her acts of benevolence toward this
institution are too numerous for this listing.
Dr. Sam Smith, superintendent of the Children's Home, spoke of Mrs.
Abney in this way: "She had a great capacity to love people, and she was
especially concerned with the well-being, comfort and happiness of
children."
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Mrs. Abney was a person of instinctive good
taste. She appreciated beauty in all its
forms, and perhaps this fact accounts for her love of gardening, another of her
special interests. She was a member of
Unit One Garden Club in Greenwood, and she held a life membership in the South
Carolina Federation of Garden Clubs. She was also a former trustee of the
Memorial Garden in Columbia, a project sponsored by the Garden Club of the
State in memory of South Carolinians who gave their lives in World Wars I and
II.
Those of us who knew Mrs. Abney will always
remember her as a kind and gracious woman, ever hospitable in her home, ever
thoughtful of her friends, and ever mindful of the needs of others,. We never heard her speak discourteously of
anyone, nor did we ever know her to act in any way which might have been
unbecoming to the Southern lady that she was. Mrs. Abney always tried to do the
right thing. In her position as an
official of Abney Mills she was often under pressure to do favors for this
person or that one, she was often harassed by the strains of business matters,
but in the moments of crisis or stress Mrs. Abney relied on a strong and active
conscience to help her make decisions, and this reliance served her well. Mrs.
Abney was modest and unassuming. The
only picture of herself she would ever permit us to use in QUILLS was this photograph taken in
the garden of her home, and it therefore seems appropriate for use in this page
dedicated to her memory. Looking at it now, we can recall her kindly way, her
strength of character, and her sincere desire to be of service to others. We feel that even now her spirit lives on, as
calm and self-assured as when we knew her, as happy as she believed she would
be, in the company of those whom she had loved and lost awhile.
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Created on Dec 31st 1969 18:00. Viewed 0 times.