Mrs. Jessie L. Holloway Woods, the youngest of five children of the late Thomas Charles Holloway, Sr., and Lillie Pearl Nathan Holloway, was born December 6, 1932 in Greenwood, SC. She was the last survivor of her immediate family. Her siblings, John Authur Holloway, Sarah Holloway, Thomas Charles Holloway, Jr., and Gladys Holloway Cambrel, preceded her in death.
She attended West Side Elementary School and Brewer High School, graduating in 1950. She graduated from Benedict College in Columbia, SC in 1954, with a Bachelor of Arts Degree, with a major in English and a minor in History. Later, she did graduate work at South Carolina State College and at Lander College through Clemson University.
She began her teaching career at Brewer High School in 1954. She later taught at Bryson High School in Fountain Inn, SC, and J. S. Wright High School in Abbeville, SC. In 1964, she returned to Brewer High School, where she remained until 1970. At that time, she began teaching at Southside Jr. High School, where she ended her contractual teaching career. After retiring from the traditional classroom, she became a substitute teacher and taught in the adult education program in Greenwood School District 50 and at Morris Chapel Baptist Church.
Mrs. Woods was inducted into the Brewer High School National Alumni Association’s Hall of Fame in 2007. She was a member of the local, state, and national associations of retired teachers. She was a lifetime member of the Morris Chapel Baptist Church, where she served as a choir member, Sunday School teacher, and superintendent, and youth minister. During her years of working with the Little River Congress of Christian Education, she served as dean, vice-president, and the first female president of the Congress.
Mrs. Woods is survived by two daughters, Vickie L. Woods Nicolls and Elder Brenda D. Woods Mansel, and one goddaughter, Karen Boyd Benjamin (Anthony); four grandchildren; John A. Nicolls, Jr., Jerel A. Mansel, Jr. (who preceded her in death), Jessica S. Mansel, and Darius J. Dorn; four great-grandchildren. As matriarch, she leaves a host of other family and friends to celebrate her life.
Graveside services will be held at Evening Star Memorial Gardens, Greenwood, SC, at 1 p.m. on Friday, October 9, 2020, with Rev. Clyde Cannon Officiating, and Bishop Oliver T. McCray, presiding. Honorary escorts will be former students and co-workers. Flower bearers will be cousins and friends of the family. Pall bearers will be deacons and trustees of the church.
Repast will be at Morris Chapel Baptist Church Family Life Center, 530 Baptist Ave., Greenwood, S.C. Family will receive friends at the home, 115 Cole Street., Greenwood, SC.
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