Mary Goolsby Obituary

Mary Ellen Fraser Goolsby

March 15, 1934 - October 19, 2023

Columbia, South Carolina - Mary Ellen "Prue" Fraser Goolsby, age 89, passed away on Thursday, October 19th, 2023. She was born in Walterboro, SC on March 15th, 1934, the youngest daughter of the late Robert Ludlow Fraser and the late Helen Eugenia Robertson Fraser.

She is survived by her husband, Judge Clarence Tolbert Goolsby, Jr. of Columbia, SC; a son, Philip Lane Goolsby, M.D. (Susanne Heins), of Green Bay, Wisconsin; three grandchildren, Rachel Elisabeth Goolsby of Green Bay, Wisconsin, Jessica Mary Goolsby Purcell (Chuck) of Austin, Texas, and Anna Layne Goolsby of Atlanta, Georgia; and two great-grandchildren, Charles Eugene Purcell IV and Cameron Lane Purcell of Austin, Texas. She is also survived by several nieces and nephews.

She was predeceased by her sisters, Charlotte Fraser Nye of Lumberton, NC and Helen Fraser Weissenstein of Walterboro, SC; and a granddaughter, Kristin Goolsby.

Mrs. Goolsby graduated from Walterboro High School and attended Queens College and Columbia College. She retired in 1993 after 32 years of employment at the University of South Carolina, first as a reference librarian at McKissick Memorial Library, and later as circulation librarian at the Coleman Karesh Law Library of the University of South Carolina School of Law.

Mrs. Goolsby belonged to the Daughters of the American Revolution and Westminster Presbyterian Church where she served as a Deacon and as an Elder, and sang in the Chancel Choir. An award-winning stained-glass artisan, she designed and crafted the stained-glass windows of the Family Room at Westminster. Her needlepoint and crochet works also garnered awards at the South Carolina State Fair.

A memorial service was held at 2:00 PM on Saturday, October 21st, 2023 at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 1715 Broad River Road, Columbia, SC 29210, with her ashes later being interred in the Columbarium within the Howie Bell Tower and Carillon at The Citadel in Charleston, SC.

The family received friends in the Gathering Room at Westminster following the memorial service.

Memorials may be made to the Prue Goolsby Endowment Fund at the USC School of Law through the University of South Carolina Education Foundation, 1600 Hampton Street, Suite 736, Columbia, SC 29208.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.elmwoodfhcolumbia.com for the Goolsby family.