She’s got a memorable nickname. She’s known for giving sage advice. On Wednesday, she reached the century mark.

Marelle “Rell” Williamson Sanford has resided at The Methodist Oaks for nine years.

At age 90, she sold her Orangeburg home and moved to an independent living wing at the Oaks. She continued to read, drive, bake cakes, crochet and make sewing alterations for residents. She uses a wheelchair now but continues to be an inspiration to family and friends.

She is like a second mother to family members over five generations.

Mrs. Sanford is known for a memory that gives her the ability to recount her family’s early life to her children, nieces, nephews, and grandchildren to ensure an accurate genealogical record. She and her mother’s scrapbooks and photo albums add visual details to her verbal recollections. Visits with her sometimes become a family history story — some sad and many hilarious.

She is an Orangeburg County native of the Middle Willow community near Norway and was the third child born to William Franklin and Effie Mathis Caldwell Williamson. She is the widow of Virgil Morgan “Jack” Sanford. They celebrated their Golden Anniversary in May 1974 before his death in 1975.

She was brought up in Lebanon United Methodist Church near Norway and joined Two Mile Swamp Baptist Church. She was a faithful member of Orangeburg’s First Baptist Church for more than 50 years.

During the Great Depression, Mr. and Mrs. Sanford and their baby son, Sherwood, moved in with her parents to help with her ailing father and the farm business. After his death in 1945, Mrs. Sanford became the primary caregiver of her elderly mother who lived with them. In 1951, Mr. and Mrs. Sanford, her mother, and younger son, Morgan, moved to Orangeburg from the “Williamson Home-place & Farm,” which was sold in 1960 following her mother’s death.

The Sanfords rented a home on Seminole Avenue in the “Fishery Road Neighborhood” and in 1955 built a home a block away at 290 Lakeview Drive. The large corner lot surrounding the home became a showplace as they planted and nurtured a variety of trees, flower gardens, blooming bushes and a huge vegetable garden in the rear of their lot.

She and her husband liked to cook. Most folks remember that Mrs. Sanford kept a fresh pound cake next to her refrigerator.

From 1950-1971, Mrs. Sanford worked full-time for her brother, Carl, owner of Williamson’s Bearcat Fishing Line Co. Inc. She also worked part-time as an alterations seamstress for Belk’s and The Smart Shop.

She was a cake-baker extraordinaire, gardener, seamstress and needle-worker. She crocheted afghans for her nieces and nephews upon their marriages and bootees for babies as they began to arrive. Her feet pedaled many miles on her reliable treadle sewing machine, making or altering clothes for herself and others.

One of her favorite quotes is, “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.”

Each November, she made her famous Christmas fruitcakes soaked with wine, wrapped in cheesecloth and kept in a cool place. At annual Williamson family reunions and at Lebanon United Methodist Church Homecomings, her baskets of food have always been popular. Until September 1996, she cooked a full midday meal Monday-Friday for her widowed son and herself.

In life, tragedy visits families. Such was the case in May 1972 when Mr. and Mrs. Sanford’s older son, Sherwood, and son, Frank, drowned in a boating accident at Santee.

Family and friends consider a personal visit with her as a counseling session. She continues to share with a caring heart and open mind, easing into the role of “matriarch” and as a model for aging gracefully. She is a loving “second mother” to many nieces, nephews and friends of her sons. Her sense of humor and familiar chuckle are legendary.

Her granddaughter, Sherry S. Sullivan of Greenwood, and family members are planning a celebration this weekend.

You must be logged in to comment.