Dorothy Mae RANDOLPH^{[1, 2]}

1935 - 2021  (86 years)

• Name	Dorothy Mae RANDOLPH  [3]
  Birth	14 Aug 1935	Sumter, Sumter County, South Carolina   [3]
  Gender	Female
  HIST	3 added to Women's Honor Roll Print Howell ELDRIDGE TONEY Posted: Sunday, February 27, 2011 6:00 am | Updated: 5:16 pm, Fri Feb 25, 2011. By IVY MOORE - ivym@theitem.com March is National Women's History Month, the time Sumter Volunteers has traditionally honored outstanding community women by naming them to the Women's Honor Roll of Sumter County. Since the honor roll was established in 1993, 96 women, including those being honored this year, have been added. A special ceremony on Tuesday afternoon will celebrate three more who have made outstanding contributions to Sumter County. Jo Anne Morris, executive director of Sumter Volunteers, announced that Dorothy Mae Randolph Toney, the late Lucie Anne Cuttino Eldridge and the late Frances "Pinkie" Haynsworth Hildebrand Howell are this year's honorees. Women's History Month began as a modest weeklong observance in 1977. Women's History Week was an educational project in the schools of Sonoma County, California. Four years later, Congress made National Women's History Week official. When the recognition of women's contributions to history grew even further, Congress expanded the celebration to a month, beginning in 1987. At the first Sumter ceremony, 20 women were honored posthumously and Lady Banksiae roses planted in their honor on the pergola in Volunteer Park. Since that time, additional women and four women's organizations have been honored and rosebushes for each of them have been planted on the Exhibition Center fence as "living monuments." The Honor Roll plaque is permanently installed in the front lobby, upper level, of Patriot Hall. Because of renovations at the Exhibition Center (now the Sumter Civic Center), the roses honoring Ms. Toney, Mrs. Howell and Mrs. Eldridge will be planted at a later date, when the landscaping and paving has been completed. March 1 also marks 35 years' service by Sumter Volunteers to the community. The volunteer center was founded by the Junior Welfare League of Sumter in 1976. It is located at 407 W. Hampton Avenue. For information on volunteer opportunities or the Women's Honor Roll, call (803) 775-7423. LUCIE ANNE CUTTINO ELDRIDGE The late Lucie Anne Eldridge was a treasure to her family, her friends and her community. A child of the Great Depression, she was born Oct. 26, 1919, the second of five children of Jamie and Lucie Edwards Cuttino of Sumter. The household also included Lucie Anne's maternal grandmother, a widowed aunt and her son. Mrs. Eldridge often remarked that although her father had the burden of feeding a family of 10 throughout those lean years, there was always food and love in abundance at their dinner table and throughout the home. The tight-knit family relationships and lack of material wealth combined with an emphasis on scholarship, patriotism and devotion to God were the greatest influence during her formative years, Mrs. Eldridge recalled. After her graduation from Columbia College with a degree in public school music, she returned to Sumter and began teaching at Miller School. Her family tells that she surprised her family with her first paycheck by having a carpenter install cabinets in their busy kitchen. Mrs. Eldridge taught music and chorus in Sumter School District 17 for 26 years, and in her 50s earned a master's degree in music education from the University of South Carolina. As a teacher, she took joy in honing the musical abilities of her students, helping them find success in a subject they could enjoy. In 1946, Lucie Anne married Bill Eldridge of Sumter; they had two sons, Billy and Jamie, who was born a few months after his father's death. A lifelong member of First Baptist Church, Mrs. Eldridge sang in the choir, taught the Winsome Sunday School Class and the Ruth Sunday School Class; during a hiatus from teaching in the 1960s, she served as church secretary. It is said she inspired truth with deep Christian convictions to those she taught in school and in church. A lifelong lover of music, hymns and poetry, Mrs. Eldridge could reach back to recite poems learned in her early school days, quote Bible verses to suit any occasion and offer a prayer for personal losses and trials. One of her favorite stories that serves as an example of her self-effacing humor is an incident that happened as she was singing at a funeral. She had misunderstood the name of the deceased, then spotted the "departed" sitting in the congregation and had a hard time finishing the song. After her retirement from District 17, Mrs. Eldridge mentioned to her friend Naomi Warner that she thought running the Naomi & Warner gift shop looked like fun. She was invited to find out for herself and thus entered a new career as an occasional shopkeeper and overseer of the popular coffee shop. Mrs. Eldridge lived her life as an investor - not of money, but of her time, talents and interests in the people she loved, the many she felt blessed to count as friends, including the hundreds of young people she taught over the years. The return on her investments? Hardly a day passed that she didn't encounter a friend who wanted to stop and "catch up," or a former chorus student wanting to reminisce about some meaningful incident from years long past. After a brief battle with cancer, Lucie Anne Eldridge died on Sept. 30, 2007. The many kindnesses shown to her family by friends from near and far have served as testimony to the place she held in so many people's hearts. DOROTHY MAE RANDOLPH TONEY Dorothy Mae Randolph Toney is the ninth of 12 children born to Willie and Bessie Fogle Randolph. Reared on the west side of Sumter, she graduated from Lincoln High School in 1953 and from Columbia Hospital School of Nursing in 1956. She did post graduate work at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Fla. The widow of Luke Toney II, she has three children, Luke III, Tamala and Dorolita. After serving for 38 years as a registered nurse at Columbia Hospital - now Palmetto Health Baptist Hospital - and Tuomey Regional Medical Center, Ms. Toney retired. While at Tuomey, she held both instructional and administrative positions. She was an instructor for nursing assistant classes and provided orientation to licensed practical nurses and registered nurses; a head nurse of obstetrics and gynecology from 1961-1988; the first African-American head nurse at Tuomey; the first interview nurse on Day Surgery; and Hospital Relief supervisor. Her unofficial duties included assisting mothers with naming their children - and she remembered the faces and names of all her patients. A member of the National Nurses Association, Ms. Toney was honored during National Nurses Week in 1980. The following year, she received a Tribute to Women in Industry award, and in 1983, she was listed in Personalities of the South, 12th Edition. During her entire career as a registered nurse, Ms. Toney always wore the traditional starched, white nurse's uniform and cap and polished, white shoes. After her 1996 retirement, Ms. Toney made the transition from nurturing patients to nurturing her community. She exchanged her nurse's uniform for more stylish attire adorned with a brooch or pin on the lapel of her jacket. She served on the Sumter-Columbia Empowerment Zone, which resulted in the development of the three HOPE centers in Sumter and a certificate of commendation from Rep. James E. Clyburn, D-S.C. She also served as president of the Northside Neighborhood Association, chairwoman of the North Sumter Alliance and member of the City of Sumter Housing and Economic Development Corporation. Ms. Toney is a lifetime member of the NAACP, a national and local member of the Sumterites Association and a member of the Lincoln High School Alumni Association. The S.C. House of Representatives honored her with the 1995 James T. McCain Humanitarian Award for her outstanding contributions to Sumter County. She continues to serve as a volunteer with Sumter Volunteers' My Community and Me program for fourth-graders of Sumter County. A member of Goodwill Presbyterian Church, USA, Ms. Toney is an elder, a Sunday school teacher, Bible study assistant teacher and a member of the Presbyterian Women of New Harmony. She is also a recipient of the Presbyterian Women Life Honorary Membership Award. Almost 55 years ago, Ms. Toney repeated The Florence Nightingale Pledge: "I solemnly pledge myself before God and presence of this assembly ... to practice my profession faithfully ... I will do all in my power to maintain and elevate the standard of my profession ... and devote myself to the welfare of those committed to my care." The precepts of that pledge applied not only to her career as a nurse, but also to her family, church and community. This pledge shaped her devotion and commitment to providing quality care to her patients as well as providing a clean, safe and thriving community for families. FRANCES "PINKIE" HAYNSWORTH HILDEBRAND HOWELL The late Frances "Pinkie" Howell was born in Sumter in 1918, a daughter of Hugh Charles and Emilie Beattie Haynsworth. She graduated from Edmunds High School and Coker College and earned a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University. She was married first to Russell Marshall Hildebrand Jr. and after his death, to the late Dr. Thomas Wellington Howell. She had three children, Russell III, Emilie and Virginia. Known as a trailblazer for S.C.'s female journalists, Mrs. Howell was a multiple award-winning reporter and news editor for The Item, joining the paper as a cub reporter in 1941 after two years with The Columbia Record and retiring 22 years later as news editor. In 1955 she was named S.C. Newspaperwoman of the Year by the S.C. Press Association, and she became the first female president of the S.C. Associated Press News Council in 1961. Mrs. Howell's skill at newspaper makeup won a coveted Ayer Award in 1956 for excellence in typography, makeup and printing and again in 1960. Following her 1963 retirement from The Item, Mrs. Howell taught mass communications and the history and philosophy at the University of South Carolina Sumter. At the time of her death in 1997, Item editor Hubert D. Osteen Jr., Mrs. Howell "... did everything: She edited, assigned stories, wrote stories, laid out pages, wrote headlines and caption lines, handled reporters and photographers and dealt with the public." He added that she was "versatile, bright, creative, witty, compassionate and, when the situation warranted it, quite outspoken. ... "I doubt if there was a single woman in the entire state during the 1940s when she took charge of The Item's newsroom. ... It was one of the best moves my father and grandfather ever made." While working and raising a family, Mrs. Howell also found time to serve as president of the Sumter Junior Welfare League, secretary of the Sumter chapter of the S.C. Lung Association and secretary of the American Red Cross board. She was also on the board of the Sumter YWCA, taught Sunday school at the Episcopal Church of the Holy Comforter, was a founding member of the Sumter Cotillion Club and a member of Sunset Country Club. She continued her activity in civic and church activities in Mansfield, Ohio, where she and Dr. Howell lived for several years after his retirement. Posted in Panorama on Sunday, February 27, 2011 DOROTHY MAE RANDOLPH TONEY Posted Saturday, November 20, 2021 6:00 am Dorothy Mae Randolph Toney, 86, died on Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2021, at Prisma Health Tuomey Hospital, Sumter. She was born on Aug. 14, 1935, in Sumter, a daughter of the late Willie and Bessie Fogle Randolph. Graveside services for Mrs. Toney will be held at 11 a.m. on Tuesday at Hillside Memorial Park, Sumter, with the Rev. Dr. Ella F. Busby officiating. These services have been entrusted to Samuels Funeral Home LLC of Manning. Dorothy Mae Randolph Toney Passed 11/16/2021 Obituary For Dorothy Mae Randolph Toney Sumter, SC Dorothy Randolph Toney, 86, died November 16, 2021, at Prisma Health Tuomey Hospital in Sumter, SC. Ms. Toney was the eighth of twelve children of Willie and Bessie Fogle Randolph. She grew up in the west side of Sumter and was a member of Trinity Missionary Baptist Church. She graduated from Lincoln High School in 1953, graduated from Columbia Hospital School of Nursing and did post graduate studies at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Florida. She was the first Black head nurse at Tuomey Regional Medical Center and served as an instructor of nursing assistants. She retired after 40 years of service. Ms. Toney was a passionate advocate for the numerous boards and commissions she served. She was very proud of her community, the city of Sumter, and she wanted the best for everyone. Her personal aim was to leave everything better than how she found it. This value was noted in many honors and awards for her dedicated service. She was Sumter Nurse of the Year, Sumter County Woman of the Year for Outstanding Service to the Community, a YWCA TWIN Nominee (1981), and was commended for her work on the Sumter-Columbia Empowerment Zone, 1999-2009. Ms. Toney was also inducted into the Lincoln High School Preservation Alumni Association’s Hall of Fame and was recognized as one of 120 “Women of the Honor” in Sumter County, 1993-2019. Ms. Toney was an active member of the Lincoln High School Preservation Alumni Association and served on its Board of Directors as Second Vice President and was chairman of the membership committee. She was a former president of the Northside Community Association. She was an active member of Goodwill Presbyterian Church (USA), where she was an elder, a former Sunday school teacher, and a member of the Presbyterian Women of New Harmony. Ms. Toney was the widow of Luke Toney II. They had three children, two preceded her in death, Luke Toney III and Tamala Toney. She is survived by a daughter Dorolita “Dorrie” Toney, god daughter Tia (Fred) Lawson, many nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews. The family will receive friends for a public viewing at Samuels Funeral Home in Manning, S.C., Monday, November 22, 2021 from 3 to 6 p.m. A graveside service will be 11 a.m. Tuesday, November 23, 2021, at Hillside Memorial Park, 2561 Cains Mill Road, Sumter S.C. 29154. In lieu of flowers, please send memorial gifts to the Lincoln High School Operational Fund online at LincolnSumter.org or by mail at PO Box 1150, Sumter, S.C. 29151. DOROTHY R. TONEY • 1935 - 2021 Being the best: Sumter remembers county’s 1st Black head nurse Dorothy R. Toney Dorothy R. Toney was the first Black head nurse at Sumter's Tuomey Hospital. PHOTO PROVIDED BY DORRIE TONEY Posted Thursday, December 2, 2021 6:00 am BY SHELBIE GOULDING shelbie@theitem.com Strength comes in many forms, but Sumter's first Black head nurse felt it comes from the heart. For several decades, Dorothy R. Toney held the position of Sumter's head nurse at what was then Tuomey Regional Medical Center or "Tuomey Hospital." There, she was also known as the city's first Black nurse to hold the position. Dr. Barny Williams worked alongside "Ms. Toney," as most Sumterites knew her, when he began his career at the hospital in 1969. She was already running the show on his first day. "She was a head nurse on the OB floor at Tuomey Hospital when I first went into practice," Williams said. "She was a wonderful nurse and a good leader for that particular position that she held. She was certainly a big asset for the physicians that worked with her." Although he didn't know Ms. Toney in her prime nursing years, he knew it must have taken a lot of hard, dedicated work to get to where she was in her career. "She was always very dependable," Williams said. "She made sure that the people that worked with her were instructed well and knew what they were doing." Williams said Ms. Toney worked primarily on the post-partum and post-operative floor, where she helped people recover after surgery, helped people who had babies recover or even helped some who dealt with moments of grief. Former Mayor Joe McElveen experienced Ms. Toney's work ethic and compassion firsthand. He and his wife, Kathy, lost a son at birth more than 35 years ago. "Ms. Toney was such a rock and so professional but caring at the same time. We appreciated her so much," he said via email. "She told me that she was the first Black RN to be allowed in a white ward. I don't think it was necessarily pride that she was the first; I think she was telling me that she was always capable of caring for any patient." And she was capable. Ms. Toney worked as a head nurse for 40 years. She continued that work in her community after her retirement in the late '90s and throughout the past 20 years until her death on Nov. 16. She was 86 years old. According to her obituary that ran in The Sumter Item, Ms. Toney grew up in the west side of Sumter and graduated from Lincoln High School in 1953. She then pursued her career as a nurse and later graduated from Columbia Hospital School of Nursing and did post-graduate studies at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Florida, before returning to her roots. "That put her in contact with a lot of residents of Sumter County," said Dorrie Toney about her mother's job. "Back then, Tuomey was the primary hospital, and lots of people had children." Toney said her mother really became a part of people's stories because she was the one who cared for them and helped them start a family. It showed even more outside of the hospital, years later at times, too. "When I was growing up, a lot of times when we were out," Toney said, "people would come up to my mother all the time and say, 'Hey Ms. Toney, do you remember me? This is the baby that you helped come into the world, and I'll never forget.'" Those encounters happened often and almost everywhere they went in Sumter County. "It was just a part of her being that person in the community," she said, noting how her mother was a support system to many people. "My mother was very proud and very engaged with everything that she did. If she was involved with something, it was her goal for it to be the best and for everyone involved to give their best and be the best." Toney said that was deemed to be true through her job, local education, the City of Sumter and her community. McElveen recalled Ms. Toney being a strong leader for her neighbors and was a vital asset in the North Main Street area improvements. "She was instrumental in getting a bar closed that was a very bad spot," McElveen said. "She worked so hard against litter and crime in her area. Things got a lot better." It never failed Ms. Toney to work closely with the City of Sumter when opportunities arose, McElveen said. He called her an advocate for her community who helped create opportunities that were never there before. "It stemmed because my mother loved people, and she never accepted that things could not be the best," Toney said. "Sometimes people focus on challenges and what we can't do. My mother focused on how good everything could be. It was an amazing trait." Toney said with her mother being Sumter's first Black head nurse, Ms. Toney did have to overcome many difficulties. However, she never made it known. "There were challenges when you are, first, being a Black person and certainly when you're the first Black person," she said. "There were challenges all the time. Sometimes with patients who weren't comfortable being treated by a Black nurse or the members of her staff, and she faced challenges just with her job itself in the hospital that comes with the territory." Her challenges began in school, when she studied nursing at a segregated school because Blacks and whites could not be trained together, Toney said. It was a never-ending battle to fight for what she was passionate about, and she was determined to be the best. "From the time my mother was a little girl, she knew that she wanted to be a nurse. Her grandmother was a midwife," Toney said. "That inspired my mother to be a nurse, and that's all she ever wanted to do." Ms. Toney's compassion didn't go unnoticed. She has been recognized as Sumter Nurse of the Year, Sumter County Woman of the Year for Outstanding Service to the Community and a YWCA TWIN Nominee (1981) and was commended for her work on the Sumter-Columbia Empowerment Zone, 1999-2009, according to her obituary. Ms. Toney was also inducted into the Lincoln High School Preservation Alumni Association's Hall of Fame and was recognized as one of 120 "Women of Honor" in Sumter County, 1993-2019.  [1, 2, 3]
  HIST	3 added to Women's Honor Roll Print Howell ELDRIDGE TONEY Posted: Sunday, February 27, 2011 6:00 am | Updated: 5:16 pm, Fri Feb 25, 2011. By IVY MOORE - ivym@theitem.com March is National Women's History Month, the time Sumter Volunteers has traditionally honored outstanding community women by naming them to the Women's Honor Roll of Sumter County. Since the honor roll was established in 1993, 96 women, including those being honored this year, have been added. A special ceremony on Tuesday afternoon will celebrate three more who have made outstanding contributions to Sumter County. Jo Anne Morris, executive director of Sumter Volunteers, announced that Dorothy Mae Randolph Toney, the late Lucie Anne Cuttino Eldridge and the late Frances "Pinkie" Haynsworth Hildebrand Howell are this year's honorees. Women's History Month began as a modest weeklong observance in 1977. Women's History Week was an educational project in the schools of Sonoma County, California. Four years later, Congress made National Women's History Week official. When the recognition of women's contributions to history grew even further, Congress expanded the celebration to a month, beginning in 1987. At the first Sumter ceremony, 20 women were honored posthumously and Lady Banksiae roses planted in their honor on the pergola in Volunteer Park. Since that time, additional women and four women's organizations have been honored and rosebushes for each of them have been planted on the Exhibition Center fence as "living monuments." The Honor Roll plaque is permanently installed in the front lobby, upper level, of Patriot Hall. Because of renovations at the Exhibition Center (now the Sumter Civic Center), the roses honoring Ms. Toney, Mrs. Howell and Mrs. Eldridge will be planted at a later date, when the landscaping and paving has been completed. March 1 also marks 35 years' service by Sumter Volunteers to the community. The volunteer center was founded by the Junior Welfare League of Sumter in 1976. It is located at 407 W. Hampton Avenue. For information on volunteer opportunities or the Women's Honor Roll, call (803) 775-7423. LUCIE ANNE CUTTINO ELDRIDGE The late Lucie Anne Eldridge was a treasure to her family, her friends and her community. A child of the Great Depression, she was born Oct. 26, 1919, the second of five children of Jamie and Lucie Edwards Cuttino of Sumter. The household also included Lucie Anne's maternal grandmother, a widowed aunt and her son. Mrs. Eldridge often remarked that although her father had the burden of feeding a family of 10 throughout those lean years, there was always food and love in abundance at their dinner table and throughout the home. The tight-knit family relationships and lack of material wealth combined with an emphasis on scholarship, patriotism and devotion to God were the greatest influence during her formative years, Mrs. Eldridge recalled. After her graduation from Columbia College with a degree in public school music, she returned to Sumter and began teaching at Miller School. Her family tells that she surprised her family with her first paycheck by having a carpenter install cabinets in their busy kitchen. Mrs. Eldridge taught music and chorus in Sumter School District 17 for 26 years, and in her 50s earned a master's degree in music education from the University of South Carolina. As a teacher, she took joy in honing the musical abilities of her students, helping them find success in a subject they could enjoy. In 1946, Lucie Anne married Bill Eldridge of Sumter; they had two sons, Billy and Jamie, who was born a few months after his father's death. A lifelong member of First Baptist Church, Mrs. Eldridge sang in the choir, taught the Winsome Sunday School Class and the Ruth Sunday School Class; during a hiatus from teaching in the 1960s, she served as church secretary. It is said she inspired truth with deep Christian convictions to those she taught in school and in church. A lifelong lover of music, hymns and poetry, Mrs. Eldridge could reach back to recite poems learned in her early school days, quote Bible verses to suit any occasion and offer a prayer for personal losses and trials. One of her favorite stories that serves as an example of her self-effacing humor is an incident that happened as she was singing at a funeral. She had misunderstood the name of the deceased, then spotted the "departed" sitting in the congregation and had a hard time finishing the song. After her retirement from District 17, Mrs. Eldridge mentioned to her friend Naomi Warner that she thought running the Naomi & Warner gift shop looked like fun. She was invited to find out for herself and thus entered a new career as an occasional shopkeeper and overseer of the popular coffee shop. Mrs. Eldridge lived her life as an investor - not of money, but of her time, talents and interests in the people she loved, the many she felt blessed to count as friends, including the hundreds of young people she taught over the years. The return on her investments? Hardly a day passed that she didn't encounter a friend who wanted to stop and "catch up," or a former chorus student wanting to reminisce about some meaningful incident from years long past. After a brief battle with cancer, Lucie Anne Eldridge died on Sept. 30, 2007. The many kindnesses shown to her family by friends from near and far have served as testimony to the place she held in so many people's hearts. DOROTHY MAE RANDOLPH TONEY Dorothy Mae Randolph Toney is the ninth of 12 children born to Willie and Bessie Fogle Randolph. Reared on the west side of Sumter, she graduated from Lincoln High School in 1953 and from Columbia Hospital School of Nursing in 1956. She did post graduate work at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Fla. The widow of Luke Toney II, she has three children, Luke III, Tamala and Dorolita. After serving for 38 years as a registered nurse at Columbia Hospital - now Palmetto Health Baptist Hospital - and Tuomey Regional Medical Center, Ms. Toney retired. While at Tuomey, she held both instructional and administrative positions. She was an instructor for nursing assistant classes and provided orientation to licensed practical nurses and registered nurses; a head nurse of obstetrics and gynecology from 1961-1988; the first African-American head nurse at Tuomey; the first interview nurse on Day Surgery; and Hospital Relief supervisor. Her unofficial duties included assisting mothers with naming their children - and she remembered the faces and names of all her patients. A member of the National Nurses Association, Ms. Toney was honored during National Nurses Week in 1980. The following year, she received a Tribute to Women in Industry award, and in 1983, she was listed in Personalities of the South, 12th Edition. During her entire career as a registered nurse, Ms. Toney always wore the traditional starched, white nurse's uniform and cap and polished, white shoes. After her 1996 retirement, Ms. Toney made the transition from nurturing patients to nurturing her community. She exchanged her nurse's uniform for more stylish attire adorned with a brooch or pin on the lapel of her jacket. She served on the Sumter-Columbia Empowerment Zone, which resulted in the development of the three HOPE centers in Sumter and a certificate of commendation from Rep. James E. Clyburn, D-S.C. She also served as president of the Northside Neighborhood Association, chairwoman of the North Sumter Alliance and member of the City of Sumter Housing and Economic Development Corporation. Ms. Toney is a lifetime member of the NAACP, a national and local member of the Sumterites Association and a member of the Lincoln High School Alumni Association. The S.C. House of Representatives honored her with the 1995 James T. McCain Humanitarian Award for her outstanding contributions to Sumter County. She continues to serve as a volunteer with Sumter Volunteers' My Community and Me program for fourth-graders of Sumter County. A member of Goodwill Presbyterian Church, USA, Ms. Toney is an elder, a Sunday school teacher, Bible study assistant teacher and a member of the Presbyterian Women of New Harmony. She is also a recipient of the Presbyterian Women Life Honorary Membership Award. Almost 55 years ago, Ms. Toney repeated The Florence Nightingale Pledge: "I solemnly pledge myself before God and presence of this assembly ... to practice my profession faithfully ... I will do all in my power to maintain and elevate the standard of my profession ... and devote myself to the welfare of those committed to my care." The precepts of that pledge applied not only to her career as a nurse, but also to her family, church and community. This pledge shaped her devotion and commitment to providing quality care to her patients as well as providing a clean, safe and thriving community for families. FRANCES "PINKIE" HAYNSWORTH HILDEBRAND HOWELL The late Frances "Pinkie" Howell was born in Sumter in 1918, a daughter of Hugh Charles and Emilie Beattie Haynsworth. She graduated from Edmunds High School and Coker College and earned a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University. She was married first to Russell Marshall Hildebrand Jr. and after his death, to the late Dr. Thomas Wellington Howell. She had three children, Russell III, Emilie and Virginia. Known as a trailblazer for S.C.'s female journalists, Mrs. Howell was a multiple award-winning reporter and news editor for The Item, joining the paper as a cub reporter in 1941 after two years with The Columbia Record and retiring 22 years later as news editor. In 1955 she was named S.C. Newspaperwoman of the Year by the S.C. Press Association, and she became the first female president of the S.C. Associated Press News Council in 1961. Mrs. Howell's skill at newspaper makeup won a coveted Ayer Award in 1956 for excellence in typography, makeup and printing and again in 1960. Following her 1963 retirement from The Item, Mrs. Howell taught mass communications and the history and philosophy at the University of South Carolina Sumter. At the time of her death in 1997, Item editor Hubert D. Osteen Jr., Mrs. Howell "... did everything: She edited, assigned stories, wrote stories, laid out pages, wrote headlines and caption lines, handled reporters and photographers and dealt with the public." He added that she was "versatile, bright, creative, witty, compassionate and, when the situation warranted it, quite outspoken. ... "I doubt if there was a single woman in the entire state during the 1940s when she took charge of The Item's newsroom. ... It was one of the best moves my father and grandfather ever made." While working and raising a family, Mrs. Howell also found time to serve as president of the Sumter Junior Welfare League, secretary of the Sumter chapter of the S.C. Lung Association and secretary of the American Red Cross board. She was also on the board of the Sumter YWCA, taught Sunday school at the Episcopal Church of the Holy Comforter, was a founding member of the Sumter Cotillion Club and a member of Sunset Country Club. She continued her activity in civic and church activities in Mansfield, Ohio, where she and Dr. Howell lived for several years after his retirement. Posted in Panorama on Sunday, February 27, 2011 DOROTHY MAE RANDOLPH TONEY Posted Saturday, November 20, 2021 6:00 am Dorothy Mae Randolph Toney, 86, died on Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2021, at Prisma Health Tuomey Hospital, Sumter. She was born on Aug. 14, 1935, in Sumter, a daughter of the late Willie and Bessie Fogle Randolph. Graveside services for Mrs. Toney will be held at 11 a.m. on Tuesday at Hillside Memorial Park, Sumter, with the Rev. Dr. Ella F. Busby officiating. These services have been entrusted to Samuels Funeral Home LLC of Manning. Dorothy Mae Randolph Toney Passed 11/16/2021 Obituary For Dorothy Mae Randolph Toney Sumter, SC Dorothy Randolph Toney, 86, died November 16, 2021, at Prisma Health Tuomey Hospital in Sumter, SC. Ms. Toney was the eighth of twelve children of Willie and Bessie Fogle Randolph. She grew up in the west side of Sumter and was a member of Trinity Missionary Baptist Church. She graduated from Lincoln High School in 1953, graduated from Columbia Hospital School of Nursing and did post graduate studies at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Florida. She was the first Black head nurse at Tuomey Regional Medical Center and served as an instructor of nursing assistants. She retired after 40 years of service. Ms. Toney was a passionate advocate for the numerous boards and commissions she served. She was very proud of her community, the city of Sumter, and she wanted the best for everyone. Her personal aim was to leave everything better than how she found it. This value was noted in many honors and awards for her dedicated service. She was Sumter Nurse of the Year, Sumter County Woman of the Year for Outstanding Service to the Community, a YWCA TWIN Nominee (1981), and was commended for her work on the Sumter-Columbia Empowerment Zone, 1999-2009. Ms. Toney was also inducted into the Lincoln High School Preservation Alumni Association’s Hall of Fame and was recognized as one of 120 “Women of the Honor” in Sumter County, 1993-2019. Ms. Toney was an active member of the Lincoln High School Preservation Alumni Association and served on its Board of Directors as Second Vice President and was chairman of the membership committee. She was a former president of the Northside Community Association. She was an active member of Goodwill Presbyterian Church (USA), where she was an elder, a former Sunday school teacher, and a member of the Presbyterian Women of New Harmony. Ms. Toney was the widow of Luke Toney II. They had three children, two preceded her in death, Luke Toney III and Tamala Toney. She is survived by a daughter Dorolita “Dorrie” Toney, god daughter Tia (Fred) Lawson, many nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews. The family will receive friends for a public viewing at Samuels Funeral Home in Manning, S.C., Monday, November 22, 2021 from 3 to 6 p.m. A graveside service will be 11 a.m. Tuesday, November 23, 2021, at Hillside Memorial Park, 2561 Cains Mill Road, Sumter S.C. 29154. In lieu of flowers, please send memorial gifts to the Lincoln High School Operational Fund online at LincolnSumter.org or by mail at PO Box 1150, Sumter, S.C. 29151. DOROTHY R. TONEY • 1935 - 2021 Being the best: Sumter remembers county’s 1st Black head nurse Dorothy R. Toney Dorothy R. Toney was the first Black head nurse at Sumter's Tuomey Hospital. PHOTO PROVIDED BY DORRIE TONEY Posted Thursday, December 2, 2021 6:00 am BY SHELBIE GOULDING shelbie@theitem.com Strength comes in many forms, but Sumter's first Black head nurse felt it comes from the heart. For several decades, Dorothy R. Toney held the position of Sumter's head nurse at what was then Tuomey Regional Medical Center or "Tuomey Hospital." There, she was also known as the city's first Black nurse to hold the position. Dr. Barny Williams worked alongside "Ms. Toney," as most Sumterites knew her, when he began his career at the hospital in 1969. She was already running the show on his first day. "She was a head nurse on the OB floor at Tuomey Hospital when I first went into practice," Williams said. "She was a wonderful nurse and a good leader for that particular position that she held. She was certainly a big asset for the physicians that worked with her." Although he didn't know Ms. Toney in her prime nursing years, he knew it must have taken a lot of hard, dedicated work to get to where she was in her career. "She was always very dependable," Williams said. "She made sure that the people that worked with her were instructed well and knew what they were doing." Williams said Ms. Toney worked primarily on the post-partum and post-operative floor, where she helped people recover after surgery, helped people who had babies recover or even helped some who dealt with moments of grief. Former Mayor Joe McElveen experienced Ms. Toney's work ethic and compassion firsthand. He and his wife, Kathy, lost a son at birth more than 35 years ago. "Ms. Toney was such a rock and so professional but caring at the same time. We appreciated her so much," he said via email. "She told me that she was the first Black RN to be allowed in a white ward. I don't think it was necessarily pride that she was the first; I think she was telling me that she was always capable of caring for any patient." And she was capable. Ms. Toney worked as a head nurse for 40 years. She continued that work in her community after her retirement in the late '90s and throughout the past 20 years until her death on Nov. 16. She was 86 years old. According to her obituary that ran in The Sumter Item, Ms. Toney grew up in the west side of Sumter and graduated from Lincoln High School in 1953. She then pursued her career as a nurse and later graduated from Columbia Hospital School of Nursing and did post-graduate studies at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Florida, before returning to her roots. "That put her in contact with a lot of residents of Sumter County," said Dorrie Toney about her mother's job. "Back then, Tuomey was the primary hospital, and lots of people had children." Toney said her mother really became a part of people's stories because she was the one who cared for them and helped them start a family. It showed even more outside of the hospital, years later at times, too. "When I was growing up, a lot of times when we were out," Toney said, "people would come up to my mother all the time and say, 'Hey Ms. Toney, do you remember me? This is the baby that you helped come into the world, and I'll never forget.'" Those encounters happened often and almost everywhere they went in Sumter County. "It was just a part of her being that person in the community," she said, noting how her mother was a support system to many people. "My mother was very proud and very engaged with everything that she did. If she was involved with something, it was her goal for it to be the best and for everyone involved to give their best and be the best." Toney said that was deemed to be true through her job, local education, the City of Sumter and her community. McElveen recalled Ms. Toney being a strong leader for her neighbors and was a vital asset in the North Main Street area improvements. "She was instrumental in getting a bar closed that was a very bad spot," McElveen said. "She worked so hard against litter and crime in her area. Things got a lot better." It never failed Ms. Toney to work closely with the City of Sumter when opportunities arose, McElveen said. He called her an advocate for her community who helped create opportunities that were never there before. "It stemmed because my mother loved people, and she never accepted that things could not be the best," Toney said. "Sometimes people focus on challenges and what we can't do. My mother focused on how good everything could be. It was an amazing trait." Toney said with her mother being Sumter's first Black head nurse, Ms. Toney did have to overcome many difficulties. However, she never made it known. "There were challenges when you are, first, being a Black person and certainly when you're the first Black person," she said. "There were challenges all the time. Sometimes with patients who weren't comfortable being treated by a Black nurse or the members of her staff, and she faced challenges just with her job itself in the hospital that comes with the territory." Her challenges began in school, when she studied nursing at a segregated school because Blacks and whites could not be trained together, Toney said. It was a never-ending battle to fight for what she was passionate about, and she was determined to be the best. "From the time my mother was a little girl, she knew that she wanted to be a nurse. Her grandmother was a midwife," Toney said. "That inspired my mother to be a nurse, and that's all she ever wanted to do." Ms. Toney's compassion didn't go unnoticed. She has been recognized as Sumter Nurse of the Year, Sumter County Woman of the Year for Outstanding Service to the Community and a YWCA TWIN Nominee (1981) and was commended for her work on the Sumter-Columbia Empowerment Zone, 1999-2009, according to her obituary. Ms. Toney was also inducted into the Lincoln High School Preservation Alumni Association's Hall of Fame and was recognized as one of 120 "Women of Honor" in Sumter County, 1993-2019.
  _UID	C059DF138DC04C1791E1E8D9E579600EBA2C
  _UID	C059DF138DC04C1791E1E8D9E579600EBA2C
  Death	16 Nov 2021	Prisma Health Tuomey Hospital, Sumter, Sumter County, South Carolina
  Burial	23 Nov 2021	Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery, Sumter County, South Carolina   [1]
  	Samuels Funeral Home LLC, Manning, South Carolina Samuels Funeral Home LLC, Manning, South Carolina
  Person ID	I264656	Singleton and Related Families
  Last Modified	2 Dec 2021

  
  

  Father	Willie RANDOLPH   d. Bef 27 Feb 2011
  Mother	Bessie FOGLE   d. Bef 11 Apr 2005
  _UID	E89D8F812F834DA8AF38DCA80C1888C5188E
  _UID	E89D8F812F834DA8AF38DCA80C1888C5188E
  Family ID	F101590	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Luke TONEY, II   d. 16 Nov 2021
  _UID	3C45CBE0145F46E4AF0FFF35B822F15EE474
  _UID	3C45CBE0145F46E4AF0FFF35B822F15EE474
  Children	1. Luke TONEY, III   d. Bef 16 Nov 2021   2. Tamala TONEY   d. Bef 16 Nov 2021   3. Dorolita “Dorrie” TONEY
  Family ID	F178255	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	23 Mar 2026

  
  

• Sources

  [S29391] Dorothy Mae Randolph Toney. [S29400] Dorothy R. Toney * 1935-2021 Being the best:Sumter remembers county’s 1st Black head nurse. [S15663] 3 added to Women’s Honor Roll.