Betty Marshall Jenkins

Mrs. Betty Marshall Jenkins passed away peacefully on December 31, 2022 at the Presbyterian Community of South Carolina (PCSC) in Lexington, SC. Funeral services will be held on January 21, 2023 at 1:00 p.m. at Shandon Presbyterian Church, 607 Woodrow St., Columbia, SC 29205 with inurnment to follow in the church’s columbarium.

Mrs. Jenkins was born Betty Jane Marshall to Lacy See Marshall and Alice Virginia Wright Marshall on April 2, 1925 at Williamsville, Virginia where she grew up on a family farm. Sensing a call to serve in the church, she took office management classes and worked for several years at the Homestead in Hot Springs, Virginia. Her earnings provided tuition and fees toward a Bachelor’s Degree in Business and Religious Education at Montreat College in 1952. From there she worked as secretary and a youth leader for Rev. Fred Poag at Shandon Presbyterian Church in Columbia, SC.

At Shandon, she met Charles Rees Jenkins, Jr. and married him on April 10, 1954. They were married for 62 years until Rees’s death on September 17, 2016. Rees and their three children, Charles Rees Jenkins, III, John Marshall Jenkins, and Jane Jenkins Booth attest with profound gratitude to her extraordinary devotion and love for them. All agree that her wisdom and accessibility in discussing matters of faith and the challenges of life provided an invaluable resource to them and to members of the church and community. Mrs. Jenkins was reliably faithful to God and optimistic in outlook.

The Jenkinses moved from Columbia to Montgomery, AL in early 1959 and then to Lumberton, NC in 1964. They returned to Columbia in 1991 to retire among friends at Shandon after long careers in banking (Rees) and church office management (Betty). Mrs. Jenkins most fully lived out her calling as office manager at Trinity Episcopal Church in Lumberton where she was a rock of support for staff and congregation alike.

Rees and Betty were lifelong Presbyterians and pillars of the church. Betty served as a church elder, Women of the Church leader, and Sunday School teacher in Lumberton and Columbia. Her children are especially proud of her active engagement in faith-based dialogue and social justice outreach across racial lines. She volunteered with the Robeson County Church and Community Center and in a tutoring program that she helped initiate at Joe P. Moore School in Lumberton. She said she served not only because it expressed her biblical faith but as an example to her children, who definitely noticed.

Betty was also known for her cakes, casseroles, and generosity with recipes. She was a good listener who saw the best in everyone and loved to tell about it. She made everyone feel welcomed wherever she was.

Betty was predeceased by her husband and parents (above) as well as her siblings Howard, Mamie, Clara Keyser, and John. She is survived by all her children (above) and grandchildren Dylan Rees Jenkins, Philip Marshall Jenkins, Richard Wilson Booth, and Graham Marshall Booth .

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Shandon Presbyterian Church, 607 Woodrow Street, Columbia, SC 29205.