Retired teacher provides $50K scholarship fund for SC State education students in honor of late mother
January 29, 2025
Eleanor Williams ORANGEBURG, S.C. – Retired Brooklyn, New York, teacher Eleanor Williams has established a $50,000 scholarship fund at South Carolina State University in honor of her late mother, Cora Shivers.
Shivers was a native of nearby Elloree, South Carolina, and moved to New York, where she completed high school, became a beautician and raised her two children. Her parents, Mannie and Rebecca Darby Shivers, were also born in Elloree and were educated at Elloree Training School. The family taught Eleanor the values of life and were adamant about her receiving a college education.
Williams, a graduate of Brooklyn City College, remembered her mother, who died in 2005, as a quiet, loving person who always smiled.
“She believed in education, so I went to college, and I became an elementary school teacher here in New York City,” Williams said. “My mother has relatives still there in Elloree, and I wanted to make a contribution because one of our nephews -- and I later realized my niece -- went to South Carolina State.”
Williams was referring to Lorraine Shivers-Glover, who completed a business degree at SC State in 1990, and Lorraine’s son, Deandre Glover, who completed his civil engineering technology degree in 2015.
The Cora Shivers Scholarship fund will support scholarships for sophomores or juniors majoring in elementary education at SC State.
“I thank Mrs. Williams for choosing SC State for such a generous gift,” SC State President Alexander Conyers said. “As a New York resident, she could have donated these funds to any college in the country, which makes this contribution all the more meaningful.
“Knowing her mother was such an avid believer in the value of education, I am glad we will be able to honor that legacy by supporting future teachers in their journeys toward South Carolina’s classrooms,” Conyers said.
Subsidizing students at a Historically Black College or University (HBCU) is another reason Williams chose SC State.
“I feel the institution (SC State) is geared for our young black people. I thought if I made a contribution, I wanted it to go to a school of color,” Williams said. “Knowing education is expensive, I see that sometimes people don’t have the finances for the children to go to school, but the child wants to go.
“If you help those who are interested, you feel the money will not be wasted,” she said
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