Brookland-Cayce High School EDUCATOR HALL OF FAME
MRS. MARY FRANCES ("FRANKIE") ELLIS NEWMAN Inducted 2004
Mary Frances Ellis Newman was born on a farm in Heath Springs, SC. She loved life on the farm because she liked doing all things that a "farm girl" has the opportunity to do. Her mother was a teacher, and her father a farmer and rural mail carrier. Her only sibling was a brother, 5 years her senior. She graduated from Heath Springs High School. Columbia College, a Methodist college for girls, was her parents' choice of a college for her (actually her's too). She received a BA in Education there, majoring in History and English and minoring in Drama. She began her teaching career at Brookland-Cayce High School in 1949, and was delighted to get to teach American History and English. She was also thrilled that there was an opening to coach girls' basketball, the sport that she had played in high school and college. On the basketball court in the old BC gym, she met a young man, Tom Newman, who was coaching boys' basketball and teaching science. It was also his first year at Brookland-Cayce, having just graduated from the University of South Carolina. Prior to attending USC, he had served in the United States Marine Corps. It was inevitable that these two coaches would marry after completing their first year of teaching at Brookland-Cayce. The wedding date was June 16, 1950. From that union, three sons were born, Heath, Scott, and Tee. All thre sons graduated from Brookland-Cayce, all three chose education for their careers, and all three married teachers. Interestingly, Scott, the middle son, later became Principal of Brookland-Cayce High School, a position that he currently holds in 2009. Frankie did graduate work at the University of South Carolina, where she received her Masters Degree in Education and an Advanced Degree in School Administration. After Frankie became a mother, she found that those duties conflicted with the long hours required for teaching and coaching at the high school level, so she switched to elementary and middle school teaching in Lexington District Two. She taught at Congaree Elementary and BC Grammar #2 (now Davis Elementary). Next she taught at Fuller Middle School, where she became Director of Guidance and Counseling. Following that, she became a school administrator at Pine Ridge Middle School. She had accepted a new position as Principal of the newly built Wood Elementary when the Board of Trustees summoned her to become Assistant Superintendent in the District Two Office because "they needed a lady in their all male staff." She served in that capacity under four superintendents from 1976 until her retirement in 1993. Among her many honors, Mrs. Newman was named West Columbia-Cayce Young Woman of the Year by the Jaycees, West Columbia-Cayce Citizen of the Year by the Chamber of Commerce, received the Outstanding Service Award from the State of South Carolina Conservation Services, and received the first Wil Lou Gray Outstanding Educator Award from her alma mater, Columbia College. Her professional activities included service as President of the Cayce Women's Club, President of the Cayce-West Columbia Optimist Club, Member of the Board of Trustees of the Wil Lou Gray Opportunity School, Member of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation of Land Resources of South Carolina, President of the SC School Counselors Assn., President of the SC School Public Relations Assn., and Vice-President of the National School Public Relations Assn. Mrs. Newman stays busy by working frequently as a substitute teacher in Lexington District Two and with various community service activities in the west Columbia - Cayce area and beyond. She is an active member of the Cayce United Methodist Church where she serves in various leadership positions. As she looks back over her time in Lexington District Two, Mrs. Newman says that "It's been a wonderful, wonderful journey," and that her "life has been enriched by every student she has had."

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