EDGEFIELD — Mrs. Ruth W. Nicholson, 96, of Edgefield, died Thursday, March 6, 2008, in Edgefield County Hospital.Mrs. Ruth Taylor Walker Nicholson was the wife of the late Senator Benjamin Edward Nicholson. She was born in Cochran, Ga., September 18, 1911, daughter of Alice Marion Taylor Walker and John Augustus Walker. She was educated at Wesleyan College and the University of Georgia from which she graduated and was a member of Chi Omega Sorority and various service groups during college.
Mrs. Nicholson was an active, lifelong member of many civic organizations in South Carolina and Edgefield County. She was a charter member of the Village Gardeners, a member of the Old Ninety-Six District Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Edgefield County Historical Society, the South Carolina Historical Association, the South Carolina Teachers Association, the National Trust for Historical Preservation and the Edgefield County Library.
She was the oldest member of and had been active in Edgefield United Methodist Church for over 75 years, as well as the Edgefield United Methodist Church Women. In the 1940s, she led an effort to buy a new organ, over the objections of members who were concerned that they had no organist. She responded by learning to play the organ and serving as church organist for years thereafter.
Mrs. Nicholson taught high school French, Latin, and English in Edgefield County, S.C., schools and made efforts to convince school administration to add Spanish to the language curriculum. Her efforts are fondly remembered by many citizens of Edgefield and elsewhere, many of whom visited Mrs. Nicholson in her final years to express their appreciation for her example as their teacher. She returned to the classroom when Senator Nicholson died in 1960, and taught third grade for many years thereafter.
Mrs. Nicholson had a lifelong interest in gardening. She was accomplished in flower arrangement, having exhibited her work in flower shows throughout the old Edgefield District. She won many prizes for her work with flowers, and served as an accredited flower show judge. She was a pioneer in the development and propagation of camellias in the Edgefield area, where she contributed to groundbreaking work with the beautiful flower, still prized throughout South Carolina and all over the country.
Mrs. Nicholson loved her family, and her love for her many students and all the people of Edgefield County was evident throughout her life. She was a cancer survivor, who reached out with compassion and sensitivity to others battling the illness. She offered support and friendship with gifts of personal letters; she continued these special gestures of love so long as she could, well into her nineties.
Mrs. Nicholson was a consummate hostess, having welcomed friends, family, and former students to her historic home at "East Hill." Among her regular visitors were genealogists, historians and other researchers interested in the history of the early Edgefield District. East Hill was the home of General M.C. Butler, who led General Lee's Cavalry at Brandy Station, Va. She was consulted by historians who credited her in their books for her tours of East Hill and her recollection of events that she lived, and that were passed along through her family.
Mrs. Nicholson had been an avid and competitive bridge player until recently. She played piano and enjoyed music, and her enthusiasm for the arts influenced her family and friends.
Mrs. Nicholson is survived by her son, Dr. B.E. Nicholson, and his wife Katherine "Kitty" of Edgefield, and her daughter, Ruth "Lady" Hodges and her son-in-law, Judge Robert Hayne Hodges, Jr., of Great Falls, Va.; a sister, Mrs. Paul L. Gill of Ellaville, Ga. She is also survived by five grandchildren; Benjamin Edward Nicholson "Ned," Columbia, Thomas Wells Nicholson, Atlanta, Robert Hayne Hodges "Hayne," Columbia, Ruth Walker Nicholson Hodges Russell, Mt. Pleasant, and Elizabeth Wallace Hodges, Mt. Pleasant; 5 great-grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews.
Mrs. Nicholson's family expresses its gratitude to the dedicated caregivers of Edgefield County Hospital, whose professionalism and loving care for her contributed so much to Mrs. Nicholson's final years. Their warm, genuine regard for her was a comfort not only to their patient, but also to us, her survivors.
Services will be held Sunday, March 9, at 2 p.m. at Edgefield United Methodist Church with interment in the Nicholson family plot in Willowbrook Cemetery in Edgefield. The family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday at Mrs. Nicholson's home.
Memorials may be made to Edgefield Methodist Church, Edgefield County Hospital, or a charity of one's choice.
Edgefield Mercantile Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

SOURCE OF INFO: THE STATE NEWSPAPER, MARCH 8, 2008