Falls Church, Va. - Mary Jennings Dougherty Boroughs, widow of Ralph Zeigler Boroughs died Feb. 2, 2021, in Falls Church. Born Nov. 5, 1923, in North, Orangeburg County, S.C., she was the daughter of the late Imogene Cope and Carlton O'Neal Dougherty. Mary leaves her daughters, Elizabeth Burgess of Bremerton, Wash., Zoe (Martin) Fechner of Oradell, N.J., Helen (Mark) Kellogg of Severna Park, Md., and Roslyn (Vrezh) Bahumian of Falls Church; son, Ralph Dougherty (Connie) Boroughs of Chattanooga, Tenn.; 16 grandchildren; 25 great-grandchildren; and two great-great-grandchildren. She was predeceased by her youngest daughter, Virginia (Terry) Dwyer; brothers, C.O. (Martha) Dougherty Jr. and Sam (Mary) Brice Dougherty; sisters, Imogene (Glenn) Livingston, Frances (John W.) Lynch and Virginia (William) Campbell. Mary graduated from Columbia College in Columbia, S.C., received a master's degree at SUNY Potsdam, and did postgraduate studies at the University of Connecticut. During World War II, she taught school in Pickens, S.C. Later, she taught at an Indian Reservation in upstate New York and in the Hartford, Conn., school system. She taught in one of the first Head Start programs in the country and became a supervisor at the Head Start Follow Through Program managed by the University of Georgia. After moving back to S.C., she taught in McCormack and in the Greenwood County schools until retirement. Over the years, she taught Head Start, kindergarten, reading and high school home economics. Mary was raised a Methodist, but became a Baptist minister's wife for 13 years. She became an educator while raising six children, at a time when most women did not work outside the home. Her family was always first in her life. She loved generously and unconditionally and was much loved in return. In her later years, she became a very private person, withdrawing from public activities except those involving her family. She was a lifelong member of the S.C. Chapter of the Colonial Dames of the 18th Century. Although she spent years in New York state and Connecticut, she was a true Southern lady. A private homegoing will be at a later date. In lieu of flowers, it is requested that disabled veterans are remembered. © The Times and Democrat, Orangeburg, SC, 14 Feb 2021