Arie (Black) Guess

Funeral services for Arie Virginia Black Guess, 93, of Blackville, SC will be held at three o’clock p.m., Sunday, February 27, 2022 in the Folk Funeral Home Chapel, Williston, SC with Dr. Thomas Terry and Pastor Jackie Hyche officiating. Burial will be in the Blackville Cemetery. The family will receive friends one hour prior to the service at the funeral home on Sunday. Memorial contributions may be given to the Blackville United Methodist Church, 50 Springs Ct., Blackville, SC  29817, Arie B. Guess Scholarship in c/o Tri-County Community Foundation, P.O. Box 160, Barnwell, SC  29812  or Columbia College, Advancement Office, 1301 Columbia College, Dr., Columbia, SC 29203. The family would like to give a special thank you to her loyal caregivers and friends Wesley Hartzog, Priscilla Sanders, Sarah Harley, Sheryl Fischer for the love and care that they have shown to Mrs. Arie. She passed away on Wednesday, February 23, 2022.

Arie Virginia Black was born November 17, 1928, in Bamberg County, SC to hard-working parents, Lloyd Herman and Faucia Still Black. She, three brothers and one sister grew up on the farm where the whole family picked cucumbers, cut asparagus and picked cotton together. At night, they had family devotions and always attended Sunday School and worship when the church was open.

Arie attended three years at Hilda Elementary School and eight years at Denmark where she was the valedictorian of her class in 1945. She admired her teachers so much that she decided to go to Columbia College and become a Science teacher. She graduated in 1949 and was honored with the “Most Womanly” Award.

Arie married William Samuel Guess, Jr. (better known as “Buck”) on July 7, 1949, at the same location where they still lived. Buck served in the Army Air Force during WWII. He flew 30 missions over France and Germany, received the Air Medal 4 times and the Distinguished Flying Cross. After the war, he returned to his home in Blackville to farm and Arie taught in the Blackville Public Schools for 35 years. Buck worked on his farm machinery and he has restored four Model T and six Model A Fords, in spite of rheumatoid arthritis for which he injected a shot of Enbrel once a week.

While Arie worked as a teacher and as guidance counselor, she was Beta Club Sponsor for 35 years. She served as S. C. State Sponsor 1947-76. She was President of Barnwell County Education Association, President and Treasurer of Blackville Education Association, and President of Barnwell-Blackville Columbia College Club. (B² C²).

She was honored with the Outstanding Community Service Award by the American Legion, Outstanding Educator Award by the Jaycees, Distinguished Teacher Citizen of Barnwell County by the Education Association and Woman of the Year by the Chamber of Commerce.  In 1994, she was selected Outstanding Older American for Barnwell County and later of the Lower Savannah Region.

Arie became a member of Phi Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma in 1971 and served as President from 1980 – 82 and became a member of Beta Delta Chapter in 1990.

She was an active member of the Blackville United Methodist Church, had served as lay leader, a delegate to annual conferences and as District Treasurer of Orangeburg District UMW, and frequently taught the Adult Sunday School Class.

She served on the Special Events Committee of the Alumnae Council of Columbia College and as Memorial Chairman of Blackville American Legion Auxiliary. She also served as President for many years.

To her surprise, at graduation exercises of 1984, the “Arie Black Guess Scholarship” was set up in Arie’s honor. Each year since her retirement, a scholarship has been presented to an outstanding senior in character, leadership, and scholarship at Blackville-Hilda High School.

Probably her most notable honor was the Carolinian of the Year Award given at a ceremony at the state capitol. The Arie B. Guess Highway (between Blackville and Hilda) was officially named in her honor on June 8, 2007.

Survivors include her nieces Wanda Harelson of Blackville, Katie McCormick of Blackville, Twila Kingsmore of Taylors, Melanie Wessinger of Simpsonville, Kim Taylor of Greenville, Julie Powell of Orangeburg; Martha Ann Stuckey of Mount Pleasant, SC, Cindy Tomlinson of Florence, SC; her nephews Robert Guess of Edgefield, Andy Black of Barnwell, Steven Gramling of Moncks Corner, SC, George Davis of Baneberry, TN, and Lonnie Caughman of Eastover, SC; her sisters-in-law Janice Black, Martha Caughman, and Tonya Guess.

In addition to her parents and her husband, Buck Guess, she was preceded in death by her brothers Herman Black, Pat Black and Ben Thomas Black, her sister Sarah B. Guess, and numerous in-laws and nephews.

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