Mantha (Taylor) Baxter

A graveside funeral service for Mantha Velerie Taylor Baxter, 98, will be held at eleven o’clock a.m., Monday, January 25, 2021 at the Denmark Cemetery, 999 Church St., Denmark, SC with the Reverends John O’Cain and Sunny Mooney officiating. Due to the current pandemic and the CDC regulations, social distancing and other guidelines will be in place; facemasks are mandatory. The service will be live-streamed on our Official Folk Funeral Home - Live Stream Facebook page for those unable to attend. In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that donations be given in Mantha’s memory to your local church or your favorite charity. She passed away on Wednesday, January 20, 2021.

Mantha Velerie Taylor Baxter was born on December 11, 1922 in Ruffin, SC, she was the daughter of the late Joseph Taylor and Veleria Walling Taylor; she was raised at Bells Crossroads. She graduated from Ruffin High School in 1939 at the age of 17.  She attended Draughon’s Business School in Columbia.  After graduation, she worked at Nelson Motor Express and the Court House in Walterboro.

Mantha married Shirley Edward Baxter from Denmark, SC on April 3, 1942, at the age of 19.  They made their home in Denmark where they raised 10 children in a warm and loving Christian home.  She kept the “home fires burning” while Shirley served in the US Army during WWII.  She was employed at Southern Bell Telephone Company during those years.  After his death in 1976, she continued raising their family in Denmark where she remained a widow.  They were married for 34 years.

She loved to travel and made a trip to Germany and Zambia to visit daughters in both places.

She attended the Orangeburg Nursing School and received her LPN degree at the age of 50. She worked at the Orangeburg Regional Hospital, the Barnwell Hospital, and worked several summers at Ridgecrest Baptist Assembly as a nurse.

Mantha was very active in church at Denmark First Baptist and later at Ghents Branch Baptist Church.  She was a member of the 60 Plus Club in Denmark, volunteer for the Denmark Rescue Squad, volunteer for Meals on Wheels, and a member of Woodmen of the World.  She loved to do ceramics and gifted her family with many wonderful pieces over the years.

In 2010, she moved to the Methodist Oaks Retirement Home in Orangeburg for 8 years and then moved to The Palmettos of Parklane Assisted Living Home in Columbia, where she lived for 2 years.

She is survived by her sons Mike Baxter (Kay) of Hanahan, SC, Joe Baxter (Marcia) of Columbia, SC, Ed Baxter of Brighton, Tennessee, David Baxter (Suzi) of Lexington, SC; her daughters Parniece Dawson (Toppy) of Hanahan, SC, Nancy Bennett (Ted) of Evansville, Indiana, Debbie Royson (Butch) of Ridgeway, SC, Sandra Deming (David) of Irmo, SC; 20 grandchildren; 30 great grandchildren and many nieces and nephews. She was a loving mother and will be missed by her family and her many friends.

In addition to her husband she was preceded in death by her daughters Libby Brueck and Jackie Peeples; her brothers Woodrow Taylor and Joseph Taylor; her sisters Gladys Wilson, Dorothy Thomas, Mary Jane McClellan, and Clara Murdaugh.

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