Dr. Mary Ann Sprawls Rogers

AIKEN - Dr. Mary Ann Sprawls Rogers, 73, entered into rest on September 16, 2009 at Aiken Regional Hospital. She is the beloved wife of Jack Rogers, Aiken, SC. Funeral services will be held at 11:00 AM, Saturday, September 19, 2009 at St. John's United Methodist Church, Aiken, SC with the Rev. Dr. George K. Howle officiating. Internment will follow in the Historic Bethany Cemetery. Pallbearers will be William Wade Johnson, Jr., Steven Alexander Rogers, Clyde Holloway Rogers, Charles M. Knight, Jr., Wallace Dunbar, Lamar Keisler, Jimmy Rodgers and Ron Shelley. Honorary pallbearers will be the DSS Foster Review Board, the National Alliance of the Mentally Ill, Aiken County Board of Mental Health. Dr. Rogers was born in Augusta, GA to the late James Maldon and Margaret Lucile Suther Sprawls. Her long career in nursing began when she received her Associate Degree (RN) in Nursing from the University of South Carolina-Aiken in 1976 and her Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing in 1978. In 1979, she received her Master of Science Degree in Nursing from the Medical College of Georgia. In May of 1988, she received her Doctorate of Education from the University of South Carolina-Columbia. She served on the faculty of the School of Nursing at the Medical College of Georgia, Augusta from 1980-1989. She began as an instructor and was promoted to Assistant Professor in 1984. She also served as Acting Associate Dean for the Undergraduate Program in 1988. In 1989, she returned to Aiken and to the University of South Carolina-Aiken School of Nursing as Associate Professor. She also was Director of the BSN Completion Program. She retired from USC-Aiken in 2001. She has a long list of publications and honors to her credit including Faculty Member of the Year and the President's Distinguished Service Award from MCG and Who's Who in American Nursing. She was also a member of Sigma Theta Tau, nursing's honorary society. Dr. Rogers was also active in her community serving on the Department of Social Services Foster Care Review Board, as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Aiken-Barnwell Mental Health and as Chair of the Board of Directors for the National Association for the Mentally Ill. She was a member of St. John's United Methodist Church and was active in the choir and also served with the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and Methodist Youth Fellowship. Survivors include her husband, Clarence Jack Rogers of Aiken; children, Clarence Jack Rogers, Jr. (Mary), Summerfield, NC, James Holloway Rogers (Mariruth), Margaret Virginia (Jenny) Johnson (Wade) and Sandra Elizabeth Rogers, Frances A. Williams, all of Aiken . Other survivors include grandchildren, William Wade Johnson, Jr. (Erin), Elizabeth Ann Johnson Lott (Joey), Steven Alexander Rogers, (Kim), Katherine Helen Rogers, Michael James Rogers and great-grandchild John Carlton Rogers. Sisters, Martha Lester Sprawls Blanco, North Augusta, SC and Sandra Dicks Sprawls Sandberg, Raleigh, NC, brother James Maldon (Don) Sprawls, Jr. (Billie), Aiken, SC. Memorials may be made to the James and Lucile Sprawls Nursing Scholarship, c/o USC-Aiken, 471 University Parkway, Aiken, SC 29801. Please visit www.shellhousefuneralhome.com to sign the family's guestbook. The family will receive friends from 6 to 8 PM Friday, September 18 at Shellhouse Funeral Home, 924 Hayne Avenue, Aiken, SC. To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Dr. Mary Ann Sprawls Rogers, please visit our flower store.