Della McManus Bennettsville -- Services for Mrs. Della Cecil McManus, 94, will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday in Oak Ridge Cemetery. Visitation is 6-8 p.m. Friday at Whitner-Evans Funeral Home. Memorials may be made to First Presbyterian Church, P.O. Box 627, or to Marlboro Rescue Squad, P.O. Box 123, Bennettsville, SC 29512. Mrs. McManus, widow of Charles Edwin McManus Jr., died Wednesday, July 23, 2003. Born in Davidson County, she was a daughter of the late Jacob Edward and Margaret Kennedy Newby Cecil. In the 1940s, the family moved to Athens, Ga., where she was active in the Girl Scouts, the YWCA, the 3rd Wednesday Child Study Group, the P.T.A. and the Rose and Dahlia Garden Club. She also attended classes at the University of Georgia. In 1955, she moved to Bennettsville and, with her husband, founded the Bennettsville Veneer Company, which they owned and operated for 30 years; she served as executive secretary and bookkeeper. She was instrumental in organizing Scouting in Bennettsville and was a member of the Tuesday Study Club, the Woodland Garden Club and an avid gardener. She was a volunteer tutor with Bennettsville Primary School and her daughter's second grade class, where she earned the nickname, "Miss Mother." She was honored by the Marlboro County School Board as an intergenerational volunteer. In 1999, she was honored by the Girl Scouts of the Pee Dee area and received the Prestigious Women's Award in Education and Scouting. Upon receiving this award, she was quoted as saying, "It was my pleasure to help children. No one is ever too old to learn and to serve others." She was a member of First Presbyterian Church. Surviving are daughters, Patricia M. Selman of Athens, Ga., Marsha M. Edens of Bennettsville; sisters, Mabel Alexander Thornton of Athens, Ga., and Loretta Sechrest of High Point, N.C.; six grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by daughters, Charlene Angle McManus and Sherry Gail McManus. submitted by Helen Lane Wiggins