Beaufort
Alice Cross Glawson passed away peacefully on December 24, 2024, after a years’ long battle with Alzheimer’s/dementia that was complicated by the 2020 Covid lockdowns. The family arranged a graveside service on Saturday, May 17, to be officiated by St. Helena’s Reverend Jim Cato, at the cemetery adjacent to the Historic Church of St. Helena, where Alice will be laid to rest with her predeceased husband of 47 years, Joseph Jackson Glawson, Jr. (“Jack”).
May 17 was targeted in this case as May 17, 1963, was the date of Alice and Jack’s marriage. The wedding was conducted in Charleston’s historic St. Phillips Church. While not remarried, they will be reunited for all eternity.
Alice was also predeceased by the following family members: her mother and father, Ella Bush Cross and Luther Cross; her brother, Roger Earl Cross; her brother-in-law, Frank Braxton Costa; her mother-in-law and father-in-law, Laurie Glawson and Joseph J. Glawson; her sisters-in-law, Adelaide Glawson Quattlebaum and Isabel Glawson Fulton.
Alice is survived by four siblings — Carolyn Cross McLean, Margaret Cross Costa, Michael Lewis Cross, and Susan Cross Porteous. In addition, Alice is survived by numerous nieces and nephews.
Alice and Jack met and married in Charleston while both were working at the newspaper then known as The News and Courier. Jack was an ace News Reporter and Alice an Administrative Assistant. During their marriage, they relocated for work to Charlotte, N.C., and later to Burke, Va., before retiring and moving back south to Jack’s home city of Beaufort, S.C. where in 1984 they purchased a house at 501 Duke Street, located in the historical section of Beaufort known as “Old Point.”
They cherished the opportunity to rehabilitate, renovate and improve the neglected, sad, and broken house they had purchased. The first task at hand was to hire experts to completely lift the two-story house to facilitate an entire replacement of the foundation which was old and crumbling badly.
A completely new two-story wing was added to the west side of the house, which Jack had envisioned, then designed and built. They were recognized by the town officials for “doing it the right way.” The finished house was used to illustrate an “appropriately oriented addition” in a supplement to The Beaufort Preservation Manual, that was included in a compilation by John Milner Associates.
No longer is 501 Duke Street a sad house. It was reborn. Alice and Jack educated themselves on the correct ins-and-outs of renovating a historical house, ever mindful of the building codes and methods for proper restoration, following all of the rules and searching high and low for “period appropriate” materials and techniques. Upon completion, not only did they cherish the results of their labor of love, thereafter they so enjoyed living at 501 Duke Street happily for many, many more years.
This particular home held quite a bit of history, having been owned in 1883 by Beaufort’s historic figure and favorite son, Robert Smalls, a former slave who gained heroic fame during the Civil War (freeing himself, his family and others from slavery) and even more remarkably Mr. Smalls was later elected to Congress.
It is not an overstatement to say that Alice and Jack were perfect together, and that now Alice rejoins Jack, gathered in the arms of our Lord God for their next chapter.
It was Alice’s wish that anyone who is interested in giving a memorial honorarium be provided the following information/statement, and suggest contacting the Church at the following address:
“Honorarium in memory of Alice Cross Glawson”
Preservation Trust for Historic St. Helena’s Church
P.O. Box 1043
Beaufort, S.C. 29901
