Born in Newberry, S.C. to Daisy Nancy and James Lominack, Rebecca was the youngest of 8 children in a loving, but 'firm and fair' family.
Rebecca's parents ran boarding houses, a very busy world in which all the children had chores. At the age of 6, Rebecca's task was to set the tables for supper. As the children reached a suitable age, they were all encouraged to find part-time jobs. Being the youngest made no difference, and Rebecca found a Saturday job at Rose's 5 & 10 cent store. Rebecca's parents didn't only teach the children to take their first steps to independence in the working world, but also an appreciation of the arts: music, plays and dancing. Leisure time at home was usually spent playing card games or doing jigsaw puzzles.
Rebecca learned to sew at an early age, in fact her first money was earned designing and sewing doll clothes…..at the age of 10. The love of sewing has grown stronger through the years, unfortunately vision problems now limit the kind of sewing she does.
Rebecca's parents both had positive attitudes - quite remarkable when you consider that Mr. Lominack had a debilitating stomach condition that was apt to cause him great pain. Although she was 42 when Rebecca was born, Mrs. Lominack was an active mum…supporting all her daughter's activities and 'living' the positive life-force which she exuded. She loved to travel, loved horses and enjoyed visits to the Kentucky Derby. Mr. Lominack was a gentler positive force, a carpenter who was more of a homebody. Their positive attitudes live on in Rebecca, helping her to weather life's harsher blows.
After graduation from high school, Rebecca earned a B.A. degree from Newberry College, and later completed extensive studies at USC, College of Charleston, and the Citadel. Like all four of her sisters, Rebecca became a teacher, first in Hampton and Newberry, then at North Charleston High where she taught for 29 years.
During the 50's, Rebecca had friends for whom she used to baby sit. Through them she first heard stories of one of their son's friends, Guerard. She was intrigued by the tales of his witty sayings, and eventually met him at the Jeter home. Rebecca liked Guerard, who loved quotations and Bible stories, but, thinking that he was ten years older than she was, didn't pursue a deeper friendship. As time passed, she found herself thinking more and more about Guerard, and hit upon a sneaky way to find out just how old he was. Rebecca, being a good seamstress, used to alter Mr. Jeter's shirts for him. One day, she decided that she 'needed to tighten a screw on the sewing machine'. At that time, driving license tags were metal and, coincidentally, made very useful screwdrivers. Cleverly, asking Guerard to lend her his license tag for the task at hand, she 'just happened' to take note of his date of birth….and discovered that he had been born in the same month of the same year as herself. The friendship flourished. Rebecca had once been asked to sing at the wedding of friends. Circumstances meant that they had to marry early in the morning a week or two after one Easter. It had been such a beautiful morning with the sun rising in a hushed world, that Rebecca decided if she ever got married, it would be early in the morning. Miss Rebecca Lominack was married to Mr. Guerard Jones at 8 o'clock on the morning of his birthday.
Always a churchgoer, first at the Associated Presbyterian Church close to her childhood home, then joining the Lutheran church at age 16 (both parents were Lutheran), Rebecca became an Episcopalian when she married Guerard.
Rebecca and Guerard had a wonderful life together. Guerard was a license examiner, but in his spare time he loved to hunt. He gave Rebecca a gun so that she could join in the hunting, but it wasn't a success as she simply couldn't keep quiet!
Each weekend they would go to their hunting lodge on the Coosawatchie River in Colleton county, and each Sunday they would go to church at St. Jude's in Walterboro.
Rebecca and Guerard's wonderful marriage came to a tragic end in 1981 after just 25 years together. Guerard, Rebecca and two friends were in an horrendous car accident on Spruill avenue. Guerard and one of the friends died, Rebecca sustained multiple serious injuries and was taken to MUSC, where she was, in her words: "skillfully and caringly put back together". Peter Larson preached at Guerard's funeral at St. Jude's, but Rebecca was unable to leave the hospital. Although Rebecca had recently retired from teaching, she was very touched when some of her past students came to her hospital room for a small memorial service. Rebecca's injuries were so bad that she had to learn to walk and talk again. On leaving hospital, she went to stay with her sister as she slowly recovered. It would be 26 months before she could go back to her own home.
Rebecca's positive attitude helped her to recover from her injuries, and to go on with her life. She stayed busy with her volunteer work as she has always loved doing things for people, and that brings us back to the start of this article: On November 16th, this year, in recognition of more than 50 years of volunteer work in the Charleston area, Rebecca received the Hall of Fame award from the Charleston Federation of Women's Clubs. A plaque, honouring her, will be placed on the Hall of Fame Wall at Charleston City Hall.
Rebecca's first volunteer work was in 1950, as a Girl Scout leader right here in our own parish church, in the days when it was Good Shepherd. Speaking of our church, Rebecca actually lived in the house that is now our parish office, with her bedroom in what is now our storage attic.
Although there isn't enough space to detail all of Rebecca's work, here are some of the highlights: