A Promise Kept to ‘Make the World a Better Place for Others’

Jerry Salley
Contributing Writer

Dr. Charlotte Lindler Ellis admits that she did not know much about Spartanburg Methodist College before she went on a blind date in 1999. She started learning about it soon enough; however, because the man she met that evening was the Rev. Dr. Edgar H. Ellis.

A proud 1956 graduate of the school then known as Spartanburg Junior College, Rev. Ellis had recently retired after 37 years as a minister in the South Carolina United Methodist Conference and had kept the college close to his heart.

“He cared a lot about this school,” said Dr. Ellis.

As they began dating, she heard how Edgar, one of eight children from a poor family in Sumter, South Carolina, arrived in Spartanburg with not much more than he could carry in an old leather suitcase with one broken strap. He told her about College President Rembert B. Burgess, who personally cosigned a loan at a downtown Spartanburg bank for his initial tuition. She listened to his memories of the hard labor he performed in a campus-work study program scraping red clay off old propane tanks for Freeman Gas to pay back the loan.

“Ed Ellis was a self-made man,” Dr. Ellis said, reflecting on his humble beginnings and his progress through St. Andrews University, Duke University, and McCormick Theological Seminary to become a minister. “SMC had a great purpose in that it was a jumping-off point for young people to expand and further their education. It was a wonderful start to his career.”

Ed also told Charlotte how he had courted fellow student Iris Clardy on campus and remained her husband until her death in 1996. He also shared memories of his daughter, Loraine Ellis, who died in 1998, and discussed the scholarship he established at SMC in memory of both women.

As their own relationship bloomed, so did Charlotte’s admiration for her future husband’s alma mater.

“Ed and I married a year after we met, and we vowed that we would make the world a better place for others,” she said. “I’ve loved and admired SMC’s mission since Ed introduced me to the school.”

Eventually, Dr. Ellis retired after more than 30 years practicing pediatric medicine in Columbia, South Carolina, to spend more time with her husband. She was there when he joined SMC’s Board of Trustees in 2003 (she would become a Trustee herself in 2014), and she saw the opening of the school’s Dr. Edgar H. Ellis Jr. Hall in 2012.

And when Rev. Ellis died in 2020, Dr. Ellis was determined to keep the promise they had made to each other and continue a legacy of support for SMC. Her recent estate gift will fund the Dr. Edgar Ellis and Dr. Charlotte Lindler Ellis Endowed Chair in the Sciences. The gift will also expand SMC’s faculty development fund to increase opportunities for faculty attending conferences and other learning experiences.

“I truly believe the sharper the faculty, the more diverse the faculty, the better we can advance our students and get them to where they figure out what their interests are,” she said. “One of the most important things we can do is pass on positive things to our young people – keep them interested, keep them learning, keep them positive.”

Her own legacy of philanthropy is by no means limited to SMC.

A graduate of the University of South Carolina and the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), she has contributed annually to both schools. She has established a scholarship endowment at MUSC and faculty fellowships in biology and chemistry at USC. A longtime friend of USC women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley and “superfan” of the Lady Gamecocks who attends nearly every home game – and has traveled as far as Paris to cheer them on – Ellis contributed to the team’s Enhancement Fund to support its mission of professional development for student-athletes.

As a physician, she mentored fellow doctors through the Columbia Medical Society, and she volunteers regularly at Shandon United Methodist Church in Columbia. For these and other efforts, she was recognized with the 2023 Outstanding Philanthropist Award by the Central South Carolina Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

By supporting institutions that have helped shape her past – a commitment she shared with her late husband – Charlotte Ellis hopes to help today’s young people shape their futures.

“I’ve always felt very strongly that if we can get young people educated and in the workforce that our world would be a better place,” she says. “Our young people represent everything that’s going to happen in the world, and I think the sky’s the limit. I always felt that way, and so did Ed.”