ORANGEBURG, S.C. – South Carolina State University joins the family of Mrs. Mae Cora Stewart Peterson, SC State’s oldest alumna, in mourning her passing.

She celebrated her 106th birthday on Sept. 14, 2022, and died Thursday, July 20, 2023, in Texas. She was a member of the SC State Class of 1937.

“On behalf of the SC State campus community, I offer our deepest condolences to Mrs. Peterson’s loved ones,” SC State President Alexander Conyers said. “Her connection to SC State began before she ever joined the student body, and she remained a loyal alumna throughout her long life.”

Mrs. Peterson was active in the Dallas-Fort Worth Chapter of the SC State National Alumni Association and served as the speaker at the chapter’s first scholarship banquet in 2016. She also was featured as a Stellar Alumnae in the month of April in the SC State 2017 calendar.

Mrs. Peterson was born in Columbia, South Carolina, but her family moved to Orangeburg shortly after her birth. Her father, Elliott Lee Stewart, cut timber for buildings at The Colored Normal, Industrial, Agricultural, and Mechanical College of South Carolina, now South Carolina State University. He also taught brick masonry at the school.

After enrolling at SC State, she became a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority in its first pledge class of 1934. She later attended graduate school at the University of Michigan.

She relocated to Fort Worth, Texas, on her own to start her career as executive secretary for the segregated branch of the Fort Worth WYCA in 1943. She married in 1947 and had three children.

Mrs. Peterson was an educator at various schools and became dean of girls at Fort Worth’s Dunbar High School, where she worked 27 years before retiring in 1980. She stayed active with community organizations, including Senior Services of Greater Tarrant County, and had been an avid supporter of the Fort Worth Symphony.

Mrs. Peterson’s family will receive friends at 6 p.m. Friday, Aug. 11, at Broadway Baptist Church Fellowship Hall, 305 W. Broadway, Fort Worth, Texas. A celebration of life will be conducted at 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 12, at the church’s sanctuary.

Charitable gifts in Mrs. Peterson’s memory may be sent to:

Broadway Baptist Church May Street Market
305 W. Broadway
Fort Worth, TX, 76104-1238.

The SC State University Foundation
Admissions Office in Memory of Mrs. Cora Stewart Peterson, Class of 1937
300 College St. NE/P.O. Box 7187
Orangeburg, SC, 29117-7187.