South Carolina S 551: School bus passing

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 551 Text of Previous Version (Apr. 15, 2025) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 551

Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

A concurrent RESOLUTION

TO CONGRATULATE ANNIE LOIS NEELY STEWART OF 
GREENVILLE COUNTY ON THE OCCASION OF HER ONE HUNDREDTH BIRTHDAY AND TO WISH HER 
A JOYOUS BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION AND MANY YEARS OF CONTINUED HEALTH AND HAPPINESS.

Whereas, the members of 
the South Carolina General Assembly are delighted to learn that Annie Lois 
Neely Stewart of Greenville County will celebrate her one hundredth birthday on 
May 11, 2025; and

Whereas, born on May 
11, 1925, in the first quarter of the twentieth century, she has witnessed the 
many remarkable social changes, technological advancements, and international 
developments that have spanned the globe from that time into the first quarter 
of the twenty-first century; and

Whereas, Annie Lois 
Stewart was the first daughter and second child of Thomas "TR" and Beatrice 
Neely of Laurens County. They were sharecroppers on the McGee farm outside of 
Fountain Inn; and

Whereas, without a 
license or formal training, she taught a sort of mathematics through her 
example, not in a school classroom but in her community, when she added the 
values of love and hard work to her life; subtracted a can't do attitude from 
her mind; multiplied in her home, her church, and her community, stories of 
worshipping God around a potbellied stove and of rejoicing at family events and 
assisting in preparing food for family celebrations; and divided a rich 
tapestry of memories among her children; and

Whereas, during 
sharecropping days, work done by women and children was hard and difficult. 
They walked through harvested fields, picking up grain and cotton missed by the 
men. Women hulled the grain for family use and used the straw as livestock 
bedding. As a youth, Mrs. Stewart desired to experience a better life than her 
parents had and to do what was necessary to achieve a better life. To get away 
from that difficult and hard life, she moved to Miami, Florida; and

Whereas, together with 
her husband, the late Preston Stewart, she reared three fine children: Bessie 
Lee Neely Humbert and John L. Neely, both of Greenville, and the late Lydia 
Beatrice Neely-Littlejohn; and

Whereas, after several 
years in Florida, Mrs. Stewart returned home, and months later, she and her 
three children moved from Fountain Inn to Greenville and moved her church 
membership from Mount Zion Baptist Church in Fountain Inn to Nicholtown 
Missionary Baptist Church in Greenville. She was employed in Greenville as a 
housekeeper for the Dr. Iris Bronell's family until she retired; and

Whereas, as one of our 
longest-living former members of the Mount Zion Baptist Church family, Mrs. 
Stewart has lived the refrain of the hymn referred to as the Black National 
Anthem, "Lift Every Voice and Sing": "God of our weary years,/God of our silent 
tears,/Thou who hast brought us thus far on our way,/Thou who hast by Thy 
might,/ Led us into the light,/Keep us forever in the path, we pray"; and

Whereas, the members of 
the South Carolina General Assembly are pleased to honor this daughter of South 
Carolina at the celebration of her one hundredth birthday and join with her 
family and friends in congratulating her on reaching this extraordinary 
milestone. Now, therefore,

Be it resolved by the Senate, the House of 
Representatives concurring:

That the members of the South Carolina General 
Assembly, by this resolution, congratulate Annie Lois Neely Stewart of 
Greenville County on the occasion of her one hundredth birthday and wish her a 
joyous birthday celebration and many years of continued health and happiness.

Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution 
be presented to Annie Lois Neely Stewart.

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