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Died September 7, 2020.
Windsor Elementary School, Columbia, SC
Third Grade Teacher
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Funeral services for a Midlands mother and her daughter were held Saturday after the two women died of coronavirus weeks apart.
A remembrance for Shirley and Demetria Bannister was held at Bible Way Church of Atlas Road.
“Our hearts are broken forever; tears have been falling for so long,” Dennis Bell, one of their family members said. “When we think of your beautiful faces, it all seems so wrong.”
Bell joined a number of other loved ones to speak on the lives of Shirley and Demetria Bannister before a masked audience, spaced apart for social distancing.
“Nothing is the same now and we doubt it ever will be,” Bell said.
Demetria, known as “Demi” among her colleagues, was a third-grade teacher considered the “life of the hallway” at Windsor Elementary in Columbia.
“I can honestly tell you that she was one of the most passionate people and she had a purpose and… her purpose was children,” Windsor Principal Denise Quickel said.
Demetria’s mother Shirley was an educator and a nurse who led the Midlands Technical College (MTC) nursing department for the past seven years.
“She remained humbled; she remained committed to students; she remained committed to service,” MTC President Ronald Rhames said.
Now that two women have been laid to rest, family and friends are trying to find hope in the pain.
“If there is a silver lining in any of this, and I believe there is, it is that Shirley and Demetria are back together again,” St. Mark Baptist Church Pastor Secaida Howell said.
An upcoming MTC blood drive was named in honor of Shirley Bannister for her service to the Red Cross and efforts to help the organization increase blood donations.