Emily Farrow Obituary

Emily R. Farrow CHARLESTON - Emily Ravenel Farrow, widow of John Ashby Farrow, died peacefully at her home on April 26, 2011. Mrs. Farrow was born in Charleston, a daughter of Charles Jervey and Emily Legare Simmons Ravenel on February 13, 1915, and grew up on her family's farm which is now encompassed by the City of Charleston. She is survived by her two sons, David Ashby Farrow and Michael Ashby Farrow. The following is a tribute written by her son, David. The foxes still roam the property, their yips echoing in the dusk along the avenue Charles Jervey Ravenel laid out 100 years ago. Thunderheads, their distant booming resonating throughout St. Andrew's Parish, gather over Old Towne Creek just as they have for eons. The endless cycle of life and death, prey and predator, will begin anew. However, the sunlight through the clouds is a little darker, the balance has been altered a reminder that it is all transitory; an aide memoire that change is the only constant. It is what one does with the transformation that matters. Miss Em liked to brag that she had lived from the privy to the moon, but in reality she lived from the 19th Century Charleston down an old dirt road to 21st Century Charleston where supermarkets, discount stores and fast food dot the fields and forests where she taught a generation of Ashley Hall girls to be equestrians. After a time in the Berkshires during the Second World War, Miss Em returned to teaching at the riding academy she and her father began deep in the Depression on Old Towne Road. In 1947, she re-met a handsome young blade named Ashby Farrow. After a whirlwind six-month romance, they married in September of 1947. They adopted a son, David Ashby Farrow in 1953 and his brother, Michael Ashby Farrow in 1959. Although very active in preservation and politics, Miss Em shunned the limelight. She and Ashby were among the first to donate their home at 64 South Battery for the Historic Charleston Foundation's Festival of Houses in 1948. In 1984, Ashby and Emily took a stand that would change the face of Charleston forever. Right before her husband died, the couple was offered the largest sum ever offered for a Charleston home. Right before the sale closed, they discovered that the buyer was going to convert the stately home to condominiums. They sold it to the Foundation at a loss. After Ashby died in 1984, she spent the rest of her life at the riding academy on Old Towne Road where she delighted in her close friendship with Marcelle Cameron and Alicia Rhett among so many others and fostering skulks of foxes for generations. During her lifetime, Mrs. Farrow was a member of everything from the Daughters of the American Revolution to the Colonial Dames, a list that would encompass half a newspaper page. She gained national attention in 2005 by riding her horse on her 90th birthday. She received letters of commendation from President G.W. Bush and Senator Lindsey Graham. In March of 2009, her long distinguished career was highlighted in a feature article in Equus Magazine. In 2010, she was honored by Ashley Hall (where she attended from kindergarten to senior the second woman to so do). She is survived by her two sons, enough cousins to fill the Yellow Pages and friends whose love and dedication was matched only by her love for them. The relatives and friends of Mrs. Emily Ravenel Farrow are invited to attend her funeral service at the Graveside, St. Philip's Episcopal Churchyard, Friday, April 29, 2011, at 3:00 p.m. Memorial May be Made to Charleston Animal Society, 2455 Remont Road North Charleston, SC 29406 or Confederate Home 62 Broad St. Charleston, SC 29401. Mrs. Farrow's guest book may be signed at jamesamcalister.com. Arrangements by JAMES A. MCALISTER Funerals & Cremations 766-1365. Visit our guestbook at www.postandcourier.com/ deaths