Lorene Abney Secord

Lorie Secord died on Friday, November 14, 2025, at MUSC Chester Nursing Center.

Mrs. Secord, 96, was born in Brookport, Illinois, the sixth and youngest child of the late Rev. Arthur Columbus Abney and Eulalia Wilkins Abney on June 16, 1929. She grew up in Pensacola and Marianna, Florida where her father served as the minister of the local Baptist churches. She graduated from Marianna High School in 1947 and Florida State University with a degree in music education in 1951 where she was the founding president of the Gamma Phi Beta Sorority chapter.

Mrs. Secord taught music in the schools of Panama City, Florida before her marriage to Mack Donaldson Secord on March 9, 1957 at the First Baptist Church of Marianna, Florida.

Her husband’s career in the Air Force took them to Fort Walton Beach, Florida; Fukuoka, Japan; Fayetteville, North Carolina; and Alexandria, Virginia. After his military retirement in 1975, they moved to Atlanta, Georgia. Mrs. Secord was very active in the ministry of Peachtree Presbyterian Church in Atlanta, serving as president of the Women of the Church, on the wedding and funeral guilds, and as an elder.

In 2015, the Secords moved to Summit Hills in Spartanburg, S.C. to be near their daughter and grandchildren. They relocated to Harborchase of Riverwalk in Rock Hill, SC in late 2023. She moved to Chester Nursing Center in 2025.

Mrs. Secord was known for her musical and artistic abilities, her sense of style and for her gracious and fun-loving personality. Her greatest joy in life was being “Grams” to her grandchildren: planning visits, vacations, and activities for them and celebrating birthdays and holidays.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband; two sisters, Sarah Belle Abney Frye and Lois Marie Abney Watson; and three brothers, Arthur Chester Abney, Truett Ridgeway Abney, and Lowell Winford Abney. She is survived by her daughter, Susan Anne Secord Marion, and her husband Douglas of Chester, SC and three grandchildren, Sarah Whitfield Marion of Rock Hill, SC; Laura Douglass Marion Tibbetts and her husband Bowen of St. Augustine, FL; and Peyton Donaldson Marion and his wife Kaileigh of Charlotte, NC.

Her memorial will take place at First Presbyterian Church Columbarium in Spartanburg, at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to First Presbyterian Church 393 E. Main Street, Spartanburg, SC 29302.

Floyd’s North Church Street