Donor hopes fellowship recipients will work
 to improve health of all South Carolinians

                                                                                                           Posted 04/16/2007 

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” might be the mantra for the Arnold School’s latest fellowship donor.  

At age 89, Mary Elizabeth Newton is a role model for preventive health education and healthy aging. The former English and French teacher and longtime Columbia resident still rides her stationary bike, teaches music and is an active member of her community. 

 Her interest in her own health and the health of others led to a partnership with the Arnold School of Public Health where she established a permanently endowed fellowship in the Department of Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior.  

A native of Charleston, Newton moved to Columbia with her mother and sister in 1950 following the death of her father. Both of Newton’s parents were musically talented and they instilled a love and appreciation for the subject that has lasted throughout their daughter’s life. 

Newton’s mother was a pianist who gave her every opportunity to not only play the piano, but to participate in all the musical events that Charleston and Columbia had to offer.  

In 2005, Newton donated to the USC Music Library a large collection of sheet music collected by her mother in the 20’s and 30’s and by herself from the 40’s through the 70’s.  

The music was cataloged, digitized and is now available online to faculty, staff, and students looking for unusual performance pieces from the period.  

But a love of music was not the only interest fostered by Newton’s family.  

“As a child my parents thought I was a very frail little China doll because of my small stature. I remember my mother saying, ‘We need to keep her well because (if she gets sick) we cannot get her well. My mother was an early proponent of preventive healthcare and, like her, I have always had an interest in preventing disease. I believe that it is much more important to prevent disease than to cure it,” she said. 

Newton, a graduate of Furman University, taught advanced training to the troops at Fort Jackson. It was during her classes at the fort that she first witnessed the disparities in healthcare and in education among her students.

And it was there that she vowed to do what she could to prevent needless suffering from preventable diseases. 

 “I would like to see everyone in our state have equal opportunities when it comes to prevention and access to healthcare. It is my hope in establishing this fellowship that it will be awarded to a student who will remain in South Carolina after graduation and use the education they receive to improve the health of the people of this state, especially the underserved and underrepresented population,” said Newton.  

“We are pleased, excited, and grateful for Elizabeth Newton’s gift and for her foresight to recognize that investment in training young public health professionals will reap dividends well into the future, said Dr. Edward Frongillo, chair of the Department of Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior.  

“This fellowship makes it possible for a talented student who is committed to improving the health of the citizenry of South Carolina through use of the social and behavioral sciences to pursue training in our health promotion, education, and behavior program,” Frongillo said. 

“Funding to support even the most exceptional students is very limited, so her gift will play an important role in providing an opportunity for a student that otherwise would not exist,” he said.