Mary-Julia Campbell Royall

Mary-Julia Campbell Royall, 92, was born on December 30, 1925 and died of complications of stroke on Thursday, October 25, 2018. The only child of Cordelia Bearden Campbell and John McCants Campbell, Mrs. Royall was born in the upstate of South Carolina and lived most of the next seven decades in the South Carolina Low Country.

A well-regarded musician and historian, Mrs. Royall began her formal education in 1945 at Erskine College where she obtained a Bachelor of Arts. She was awarded a fellowship at the University of South Carolina where she received a Master of Arts in English literature as well as certifications in musical supervision and in organ performance. She served on the staff of the Brevard Music Center and as music teacher at Montreat College. After her marriage to Jervey DuPre Royall, she continued her work in the Low Country where she gave recitals, private piano lessons, and served as the director of glee clubs at Moultrie High School and College Preparatory School.

Her long career was as a professional pipe organist and church musician. She served several churches in Charleston while continuing to perform in and organize organ recitals and concerts featuring guest artists as well as ensembles she created.

Mrs. Royall has served as Mt. Pleasant’s official historian for over 20 years and is a founding member of the Town of Mt. Pleasant’s Historical Commission. She has been recognized by the Commission as the first recipient of the Cresco Historical Stewardship Award which honors “exemplary work in studying, preserving, restoring, or promoting the history of Mt. Pleasant”.

She wrote two books: Mount Pleasant: the Victorian Village and Mount Pleasant: the Friendly Town. She founded the Christ Church Parish Preservation Society and presented programs featuring historians and published reprints (Petrona Royall McIver’s History of Mount Pleasant South Carolina and Anne King Gregorie’s Christ Church, 1706-1959: A Plantation Parish of the South Carolina Establishment.) The Sons of the Confederacy named a Mt. Pleasant park on Carr Street in her honor for her work with the town’s history.

Her wide range of interests, skills, and curiosity spanned a variety of disciplines. When she inherited a family farm from her father, she transformed it into a tree farm and was recognized nationally as Tree Farmer of the Year. In later years, she put that property under the protection of the Lowcountry Land Trust. In the last years of her life, she contributed adjacent land to Keeper of the Wild, a nonprofit dedicated to the rescue, rehabilitation, and relocation of injured wild animals.

Over the years, she was engaged with a variety of organizations: most notably, the American Guild of Organists, the Organ Historical Society, Mt. Pleasant Presbyterian Church History Committee, and South Carolina Federation of Museums.

She was preceded in death by her husband of 65 years Jervey DuPre Royall and leaves behind daughters: Julia Campbell Royall (Brian Kahin) of Wyoming and Anne DuPre Royall of Mt. Pleasant; grandchildren: Angeline DuPre Royall-Kahin and Owen Low Royall-Kahin, both of Berlin, Germany.

A Music Celebration of the Life of Mary-Julia Campbell Royall will be held at 11:00 AM on December 1, 2018 at the Huguenot Church in Charleston, SC. Music will begin at 10:30 AM

In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to Keeper of the Wild, 1606 Coolers Dairy Road, Walterboro, SC 29488 (keeperofthewild.org) or a charity of choice.

Expressions of sympathy may be viewed or submitted online at www.mcalister-smith.com.

Arrangements have been entrusted to McAlister-Smith Funeral Home, Mt Pleasant, 1520 Rifle Range Road, Mt Pleasant, SC 29464, 843-884-3833.