Ethel Mae “Ms. Mae” Harlow, a longtime volunteer with Miracle Hill Ministries, has died, the Greenville-based nonprofit announced Jan. 13. She was 97.
She was born in Warwick County, Virginia, and graduated from Bob Jones University with a bachelor’s degree in religion. She worked in the university’s offices and began volunteering weekly to minister to the women staying in the shelter, Miracle Hill’s Greenville Rescue Mission.
While Harlow was volunteering one Sunday afternoon, the police brought three young siblings to the mission, and she accepted them, even though the facility had nothing in place to care for children away from their parents. This event led to her quitting her job in 1957 so she could serve at the rescue mission, help the women in the shelter, care for the children and work in the office…