Alice Wyche Hurley

Mrs. Alice Wyche Hurley, daughter of the late Kellene Lewis Wyche and Rudolph Melville Wyche, M.D., is a native of Charlotte, North Carolina. In 1956, she received her Bachelor of Science degree from Boston University. Following graduation, she moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where she worked as a broadcaster for the famous radio station WERD. While in Atlanta, She earned a Master of Social Work degree at Atlanta University in 1964. She married Anthony Manigault Hurley in 1961 and established residence in Columbia, South Carolina.

Upon returning to Columbia, Mrs. Hurley worked as a psychiatric social worker at Crafts Farrow State Hospital. In 1967 she was employed as a school social worker for Richland County School District One and later became the attendance supervisor. In 1990, she was promoted to the position of coordinator of social work services, from which she retired.

Mrs. Hurley is not only a Master Social Worker but is also a Licensed Funeral Director and assists her husband at Manigault-Hurley Funeral Home. In addition to her professional affiliations, she is a dedicated supporter of the Greater Columbia community. She has been a grants writer for such projects as the W. A. Perry Middle School Task Force, Providence Hospital’s Seeing is Achieving project, Links, Inc.’s Dental Sealant project, Central Carolina Community Foundation’s Teacher/Student Incentive project, and others. With her husband, she co-founded the Greater Columbia Urban League and the Poinsettia Cotillion. She currently serves on the Sisters of Charity Foundation Board of Providence Hospital. She has served as a board member of the Eboni Dance Theater, was an original member of the South Carolina Foster Care Review Board, and established the William F. O’Neal Guild at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, where she serves as a lay reader and a member of the choir.

She remains active on many committees and boards. This honoree is a published writer, having written and co-authored several articles for social work journals, including the Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation, and along with her son, the Journal of the American Medical Association. Following her retirement in 1996, she was employed as a field work liaison for the University of South Carolina College of Social Work. Her social affiliations include the Columbia Chapter of Links, Inc., The Columbia Chapter Moles, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., the Columbia Chapter National Smart Set, and Les Jeune Bridgettes.

Mrs. Hurley is the recipient of numerous awards, among them the 1992 Social Worker of the Year Award from the National Association of Social Workers/Central Unit, the 1995-96 S.C. Association of Social Workers School Social Worker of the Year Award, the 1996 Southern School Social Work Council’s Social Worker of the Year Award, 1996 co-recipient with her husband of the Order of the Palmetto (the first couple to share the honor), 1997 co-recipient with her husband of the Greater Columbia Urban League’s John H. Whitemen Award, the Congaree Girl Scouts Council 1997 Women of Distinction Award, and the 2003 Pioneer of the Year Award from the University of South Carolina College of Social Work. Mrs. Hurley is the mother of three children, Brian Wyche Hurley, M.D., Kelly Hurley Osborne, and Michelle Hurley Johnson, Esq. She is the grandmother of five grandchildren.