Mary Margaret Borum

AIKEN, SC - Mary Margaret Borum, 94, passed away Friday, July 17, 2026.

Mary was born in Rolla, Missouri, the only child of Ruby Nell (Snow) Bullard and James Everett Bullard. 

Her childhood was largely spent in St. Louis with a shorter period in San Francisco. Her father died when she was three and until her mother remarried, her beloved grandmother (Alpha Bradley Farmer/Snow), aunt (Fannie Kurlander) and a close family friend, Aunt Georgia helped to raise her. 

In St. Louis she attended Roosevelt High School and Harris Teachers’ College, where she was president of her sorority and of the Pan Hellenic Society. From Harris she transferred to the University of Missouri, Cape Girardeau where she met and married her late husband, William Donald Borum. From here, her life took on a completely new twist. 

William was drafted into the Army shortly before they married in 1952. He later rose to the rank of Colonel, but from 1954 onwards a hugely adventurous life, largely spent overseas, lay ahead. 

Mary and ‘Don’, as she called her husband (then Lt. WD Borum) moved to Germany in 1956 with their first child and had a second daughter there. This was the time of the Cold War and every month Mary had to go to the basement of their apartment block, retrieve c-rations and water, load this along with their two young daughters into the car and drive out of Giessen, Germany to a designated safe spot. The fear of war with Russia, including nuclear war meant that US Army dependents needed to be well drilled in evacuation procedures. 

In 1960 the family returned to the Washington DC area and by 1962 their third daughter was born. In the same year, her husband was sent as a US Army adviser to Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi’s Imperial Army in Tehran, Iran. As with the German assignment, she now travelled to Iran alone with her three daughters: a 10-month-old, a four-year-old and an eight-year-old. Pan Am was the carrier and the journey was from New York to London, London to Istanbul and Istanbul to Tehran. There were short stop overs but no overnights on this trip. Apparently, she arrived in Tehran looking stunning even though one child had spilled a glass of milk into one of her boots at some point along the journey! 

Living in Iran turned into a wonderful and unforgettable experience for Mary. Firstly, she had a facility for languages and learned a good deal of Farsi (Perian). Then through their Iranian neighbours, the family visited some of the more remote parts of the country, travelling and camping with a nomadic tribe, and spending time with an Arab tribe. Mary was a talented horse woman and also a good shot with a rifle. This along with her natural beauty no doubt, was noticed by the Shiek of the Arab settlement they visited. A little later he sent her and her daughters a young pedigreed Arab stallion who arrived in Tehran’s train station one memorable night. Mary and her older daughter rode ‘Clyde’ as he was called, in the foothills of the Alborz/Elburz mountains north of Tehran near the family home. In later life she spoke fondly of the tribal visits, watching her middle daughter Patricia ride a donkey up a hillside and play with a baby white camel. The family’s wonderful maid Cobra, was as devoted to the youngest daughter as any mother could be, which meant baby Kimberly was bi-lingual. In fact, Mary continued to give her daughters commands in Farsi like “dar ra beband” (shut the door) for the rest of her life. 1 The long road trips had their own hazards like bandits blocking roads at dusk which meant sleeping on earthen floors in roadside coffee houses to avoid being robbed. The trips also took in archaeological sites as well as many of the better-known wonders of Iran. 

Mary, who had always been an artist and painted in oils, had a very successful exhibition in Tehran with one of her paintings going to the US ambassador’s house. As the end of her husband’s tour of duty approached, there was increasing civil unrest in the country and one day while shopping in Tehran’s bazar she found herself being abruptly pulled into a shop while a protective metal roller blind was quickly lowered - a mob was rampaging outside. 

By 1965 the family were back in Virgina (husband posted to the Pentagon). Here she gave talks on Iran, pursued her painting and had another exhibition before departing for Salina, Kansas where she and her daughters would stay while her husband was sent to Vietnam for his first tour of duty there. In Salina the family kept horses. Mother and daughters rode and Mary had a further successful exhibition of her work. However, during this time her husband was seriously wounded in Vietnam when a claymore mine exploded in front of him. Mary had to manage the emotional impact of this for both herself and her daughters. Her husband survived but the emotional scars but this and other events in Vietnam were to stay with her husband for life. 

By 1968 the family were reunited in Virginia again where much time was devoted to coaching and supporting their middle daughter Patricia in hunter jumper competitions and gruelling Three Day Eventing in Virginia and Maryland. In 1969 her husband was assigned to the British Ministry of Defence in London. Again, Mary gathered her daughters, flew to London and moved to the village of Denham, Buckinghamshire on the edge of west London. The galleries of London were on her doorstep and she began to paint using water colours and had another successful exhibition in Windsor, Berkshire. 

In 1971 her husband had his second tour of duty in Vietnam - another year of angst. She stayed in Denham so that their daughters’ education would not be interrupted. By 1973 she was back in Virgina and by 1975 found herself living in Rome while her husband attended the Nato Defence College. In that same year she attended a private audience with the Pope for the families of NATO Defence College members. Living in Italy also gave her the opportunity to immerse herself in the galleries and museums of Rome and Florence and she and her youngest daughter learned Italian. Christmas 1975 was particularly memorable because the family attended Christmas mass at St. Peter's, seated next to Bernini’s Baldacchino followed by a NATO College members' Christmas lunch at a mountain top village of Anticoli Corrado. 

By 1976 the family had moved to Brunssum in the Netherlands, where her husband joined the NATO HQ of Allied Forces Central Europe. Again, she found time to gather up her younger daughters and visit the galleries and museums of Amsterdam. She was also elected President of the multinational Officer’s Wives Club there. 

Mary had a great knack for quickly setting up and creating a new home in each new environment she found herself in. Household goods were shipped ahead of the family’s move and upon arrival Mary was able to unpack and have all the pictures on the walls, the furniture in place and the many books put into the bookcases in under five weeks. She was nothing if not energetic. In addition, her daughters’ interests and hobbies were always supported and encouraged which involved endless car trips to and from ballet lessons, riding lessons, the stables, the sports grounds, skydiving lessons, theatre work, and concert halls etc.  

In 1979 the family moved to San Francisco where Mary became president of a group of San Francisco Bay area artists, artisans and craftsmen and women dedicated to preserving and promoting ‘Art Americana’. The organisation became known as the Country Store and operated over a twenty-two year period holding forty-four shows and sales events. Mary by now was painting China and was elected president of the California Association of Porcelain Artists. 

So far, we’ve not heard about her commitment to the Episcopal church. From Virginia to England and onto San Mateo - she was always either part of or president of the Altar Guild. In 1994 she was invested into the Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem also known as the Knights Templars. This international organisation was primarily made up of retired military officers. Here she became the Prior of the Priory of St. Francis, the first woman to hold the office. In this role she led humanitarian works in the US and overseas, the most significant being the creation of a mobile medical clinic built into a railroad car to bring medical care to remote communities in northwest Russia. She travelled along the Trans-Siberian Railway in Oblast near the Archangel with this clinic. In 2002 she was made Deputy Grand Prior of the Grand Priory of the United States, northwest region, again the first woman to hold this office. In 2009 she was awarded the rare title of the Dame Grand Cross of the Temple of Jerusalem (DGCTJ) and earlier had been made Commander of the Order of Merit of the Temple of Jerusalem (CMTJ). 

In addition to her titles associated with the Knights Templars, as a descendant of early American colonists she became a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) and a member of the National Society of Magna Carta Dames. However, there was always a sense that Mary considered herself a mother, and an Army wife above all else. 

In 1997 her husband retired and they moved to Granite Bay Ca. Here she and her husband played an active role in supporting their grandsons’ extra-mural interests. Given a life in the armed service and the entertaining that involved when living overseas, Mary and Don were still dab hands at throwing neighbourhood 4th of July parties into their eighties. 

In 2023, she and Don made their final move – to Aiken, South Carolina. Don died here in 2024. 

Mary will be remembered for her huge kindness, tolerance, generosity and empathy. She was never judgmental and could always see the best in people. She leaves behind Mary Bradley Borum and grandson Thomas Crowley of London, UK, Patricia Borum of Aiken, SC and Kimberly Borum and grandsons Shane Petersen and Justin Petersen of Seatle WA and Auburn, CA respectively.  

A graveside funeral service will be held at 2:00 PM on Thursday, July 30, 2026 at Ft. Jackson National Cemetery.

SHELLHOUSE FUNERAL HOME, INC., 924 HAYNE AVE., AIKEN, SC 29801.