Mary ‘Cookie’ Goings chosen as 2024 Remarkable Women winner
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) — Mary “Cookie” Goings of Myrtle Beach has been chosen as News13’s 2024 Remarkable Women winner in the Grand Strand and Pee Dee.
Cookie, one of four finalists for the award, has proven to be an outstanding teacher, community leader and role model in Myrtle Beach.
She once told a newspaper reporter that she decided she wanted to become a teacher when she was 8 years old. Her leadership abilities may have started when — as one of six Black students — she integrated the third-grade class at Myrtle Heights Elementary School in 1968.
Cookie served as a school guidance counselor and director at Myrtle Beach High School for 30 years. After she retired, she transitioned to a new role, serving as the city’s Neighborhood Services Director. In this position, she developed events like the Gospel Praise Festival, which attracts visitors from across the country, and the popular Myrtle Beach Jazz Festival.
Cookie was elected as an officer for a local teachers’ sorority that provides college scholarships for girls who want to become teachers.
Some of the other activities Cookie has been involved with include promoting and organizing tours of the Colored School Education Museum; organizing and coordinating the city of Myrtle Beach’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Day parade and events; providing meals and clothing for low-income students and families; and developing Nana’s House, a home once owned by her mother that houses homeless students as they try to finish high school.
Cookie Goings’ tireless contributions to Myrtle Beach and nearby communities made her our choice for Remarkable Woman in 2024.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WBTW.
