Celebration of Life Set for Former Hilda Resident Janice Black

Janice Grubbs Black, a longtime Hilda resident and the musician who launched the youth choir at Double Pond Baptist Church, died April 6, 2026, in Greenville at age 86. Folk Funeral Home of Williston published the family’s obituary and local outlets republished the notice so relatives across Barnwell, Bamberg, and Allendale counties could attend services.

A Celebration of Life service was held at 2:00 p.m. Saturday, April 11, 2026, at Double Pond Baptist Church, 357 Double Pond Road, Blackville, with visitation from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. The Reverend Andy Sandifer officiated and burial followed in the Double Pond Baptist Church cemetery. The church is listed in regional directories with contact 803-793-3498 and the funeral-home entry remains the primary source for schedule and condolence information.

Born July 13, 1939, in Barnwell County, Janice married Berry Patrick "Pat" Black on February 9, 1959. She is survived by her daughters Melanie Black Wessinger and Kim Black Taylor, multiple grandchildren and great grandchildren, and her brother Jack Grubbs of John Day, Oregon. The obituary names her parents as the late Lamar and Nell Bessinger Grubbs.

Janice worked at Jefferson Davis Academy from approximately 1970 to 1998 as secretary and bookkeeper, a nearly three decade career that tied her to the Blackville school community. A lifelong pianist and organist, she served at Double Pond Baptist Church, Olar First Baptist Church, and Blackville Methodist Church, performing at graduations, weddings, funerals, and town events and helping sustain music programs across the Barnwell County circuit.

The family acknowledged the role of home caregivers during Janice’s final years, naming Faye, Laura, Ebony, Ginger, Kristen, Lubby, and Patricia. "Melanie and Kim are truly grateful to their mom’s caregivers in the last years of her life - Faye, Laura, Ebony, Ginger, Kristen, Lubby, and Patricia. They surrounded Janice with unconditional love, care, respect and dignity," the daughters noted in the reposted obituary.

Although Hilda and Blackville lie in Barnwell County, many families across neighboring Bamberg County attend the same churches and schools; Hilda had 2020 population 418 and Blackville about 1,900, while Bamberg County had 13,311 residents and an older age profile that often makes church services central to community life. Janice’s decades of service at Jefferson Davis Academy and her musical leadership at Double Pond leave a tangible local footprint, with her final resting place in the church cemetery anchoring a life woven through the region’s civic and faith institutions.