Lalla Harrison Saleeby

          Lalla Harrison Saleeby passed away peacefully on April 9, 2026, after a 9-month battle with brain cancer.

          Born November 2,1946 to Burr Powell Harrison Jr. and Agnes Gant Harrison, she was raised in Leesburg, VA, where her lifelong friendship with “the YaYas” began. She attended St. Catherine’s School in Richmond and Hollins College in Roanoke, from which she earned a bachelor’s degree in French following study abroad at Sorbonne Universite in Paris.       

          In 1972 she married attorney Dudley Saleeby Jr. and in 1974 they moved from Columbia to Florence, where they quickly enmeshed themselves into the community they would remain active in until their deaths. 

          An academic at heart, Mrs. Saleeby earned a master’s in Education from USC and had a long career as a French teacher which included stints at Charleston’s Ashley Hall, Florence District One’s Project REACH, Marion High School, and Hudgens Academy, but most notably as a longtime adjunct instructor at Francis Marion University. A lifelong learner and voracious reader, she was rarely more than arms-reach away from a tome on world history or modern culture.

          Mrs. Saleeby’s commitment to Christian fellowship and music was on display at First Presbyterian Church of Florence, where she was a member of the Price Sunday School Class for almost 50 years and a member of the Chancel Handbell choir for over 30. She served on countless committees and initiatives and her smiling face was a welcome weekly fixture at First Pres, as well as St John’s Anglican Church and the Ingram Chapel at The Manor (where she was a resident), more recently.

          Lalla will be remembered as a patron of local arts and history and a fixture of community and social events. She served for many years on the board of the Florence Symphony, the Florence chapter of Colonial Dames, and Masterworks Choir, which dedicated its March 8 concert to her. She was an early champion of the Performing Arts Center and fundraiser for its Ward/Hazelwood statue honoring two of her gifted friends, and was on the Advisory Board for the McLeod Health Foundation Angels. Florence is a better place because of her.

          Never a sports fan, she nonetheless was an abiding supporter of her husband’s two great loves, The Citadel football and Duke basketball, and spent countless hours and dollars willingly (if not always enthusiastically) facilitating and participating in that fandom. Lalla enjoyed long weekends at her second home in Charleston, SC, and weeks at the family cottage at Atlantic Beach, NC, every summer of her 79 years. 

          Preceded in death by her husband, Mrs. Saleeby is survived by her daughter Catherine “Cat” Saleeby McDowell and her husband John of Raleigh, her son Wilson “Wil” Saleeby and his wife Quinn of Bluffton, and five grandchildren: Mary Katherine, Robert, and Adger Saleeby, and Jack and Charlotte McDowell. She will also be greatly missed by her surviving siblings: B. Powell Harrison III, Ravenel H. Rhoads, Catherine “Cackie” H. Kelly, and their 10 children - her cherished nieces and nephews - as well as her beloved best friends (and sometimes exercise buddies), the Bevettes.

          A celebration of her life will be held at 4:00 pm at the Ingram Chapel at The Manor, 2100 Twin Church Rd, Florence, on April 18, 2026. The family will receive guests before the service from 2:30 - 4:00 pm. Waters-Powell Funeral Home is serving the family.

          Memorial donations may be made to Masterworks Choir, P.O. Box 4979 Florence, SC, 29502 or the Florence Symphony Orchestra, PO Box 3211, Florence, SC 29502. 

          For those unable to attend, the service will be live-streamed on the Waters-Powell Funeral Home Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/WatersPowellFH

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