Cathy Tullos, 66, nurse worked with older adults
November 9, 2023
Cathryn Marie Harrell Tullos of Pawleys Island died Aug. 22 at Waccamaw Community Hospital after a brief illness. She was 66.
Known as Cathy, she was born Dec. 1, 1956, in Selma, Ala., to James and Joyce Harrell.
She was of the Baptist faith.
A registered nurse, she was employed with Pruitt Health Services of Norcross, Ga., as a senior nursing consultant for nursing homes in South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia. Most of her 42-year nursing career was spent tending to the needs and well-being of patients under generic care.
She held a deep conviction that her work was for the betterment and protection of residents in the nursing homes on her watch.
She was previously employed in the intensive care unit of Georgetown Memorial Hospital, before being named director of nursing at Prince George Healthcare in Georgetown and later at Conway Manor, prior to joining Pruitt Health.
Mrs. Tullos received her registered nursing degree in 1991 from the University of South Carolina-Coastal Carolina College, now Coastal Carolina University.
She also attended college at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, Montevallo University and Auburn University-Montgomery.
She received her licensed practical nursing degree from George C. Wallace Community College in 1980. She received numerous accolades in the field of nursing, and notably served on the front line during the COVID-19 pandemic.
She was a fan of athletic programs at Auburn and the University of Alabama before meeting her husband, Jesse Carlton Tullos Jr., a University of Georgia graduate. Her allegiances soon changed to cheering for the Red and Black. She was also a long-time Atlanta Braves fan.
Mrs. Tullos loved the outdoors, especially the beaches of Florida and Alabama in her younger years, and Pawleys Island beach after moving to South Carolina in 1988.
Her greatest joy in life was her family. She was proud of her two children, and was ecstatic to learn two weeks before her death that she would become a grandmother for the first time.
She loved her many friends, both old and new, as well as her fur babies, Ollie and Hampton.
In addition to her husband, she is survived by her son, Jesse Carlton Tullos III (Margaret) of Atlanta; her daughter, Adrienne Tullos Fontenot (Joshua) of Pawleys Island; two brothers, James Harrell of Enterprise, Ala., and the Rev. Michael Harrell of Perdido Beach, Ala.; her special aunt, Elna Scales, formerly of Selma; and a number of cousins, nieces and nephews.
