Martyne LaVenetta Hough

Martyne LaVenetta Hough, 59, of Columbia, died Tuesday at Prisma Health Richland Hospital.

Miss Hough was born May 13, 1960, at Moncrief Army Community Hospital, Fort Jackson, SC, daughter of Purdy Hough, Jr. and Mary Grace Ponds Hough. She was a Civil Service employee. In 2017, after more than 28 years of service, Miss Hough, an auditor and Certified Fraud Examiner, retired from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where she had worked in the regional headquarters field office in Philadelphia; and the Atlanta region office in Columbia. She also worked at the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.

Miss Hough graduated from Spring Valley High School in 1978. She continued her education at the University of South Carolina where, in 1982, she earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration.

She accepted the Lord at an early age and was baptized at her home church, New Hope Baptist. Over the years, her relationship with the Lord bloomed and blossomed. Before joining Greater St. Luke Baptist Church, Miss Hough was a member of Metropolitan Baptist Church, Philadelphia, PA.

She will be remembered for her kind and gentle spirit, her giving and forgiving nature, and her boundless love for her nieces and nephews and their children.

She was shrewd, keenly observant, and had a great sense of humor. She loved family, friends, books and music. She was also an abiding student of life.

Predeceased by her father and a niece, Amber Nicole Wilkes, Miss Hough’s survivors include her mother; a brother, Bobby G. Hough (Geneva) of Port Orange, FL; two sisters, Anna M. Wilkes (Karl) of Columbia; and Kaffie H. Sledge (Carroll) of Columbus, GA; two nieces, three nephews, one great-niece, four great-nephews; and numerous aunts, uncles and cousins.

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