Peatsy Hollings dies at 77

Peatsy Hollings, the wife of former South Carolina U.S. Sen. Ernest “Fritz” Hollings, has died of complications of Alzheimer’s disease. She was 77.  Fritz Hollings’ office said she died Sunday.  Peatsy Hollings was being treated at the Medical University of South Carolina whose Hollings Cancer Center is named for the former senator.  Mrs. Hollings was born Rita Louise Liddy in Charleston and grew up to teach high school government and history for nine years. She joined Hollings’ U.S. Senate staff in 1967 as an administrative assistant. She married the senator in 1971, a year after Hollings’ marriage to his first wife ended in divorce.