Horry County school board member on ventilator with COVID-19

Horry County school board member Ray Winters is ventilated while fighting COVID-19, according to a Facebook post from Congressman Tom Rice.

Rice wrote he hired Winters out of law school in 1998, and asked for prayers for him. He closed the post by asking people to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

“We’ve lost too many to name here. I pray we don’t lose Ray,” Rice wrote after listing notable Myrtle Beach area leaders who have died of the coronavirus. “Friends, please get the shot.”

Horry County school board vice chair John Poston died of COVID-19 in January. Rice also remembered former Myrtle Beach mayor John Rhodes and Horry County GOP Chair Robert Rabon, who both died of the virus earlier this year.

Horry County Schools spokesperson Lisa Bourcier declined to comment.

This story was originally published August 12, 2021 at 9:03 AM.

Mary Norkol

The Sun News

Mary Norkol covers education and COVID-19 for The Sun News through Report for America, an initiative which bolsters local news coverage. She joined The Sun News in June 2020 after graduating from Loyola University Chicago, where she was editor-in-chief of the Loyola Phoenix. Norkol has won awards in podcasting, multimedia reporting, in-depth reporting and feature reporting from the South Carolina Press Association and the Illinois College Press Association. While in college, she reported breaking news for the Daily Herald and interned at the Chicago Sun-Times and CBS Chicago.