Zora Black, Rock Hill country store matriarch, passes away

Zora Passmore Black has been part of Passmore’s Grocery since she was old enough to walk.

Growing up, she and her four sisters would help their mother Gurtha Passmore at the country store on Saluda Road while father Matthew Passmore delivered fresh produce to homes across Chester and York counties on his peddling truck.

Even before the Passmores opened the store in 1935, that was how the family got started in the grocery business.

“Back then, the ladies stayed home because there was only one family car, and they would come out to buy off of Mr. Passmore’s peddling truck,” said Michael Black, Zora’s son. “It was like a grocery store on wheels.”

Zora Black took over operations at the store in 1962, and ran it continuously through changing times for the next 50 years, until she fell and broke her hip behind the counter in May. She died Saturday at the age of 84, leaving behind a whole community of customers.

At the time of Zora Black’s death, three more generations of the family have worked in the store, down to her great-grandchildren.

“Everybody pitched in, nieces, nephews,” said Jon-Michael Black, who worked alongside his grandmother in the store for 14 years. “My kids have worked here, my brothers’ kids have worked here, people who are not even related have chipped in.”

But nobody chipped in harder than Zora Black, who for decades arrived at the store 10 minutes before 4 a.m. to start cooking grits for her customers.

That approach has helped the store survive, even as the world of retail has changed around it.

“We’re successful because we’re a part of the community,” Michael Black said. “Everybody who comes in here, we know their baby, their grandbaby and whose cat ran away.”

Customers who were short of cash could take what they needed off the shelf and sign their name on the ledger, promising to pay off what they could next week. Conscious of the customers’ needs, Passmore’s Grocery has sold two sausage biscuits for a dollar ever since Mr. Passmore was running the store, even after Zora Black’s son pointed out it was a money-loser for the business.

“She said, ‘I don’t want to make money, I want people to be able to afford breakfast,’” Michael Black said. “I eventually got her to go up to break even.”

Even as her children and grandchildren circulated in and out of the business, Zora Black stayed at the heart of the store. Now that she’s gone, the family is discussing how to keep Passmore’s Grocery going for another generation or two.

“We were scared it was going to close down,” Jon-Michael said. “That’s not what we wanted, but we have other jobs we’re doing.”

As long as the Blacks can, Michael said, “we’re going to be here from Monday morning through Saturday.”

Graveside services for Zora Mae Passmore Black will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Grandview Memorial Park on South Cherry Road. Her son Michael Black, an ordained minister, will officiate the funeral.

“I don’t want to,” he said, choking up when he thinks about what he wants to say about his mother. “But she wouldn’t have it any other way.”

This story was originally published July 14, 2015 at 7:56 PM with the headline "Zora Black, Rock Hill country store matriarch, passes away."