Still in service

Columbia -- Former first lady Jenny Sanford said Gov. Mark Sanford has agreed to her hosting traditional first lady events through the end of his term, which expires in January.

The new agreement between the former first couple was set into motion Monday when Jenny Sanford held her annual Easter egg hunt for children recently hospitalized at Palmetto Health Children's Hospital.

The governor was not present for the event, held on the grounds of the Governor's Mansion, where he lives alone.

"As long as he doesn't mind me hosting some of the traditional first lady duties, I'll do it," Jenny Sanford said Monday of her ex-husband.

"The first lady position is a volunteer position, and it's a chance to do good in the community. Plus, I didn't want to disappoint the children," she said of the Children's Hospital patients who scampered around her, looking for eggs in the mansion gardens.

The couple's 20-year marriage was dissolved last week. The governor admitted last year to infidelity with an Argentine woman after disappearing for five days in June. Jenny Sanford and the couple's four sons now live in the family's Sullivan's Island beach home.

Egg hunters offered varied opinions on whether the divorced first lady should continue in her duties.

"It's just odd," said Maria Sophocleous of Columbia Monday during the egg hunt. "She's not the first lady."

"She's hosting, and (the governor) sleeps like five feet off," she said, nodding her head in the direction of the governor's mansion. "I wouldn't want to be that close to my ex for whatever reason. Maybe she wants to stay in the spotlight."

Last month, Jenny Sanford released a memoir that chronicled her marriage to Mark Sanford. Appearances on national TV shows ranging from "The Daily Show with John Stewart" to "The 700 Club" catapulted the book into the top five of The New York Times best-sellers list.

Yvonnie Brown of Columbia, whose children also attended the egg hunt, said the former first lady was doing the right thing by going ahead with the egg hunt.

"The kids shouldn't be punished because of personal matters," she said.

Jenny Sanford has two upcoming first lady events: a Mother of the Year tea in April and a luncheon for lawmakers' spouses in May.

Both of those events are paid for by sponsors and other nonstate sources, said Meg Milne, Jenny Sanford's spokeswoman.

The egg hunt was paid for out of the governor mansion's budget, Milne said.

Milne wasn't sure of the cost but doubted the sugar cookies and lemonade cost the state very much.

The divorce also has affected Milne, the first lady's only employee who was on the state payroll. She is now a private employee of Jenny Sanford.