Mr. and Mrs. John Donald Dial Jr. announce the engagement of their daughter Mary Caldwell Robertson Dial, formerly of Columbia, to Robert Dennis Bovard of Washington, DC. A spring wedding is planned at St. Timothy's Church in Columbia.

Miss Dial is the granddaughter of Mr. James Hagood Ellison, the late Mrs. Ellison, Mrs. John Donald Dial and the late Mr. Dial, all of Columbia. The bride elect is a graduate of Heathwood Hall Episcopal School and received a BA degree with honors from Clemson University. She continued her studies at Lorenzo Di Medici International School in Florence, Italy. Miss Dial lives in Washington, DC, and is employed by the National Geographic Society.

Mr. Bovard is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Grier Cooper Bovard III of Augusta, Georgia. He is the grandson of Mrs. Robert Griffis Dennis and the late Mr. Dennis of Augusta and the late Mr. and Mrs. Grier Cooper Bovard Jr. of Charlotte, North Carolina. He is the great grandson of Mrs. William Gaines Huguley of Greenville, South Carolina. A graduate of Augusta Preparatory Day School, the bridegroom- elect received a BA degree from The University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, where he was a varsity letterman on the golf team. He lives in Washington, DC, and is employed on Capitol Hill as a legislative aide to Senator Saxby Chambliss.