Not quite a native Ripley Countian - she attended only her last year of high school in Doniphan though she taught in the R-1 system for 32 years - Teresa (Pearson) Lee delights in surprising readers and herself with anecdotal observations of life in general. Maybe you can blame her St.Louis roots for a quirky humor and some slightly-askewed opinions, but never doubt she writes from the heart.

The Only Church Lady Qualification (3 of 3)

Posted Wednesday, February 15, 2023, at 2:38 PM

Where I became acquainted with my first church lady Anna Mae Carrens - Pitman, Arkansas - is close to Doniphan, so when my family moved here, I was in familiar territory. What a surprise that she was the secretary at Doniphan High School, so our paths crossed again as I enrolled for my senior year. She was the pianist at First Baptist Church so I would once more sing in a choir she accompanied.

And there my list of church ladies grew, starting with Ada Dickerson. I’m not sure one could list all her powers, but she, too, seemed to know everyone’s name and could she ever prepare outstanding dishes to grace the tables of any fellowship. Under her leadership the other church ladies I would come to know always had more than enough for any occasion, always presented with an attitude of love and service, never more apparent than when serving meals to grieving families after a funeral.

Throughout the following years, with marriage and motherhood, moves and careers, my own church attendance ebbed and flowed. Betty Kenley is responsible for a major change in my list of qualifications. She opened her home and heart for weekly Bible study - a church lady even when not inside a church. Her culinary prowess rivals Ada Dickerson’s, and can she ever make magic with a sewing machine. More significant, though, is that love and service permeate whatever she is doing wherever she is.

The attitude of love and service seems to be the only qualification needed. Age doesn’t matter. Some C-L listers are my peers and former colleagues, so I can’t consider them old without tacking that adjective onto myself, too. We are fortunate to live in a town/county where many young women are skilled at seeing a void and rallying a community to serve with love to fill it.

I’ll keep striving to make the list with 1 Peter 4: 10-11 (NIV) as a guide: “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms…If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ…”