Hometown: Pine Bluff, Arkansas
Present City: Garland
Education: B.A., Ouachita Baptist University
Profession: Retired high school business education teacher
Tell us about your family.
Sam and I have been married 58 years. We met at Ouachita and married following my graduation. We have two sons. Steve, who lost his wife, Shannon, three years ago, has two children, Abigail and Ryan. Price and his wife, Sara, are active members of Wilshire, and their two girls are Gillian and Anabelle.
Any favorite hobbies?
I have been knitting, needlepointing and sewing since I was 16. I am a reader of both nonfiction, which gives me a chance to learn something, and fiction. I usually have two books going at the same time.
What are your favorite places to travel?
Sam and I have had the opportunity to travel extensively, and two of our favorite trips have been to Africa and to Cambodia and Vietnam.
What brought you to Wilshire and when?
During the five years we lived in Oxford, Mississippi, we were active members of First Baptist Church. In fact, there has been no time in my life where I was not active in church. While in Oxford, Sam was assigned to be one of the front-door greeters. The University of Mississippi had a large population of international students, and on one Sunday, a young African couple walked up the wide front steps to the doors leading into the sanctuary. Sam greeted them warmly and guided them in. Another greeter observed this and told Sam to never invite anyone of color in again. That was our last Sunday at First Baptist. The next Sunday, we walked across the street to the Episcopal church and attended there for the remainder of our time in Oxford. Soon, we moved to Dallas and were guided to Wilshire by Shaeron and Mike Moorhead. Wilshire was beginning to change, first by our newly formed Compass Class, which chose to not follow standard Sunday School curriculum. It took a few decades, but at last Wilshire has become what we were looking for all along — a church which values and accepts all people. I currently serve on Wilshire’s
Funeral Ministry Team.
What is something interesting most people would not know about you?
When I was in high school, I taught myself to dive in a local pool. When my grandchildren were old enough to learn to dive, I began working to teach them. Granddaughter Gillian was the only one who truly mastered diving. I have a precious video of her and me performing a synchronized dive.