The Encomium

IMPRESSIONS
-the Effect Produced on Others
"The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to
have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well." Ralph Waldo Emerson
PROLOGUE
This section of the Encomium expresses the sentiments of our hearts for various people of the
Ohios, past and present. Some expressions are excerpts from Souvenir books created by Bro. M.T. Porter.
Deaconess Lillie Barton
Long time member of
Macedonia FBH Church in
downtown Cincinnati, Ohio.
Sister Lillie Barton told me,
"You can only stand on your
tip toes for so long; then you
have to go flat foot. " I n
otherwords, "be what you are
and live the life."
Shirley Wilson Staples
Sister Ozella Beeks
Long time member of St. James
FBH Church in Detroit,
Michigan.
Sister Beeks was one of the
all-time greatest Convention
Secretaries in the Fire
Baptized Church. I 've read a
number of minutes from past
Sunday School and Sisters of
Charity Conventions that she
wrote. She had a way of
graphically describing in a
few words, not j ust the facts,
but the atmosphere of the
service and the respect the
people had for their leaders.
I f there was a "Secretary
Hall of Fame", Sister Beeks
would be the first inductee.
She was poised and polished.
She had a bounce in her step
and she thoroughly enj oyed
her work. I can hear her now
announcing what was raised
during the convention, "Grand
To-tal!, Grand To-tal!"
I am honored that she took
time out to train me to take
Sunday School and HYPU
Convention minutes.
Vernell Turner
Mother Madelle T. Brown
Mother Brown was faithful to
God, His Word, and the Fire
Baptized Holiness Church of
God of the Americas. She has
worn many "hats" of service
with pride, humbleness,
excellence, and honor.
She was a woman of
exemplary character. Mother
was a blessing, a Bible
scholar, Bible teacher, an
expositor of the Word, a
National and I nternational
missionary, a reader of the
Discipline of the FBH Church
during Quadrennial General
Councils, the 1st Supervisor of
the Young People's I nstitute
on the Northeast Ohio
District, a biographer,
photographer, and many
achievements I know not of,
but God knows.
What an endowment! What a
legacy!
But, to me, she will always be
Sister Madelle T. Brown, a
woman of God, who I greatly
admired and esteemed
highly;
25 The Encomium