LUCY COUCH PAYNE PAYNTER

b. September 22, 1946

by Barbara Kay Kelly Morgan, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Winston-Salem, NC, 2015

Lucy Couch Payne Paynter

In the history of every church there are individuals who embody the soul of the church. Lucy Paynter is one of these people. From the time that Lucy and her husband moved to Winston-Salem in 1969, she has worshiped, worked, taught and volunteered at St. Paul’s. Early on, Lucy became involved in Christian Education first as a volunteer and teacher and, then, when the long-time director of Christian Education moved toward retirement, Lucy was sent by the rector and vestry to Virginia Seminary to study Christian Education. Upon completion of her studies, she began transitioning from volunteer to the position of Director of Christian Education at St. Paul’s, where she remained for many years. During Lucy’s time in this position, both children and adults benefited greatly from her leading and teaching.

Lucy has always had a talent for balancing her staff position and her volunteering as a parishioner. Over the years she has served as president of the ECW, chaired the Bazaar, served on the landscaping committee, participated on both hospitality and funeral receptions committees, been a delegate to the annual convention and served on several diocesan committees. At the same time, Lucy led a small study group for 25 years, taught church school, led children’s church each week, organized Vacation Bible School and gracefully urged many parishioners to help her teach and lead programs for children and adults.

After her “retirement” Lucy served as a Vestry member and became both Junior and Senior Warden. She also continues to serve on many St. Paul’s committees, as well as diocesan committees. During the tenure of the Rev. Donald Goodheart, Lucy was awarded the St. Paul’s Cross for her exceptional service to our church. It was an honor well deserved.

During Lucy’s years in Winston-Salem, community groups have also benefited from her talents. She has served on the boards of all of the homeless shelters in our community. She currently chairs the Salvation Army Board and has been on the Boys and Girls Club Committee there for 13 years. Lucy has also been chairman of the Colonial Dames of Forsyth County which is dedicated to preserving both family history and historical houses. She has been a member and held leadership roles in the Junior League. When her three children were growing up, Lucy was a leader in Brownies, Girl Scouts and Cub Scouts.

Lucy was raised in Charleston, West Virginia, where she married her husband, George Wilson Paynter. Her friends and parishioners at St. Paul’s are very glad that she and George have claimed both St. Paul’s and Winston-Salem as their home for many years. Lucy’s enthusiasm for people, passion for the church and love of God will continue to serve her well for years to come.

MILDRED VIRGINIA MILHAM BIRMINGHAM

January 19, 1895 – July 12, 1990

by Ann Birmingham Head, Columbiana, Alabama, 2015

Mildred Virginia Milham Birmingham

Known lovingly as “Mimp” to family and friends, Mildred Birmingham was born in Waltham, Massachusetts, to Claude Gilbert and Marjorie Anne England Milham. The poor health of a daughter led Claude to leave his dental practice in 1910 and move the family south to the growing town of Hamlet, North Carolina, where the family managed the Central Hotel.

Love blossomed between Mimp and John Birmingham after this young pharmacist arrived in Hamlet. Because she had commitments to keep – driving her horse and buggy daily to teach at the mill school in Rockingham – Mimp promised to marry John after she turned twenty-one, and she did. John opened the popular Birmingham Drug Store, which remains open today. Their household grew with two daughters, Marjorie and Ann, then Mimp’s mother lived with them after Claude’s death.

Mimp’s life in Hamlet centered around family, church, and community. While respecting the religious beliefs of all, Mimp expected her family to be seated at All Saints Episcopal Church each Sunday. Her mother had helped establish the church, and she intended to see it keep going forward. One nephew recalls hearing Aunt Mimp’s car horn at the top of the hill rounding up all the kids for Sunday School. She helped teach the teenagers in the Young People’s Service League. A series of clergy families became beneficiaries of the Birminghams’ hospitality.

As the Woman’s Auxiliary became a prime focus for Mimp’s energy and activity, her home also served as headquarters for various projects. Sales of goods, such as an excellent brass polish, became personal goals. During September, members of the Woman’s Auxiliary brought pansy plants to the back yard, planted them, then waited for Mimp’s prodding to sell, sell sell – a major annual project! Mimp’s older daughter, Marjorie, involved her in many activities which also benefitted women and children of other denominations: dancing, stage plays, ceramics, a prayer group, and music.

Perhaps Mimp’s greatest service involved the music of the church. She played the organ at All Saints for more than fifty years, beginning with a pump organ. Her small hands could move with speed and dexterity. As a young lady she played background music for silent movies. Throughout her life music filled her house, her voice and her soul, enriching the lives of many.

Mimp was short, but stood tall to advocate for the poor, the mistreated, the prisoner, and those in need. Once she protested to city officials about placing youth “run-aways” on chain gangs. During World War II the Birmingham house offered a haven for military families. Over the years, Mimp’s cakes, marmalades and casseroles for the sick and shut-ins became famous.

Mimp remained in her home for many years after John’s and their daughter Marjorie’s deaths. In declining health in her late eighties, she joined her daughter’s family – Ann and Oliver Head and five children – in Alabama. Old age did not diminish her concern for others. Upon her death at age 95 she returned to the family burial place in Hamlet.

LUCY BLAKE WARD ADAIR

b. October 3, 1917

by Barbara Sue Oglesby Nicholl, St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Erwin, 2015

Lucy Blake Ward Adair

Dr. William Adair and his young wife, Lucy, moved to Erwin, North Carolina, in 1941, when Dr. Adair entered family medical practice there.  This was good news for St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Erwin, because the couple soon became fully involved in the life of the parish. It was not long before the church family also included Bill and Lucy’s two daughters, Rosemary and Ann.

While Dr. Adair served on the Vestry, Lucy worked in the Women’s Auxiliary, and in the 1940s she became instrumental in starting St. Stephen’s bazaars, which still occur annually. Bazaars which Lucy chaired or on which she worked were always beautiful events. Lucy has the ability to cajole others into putting forth their best efforts. She is truly interested in people, from the youngest to the oldest parishioner. With an eye to beauty and grace in every endeavor, Lucy always kept God at the center of her work. Lucy’s report as 1970 Altar Guild chairman sums up the beauty she sees in every person and in the importance of church work: “We members of the Guild have enjoyed serving the church during the year and sincerely hope others will join us and have the privilege of serving at God’s Altar.” When Fr. Jim Scouten became St. Stephen’s priest in 1970, he asked Lucy to be the first chairman of the Memorial Fund.

Lucy always felt that St. Stephen’s should be involved in the larger life of the Episcopal Church, often serving as a delegate to the Annual Convention. Throughout the years Lucy served in various leadership positions in St. Stephen’s ECW, including president for 1973-1974 and 1977-1979.  As president or as program chairman, Lucy invited friends she had met from around the diocese to speak at ECW programs, opening her home to the speakers. Her friendships throughout the diocese resulted in Lucy’s being elected Vice-President of the Diocesan ECW in 1979. Lucy served on the Diocesan ECW Board from 1979 to 1984. During this time she chaired the Education and Training Committee and organized the Diocesan fall seminars.

In 1984 St. Stephen’s Church was instrumental in bringing Hospice to Harnett County and Lucy was on the first board of Hospice. Between 1987 and 2000 Lucy served three terms on the St. Stephen’s Vestry.

In 2013, at age 95, Lucy moved to a retirement home in Raleigh, The Oaks at Whitaker Glen, to be near her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. When she found that there was no Episcopal service at The Oaks, Lucy took action. Through a deacon at St. Michael’s in Raleigh, Lucy secured a priest who comes every other Sunday, preaches a sermon, and gives communion to residents. As Lucy said, “The only thing we are missing is the music.” Today she graciously welcomes friends into her lovely apartment, and as always, inquires about the church and makes each visitor feel that he or she is the most important person in the world.

MARY SCOTT TYREE EVANS HUGHES

b. July 28, 1921

by Ellen Chesley Weig, St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, Hillsborough, 2015

Scott Evans Hughes

Scott Evans Hughes is a Southern lady of great faith. She is an Episcopal Church woman who has devoted herself to addressing issues important to women and to making the world a better place for all of us. Scott’s methodology for change is simple: “I think that southern graciousness has really, really been important where I’ve been … if you speak in love and quiet tones … you can be someone with some authority and in a position of leadership.”

Born in her grandparent’s Weldon, North Carolina, home, Scott grew up in nearby Rocky Mount in a church-centered family and sang in the Junior Choir at Good Shepherd Episcopal Church. She and her twin sister, Virginia Owen Tyree, joined the Episcopal Church after college, influenced by their mother’s deep Methodist faith and their father’s Episcopal roots. World War II, the Great Depression, and her father’s illness brought the realities of the world very close for Scott and she responded with the sense of activism and compassion that has always been part of her life.

Scott became President of her parish ECW at a time when women’s roles were changing universally. As Diocesan ECW Vice-President (1972), Scott embraced tasks addressing these changing roles and began to support lay-leadership roles for churchwomen. As the first woman and layperson elected President of the Standing Committee in the Diocese of North Carolina, and the first woman President of Province IV, Scott herself became a significant role model for lay leadership.

Diocesan roles led to national ones. As Diocesan ECW President, Scott was a delegate to the 1976 ECW Triennial Meeting and witnessed General Convention’s vote for women’s ordination. Swept by the enormity of the gathering and the spiritual silence in anticipation of vote results, Scott returned home with new ideas on the changing roles of women. Participation in 1977 in national group discussions by women about women proved to be her “awakening.” Women were angry that ECW had not done enough. Understanding this as potentially destructive, Scott faced the concept of women as “tokens” and worked to change it.

Scott attended the 1979 General Convention as a Diocesan Deputy. She ran for the position of Provincial Lay Representative for the Triennial Committee, the forerunner to a national ECW, and won a leadership position “tantamount to being President of the National ECW.” New opportunities for leadership opened to Scott at the National Church level in legislative and mission fields too numerous to list in this By Word and Example, but culminating in service on the Nominating Committee for the Presiding Bishop elected in 1997. Scott’s thought has always been to “build community” and establish respect for one another.

At home, memories of experiencing the “holiness of creation” fortified Scott’s efforts with the Rev. Lex Matthews on environmental stewardship. She advocated for finding flexible scheduling for ECW meetings to support working women. Scott says, “I’m so blessed.” It’s the rest of us who have been blessed by her work.

JUDITH DORIS KENN BOGGS

b. May 14, 1941

by Sara Elizabeth Harding Palmer, Assistant to the Rector, Saint Mary’s Episcopal Church, High Point, 2014

Judith Doris Kenn Boggs

Judy Boggs is one of the most faithful, committed, and caring parishioners I know. She was born on Long Island, New York, on May 14th, 1941. She married her husband Jim Boggs in 1962 at Saint John’s Episcopal Church, Far Rockaway (Queens), Long Island. Judy and her family moved to Saint Mary’s in 1972, when she was pregnant with their third child. Eight months later, she became Director of Pre-School and Chapel Service, volunteering for six years, until her baby entered first grade!

In 1978 Judy began working full time as a teacher assistant at the needy Fairview Elementary School. After retirement, she returned there to tutor second graders in the Grand Pal reading program, under Communities in Schools. In 1980 Judy became involved in Junior Altar Guild, took over as Director two years later, and also involved her daughter. She has continued reaching out to countless teenage girls for the last thirty-two years, patiently teaching them this important work of preparing sacred space for worship. In a time when teenagers often distance themselves from church, Judy has encouraged many young girls to stay involved. Judy’s two sons were also brought up to serve, volunteering as acolytes from fourth to twelfth grade. For the last eleven years, Judy has committed to Mobile Meals as a sub, and has helped full-time since 2010.

Since my arrival at Saint Mary’s in 2010, Judy has participated in everything with which I am involved. She became a Stephen Minister in 2011, a charter member of the Daughters of the King Chapter in 2012, and trained as a Eucharistic Visitor in 2012. Judy is a dedicated, thoughtful and prayerful woman who brings joy to the parishioners she helps. She loves to visit our parishioners who can no longer come to church, and goes the extra mile, bringing flowers, gifts, and sending cards.

From its inception in 2010, Judy has volunteered to babysit for the children whose mothers attend my Moms’ Bible Study. She also helped with childcare for the English as a Second Language classes. She aids our Administrative Assistant several times a month, answering the phone, and being a blessing. Judy faithfully attends Sunday services, the Christian Formation hour, and the Wednesday morning Women’s Bible Studies. She gives rides to a couple of parishioners who are without transport. She has been a committed member of the Saint Anne’s Chapter of the Episcopal Church Women for 30 years.

Judy has made me feel welcome at the church, showing loyal support and devout interest. In spite of some health issues, she continues to play a full role in the congregation. I am most grateful for Judy’s dedication and love for God. We are all the richer for her presence and example amongst us.