THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 1, 1994 TAG: 9406290119
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 22 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JANELLE LA BOUVE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 122 lines
ACCORDING TO THE APOSTLE Paul, love is the greatest of gifts.
People who know Margaret Lester Myers say she has an abundance of it.
``She is the embodiment of 1 Corinthians 13,'' said the Rev. Kenneth A. Barnes, who has been her pastor at Woodland Heights Baptist Church for the past 1 1/2 years.
Last week the church marquee announced that Sunday was ``Margaret Myers Day.''
At 10:15 a.m. the celebration began. Sunday school classes were dismissed. About 290 people met in the fellowship hall for a reception in Myers' honor. A corsage of pink roses was pinned on her pink dress. Then she was seated in a high-backed wooden chair.
``. . . She looked like she was sitting on a throne,'' said her daughter Marjorie Johnson. ``Everyone who wanted to came by and talked to her and hug and kiss her.''
She was presented with an album filled with letters of appreciation from church members.
During the service, the minister left the podium to stand beside the smiling Myers. He read the plaque which had been prepared for her. It read, ``Presented to Margaret Lester Myers, `charter member Campostella Heights - Woodland Heights Baptist Church 1916-1994,' whose vision of faith has endured the passing of time and whose hope has encouraged the lives of many - and whose love has been an inspiration to all.''
``She has the gift of love and she seeks to share her love with everybody with whom she comes in contact,'' Barnes said. ``She is supportive of everybody. She is always willing to give a listening ear and is quick to encourage. She had four sisters. I wish I had a whole church filled with them.''
Her two living sisters, Sally Basnight and Ruby Scott, are still members of the church.
After the church service, about 60 people joined her for a buffet lunch at Executive Inn on Military Highway.
``She is truly the matriarch of the church,'' Barnes said. ``This was just a small way for the church to express its love to one who has given so much to so many.''
``It was such a sweet and beautiful day,'' said Myers, whose health recently prompted a move from Norfolk Highlands to Moyock, where she lives with her daughter, Marjorie. ``It was wonderful. I've never been so celebrated in my life.''
Myers became a Christian in 1916, when she was 11 years old. That same year she was one of the charter members of what was then Campostella Heights Baptist Church. In 1968 the church moved to Chesapeake. That's when the name was changed to Woodland Heights.
The church met first in a home, said Myers, who is the only remaining charter member. There were about 28 members.
On July 2, 1916, a tent was erected on a vacant lot at 1710 Springfield Ave. That was where Campostella Heights first held worship services. Myers remembers lawn parties where ice cream and cake were sold to raise money for the church.
As an adult, she taught Sunday school and a youth missions group known as Sunbeams. She was active in the Women's Missionary Union and sang in the choir.
``She's sweet and calm and yet feisty,'' said the Rev. Paul Moore, who participated in the tribute and was her pastor at Woodland Heights for 28 1/2 years.
Moore related a personal experience in which Myers was involved.
Prior to the move by the church to Chesapeake, Moore had to make some legal arrangements. So he visited a judge at his table in a Norfolk courtroom. People were seated. Everything was quiet. Since Moore was unaccustomed to court procedure, he walked over to table where the judge was seated laid some papers on the desk and asked the judge to sign them. ``He chewed me out verbally. You'd have thought I had committed a crime,'' Moore said. ``I had approached his desk without his invitation.''
Later Moore described his embarrassing experience to Myers and her spouse, William Myers.
``Margaret wasn't going to have her pastor spoken to in that fashion,'' Moore said. ``So she wrote the judge a stiff letter. I got a letter from the judge. He apologized and asked me to come down and sit with him on the bench.''
She is always behind the scenes seeing that things are done, Moore recalled.
``She never was on the `stage' so to speak,'' Moore said. ``But she was always available to help, even in her later years. She was cooperative with everything. She didn't take much of a lead part but she was always helping others.''
Said Myers: ``Christianity has brought me satisfaction and happiness. It's wonderful being a Christian. Otherwise, I could not have taken the sadness I've had.'' Myers' two daughters, Willie Mae King and Patricia Fetter, are deceased. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by STEVE EARLEY
Margaret Lester Myers was a charter memeber of Woodland Heights
Baptist Church.
Myers holds a picture of the original Campostella Heights Baptist
Church, erected in 1916.
LETTERS OF TRIBUTE TO MARGARET MYERS
``. . . You were my Sunday School teacher
``. . . You were my Sunday School teacher when I was about 9
years old and you've been an inspiration to me ever since. When the
Bible talks of the ``saints of the Lord,'' I know it speaks of you.
You have set an example for all of us by the way you've lived your
life as an expression of dedication and service to our Lord.''
- Charlene M. Knight
``. . . Your countenance, Margaret, bespeaks of your inner
quality, which shines through like a ray of sunshine. You truly are
`the Star of The Church.' ''
- Jewel Spence
``. . . Before we were married, we looked at you and Mr. Willie
as two special people. We will always love you for the way you
greeted us and talked with us. The hugs, kisses and smiles are part
of you that never will be forgotten.''
- Annie Ruth and James Bedsole
Thank you so much for your steadfast testimony among us. You are
surely one of the `strongest' in the foundation of our church.''
- Cathy Hickey McMahon
by CNB