THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, May 5, 1996 TAG: 9605050053
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DENISE WATSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Long : 102 lines
Alberta Wilson has been waiting for this day for a long time.
The fact that she'll become the first woman to receive her doctorate from Tabernacle Baptist Theological Seminary in Virginia Beach isn't as significant as her mere presence at the graduation ceremony today.
Less than 20 years ago, Wilson wasn't sure if she would make it from one day to the next.
She was 24 and had just lost her 6-year-old daughter in a fire. Her mother was an alcoholic and Wilson had her own penchant for gin and tonic. She'd had a life of smoking marijuana, dabbling in cocaine, being promiscuous and even attempting suicide.
Today, when the 42-year-old minister receives her doctorate it will be a milestone - the arrival of a woman who's spent half her life looking for ``freedom,'' a purpose she said she's found in the Lord.
She chronicles her path in a book - ``From the Ghetto, by Grace, to Glory'' - which she wrote and had published in time for graduation.
She hopes that through her book, her degree and teaching, she'll help others become free, too.
``At graduation, you're asked to give testimony. I wanted it to be tangible so that people could walk away with it in their hands,'' Wilson said.
``A lot of people think you are a victim of your circumstances, a victim of your environment, I don't believe that. I want people to see me and say, `Well, if she can do it, so can I.' ''
Those close to Wilson know her story. It was the pastor of the Tabernacle Baptist Church of Virginia Beach who urged Wilson last year to put her quest for freedom on paper.
Wilson grew up in Philadelphia where some of her earliest memories are of being alone - an only child whose dad worked two jobs and whose mother was constantly searching for drink.
``I spent a lot of times at friends' houses on the weekends, I would be left at different places,'' Wilson said.
``There were homes where I stayed and the kids were sexually abused. God protected me from being sexually abused.''
Wilson dropped out of high school in the ninth grade. At 17, she had a daughter, Kentina. She eventually received her General Education Diploma and began working, but she still drank Thunderbird wine in the alleys and hit house parties.
Her life changed the night the family's house caught on fire.
Wilson remembers being trapped in her bedroom, her dad urging her to jump out of the window. She assumed Kentina was in another part of the house with her mother and had escaped. Wilson didn't know that her mom had left the house to drink.
``Kentina died a week before her seventh birthday,'' Wilson said.
``I couldn't save my daughter. I carried around that guilt for a long time.''
Wilson tried to escape the guilt through drinking, sex, food. She ballooned to 225 pounds. She had joined the church a few months before her daughter's death, but the tragedy tested her faith.
``I knew I was saved, but any time I was faced with trial or tribulation I would go back to drinking, promiscuousness,'' Wilson said.
``I wanted to be married . . . and serve the Lord but couldn't get these things in my life under control.''
But Wilson did. She continued to go to church, studying her Bible, which she said helped her build a strong spiritual foundation.
``By 1980-ish, I was solid,'' Wilson said. ``I was free.''
She got married in December of1980, and she and her husband moved to Virginia Beach in 1986. Wilson enrolled in the Tabernacle Baptist Bible School, a four-year college, and earned a bachelor's degree in 1990. She began teaching Bible study to elementary students at Tabernacle's day school.
School administrator Carl Bieber calls Wilson a ``dynamo.''
``Alberta is a very rare person because of her faith, her total optimism,'' Bieber said. ``She's an eternal encourager of young people.''
Wilson calls it God's way of using her to reach others.
``My whole story is that no matter what goes on in your life, God can turn you around,'' Wilson said.
``With that faith, we can go on and move mountains.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
STEVE EARLEY/The Virginian-Pilot
Alberta Wilson celebrates with her husband, Woodrow, after her
dissertation defense. She says her faith helped her turn her life
around. Her new doctorate hardly seemed possible when she was mired
in drugs and despair.
Before her dissertation defense, Wilson gave tearful thanks to those
who have helped her.
Photo
STEVE EARLEY/The Virginian-Pilot
Today, Alberta Wilson will celebrate a feat that's taken half her
life - her doctorate. Here, the minister greets friend Fannie
Bishop, who came to hear her dissertation defense.
by CNB