It was interesting to look through what some of our
church staff call, our church’s - Book of Life - actually it’s the Membership
Book of Athens First Presbyterian Church – on one of the first pages you will
find the name:
Marie
Montez Scott.
Marie’s name was recorded as a new member over 80 years
ago. During a recent morning
conversation with Marie, that included her brother George & John Kipp she said
“I was born into the church, our church has had a tremendous influence on my
life. It is like my second home.” At the present time, Marie has been a member
longer than anyone in our congregation.
Marie thoughtfully prepared remarks about her memories
but cautioned – “they are as I remember them, not necessarily as they
were.” She began by telling us that
First Presbyterian Church Pastor E. L. Hill, our pastor from 1908 to1949,
married her mother and father and following the birth of an older brother &
sister their third child - Marie was born in Athens on Feb. 19, 1917. A treasured picture in Marie’s living room shows
the Scott family just 20 years later. It
was taken on the Sunday after her mother’s death. In the picture Marie is a lovely young woman
who then became a second “mother” to her brothers & sisters along with help
from their young cook Lucy. Marie says
about those years after her mother’s death: “Lucy & I tried to keep the
house going.” After their mother’s death, older siblings Connie & Eugene returned
to work and the three younger children, Anna Louise (Nan), Julian & Stella returned
to school. Brother George was just five
and started school the following Sept.
An early memory of the Scott home on Mell street offered
quite a bonus, because a house two doors away belonged to a former First
Presbyterian Church pastor Dr. Walden.
His daughters were very active in our church. Miss Julie Walden and Mrs. Mae Walden Morton
taught Sunday school classes and Miss Carrie Walden was Marie’s kinder garden
teacher at Lucy Cobb. At another home on
Wilcox Street lived a next door neighbor Miss Laura Blackshire – beloved aunt
to Laura Fortson. Laura frequently
visited in Miss Laura’s home. Marie
shares – “Laura Fortson is one of my oldest friends, along with Grace Winston
Stephens, and later I became best friends with Sarah Carlton Pearson Proctor
and her family. Years later Laura
Fortson and I were members of the same Presbyterian Women’s Circle.”
When asked about her memories of the church in the 1930’s
Marie remembered the opening exercises of the Sunday School. She told us the
children and their teachers began in what is now the Children’s Ministry Suite where
they would gather and sing hymns on the wooden pews that we still find
throughout our church.
There were constant connections with First Presbyterian
Church. Even walks and drives thru
Athens would remind Marie of her former Sunday school teachers: Miss Edna (Mrs.
Edna Garland Hulme), and Mrs. Hartford, and Bob Stephens. She reports “I am interested in the comings
and goings of my family which includes my church friends.” It was a blessing
when her brother George returned to Athens after retirement and became active
in our church. She says “He can keep me
informed about many of my church friends.”
Not surprisingly, she hears from and has visits from many, church members. She has fond memories of Sunday School, and
those that led those classes. She
mentions the kindness of Richard & Fran Lane who “took me to Sunday School
and church for many years.”
Marie’s devotion to her family is so much a part of who
she is. She mentioned her brother George
and niece Barbara Carlson “who I couldn’t get along without”, her pride in great
niece Tanner Scott, her appreciation of her nurse Sonia, and friend Mary.
There are others parts of Marie’s life that included her
work at our local Ben Epps Airport. As
record keeper she was there to record the two tornadoes that tore off the tin
roof. She was also employed by Wilkins
Industries and for many years at UGA in the Dairy Sciences Dept. But her life has always included, and will continue to include, a heartfelt and sincere devotion
to First Presbyterian Church and to those of us who consider it our church
home.
