Royce and I were so glad, when Katrina hit the Coast, that we had sold our home in Gautier in 1999 and moved to Central Mississippi. We had experienced God’s awesome hand of protection through five serious hurricanes, including Camille, the one we thought could never be surpassed in strength and destructive force.
We had had many trees fall near our house, but always in a direction away from the house. But those experiences, coupled with the cleanup afterward, along with the fact that casinos had completely changed the landscape of the Coast, helped us make the decision to move.
Yesterday, we visited with friends who were driven here from their home in New Orleans by Katrina in 2005. Richard and Joyce Wilson came to the home of their daughter and son-in-law, Debbie and Mike Addy, on Aug. 22, 2005, thinking they would be there about three days. But they subsequently decided to retire here, because of the massive destruction in New Orleans.
The Wilsons both grew up in Buford, Ga. In school together, they vied for first chair trumpet for two years, dated for three years, then married in December of 1948.
The first 10 years of their marriage was spent working at their jobs, having four children, and running from the call to the mission field. They had both become Christians while in their teens, attending First Baptist Churc
h of Buford, Ga.
Mr. Wilson told of the experience that changed their lives forever. In 1959, they took a group of young people to Ridgecrest, N.C., where they heard a message brought by Dr. Chester Swor called “The Hound of Heaven.” The following Sunday morning at First Baptist Church of Buford, they dedicated their lives to missions!
They immediately began preparing for this by attending Truett-McConnell College where they both earned associate degrees. Then Mr. Wilson went on to get his B.A. in sociology from Shorter College, in Rome, Ga., and his master’s in religious education in Louisville, Ky., at Southern Baptist Seminary.
They became home missionaries in 1966, serving as directors of the Rachel Sims Mission in New Orleans from 1966 through 1980. During those years they had a full program including kindergarten through high school, with programs for adults and senior adults.
While at Rachel Sims, they lived in the upstairs apartment of the mission with their eight children, the last three of which were born during this time.
They worked with 11 nationalities in the Irish Channel, one of the meanest parts of New Orleans. Thirty-nine thousand people lived within this 17-by-seven-block area. At one point, Mr. Wilson had the opportunity to go to San Francisco to work with street people, which helped him almost immediately when the Black Panthers came into New Orleans. They served these people with food, clothing and Bible study from the mission, and had no trouble.
Several things stood out in their memories of their time there. One was when they integrated the programs in the early 70s. They gained black and white supporters from that, but they also had a brick thrown through the bedroom window and a cross burned in the yard.
Another was when Mrs. Wilson was given the assignment of doing devotions with all the women. They decided to study the women of the Bible. She felt the Lord’s prompting to begin at the beginning with Eve. As they got to the verse in Genesis 3:15, where God promised the coming Saviour who would bruise the serpent’s head, one of the women, with tears, asked, “Ms. Joyce, that’s why Jesus came, isn’t it?”
From 1979, when Mr. Wilson became Director of Baptist Christian Social Ministries for New Orleans Baptist Association, until he retired in 1994, Mr. Wilson served as director of five Baptist centers in the New Orleans area, continuing to work with the centers until Katrina 2005, when they moved to Decatur. They joined Clarke-Venable Baptist Church, made friends, and have enjoyed being in Decatur ever since.
Mr. Wilson testified of the blessing they received when their son Mark’s leukemia went into remission in 2010. The doctor had told Mr. Wilson to prepare for his funeral. But after his recovery, at his witness to her, that lady doctor became a Christian. He has served God on staff in two churches in Alabama in the past seven years.
Mr. and Mrs. Wilson will have been married 69 years Dec. 3, 2017. What a legacy of faithfulness to God, serving Him for many years as missionaries, and faithfulness from God, being blessed with eight children —“none of which ever gave us a moment’s trouble!” Mrs. Wilson rejoiced — 15 grandchildren, 22 great-grandchildren, and one great-great grandchild!
You may contact me at lagnesrussell@gmail.com or 601-635-3282.
