I depart from my usual theme of technology persuasion to wish a happy 98th birthday to a great woman, Willie Lee (Scales) Darter. I assure you that when Ms. Darter enters your life, warmth, grace, and spirit accompany. She is a rare individual and it is no exaggeration to say that having known her, you are noticeably the better for it.
Born in 1913, the oldest of six children, she cradled life in the oil town that is Electra, Texas. That region possesses some of the finest farm dirt and receives some of the least rain. Her father struggled with sharecropper farming and then moved the family in a covered wagon to Pueblo, Colorado to “live out a claim.” Willie Lee was four years old. They “made do” in a dugout he shoveled out of the dirt side of a mountain. The attractive brochures that lured them to Pueblo failed to remark on the unfitness of the terrain for any sustenance. Fending off mountain lions and starvation, her father loaded what was now a family of five back into the wagon to journey homeward to Electra.
Half-way there, in Amarillo, they met a man in a Model T Ford who was chugging up to Colorado. Afraid his car would not pull the steep grade of Raton Pass, the man desired a wagon. He showed her father how to drive the car (“About three or four blocks,” she said), and the trade was made. Everything they owned went in, under, and on top of that car. “Mamma cried to see the horses go,” Willie Lee remembered, “but she had to do what Papa said, I imagine.”
At the age of twelve, Willie Lee attended a cottage prayer meeting. That event changed her life, forever. In her own words, “The Spirit of God began to move in my heart and I was gloriously saved.” She would spend the rest of her life focused on service for her Lord.
When Willie Lee was sixteen, her mother died unexpectedly, leaving the six children with a father who was seldom around and Willie Lee the oldest. The youngest was nine months. The next few years were tumultuous and divided the family. Willie Lee finished High School, but not a single person attended her graduation to “stand up for her.” She made board by keeping children for a family. At age 18, she decided to get an education. She heard about a couple that was driving to Tennessee, so she asked if she could go along. Her destination was Cleveland, to what is now Lee University. My grandmother made her three dresses and as they were departing she gave Willie Lee $1.75 with the admonition, “Here’s some money to buy stamps so you can write us.” Willie Lee told me years later, “Little did she know that those dresses and that $1.75 was all I had in the world.”
Willie Lee worked her way through college, odd jobs, evening shift in a hosiery, and whatever she could find. Then, she was offered a position at the Pathway Press publishing house. She became acquainted with the executives of the Church of God who owned the press. They loved her, as would everyone she encountered.
She returned to Electra at age 21 and married Ed Darter. They started Darter Furniture Store, which would operate for the next 29 years. Willie Lee was the brains behind the business and it became very successful. She attended college again at what is now Midwestern State University. She and Ed bought an airplane and Willie Lee learned to navigate. She took the test and received her pilot’s license. Quite an accomplishment for a woman in the 1940’s. Her first solo flight lasted 7 hours and 15 minutes.
She and Ed felt that God had blessed them abundantly; they needed to “give back.” So, they flew their plane back and forth from Electra to San Antonio and set up a school to train missionaries. At that time, most churches were training Caucasians and sending them to Latin America as missionaries. Willie Lee was years ahead of her time. She felt the most effective missionaries were the natives. They brought native pastors from Latin America to San Antonio, trained them, and then returned them to their own country. Willie Lee and Ed began to visit Latin America, themselves, donating time and thousands of dollars to build churches.
In 1967, a customer, leaving late from the furniture store, failed to extinguish a lighted cigarette. During the night, the store and its contents burned, damaging the building and destroying all the contents. A lesser individual would have called it quits. Not this woman. Hearing about the fire, and seeing an opportunity, the Church of God, a six million member, 150 nation organization, called her and laid out a proposal. At age 55, Willie Lee was appointed Executive Secretary for the Church of God, its highest position for a woman. She and Ed moved to Cleveland, Tennessee where she produced what she later considered her crowning life’s achievement, an international Christian training program for young girls. She also modernized the women’s movement within the Church of God and, with help from Janice Givens (my mother), and others, published a book with illustrative Bible lessons for young children.
In 1978, while Willie Lee and Ed were on holiday, Ed suffered a fatal heart attack. It was Christmas Day. This hastened Willie Lee’s decision to retire as Executive Secretary from the Church of God after fulfilling a noteworthy ten years. She stayed seven more years in Cleveland and moved back to Texas at the age of 72-years, thinking maybe it was time to retire. Her work had taken her many times across the US and to Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras, Israel, England, Germany, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Argentina, Venezuela, and other countries – always with the same message – the glorious saving power of Jesus Christ, the same message she had received as a young girl.
Perhaps it was not time to retire, after all. She went to work, again. She established a ministry for the Navajo Indian reservation in New Mexico. She garnered the support of local churches, set up way-stations, paid for trucks, enlisted volunteers, and shipped tons of clothing, supplies, Bibles, and Christian literature to help the Indians, both materially and spiritually. She went, herself, to oversee much of the work and then set up volunteers. She made her last trip to the reservation at the age of 90, and when she could no longer travel to the reservation, continued to garner support, encourage others, and champion the cause of Jesus Christ.
I remarked once to her that not many people could go through all that she had and still be so upbeat and optimistic about life. She responded, “I guess it is true that I’m not easily discouraged.”
I take that gem of wisdom and share it with you.
Willie Lee quit driving three years ago. Until a few months ago, she lived without assistance. Still today, she lives in her own house, bright and vibrant, full of the grace and beauty that served her a lifetime. Happy Birthday to a great lady