GERALDINE ODOM
(Nominated by Ellen Maugans)
Southport Baptist Church Christian Ministry Center
July 4, 2011
At 83, Mother is still one of the hardest working women I know. She has devoted most of her life in service to others: her family, friends, churches, and volunteer organizations. During the years she has volunteered with the Red Cross, Lions Club, churches, quilt guilds, Veteran’s Hospital, DAR and others that I do not even know about. And she continues to volunteer, teach and serve, leading sewing efforts at her home church to help those in need. When missionaries request items, she buys them and ships them. When the Veteran’s Hospital expressed need for Memory quilts, she made them. Since she began quilting at age 50, she has made hundreds of quilts and has given most of them away. She organizes and teaches classes in her second home church and at the senior citizen group that she attends. She buys materials for Christmas beaded ornaments, teaches others how to make them and gives away those she makes. When someone needs a meal, Mother is preparing it for them. After emergency surgery for a brain hemorrhage, she woke up worried about who was going to work with the crafts for the children at Vacation Bible School that evening. If you ask Mother what jobs she has worked during her life, she will say “housewife.” But she has never been just that. She still actively works helping and giving to others. Mother will be in Southport, NC July 3 serving with her DAR Chapter at the Naturalization Ceremony. She just does not stop.
