Articles & Stories
Madge Carter Fell In Love
With Missionary Work In Lee City
Missionaries Have Touched The Lives Of Many Kentuckians
Editor's Note: Judy Centers of Montgomery, Alabama, feels this article regarding the missionaries of Lee City, Wolfe County, Kentucky, will evoke a great deal of reader response, since they worked in Kentucky for 47 years and surely must have touched the lives of thousands of people. Patsy Woodfin of Mt. Carmel High School provided Judy with photos and the booklet "Pioneer Pastor of the Kentucky Mountain Holiness Association," by Eunice Kirk, from which excerpts have been taken.
By Judy Centers - 2004
The Calling
In early 1929, God spoke to a young Ohio girl named Miss Madge
Ellen Carter saying, "Go. I have work for you." She
arrived at Mt Carmel in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky with
only a pocketful of money, plus a purpose to hold out as long
as it lasted. By the time the little money was gone, she had
fallen in love with the mountain people and her missionary work.
She made a pact with God: "I'll stay as long as You provide
for me." He never failed, and she never left.
Miss Madge Ellen Carter, indomitable missionary to the mountain people for 47 years, once said that if she ever wrote a book it would be named On Foot, because there were so many paths up the creeks to be crossed and roads were poor. This photo was taken in the 1940s. (Photo courtesy of Patsy Woodfin, Vancleve, Kentucky)
Miss Mary Paulo, who looked small and frail, proved to be resilient and shared equally in the missionary work for 47 years. She played the organ and accordion while Miss Carter preached. This photo was taken in the 1940s.
(Photo courtesy of Patsy Woodfin, Mt. Carmel High School, Vancleve, Kentucky.)
Her first summer appointment
was to Malaga in Wolfe County, with Miss Dorothy Choko and a
Mt Carmel teacher. In the fall she was transferred to Lee City.
Here her helpers were Misses Minnie Knecht and Ethel Stevens.
When summer came these ladies went elsewhere, but a cousin of
Madge's filled in and Miss Frances Beard helped for a few weeks.
All these changes drove Miss Carter to a desperate prayer. She
must have a permanent co-worker, one who could sing and play.
God had begun answering Miss Carter's prayer before she uttered
it. At Asbury College a timid young lady from Akron, Ohio, was
ready for God's will. A great shining light in the person of
Miss Lela G. McConnell of Mt. Carmel crossed her path several
times. "Would you have a place in your work for such as
I?" Mary Paulo inquired. Miss McConnell's reply letter came
stating, "Come. A cabin door is open for you."
On a fall day in 1930, with two well-loaded suitcases weighing
her down, Mary Paulo entered the mountains, riding on the old
narrow gauge O. & K. Railroad. Coming from the city she could
scarcely take her eyes off the fascinating beauties so new to
her. She landed at Frozen at 10:00 a.m. But, no one was there
to meet her. She, carrying her luggage alone, crept across the
narrow trestle spanning the North Fork of the Kentucky River.
The two miles from Frozen along the river were a mere path. Grasshoppers
sounded to her like snakes in the tall growth. When she heard
a bell ringing in the distance she knew it must come from Mt.
Carmel. What a joy when the school on the hill came into view!
But the river was between. She had heard of the swinging bridge.
Somehow she managed to hold on to the jiggly side wires and her
two suitcases. They kept her at the school for two weeks of "seasoning"
before sending her on to Lee City to try out with Miss Carter.
The Meeting
When Miss Carter caught sight of how frail Mary looked, a mere
96 pounds, her heart sank. "This is no rugged pastor,"
she thought, never dreaming that Mary would be her devoted helper
through 47 years of labor, and even to the end of her life.
When Mary got her first glimpse of the one that was to be her
leader, well, she looked again. She was queen-size with a shock
of auburn hair, which was neatly curled and braided, but never
cut, she had a sagging goiter and drooping shoulders and wore
crudely half-soled shoes, looking like wooden ones from Holland.
Miss Madge Ellen Carter made a most impressive appearance.
The Mission
Pleas from Lee City parents united with the heavenly vision.
In the summer of 1935 the two missionaries canvassed the community
for donations. By fall a two-room mission grade school in the
heart of Lee City was opened. The property joined the post office
and one store. An old dwelling was purchased by faith and on
time. This was to make living quarters for the teachers. Two
classrooms and a chapel occupied the rest of the building.
Miss Carter was the business manager and kept the records. Tuition
began at $1.50, but increased to $2 per month. Teachers averaged
$10 monthly. Eunice Kirk recalled, as a teacher, how they would
cook a pot of soup beans on top of the heating stove on Saturdays
and those beans would last most of the next week.
Heaven alone records the godly influence on the lives of the
many students who enjoyed a Christian education during the 32
years the school existed. The school produced a number who have
been used in Christian work. Among those were: Bertha Patrick
(Patton), Retha Patrick (Moran), Helen Patrick (Hill), Mildred
Nickell (Warren), Donald Nickell, Naomi Arnett (Dunn), Charleen
Prater (McDonald), Kathleen Wooten (Ebright), and Adrian Kash.
All went to Mt. Carmel and most to the Kentucky Mountain Bible
Institute at Vancleve, Kentucky.
The teachers were as follows: Misses Lewis and Bitler, Faye Holman,
Eunice Kirk, Irene Baird, Mary Powell, Edith Glenk (Powdrill),
Teressa Brayton, Margie Foster, Helen Ann Halusehak, and Lorene
Clayton.
Miss Carter once said that if she ever wrote a book it would
be named, On Foot, because there were so many paths up the creeks
to be crossed, and roads were poor. During her first year they
carried on services at three stations: Lee City; Helechawa, two-and-a-half
miles away; and Rose Fork, three miles in the other direction.
For the next seven years the schedule ran as follows: preaching
at Lee City on Saturday night, morning and afternoon Sunday schools
at Lee City and Helechawa schoolhouse, and night preaching back
at Lee City. All this they accomplished with missing only one
Sunday for deep snow. Occasionally, they held a service in Greenbriar
schoolhouse, another three miles away. They became a trio for
eight years by the addition of Miss Minnie Pearl Humphrey (Keyser).
Her preaching, teaching and singing abilities united well with
theirs.
The missionaries often were called upon to visit the sick and
dying. Many a body Miss Carter laid out, while Miss Paulo made
the shroud. One time at a hill-top funeral there fell from Miss
Carter's lips such tender words of compassion that there was
no doubt but that she was divinely inspired.
Joseph H. Smith was coming for an all day meeting. Many guests
were expected. How were they to be fed? On the wall of their
home hung the motto from Philippians 4:19: "My God shall
supply all your needs." Madge added works to her faith and
picked blackberries for pies. Singing the doxology over the empty
grocery purse proved productive. Fifty cents per week was its
allotment, per person. Neighbor Willie Arnett owned the local
gristmill. He offered all the fresh ground corn meal they could
use. Somehow the food stretched to feed all.
Lee City
(Wolfe County, Kentucky) Mission Sunday School class mothers
and babies in 1936. Mabel Centers is on the far right, holding
James Elzie (Buzz). Photo courtesy of Judy Centers, judgeb@charter.net.
Sometimes they were low
on fuel. The ladies would pick up coal along the tracks. At first
this was quite humiliating to city-bred Mary Paulo. They collected
it in a pile. Then it had to be carried three-quarters of a mile
up to their new home. Sometimes they bartered with a Watson boy
to cart it for them. Once as a very special kindness a friend
shoved off the train a huge lump of cannel coal right into their
yard. They broke it up and it lasted long. Cannel coal is especially
hard and easily ignited. It threw out intense heat and once they
endangered their new house by putting in too much.
The Devil Tries To Intervene
Miss Carter's preaching against tobacco, liquor, playing cards,
and black guarding produced die-hard enemies. Some ruffians were
hired to stone the ladies one night on their way home from up
one peticular branch. God protected them by directing them like
the wise men of old to "depart another way." They picked
their way around the hill, through briars and barbed wire fences
and made it safely home. As the years passed that very branch
produced three who have been greatly used by God.
Miss Carter was teaching adult Sunday School class in the old
Lee City church house. A moonshiner had come to sell his product
among the young men. Such goings-on disturbed the meeting. Mr.
Sank Robbins tried to handle the fellow. By afternoon service
at Helechawa schoolhouse, Mr. Robbins and the moonshiner were
both armed to settle the issue. Miss Carter was up front teaching
the class. When Mr. Robbins rose for the sake of order, the moonshiner
leveled his gun on him. Quick as a flash, Miss Carter jumped
between, demanding, "Shoot me! I'm ready to die and he's
not." Amazed at her courage, the moonshiner dropped his
weapon.
Mighty Works
Soon God touched the hearts of many to provide for the two missionary
ladies. Rev. Russell Moore of Harrisville, Ohio, was a faithful
giver. Truckloads of food and necessities, besides money for
expenses, came from God through him. His reward will be great.
Mr. Ben McCary brought in so many supplies in his car that Miss
Carter prayed the car would not break down.
Sometimes Miss Carter was asked if she had any children. She
never did, but there was one she fondly called, "My son,
Timothy." Roy Turner was from Breathitt County but was working
in New York City and often visited his kinfolk in Lee City. Miss
Carter became burdened for him. When he left she sent him a songbook
and some tracts. Through these he got saved at the age of 18.
When he returned to Lee City she persuaded him to work his way
through Mt. Carmel High School and then through the Kentucky
Mountain Bible Institute. For years he was a Holiness preacher,
mainly in Floyd County. Miss Carter's prayers followed him continually.
There were several outstanding revivals at Lee City. Under Brother
L. O. Florence such conviction fell that many men trembled and
wept. When Mr. Willie Arnett got saved there was not a dry eye
in the house. Lee City being on the headwaters, Red River was
used for baptizing.
Mr. Arnett's baptism was special. He came up out of the river
shouting, "The prayer of the righteous availeth much."
The Rev. Karl Paulo came to his sister's church to plead for
souls. Mr. and Mrs. Kelse Risner were among the converts. Holiness
came next. They were led to take tobacco out of their store and
give up their secret orders. Oh, what a change! The evangelistic
spirit gripped them. They helped the pastor at Rose Fork for
a time. The schoolhouse was crowded out until Mr. Risner had
to make seats out in the front yard.
Faithful Unto Death
In 1973 Miss Carter became an invalid. Falls broke both hips
at different times. With the second fracture Mt. Carmel retired
workers' cottage became her final earthly home. There for five
years she received all the love and tender care which were her
due. She went to meet her Lord in 1978. While her dust remains
in the Lawson graveyard at Mt Carmel, her spirit is elsewhere,
still preaching holiness.
(This material kindly submitted by Miss Eunice Kirk, 1907-1996,
from the memories of Miss Mary Paulo, 1908-1997.)
Editor's Note: Be sure to watch next month for the article on
the Centers Family, and discover the effect these missionaries
of Lee City had on two little girls.
Judy Centers shares this article with our readers. She invites anyone who would like to learn more about the lady missionaries to visit her website, "Kentucky Missionaries" at www.auntjudy.biz or she can be reached via email at judgerb@charter.net, or 1918 Yancey Avenue, Montgomery, AL 36107.