May 14 is Mother’s Day, a time when millions of people will honor their mothers.
Charles Spurgeon wrote, “I cannot tell you how much I owe to the solemn word of my good mother.” Others have observed that a mother’s success is most often evidenced in the good morals of her children. To have, or to have had, a godly mother is a blessing and a treasure.
Erma Satterwhite, at age 90, passed away in her sleep this past November, but her influence as a godly mother continues to impact lives through her children, all five of whom were called into full-time Christian ministry.
The Satterwhite children grew up under the tutelage, love and devotion of a Christian woman committed to bringing up her children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
The only daughter in the family, second-born Barbara, was an accomplished musician, worked in a church plant in Chicago, taught in a Christian school and married a pastor. Her brother (and the youngest son in the Satterwhite family), David, minister of music at Roebuck Baptist Church, said, “I credit Barbara for instilling in me my love for music, as she was my live-in baby sitter. She was able to work until the day before she went to be with the Lord in 2014.”
Erma was working at a Huddle House in Richmond, Va., when she met her future husband, Norman, a soldier who had just returned from a four-year tour of duty during World War II. He was working as a milkman and made deliveries to the Huddle House. After he completed his route, he would return to the restaurant “to make sure the milk was straight” and have breakfast with Erma. Their relationship blossomed, and they were married in 1946.
The Satterwhite siblings, from left: Cliff, Ron, Barbara (deceased), Don and David.
Soon the family grew, as their first two children, Cliff and Barbara, were born. The family then moved to Tallahassee, Fla., where twin sons Don and Ron were born. They moved again, to Tampa, in 1957. Four years later, David was born.
Cliff, a long-serving South Carolina Baptist Convention minister, was the director of McCall Royal Ambassador Camp for most of his career, worked with the Brotherhood department, was director of South Carolina Baptist Disaster Relief, and continues to serve through the South Carolina Baptist Foundation. He said, “Fifty-one years ago my mother drove me to Atlanta to begin my preparation for the ministry. I will never forget the support she always gave to all of us, assuring us we could make a difference. Mom and Dad took all five children to church every time the lights were on; they never sent us to church.”
Norman often worked two jobs to support the family while Erma took care of the kids. David said, “She was the one who taught me how to throw and catch, how to run and ride a bike. Both Mom and Dad never missed any event that I was involved in as a child.” Erma overcame polio in the 1950s, a back injury that led to a year in traction, and two radical mastectomies in 1981 followed by a year of chemotherapy. “Mom always powered through, kept her faith, and held the family together,” David added.
Today, both Don and Ron are Southern Baptist pastors in Missouri. Don recalled as a teenager that “my mom would fill her station wagon up with my friends and carry us to an evangelistic Bible study, where many of them got saved. She supported all of us in our ministries. The last time I saw her in August, she wrote a check toward my India mission trip. When I told her she did not have to do that, she said she could not go but she could send. I thank God for giving me such a warm and supportive mother.”
Ron added that while he was a pastor in Tampa, he was blessed to be his mother’s pastor for about five years. “After she went to glory, I heard from several of my childhood friends who shared with me that my mother led them to faith in Christ. Only eternity will tell what impact she has made.”
Norman and Erma moved to the Roebuck area in 1994, and she became his caregiver until he passed away in 1996. They both were members of Roebuck Baptist Church. Cliff pointed out, “My mother loved her church and her pastor, Tim Williams.”
During the final 20 years of her life, David and his wife, Sandy, became the primary caregivers for Erma. He said, “It was difficult watching her body fail. Her one desire was to go to heaven and be with Jesus, my dad and my sister, Barbara. The day I found my mother, having passed away in her sleep, I rejoiced knowing she had finished her race and was in the arms of Jesus. What an incredible testimony her life was to so many people.”
Proverbs 31:28 says of the virtuous woman: “Her children rise up and bless her.” There is no substitute for godly mothers, but their legacies endure in the lives of their children. Erma’s children do praise her, and her Christian influence and love for her children is clearly seen in their lives today.