Friday, May 22, 2009

In The Spotlight


Elsie Aubrey

Born on January 15, 1954 in Dallas, Texas to Fred and Viola Mullis, Elsie is part of a big loving family. Fred and Viola Mullis had 9 girls and 2 boys, out of which, 8 survived. Elsie grew up with her 5 sisters and 2 brothers in West Dallas or Big “D”, as Elsie likes to put it. Her sisters were Freda, Sarah, Barbara, Diana, and Pamela. Her brothers were Johnny and Herbert.

Childhood Memories

One early childhood memory is when she was 5 years old. She had a crush on her older sister’s boyfriend. Her sister was 15 at the time. The boy’s name was George and he would let her follow them around. She remembered that this was her first love. She never forgot his kindness to her.

Another fond memory also took place when she was 5 years old. She watched someone make fig preserves. She told her mother about it. Her mother put Elsie up on the kitchen counter and she told her how to make them. Of course, at 5 years of age, she had no idea how to make it but her observation skills helped her out and her mother made fig preserves.

Dating and Marriage

While attending Bro. Wheatley’s church in Dallas (church is no longer there), she was introduced to a nice young man named Kenneth Aubrey. She was introduced to him through Letres and Jim Cherry. Elsie was 13 at the time. They dated for about 9 months and then got married. She was 14 when they were married. Elsie says there were 3 main events in her life. She was born, potty trained and then she got married! Her and Ken will celebrate 41 years of marriage next month. They were married on June 8, 1968 and have 4 kids. (Carol, Christy, Kenny, Josh). And she has 5 grandkids (Brandon, Christopher, Kayla, Dustin and Landon).


Grand Prairie

Elsie and Ken moved to Grand Prairie in 1969 and have lived here since. They started attending Bro. and Sis. Lee’s church around that time and have remained faithful through the years.




In 1975, Elsie started teaching the 4 and 5 year olds in Sunday school. She taught for 23 years, until 1998. She says she loved every minute of it and has many fond memories of those times. One in particular instance is with a little boy named Ricky. In class one morning a bus kid came in. This little boy had ½ bologna sandwich and was very unkempt. The lesson that day was on friends. Observing the little bus kid, Ricky went over to him, hugged him and said, “He’s my friend.” This brought tears to Elsie’s eyes and she never forgot that moment. It taught her a lesson that even though the bus kid was messy and she knew he didn’t have much he still needed to hear the Gospel and needed friends. That really touched her heart. Isn’t it true that “A little child shall lead them”.

Not only were there serious moments during those times but there were also some funny moments. If there is one thing I know about Elsie…she loves to laugh! She remembers one time when some grandkids of one of the ladies in the church (Betty Smith) were in her class. They had just got caps put on their teeth. Of course, they thought that was cool so they were showing them to Elsie. Elsie was telling them oh, that’s cool and how do I get some of those. Well, the kids told her how to get them. They said, “Well, just don’t brush your teeth”! Kids are hilarious and will say the funniest things!




I asked Elsie if teaching was rewarding. Her reply was that her time of teaching was the most rewarding time of her life. She loved it!

Even though her days of teaching are over, she always will remember those times with happiness that she was able to shape and mold children and point them to God.

She is also thankful that God has been good to Grand Prairie church. We have been blessed with great pastors. Grand Prairie Church has a good heritage. We’re blessed that the Lee’s founded the church and we were blessed with Bro. and Sis. Martinez’ loving spirit. Nobody could love you any more than Bro. Martinez! Elsie considers the Martinez’ boys to be part of her family. Those boys were and are a big part of her life!

She also wanted to say that she loves Pastor and Sis. Duvall! She is so thankful that God placed them at our church. We are blessed to have such a great Pastor and family to carry Grand Prairie into the future. God is good!

Well, I think I’ve just about covered everything about Sis. Elsie. I love this lady! She is so sweet and I love her ability to make me laugh. You can’t be down when you’re with her! I hope you’ve learned something new about her.

God bless you and see you next week!

Love ya,
Kimmie

3 comments:

  1. Kimmie,
    You are so good at this! Awesome Job.

    Love Ya
    Sis. Kim

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  2. This was so good to read. Sis. Elsie is awesome and I didn't know so many thing about her. Married at 14? Wow!

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  3. Awww...love reading about my mom. Especially today when I am missing her and her laughter so much.

    I am so blessed to have her as my mother. One thing a person will learn about my mom if they are around her very much is that she is the most giving person I've ever met. Great job on the interview, Kim.

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