In The Spotlight - Roberta Lamb Shields

I was so excited when Sis. Duvall asked me to do the "In The Spotlight" blog for the month of May. I got so much information from my Grandmother, I'm not sure how to say it all. I hope you enjoy this blog and I hope you all learn something new about my grandmother, Sis. Roberta Shields.

Born Roberta Pauline Rose on January 16, 1921 in Charleston, Texas, she is one of seven daughters.

The Rose family lived on a farm in Deport, Texas. Roberta was 9 years old when the Depression struck the U.S. Raising seven girls (Elsie Aubrey, Letres Cherry, Nellie Lee Kyle, Loretta Allen, Virginia Porter, Robbie Gilbert - Roberta and Virginia are the last surviving girls) during the depression era was hard on the family but God always provided. In order for her family to get by in those days her dad, William Woody Rose, would kill 7 hogs a year and her mom, Minnie Viola Rose, would can 600 jars of vegetables, peas, corn, pickles, etc., a year. Also, they would have syrup in a 50 gallon wooden barrel. Roberta specifically remembers that her dad raised dogs for the local Doctor. When they got to a certain age, the Doctor would sell the dogs and in this way all the medical bills were paid for the girls. There was no welfare in those days so the local community helped in any way they could. Her father died when he was 92 and her mother when she was 79. Our family will always remember them as Ma and Pa Rose. Of course, I never got to meet them (that I can remember) but I've heard many stories about them.


On January 10, 1939, Roberta married Wilson Lamb. They were farmers in Cunningham, Texas. She did everything on the farm. Picked cotton, baled hay, rode horses, milked cows, raised and unfortunately, I have to say; she did kill chickens for food. They raised three girls; Ellen, Rosie and my mom, Dorothy. They all remember picking cotton and working on the farm. Ellen was particularly afraid of chickens. According to Rosie, Ellen chased a rooster into the well and pushed him in with a broom. Needless to say, that was the end of that rooster....

It was during her marriage to Wilson that Roberta came to the Lord. Attending the Pentecostal Church in Cunningham pastored by Bro. Mark Malone, she was baptized in the Chanel which ran between Charleston and Cunningham. Remembering those times, she broke down into tears of joy and happiness at the memories. She will never forget that Bro. James Kilgore was preaching a revival at the time and 21 people were baptized that same day in the Cotton Gin pool.


Memories of God's provision and His miracles came to her mind and she cried reminiscing about it all. I have been blessed to hear these stories and I can only hope for the kind of faith people exhibited during that time.

Miracles and God's Provision in Cunningham



God wrought many miracles in the lives of the Lamb family in Cunningham. Here are some of those stories:

One day, while working in the cotton fields, Wilson got his foot hung in the power lifter on the tractor. He made it to the house where they laid him on the couch. They weren't sure what would happen to him. If he lost his foot the family would be in great trouble because his work depended on him being in good health. Roberta was very worried but knew who to turn to. She turned to God in prayer. She said it was like God whispered to her, "Go cook supper and pray." So, that's what she did. While in the kitchen cooking and praying she heard movement in the living room. She went to the door and saw that Wilson was up and walking around. That night they all went to church and his foot was fine after that. Even in his 70's, when he would tell that story, my grandpa would start to cry. He never forgot the healing he received.


Another story was one of my mother, Sis. Dorothy Kegley. Mom was about 5 1/2 years old when a doctor said she had TB. Well, my grandmother would not accept that prognosis so she told my grandpa to go to the Kilgore's house and have them pray. At the time, the Kilgore's were living in Paris which is about 25 miles from Deport. They took my mom and had them pray. When she went back to the doctor they said she did not have TB and mom has never been diagnosed with that again.

There were many more stories of God's miracles during her time in East Texas but I couldn't write them all here. She is very thankful for His hand on her life.

The Move to Grand Prairie

Wilson and Roberta Lamb moved to Grand Prairie in 1952 and started attending the Grand Prairie church pastored by Bro. and Sis. B.F. Lee. They had to move to Grand Prairie because Wilson got a job at Gifford Hill where he worked for 19 years. Roberta worked for the GPISD as a lunch room manager for 17 years.

The Lambs were some of the founding members of the GP church. Roberta worked tirelesly in the bus ministry for 10 years. Kenneth Aubrey (she said that Kenneth was the best bus driver ever) would drive the bus and Roberta would work with the kids. Sometimes, she would take the kids to her house to get them dressed. Even today, kids she helped on the bus remember her. At our first block party, a lady came up to my mom and asked where she was. She remembered her on the bus route. She still sees grown adults who remember her. Now, that tells me that bus ministry works!

Some of the things she would do for the kids were give them a slip of paper when they got on the bus. These slips would have $.10 cents, $.25 cents, and sometimes a dollar listed on them. When they got off the bus they would hand her the paper and she would give them what was listed. She did this all out of her own pocket because she loved the kids so much and wanted to minister to them. At times, she would have donuts and pints of milk for them. Does this sound familiar? I think what we are doing on Sunday mornings is awesome and it really does minister to them. What worked years ago still works today! These are things I didn't really know about my grandmother so I'm so glad I got to sit down with her and reminisce with her.

The Grand Prairie church was always her heart and she loved Bro. and Sis. Lee. She explained that when she first met Bro. Martinez she knew he would one day be the pastor in Grand Prairie. At the time, Bro. Martinez was attending Bro. Guidrose's church in Dallas but he came to visit Grand Prairie church and stayed. And, he did become pastor in 1988 until his retirement in 2008. Roberta has remained faithful to the Lord and faithful to Grand Prairie through all the years. She is so excited about the future of Grand Prairie church and looks forward to the ministry of Bro. and Sis. Duvall. She loves them very much and is thankful God sent them our way!

In 1994, Wilson Lamb succumbed to cancer and passed away on February 15th. Thus, ended a marriage of 54 years but Roberta still has the hope that she will see him again one day in Heaven. After about 4 years of being alone, she married Yantes Shields on January 17, 1998 and is thankful that God provided him to share her life. Yantes is a WWII veteran and was in the Army from 1942 until 1946. He was at Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge. What a blessing he has been to our family. I thank God that He sent Yantes to our lives. God is good!

There is so much more to say and I wish I had the words. She is of the generation that says, "Ok, so this happened, and this happened but I still trust you Lord". That is strong faith and I admire that. That's a "I still trust you, Lord", kind of faith. They were brave then and I hope that we, as modern women of God, can take lessons from them and realize that we can have the same faith demonstrated by my grandmother and others of her generation. We could learn a lot from the senior generation!

I hope you enjoyed this blog (sorry it's so long) and I hope you look forward to the next one.

Love you all,
Kimmie