Mrs. Nell was my first grade teacher in 1953. I spoke at her funeral in 2024.
“Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his saints” (Psalm 115:16). “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord … that they may rest from their labors, and their works do follow them” (Rev. 14:13).
Jul 29, 2014, Mrs. Nell wrote to me:
Dear Steve: I enjoyed reading about the Aug Fowler family. I remember most of them, especially your dear mother. … When I die, maybe you can speak for me... Love, Mrs. Nell
I wrote back: "Thanks, Mrs. Nell. If I am in good health and don't 'go' before you do, I'd be glad to say a few words for you."
The Thompson youngsters grew up on their parent’s dairy farm, across from Double Springs Baptist Church. Their parents Lawrence and Esther Rosella Wood Thompson raised five children (listed in birth order): Jimmy, Nell, Betty, Tommy and Judy.
I express sympathy to all of the family today, especially Mrs. Nell’s children: Hope Barbare and husband Jimmy and Charlotte McClimon and husband Tim, as well as Trent, Brian, Lindsey, Blake, and Timothy and their mates and families.
Mrs. Nell’s mother, died in her sleep at her home at 101 years of age in 2003. Pastor James H. “Jimmy” Thompson preached her funeral at Faith Temple, the church he helped found.
At Mrs. Esther Thompson’s funeral, Hope Barbare, then 44 and a teacher, read Proverbs 31:10: “Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies.” “My grandmother found the good in everybody,” Hope said.
I think Mrs. Nell was like that, too.
Mrs. Nell was there when Pastor Jimmy announced at the age of 15, sitting at his family’s Sunday dinner table, that he was “called to be a preacher.”
His father told him that afternoon, “I had rather you be a preacher of the Gospel than be president of the United States.”
Mrs. Nell Adams served as my first-grade school teacher. I worked seven years, part-time, for Pastor Jimmy while I was in Greer High and at Bob Jones University, studying art education. I have kept in touch with Mrs. Nell a little through the years. I want to share with you some excerpts from letters Mrs. Nell wrote to me in recent years.
From a letter Mrs. Nell sent to Carol, on May 16, 2008:
Dear Carol, Thank you for the book of school jokes. Many funny things do happen at school.
I have laughed about a little first grader in Clinton. It was during Halloween time. I asked, "Can anyone make a sentence with ‘is’?." Brian said, "I is a pumpkin."
The Bible says laughter doeth good like a medicine.
2009 03 01 Ms. Nell wrote:
Dear Steve, I go to visit Jimmy [Pastor James H. Thompson] four evenings each week. I make notes from my Bible reading and share Scriptures with him. He enjoys them, and he is always so kind. I think his presence there is good. One nurse said that she could see God's love in him.
In 2009, Hope and Charlotte asked me to write a “Happy Eightieth Birthday” note to their mother. Here are excerpts from what I wrote:
Congratulations, Ms. Nell, on your eightieth birthday (2009)!
I remember you first as Miss Nell Thompson, my first-grade teacher at Mountain View Elementary School in upper Greenville County, S.C.
I was six years old and entered your classroom for my first public school experience in 1953. You must have been then 24 years old.
You attended the church my family attended, Gum Springs Pentecostal Holiness Church. Pastor James H. Thompson, your older brother, ministered there. You appeared to me to be a quiet, gentle, smiling, holy lady.
You taught us “See Jane run” and “See Spot go.” When we finished our first reading books, you gave them to us to take home, and when the bus let me off, I raced to my mother who was hanging laundry in our backyard. I read the whole book to her as she stood at the clothesline.
You were a young, pretty teacher and controlled our class with dignity. When the noise level rose, you told us, “I’m going to have to get firm.” We shaped up, then.
Our classroom was on the first floor in the center of the schoolhouse, which housed 12 grades. Our room stood next to a large coal bin used for radiator heat. To reach the boys’ restroom, we walked past the coal bin on a sidewalk.
You were patient and wise. We lined up each day at our door to have a blessing before lunch. I recall a girl one day said, “____ (So-and-So) didn’t have her eyes closed during the prayer.” I thought that girl should be paddled, but you said to the tattler, “How did you know?”
Whoa! I saw the light! You demonstrated the “wisdom of Solomon” that day.
A friend and I got into a playground fight because we were “playing wrestling.” Someone hurried to get you, and you made us sit in the classroom. I thought you were going to paddle us — but you didn’t.
You have been a constant encouragement over the years. You are a rare and precious lady, and I thank God for you and your family.
Happy birthday, Ms. Nell!
“I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in right paths” (Proverbs 4:11).
Mrs. Nell wrote, 2012 07 09
Dear Steve, I appreciate the e-mails and pictures you send, especially the one of Troy Burrell and Mack [McCrary]. As you know, Mack worked on our farm for many years.
Yesterday, July 8, was Jimmy's birthday. He would have been 84 years old. I still miss him.
“One of my earliest memories was sitting with him (Jimmy) at Double Springs Church. I think we were five or six years old. He went up to put his birthday offering in, and I went with him. We used to pick cotton and sing ‘Jesus Saves.’ Neither Jimmy nor I were blessed with a talent to sing; we just made a joyful sound, and it echoed in the valley.”
Ms. Nell said she and “Jimmy” rode together when both were Furman University day students. “Before he married Joanne, I used to go with him through the countryside to pick up children for Sunday school when he pastored Gum Springs (church),” Adams says. “We filled his car full of children (no seatbelts then). This was Jimmy’s little bus.”
I wrote in 2017 — “Happy Birthday to, not one, but TWO beautiful ladies! Nell Adams Montgomery today September 21 and Charlotte Adams McClimon tomorrow September 22.
In 2024, I wrote to Mrs. Nell.
At Faith Temple, there is a Sunday School class named “The Mary Bearden Class.” I remember Mrs. Bearden. What do you remember about Ms. Bearden.
Mrs. Nell said, “Ms. Bearden lived in a two-story house on Hwy. 2 90. When there were plans to build Faith Temple, seven pieces of land were offered. Our dad went to see Ms. Bearden and asked her about giving her land. She said, ‘Yes, she would.’ We were happy.
“While Ms. Bearden sat with Momma and me at Faith Temple and Hope, my daughter was a baby, Ms. Bearden said, ‘Well, you didn’t have to get such a pretty one.”
————————————
Years ago, Mrs. Nell wrote and delivered a message called
A LIFE OF VICTORY
“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58).
In her message on A LIFE OF VICTORY, Mrs. Nell talked about sin, Satan, worry, and loneliness.
When I was ten years old, I gave my heart to Jesus in a revival meeting at the Double Springs Baptist Church, just across the road from our house. We grew up in that church.
The first thing in living a life of victory is coming to know Jesus as Savior and the forgiveness of sin.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things have passed away and behold all things have become new.”
The second thing is victory over Satan.
Romans 8:6: “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”
Life is a battle between light and darkness. Satan uses Discouragement.
When I was young, I thought I could never excel in anything. I was afraid of lightning, thunder, storms, tornadoes. I was afraid of people, afraid of my own voice.
After Richard, my first husband died, there was a Christian lady, we will call her “Mae.” She lived along in an apartment and worked at Garden Ridge. After he died, my house was too empty and lonely. Mae got off from work at 9:30 and came right by my street, going home. I said, “Why don’t you stay with me for a while. I have an extra bedroom.”
So she did. She was writing a book of poems, and I helped her with this.
Sometimes she would say to me, “I’m just a nobody.”
I said, “Oh, no. You are a child of God and you are somebody.”
Another weapon Satan uses us unforgiveness. Usually, it’s people who’ve been hurt who hurt others.
Another way to grow stronger is to receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
While attending the church near our house, my dad heard about Pentecost — his heart was open to it, and he wanted us to have the experience. He would tell us, and we didn’t know what he was talking about. He took us to revival meetings and to Holmes Camp Meeting at Holmes Bible College. They had a big tent on campus, always in May.
When we went to camp meeting, I saw people praying around the altar. I couldn’t get away from the joy on their faces and the freedom of worship. I know this was what I wanted. We were still in the church near our home.
After Jimmy announced he was going to be a preacher, we started seeking the Baptism.
There on the farm, we felt so close to God. It was about 75 acres of land and a beautiful meadow with a little stream, and a large rock where we could sit and see the beauty. It was a place for one to go to pray for the Baptism. I spent many hours there. Prayer is not only talking to God. God also talks to you.
God reminded me of an incident that happened when I was about eight years old.
We had a neighborhood school, and walking home from school, we went into a store with boxes of candy sitting around (about two cents each, I think). The children picked up pieces of candy, and I did too.
We left, and no one said anything, but I thought, “I have no money to pay.”
When I got home, I thought, “I will tell my mother because I can tell her anything.”
The only thing she said was, “If you wanted candy that bad, I could have made you some.” She made wonderful chocolate fudge.
God wanted me to pay for the candy, but the store had been moved, and the man was gone, too. But I knew my neighbor was his sister-in-law. I didn’t want to tell her, but I did. The store owner had moved to California, so I got his address and sent him a letter and some money. He wrote me back a nice letter. After that, I did receive the Baptism. God wanted to know if I would obey Him.
If you spend time with Him, He will direct your steps.
VICTORY OVER WORRY is a hard one because I am prone to worry. But Jesus said, “I am with you always.” Cast all your cares upon Him.
My mother didn’t worry. When I lived in Clinton, S.C., she would write me a letter every week.
“Don’t worry about anything,” she said.
I think I am doing better now, but sometimes Bill says, “If you are worrying, you are not trusting.”
Cast all your care upon Him, for He cares about you.”
VICTORY OVER LONELINESS is hard, too.
I taught first grade at Mountain View Elementary School for four years after graduating from Furman University while still living at home.
I was 25 years old, and it was time to start a a life somewhere else. I decided to apply for a job in Columbia, SC. My sister Betty was in training at the Baptist Hospital.
I got the job, and Betty helped me find a room on Marion Street with elderly Mrs. Eleazar.
Betty graduated and said, “I’m going back home to work at General Hospital.”
I didn’t know anyone in Columbia, and I was very lonely for a year. I did find a church that helped. God guides our steps.
The second year, I met a lady named Althea Burroughs who had a lovely home in Columbia. She had two little children and her husband traveled as an evangelist for the Church of God. She said, “Come and live with us.” And so I did.
Althea was lots of fun. We went shopping together. She said, “I’m going to find you a husband.”
I did not know that Richard taught at Presbyterian College. I did not know that his mother lived in Columbia, SC, and that he came home every weekend to teach Sunday school at First Assembly. She introduced us, and later, we were married. We had 45 years together. God has given me two good husbands.
CONCLUSION:
Matthew 28: “I will never leave thee. I am with thee always, even till the end of the world.”
Later in life, Mrs. Nell was a tutor for Mr. Wendell Williams
Wendell was a singer and retired machinist. He was next to the oldest boy in a family of nine children. His father was a pastor; his mother a housewife. They lived in Ohio. Wendell was singing with a trio at age 13. He became a choir director at age 17 and did it for 25 years at Victory Center Church of God, Marion, Ohio.
While singing in Spartanburg, SC, he met a lady named Sandra. He dated her for a year and a half. They married in 2004 and live in Greer.
At age 51, Wendell recalls his trip to Greer Learning Center to pursue his GED. He, now 70 years old, had quit high school in eleventh grade in Marion, Ohio. He was a driver for PP&G (Pittsburgh Paint and Glass). The second day at the center, they said they’d get him a tutor. They got Mrs. Nell, whom he had never met.
She would meet him at the center two days per week to tutor him. After about two weeks, Mrs. Nell asked Wendell, “Do you believe in God?”
“Oh, yes!” he said. “I’m a born-again Christian.
She started crying.
She invited him to meet at her home for two-hour sessions, Monday through Friday, for four and one-half years.
“She’d make me read a book and do a book report,” he said.
Each time, she’d ask for a hymn, and he’d sing it.
On Thursdays, they cut short the tutoring, and Wendell would drive Mrs. Nell’s car to WGGS to pick up Pastor Jimmy. They would motor over to the S&S Cafeteria.
Mrs. Nell went with Wendell to get his GED. He tested for two hours in Greenville and scored in the top five percent of his state of SC.
In 2008, at First Baptist in Greenville, Wendell graduated in cap and gown and heard “Pomp and Circumstance” played. Mrs. Nell cried. He was the last adult student Mrs. Nell tutored.
“She changed my life,” Wendell says.
Grief is the price of Love, someone said.
Grief-Share groups are often good.
from A letter to a Friend on the Death of His Mother
Phillips Brooks wrote, “May I try to tell you again where your only comfort lies? It is not in forgetting the happy past. People bring us well-meant but miserable consolation when they tell what time will do to help our grief. We do not want to lose our grief, because our grief is bound up with our love and we could not cease to mourn without being robbed of our affections.
Family, I am sorry for your loss. Mrs. Nell fought a good fight and kept the faith. She left a great example for you, for me, and all of us. She wants you to follow the Lord and meet her in heaven. She is free from her earthly body and is with the Lord.
The family that is left suffers the loss. She would want you to bind together, to make an effort to gather together and love one another. Too many families splinter after the matriarch has gone to be with the Lord.
Bind us together, Lord, bind us together with cords that cannot be broken. Bind us together, Lord, bind us together, Lord, bind us together with Love. …….. “Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his saints” (Psalm 115:16).
