Cathleen Lewis, an Alabama Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU) retiree, died Dec. 27 in Medina, Tenn. Lewis served with Alabama WMU as the Girls Auxiliary director and later as the Girls in Action director. Throughout her 29 years of service, Lewis worked with many girls statewide.
At the age of 12, Lewis accepted Christ as her Savior and joined Cotton Grove Baptist Church in Brown’s Church Community, Tenn. She graduated from Union University in Jackson, Tenn., and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.
“My strong interest has always been missions,” Lewis once noted in an autobiographical sketch. She said she was willing to serve as a foreign missionary and had worked for the Home Mission Board (now North American Mission Board) office and various churches. But in 1959, God led her to Alabama WMU where she served as Girls Auxiliary director until 1970 and then as Girls in Action director from 1970 until 1988.
While employed by Alabama WMU, Lewis worked with WMU camps. There are women throughout Alabama who say that it was through “Miss Lewis” that God changed their lives.
Lewis and Alabama WMU former Executive Director Mary Essie Stephens shared with the WMU executive board their vision for WMU camping. From 1949 until 1963, campers attended houseparties at Judson College and camps at Shocco Springs Baptist Conference Center, both in facilities designed primarily for adults. In 1963, however, Alabama WMU’s executive board accepted a new approach to camping that included small group Bible studies, individual Bible meditation, an evening vespers service and more. The same approach is still used in camping today.
“I feel this is my place in His plan,” Lewis said about working for Alabama WMU. “In this place, I can have a part in missions around the world as we strive to have the best missions education possible for girls.” (WMU)
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