Jane Ellen Gaines, a retired missionary to Nigeria, died Dec. 31. She was 81.
A native of Talladega, Gaines was appointed by the Foreign Mission Board (now the International Mission Board) in 1967 to Jos, Nigeria. She served in the West African country for 26 years, retiring in 1993. Post-retirement, Gaines was active in the choir and Woman’s Missionary Union at First Baptist Church, Talladega, in Coosa River Baptist Association. She also took short-term missions trips to China, South Korea and Siberia.
Gaines compiled her memoirs into a book titled “Every Day With Jesus: A Missionary’s Daily Life in West Africa,” which the Alabama Baptist Historical Commission published in 2008.
Gaines, a graduate of Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City, Tenn., and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, served as the educational secretary and youth director at First, Talladega, from 1952 to 1967.
She is survived by her brother and several nieces and nephews. (TAB)
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