In 2014, the woman who helped raise me, Mrs. Auline Scott died and was buried in Pike County, Mississippi. I was honored to be one of her pall bearers at the funeral and then even more highly honored when the local paper asked me to write a tribute for Black History Month because they had chosen her to be the person in the spotlight. A year later I still grieve her loss as do her children and frankly anyone who knew her. I posted a photo of us when I was about two years old and it got more likes than any other Facebook post I've done - not because of me but because of so many people affirming her power in their lives. I was asked to reproduce the article I wrote and it follows below the photos...
Black History Month – Auline Scott
Bill Gardner
Black History Month according to Wikipedia is, “an annual observance for remembrance of important people and events in the history of the African diaspora.”
Traditionally this newspaper and others have chosen politicians, doctors, civil rights leaders; people with formal leadership positions and responsibilities to spotlight and profile. This year, the Magnolia Gazette has chosen a leader, a person who (without a formal leadership position) had an over sized positive impact on South Pike County; Mrs. Auline Scott.
With my parents, Auline influenced my childhood and the person I have become in more ways than can be enumerated here. The focus here is on the impact she had on the larger context and how she exhibited very effective leadership.
Leadership is defined as, “a process of social influence, which maximizes the efforts of others, toward the achievement of a goal.” (Kevin Kruse writing in Forbes magazine, 4/9/2013)
“Social influence” means influence that is based on interactions and personal characteristics not influence based on authority or power.
Last month on January 30th at the visitation after Auline’s death, several people told of her activities to increase the number of citizens voting. She knew when each of her nephews and nieces would be old enough to register to vote and would start to remind them months in advance to get registered as soon as they could. Auline offered to go with family and others to ensure they registered. Besides getting people to register and reminding them to vote, Auline volunteered to work at the polls for any and all elections.
Auline remembered in her lifetime when Black citizens were denied the vote, kept from voting in much of the South by what a study from Yale called “disenfranchisement techniques, including violence, fraud, poll taxes, literacy tests, restrictive and arbitrary registration practices and all-White primaries.” (From J. Morgan Kousser, The Shaping of Southern Politics; Suffrage Restriction and the Establishment of the One-Party South (Yale Press 1974) in Issacharoff, Karlan and Pildes, The Law of Democracy. 1998.)
In 1965, the Voting Rights Act addressed these issues. Auline was thirty years old that year and the value of voting never left her. She positively influenced this community by increasing the number of people participating in the democratic process.
The leadership definition cited above includes “the achievement of a goal.”
Auline’s primary goal came from her Savior Jesus Christ, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second resembles it: You must love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37 – 40). She lived out that commandment, as well as a verse in the next chapter, “The greatest among you, will be your servant.” (Matthew 23:11)
At the visitation mentioned earlier as well as the funeral the following day, neighbor after neighbor stood to talk about Auline’s ministry of food to them. A person newly moved to Magnolia; found Auline the first person to greet her with a warm loaf of Banana Nut Bread as well as a warm welcome and an offer to be her friend. A woman who like Auline was raising eight children said that coming home from work one night she was almost in tears thinking about having to cook when she was so tired but in her kitchen was a box of food already prepared to feed her family from Auline Scott.
Her neighbors told stories of being hungry and knowing that Auline would serve them a plate of incredibly good food if they dropped by her house. Her family would squeeze them into the table and insist that they eat. Auline was an extraordinary cook and was known in the Black and White communities in Magnolia for her cornbread, her Coffee Cake, her Banana Nut Bread (which was more like cake) and my favorite her Peppermint Cake.
I know that there were times that Auline struggled to buy groceries for her large family but she would never consider not feeding others. “For I was hungry and you gave me food…” (Matthew 25:35) “…she from the little she had has put in all she had to live on.” (Luke 21:4)
Auline worked for my parents until they both passed away in the late sixties. After that, she worked at Beacham Memorial Hospital until her Alzheimer’s robbed her ability to provide nursing support. While she was working at the hospital, and cooking meals for neighbors, she was also providing a valuable service for the elderly people in Magnolia. Coming home from her shift she would take her stethoscope and Blood Pressure Cuff and “make rounds” to all the elderly to check on them, take their vitals, visit with them and provide care. Because she was never one to talk about what she did we don’t know but can guess that she probably emptied trash cans, cleaned a little if needed, prayed with and listened to these community members likely lengthening their lives and certainly bringing joy to them in their dotage.
“Question: Who are the ministers of the Church? Answer: The ministers of the Church are lay persons, bishops, priests, and deacons.” (From the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer, page 855)
Auline was a life-long member of New Star Missionary Baptist Church but several ministers of other churches who spoke at her visitation and at her funeral said they sometimes thought she was a member of their Church because she ministered wherever she went. Her youngest son Richard in his Eulogy joked about his Mother teaching them about “drugs” saying she, “drug us to New Zion and then she drug us to New Star and then she drug us wherever there was a revival!”
But Auline wasn’t content to just “attend” church, she ministered. Stories were shared of her walking in the door for a crowded service and immediately shifting into “usher mode.” One of the ministers said that when he saw Auline come into the church he knew that it would only be a matter of minutes before she asked him, “How can I help?” or “What do you need for me to do?” Auline was the embodiment of a servant leader, doing what needed to be done.
Auline Scott was born February 11, 1934, and died January 24, 2014. She is survived by her husband of over 60 years Otis Scott and eight children.
Auline’s leadership continues through her children, who have grown up with her model of participating in the democratic process, loving their neighbors, serving others, and walking in the Truth. Through her children, Auline continues to influence in Magnolia and in Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, and Hawaii.
“Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it.” [Proverbs 22:6]
Her influence is also spread by her nieces and nephews, her brother and sister, her grandchildren and all the countless neighbors and needy who experienced her gentle presence, loving witness, and selfless ministry.
“Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.” Hebrews 13:7
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Gardner is a graduate of South Pike High School and currently resides in Austin, Texas where he is a management consultant and leadership coach. He is co-authoring a book about his high school years at SPHS which coincide with the years when Magnolia went from two separate schools to one fully integrated school. The book: Same Time, Same Place; Different Worlds has a targeted publication date in late 2018.
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