Ruth Institute Executive Director Jamie Gruber is an exhibitor at this massive conference of African American women, of the Church of God in Christ, held in LA this year. Jamie tells me this crowd of mature African American women recieves our message of lifelong married love with great enthusiasm.
It is my understanding that Maggie Gallagher, the Chairwoman of the Board of NOM (our parent organization) presented Marriage Protector Awards to the General Supervisor of the organization, Mother Willie Mae Rivers and Bishop Charles E. Blake, Sr.
Mother Rivers’ bio is typical of many of the stories I have heard from African Americans of her generation. Let me quote from the COGIC website.
At the age of fifteen, June 26, 1941, the very lovely Willie Mae Smalls was united in holy matrimony to Mr. David Rivers. Their marriage lasted just short of 56 years until his demise May 15, 1997. This union was blessed with twelve children; two sons and daughters….Mother Rivers is a true servant of God and she touched the life of her sons, the late Robert Lee Rivers and Samuel Rivers. She continues to touch the lives of her ten daughters, twenty grandchildren, thirty-six great-grandchildren, three great-great grand, three sisters, uncles, aunts, many cousins, her community and the Grand Ole Church of God in Christ Family.
(In between this brief description of Mother Rivers’ family life, is a list of her extensive contributions to the life of her church and community: a true “community organizer,” in the best sense of the term.)
This is the face of the African-American community that the Sex Radicals do not want you to see: married young, and for a lifetime, with great fruitfulness, in every sense of the word.