It’s easy to describe the love of a mother for her child. There’s no love quite like it. A child feels and experiences that love no matter how old the child becomes.

“My mother was mine and my brother’s biggest cheerleaders. She loved, she forgave, and she was always there for us,” said Anna Lingerfelt in describing her mother, Doris Bradshaw Lovelace.

Doris died June 10 at the age of 82. In addition to Anna and her son, William, Doris was survived by four grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

For 42 years Doris served as office manager for the Siam Utility District. She knew every water customer by name and where they lived, and the customers knew her. It was not until Doris was in her early 70s that the utility district purchased a computer, and she learned it with ease shared Anna. For many years, Doris hand addressed the water bills as well as the other information on the bill, such as the amount of the water bill. She also did the bookkeeping.

Doris grew up in the Cat Island community, the daughter of Samuel J. and  Gladys Bradshaw. It was a small, close-knit community in the east side of town, where if you were not kin to someone, you felt like you were.

Early in her marriage, she took her mother-in-law into her home and cared for her nine years. “Granny Molly was special and she adored my mother,” said Anna, who noted that she and William were both young children at the time.

After 25 years of marriage and after the death of her mother-in-law, Doris and her husband, Jack Lovelace, were divorced. “However, she remained a good sister-in-law to my aunts, Virgie and Hazel. They were still family to her,” Anna shared.

“My mother was a Godly woman, who studied her Bible, lived it and taught it. If you picked her Bible up today and thumbed through it, you would find scripture underlined, sermons marked, the dates they were preached by the name of who preached them. By other scripture are names — people she prayed for that particular day,” Anna said in describing her mother’s worn Bible.

Doris taught Sunday School at both Siam Baptist and Beck Mountain Baptist Church. “When we were growing up we attended Siam Baptist, and my mother taught the Intermediate Class. My dad was a deacon, so for may years she prepared the communion table,” said Anna.

For the past 25 years or more, Doris had faithfully attended Beck Mountain Baptist Church, where she taught the Adult Ladies Sunday School Class up until a couple of years ago.

Doris also enjoyed Bible school and rarely missed one until a couple of years ago when she broke her arm.

“My mom often shared that she regretted that she never went to school and became a teacher. She loved teaching almost as much as she did people. She taught me what it is to be a good mother, to love people even when they are unlovable, and to be a person of faith,” said Anna.

Her brother, Nick, noted at Doris’ funeral, it was she, who led him to the Lord, who was there cheering him on when he accepted the call to preach and was later ordained to the ministry.

Doris was a very talented person. She enjoyed sewing and made Anna’s wedding dress when she married. “She made dresses for every girl in our family, and not so long ago, she and my granddaughter, Isabelle, made a dress together,” Anna shared.

In her spare time, especially in the evening, Doris liked to read, especially mysteries. She read four to six books some weeks. She also shared her love of reading with her children and grandchildren.

Anna and Doris’ favorite thing to do was to go on small vacation trips to Myrtle Beach, Florida, and Gatlinburg. “She especially enjoyed the Thomas Kincaid Gallery in Gatlinburg,” said Anna.

“My mom had the cleanest house in the community. She enjoyed cooking and canning. She especially liked making cakes and cookies from scratch. We are sure going to miss her cooking when holidays come,” Anna lamented.

Doris Lovelace was the best example we know of being a good neighbor. For most of my life she was our neighbor, living just out the road from us in the Beck Mountain-Siam community. For several years, I attended church with her. I remember her as a humble, loving person, faithful to her church, friends, and family.