The Gospel Blossoms in the Azalea City

Settled in 1711 by the French, Mobile became the first permanent town in Alabama. French influence is still felt in Mobile during Mardi Gras and is seen in the houses and buildings trimmed with lacy iron grillwork. The most pervasive French influence, however, is the azalea, a beautiful flowering shrub that was brought to America by the French and that blossoms in Mobile along the Azalea Trail each spring.

A beautiful coastal city just north of the Gulf of Mexico, Mobile has a mild climate and good soil, which makes the area a thriving farming community and encourages year-round outdoor activities.

As early as 1843, Latter-day Saint missionaries were called from Nauvoo, Illinois, to labor in Alabama. But the real growth of the Church in the Mobile area didn’t begin for another ninety years. According to a history kept by Brother Melvin and Sister Allie Sanders, in 1932 Brother Cecil A. Putnam came to Mobile, opened a restaurant, and hung a picture of the Salt Lake Temple on its wall. Brother Putnam wrote to the Southern States Mission, which was headquartered in Atlanta and presided over by LeGrand Richards, to obtain the names of other LDS families in the area. Thereafter, Sunday School meetings were held in the homes of various members and in rented halls until the Springhill Avenue chapel was completed in 1946. Church membership increased steadily, and on 19 March 1967 a new chapel on Zeigler Boulevard was dedicated by Harold B. Lee of the Council of the Twelve.

Brother Marvin Johnson, an administrator with the Mobile County School System, can recall attending Sunday meetings in a rented hall where cigarette butts and beer bottles from a previous night’s revelry had to be removed before church services could begin. During his lifetime, the Church has grown from a humble beginning of a few families in the Mobile area to a stake with ten wards and branches and a membership of almost two thousand.

“I clearly recall my baptism and how special it made me feel to know that I had been baptized by the holy priesthood,” remarks Brother Johnson. “I was able to serve a two-and-a-half-year mission in West Berlin, Germany. Knowing that the gospel is true is not enough. One must live the teachings of the Church to derive the greatest blessings in this life and throughout eternity,” he says.

“My great-grandmother, Martha Caroline Geck Martin, was the first person in the area to be baptized,” says Sister Jean Johnson. “A few months later my great-grandparents, James Columbus and Millie Dee McIntosh, who were neighbors of the Martins, joined the Church, too. A Sunday School was organized and held in their old farm home for many years. They loved the gospel of Jesus Christ and taught their children through love and example. My mother was one of those children. She had a strong testimony and a great compassion for other people.”

The Johnsons, with their five children, continue to share their love and knowledge of the gospel frequently by inviting friends and co-workers into their home.

Tina Keller has been a member for two years. Tina remembers, “Before my baptism, our marriage was good, but something always seemed to be missing. Now that I am a member, my husband, Steve, and I have a common goal to work toward: we want to be together in the celestial kingdom. Our home is centered around the gospel, and we are raising our children to live by its principles.”

Ginger Pierce is a nineteen-year-old seminary teacher in the Mobile First Ward. “I have been greatly blessed by being able to teach seminary this year,” she says. “Not only do I get to share what I believe so deeply with the youth in our ward, but I get to learn more about the Book of Mormon and increase my own testimony. The gospel is our most precious gift.”

Helen Auble was interested in religion and not entirely satisfied with the teachings of her church when the missionaries knocked on her door in 1956. While her life-style was not bad in terms of the world, she did not know about the Word of Wisdom and did not believe in tithing.

“My life made a complete turnaround when I accepted the gospel,” she says. “I had always practiced provident living as far as I understood it, but now I had found a place to learn more and to share what I knew with others. I found a resource to help me raise my children. I found lessons to help me be a better wife. I found encouragement to develop talents I didn’t even know I had. The Church has given me opportunities to serve in many ways which have brought favorable attention from the community and made it possible to share our life-style with the non-LDS in our community.”

Michelle H. Madison, Relief Society president of the Theodore Branch, and her husband Roger, a counselor in the stake presidency, are the parents of seven children. Michelle talks about the gospel influence in her life. “The difference the gospel has made in my life is knowing that I am a child of a living and loving Heavenly Father, that if I live by gospel principles, and influence my family to do the same, we can all be together forever as a family. There is great joy in having this knowledge.”

The Madisons constantly try to share the gospel with their neighbors and place copies of the Book of Mormon wherever they can.

Sandra Roy, a counselor in the Relief Society presidency of the Mobile First Ward, is grateful the gospel was brought to her. “How shallow and meaningless life is without it! Through striving to live the gospel and to follow the whisperings of the Holy Ghost, I know I am a better wife and mother than I would otherwise be.” Sandra always finds opportunities to share with friends and associates the fact that she is a Latter-day Saint. “I enjoy discussing points of doctrine and try to bring the Church programs and events into a conversation whenever possible,” she says.

Longtime members and new converts alike expect that tremendous growth will take place in the Church in the Mobile area. It is only a matter of time—and faith. Like the azaleas that blossom every spring, the gospel is flowering in the hearts and lives of thousands in southern Alabama.

Correspondent: Sue Hammett, Sunday School teacher in the Stone Mountain (Georgia) Ward.

Photography by Lisa Leonard

The Mobile stake center is a gathering place for the Saints. (Inset) Sister Bertha Edwards and her four children are members of the Mobile First Ward.

(Upper left) Mobile youth socialize between church meetings. (Above) Mobile member Ricardo Mendoza is a student from Venezuela. (Left) Sisters Kathy Wilson and Susan Ottinger serve by teaching Sunday School and Relief Society classes.