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1942 1944 1952 1959-1960

Bea Ames and Althea Hooker made the Eugene and Eleanor Hedger trained in Jonas Miller and family moved Jonas purchased farm land and
journey from NY to AL and began teaching Polk City, FL then moved to DeFuniak from Lancaster County, PA, to the gave it to CBM for the purpose of
Bible in the Dothan area schools, ultimately Springs to visit 15 schools in the Samson, AL, area; began visiting starting a camp. CBM accepted the
working in 20 schools! Panhandle about 10 schools land and gave Jonas the job of
developing it.

Mrs. Althea Hooker and Eugene Hedger Eugene and Eleanor Hedger Jonas and Ruth Miller Jonas Miller and family (1956) Ariel view 21 acres at Camp Victory
Miss Bea Ames

The Beginning-CBM of South Alabama

t was the middle of the war, in 1942, when began working with CBM in the Cordele area in
Bea Ames, a young single woman, and Al- the 1950s. In 1966 Samson and Ruth Whisnant
I thea Hooker, a recent widow, heard the call took over the CBM school programs there. The
Florida panhandle and Georgia programs
of God and set out from Buffalo, New York, to were under the Alabama
make the more than one thousand mile journey to division.
Dothan, Alabama. Hope Wells and Bea Ames With each visit to a
And so it began...the work of Children‘s Bible Mis- school classroom, the Alabama, Florida, and
Georgia missionaries would tell the children a
sion in south Alabama. Bible story, bringing the characters to life with
Upon arrival, Miss Ames and Mrs. Hooker immedi- depictions on flannel graph. They would encour-
a t e l y began visiting schools to tell age the children to memorize Bible verses, stor-
the sto- “And so it ries of the Bible. Harvey ing the Word of God in
B i r k y began...the work was the director of the Ala- their hearts. Rewards were offered and, in be-
b a m a CBM. A mere two years tween visits by the missionaries, the teachers
l a t e r , of Children’s Eugene and Eleanor Hedger would listen to the children recite their verses.
moved Bible Mission in from New York, first going
The Bible ladies! to Polk south Alabama.” City, Florida, for training, One…ten…twenty-five…fifty…100…200…
then to DeFuniak Springs, Florida 300…and the ultimate reward: A week of sum-
in his model A Ford to visit schools and tell Bible mer camp!
stories in the panhandle. Across the state line in GA, Agnes Mackey

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