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Have you noticed? Isn’t it evident? I am a ninth generation Presbyterian from the Valley of Virginia. A great deal of my childhood was spent within the walls of Murray Hall for Sunday School, Youth Fellowship, choir practice, Bible school, Brownies and just helping out. Murray Hall was the education building for Lexington Presbyterian Church. There I learned so many stories from the Bible, but the memory of my mother, Mabel Sites Barritt, overshadows them all.
My mother was the first woman elected to the Session. She was then just 39. Later, she was elected as the first woman on the Board of Deacons. She became Moderator of the Lexington Presbytery and then, 20 years later, was elected Moderator of the successor Shenandoah Presbytery. During this time, she was also caring for my sister Julie, who was terminally ill with cystic fibrosis.
In the mid-seventies, she created the Rockbridge Area Presbyterian Home, a place of refuge for abused and neglected children. Mother served as the unpaid administrator of that home for eight years and received an award for service to children from the Virginia Association of Children’s Homes. Later, she led a successful effort to preserve the Massanetta Springs Conference Center. Mother was totally committed to her church and the golden rule of Christianity.
She taught the communicants class for seventh graders for decades. A former student wrote:
I was going to say that she was among of the most remarkable women I have known. That halves the sample; she deserves better. Mabel Sites Barritt was among the most remarkable people I have known. Rarely has anyone loved so many so much.
My mother, Mabel Barritt, was a sterling example of Christianity in action. Not a minute passes that I do not miss her. Always guiding her work was her, (no, our) favorite scripture, Matthew 25: 35-37.
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