Mrs. Liller P. Bates with daughter-in-law, Pecola Bates (left), administrator of the Bethesda Senior Center, and daughter Patricia Murrell.
The one o’ clock prayer meeting had just finished at the Bethesda Senior Center. Gripping the handles of her four-wheel walker, Mrs. Liller P. Bates, known affectionally as Mother Bates, makes her way to a seat. Afternoon sunlight streams through the windows giving her face an angelic glow. To this day, she is still guided by her mother’s counsel offered years ago, to ‘always put God first.’ In a soft voice, Mother Bates explains, “Every morning that I wake up, I thank the Lord that He kept me safe, held back death and disease, and gave me another day.”
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