"CHRISTINE CALLIER"

 “CHRISTINE CALLIER”

Our friend and longtime Oakhurst Presbyterian member Christine Callier died on August 8, and we had her funeral at Oakhurst on Friday.  We were grateful that current Oakhurst pastor OJ Flowers welcomed Caroline and me back graciously to assist in leading the service and for my doing the eulogy.  The sanctuary was full, and many dignitaries were there, including her son Congressman Hank Johnson, daughter-in-law Dekalb County Commissioner Mereda Davis Johnson, and Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff, who spoke during the service.

Christine was a remarkable human being, born in 1926 in rural south Georgia in Sandersville (also birthplace of Elijah Muhammad) in the middle of neo-slavery.  Refusing to be defined by the powers of racism and sexism, she went to Clark University and became a teacher.  She lived in DC for a while, then came back to Georgia, where she was the first Black teacher at all-white Livesey Elementary School on the north side of Dekalb County.  None of the white teachers or students wanted her there, but she was determined to demonstrate to them her humanity and their own humanity.  It worked – by the time of her retirement, the white parents hired a limo to pick her for school and to take her back home after school.  She had that kind of effect on people.  

She joined Oakhurst Presbyterian in the mid-1970’s, when Dr. Lawrence Bottoms was the first Black pastor.  She helped to build the multicultural church that it became.  As white folks were fleeing from Black folk coming to worship, and as Black folks were saying: “Nah, I don’t want to mess with white people,” Christine said: “Yes, let’s build a congregation where the dividing walls really are broken down.”  And she led Oakhurst in doing just that -  as an elder, as the first Black member in the Chancel Choir, as the Chair of several church committees, and as founder of the Supper Club, in which we read books and saw plays and movies, then met in people’s homes to discuss them.

In the early 90’s, she discovered a book for the Supper Club called “Brothers, Black and Poor’” written by Sylvester Monroe.  She also discovered that Mr. Monroe was the bureau chief for Time Magazine in Atlanta at the time, and she told me that she was going to get him to meet with us at the Supper Club.  I was skeptical that she could do it, but I told her to try to get him.  I had severely underestimated the power and persuasiveness of Christine Callier.  She got Mr. Monroe to meet with us at her home, and he ended up writing an article on Oakhurst for Time.  A full-page article entitled “The Gospel of Diversity,” appeared in the April 24, 1995, issue of Time, and it opened the doors to many visitors and to a media blitz, including AJC, CNN, NPR, CBS Radio, NBC News, NYT, the Christian Science Monitor, and many others - all coming to see for themselves.  Christine had laid the foundation for the modern, multicultural Oakhurst.  

We became good friends with her, and she was so supportive of our families, including marshaling funding and energy at Oakhurst during my mother’s terrible 4-month ordeal after being severely injured by a drunk driver in 1993.  She made a significant impact on our children, and our daughter Susan wrote these words on Christine’s passing:

     “I describe her, one of the extraordinary host of Black women Elders at Oakhurst, as the kind of person who made one sit up a little straighter, speak a little clearer, and be doing the kinds of good works in the world that would make her nod with approval when she received a report (and she would be receiving that report).  I would not be who I am without Christine Callier; I am extraordinarily grateful to her, and I encourage everyone to read her obituary to understand what it means to live a life of good works.”  Check out her obit at Gregory Levett and Sons Mortuary or go to Legacy.com. 

So, we mourn her death at the age of 99, but she was an extraordinary person, so we give thanks to God and to her for passing by our way and sharing so many gifts with us and with so many people.  If you want to watch the funeral service, check it out at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsKZJCPS3xg.  Well done, good and faithful servant!