A: Your Name Is Velma Pearl Archer Drake. You Were Born in Laclede County, Missouri

001_A_002_RLOW 12_2010_01_01.mp3

This is Andrew Gunnett. I’m interviewing Velma Drake. We’re conducting this interview in her home in Springfield, Missouri. The date is November 27, 2009. This interview is for the Religious Lives of Ozarks Women Archives conducted through Missouri State University, in Springfield, Missouri.

A: Your name is Velma Pearl Archer Drake. You were born in Laclede County, Missouri.

V: I must [?]

A: No. You are currently living in Springfield, Missouri; you’ve lived in Laclede County, Missouri from 1919 through 1941; Lebanon, Missouri 1941 through 2005; and Springfield, Missouri from 2005 to the present. Your current age is 89. You were born December 15, 1919. You had a high school, you went to high school in Stoutland, Missouri. You’ve been a housewife and secretary during the 1940s. Current religion is Christian, Disciples of Christ. You were married to Glen Drake, who’s deceased, and he was an auto mechanic. You have two childrens, Glenna Kay Lockmiller and Deanna Faye Gunnett. Is this all correct? Say yes.

V: Yes. I don’t know what I’m supposed to answer out loud and I…

A: Now the questions. How long have you been a member of the church?

V: Sixty years.

A: How, how did you get involved with the church?

V: Well, I grew up in the Disciples Church and, just, when I got to Lebanon, moved my membership there.

A: So, your parents got you involved at a young age?

V: Yes.

A: Have you been involved with other churches or religious organizations?

V: No.

A: What was the role of religion in your home when you were growing up?

V: I’ll have to think about that. We didn’t… Well, we went to Sunday School and church. And…

A: That was about it?

V: Mm-hmm. Yes.

A: What’s your, what is your strongest childhood memory related to God or religion?

V: Well, going to a little country church out in Laclede County and, and that’s where my membership was and was baptized.

A: O.k. When were you baptized?

V: When? Oh, gosh, …

A: How old?

V: Well, that’s what I was trying to think of… oh, about fourteen.

A: About fourteen? Do you recall any times, as a child, any times when it was different in your religious world because you were a girl…

V: No.

A: …and not a boy? O.k. What differences have you experienced in your life, religious life, because you’re a woman?

V: Well, I got to do a lot of things in the women’s organizations in the church at Lebanon.

A: Like what were some of those organizations?

V: Christian women’s fellowship.

A: What was your role?

V: Well, I had several.

A: Name them.

V: Well, I was president of the Christian Women’s Fellowship for two terms or more. And, and different, different offices in the circles of the Christian Women’s Fellowship.

A: O.k. What challenges or struggles have you faced in your religious life?

V: I don’t know, honey.

A: You don’t know? That’s fine. What person has most influenced your religious life?

V: Well, my mother, I think.

A: How? How has she influenced it?

V: Well, she’s taught, she taught me things and read the Bible and just influenced me and, being a religious character, I guess.

A: How do you think religious life is different from, for me, than it was for you?

V: Well, you just got so many challenges and so many, you, you, not challenges, but you’ve got so many obstacles in your way sometimes that I didn’t have.

A: Like what, exactly?

V: Well, like, like, well, the young people, when I was growing up, didn’t do the crime things that they’re doing now.

A: Yeah.

V: Yeah.

A: O.k. How would you like the church to remember you?

V: To remember me? Well, (laughs) don’t say well. Just trying to work as hard as I could in the church and doing the best I can, could, and influencing others.

A: O.k. You’re recently given, honored with the Elder Meritorious Pin. What are your feelings on this?

V: Well, I think, I think to be given that award is, I don’t think anybody would feel deserving of it, and certainly I don’t. But, as I look at it, I think of all the things that I’ve been able and honored to do in the church.

A: Like, what are some of those, besides the women’s fellowship?

V: Well, I was president of the, of the, vice president, and then president of the church board. And, oh, I don’t know, just… I’ve been on the Area board, I don’t know first thing, what area is… I’ve been president of our Area board, which center’s in Springfield.

A: Yeah.

A: Entering the conversation with Velma’s caregiver, Robert Gunnett.

R: Velma, I’ve been listening to the conversation in, it kind of started from when you went to the church in Lebanon. What church were you a member of when you got baptized?

V: Well, Abo, that’s “A,” “B,” “O” Christian Church in Laclede County.

R: It was a small church in the country?

V: Mm-hmm.

R: Did they have a minister there, all the time, or was there a traveling minister?

V: Traveling minister.

R: O.k. It was a man, right, not a woman?

V: Yes.

R: Did they have women ministers, that you know…

V: No.

R: …at churches back then?

V: No.

R: Would you like, do you think there would have been some good women ministers?

V: Yes, didn’t say [?]

R: Do you, do you think you’d have been a good minister?

V: No!

R: Why?

V: You want me to answer that?

R: Yeah, go ahead.

V: Well, I don’t have enough education to, to interpret the Bible like that good enough.

R: That’s a, that’s a good answer. Who baptized you?

V: Reverend E.M. Romine. He lived at Rolla.

R: About, about in 1933, I think you said you were about fourteen when you got baptized.

V: Yeah.

R: And did your church have a youth group?

V: No.

R: O.k. Was your father very religious?

V: No.

R: So most of your, your mother was your real role model when it came to religion.

V: Right.

R: When you were growing up and, after you moved to the church in Lebanon, I guess, you said you were a young woman by that time, right?

V: Hmm.

R: And you said that you were the, on the, church board?

V: Yes.

R: O.k. Do you think that, were there a lot of women on the church board at that time?

V: Well, a secretary and treasurer, something like that.

R: Do you, of course, now you see much more, many more women in positions of leadership than you did back then, right?

V: Yes.

R: Velma, we know that in your life you were, you were the, the baby of your family. So you seen your parents pass away and all your brothers and sisters, and you’ve seen your husband pass away. How, how has your religious beliefs helped you through the loss of all those family members?

V: Well, a great deal! Especially my husband. I feel like that the Lord has been with me every day, and with His arms around me.

R: And that’s given you great comfort?

V: Yes.

R: Do you still read the Bible?

V: Yes, I do!

R: Who is your favorite, your favorite woman in the Bible?

V: Mary.

R: Well, Mary, she, Mary, well she was one.

V: I guess Mary.

R: Well. Is there any person in the Bible, you know, you said earlier that your mother was the biggest religious influence on your life. Does your mother remind you of anyone in the Bible?

V: Pardon me?

R: Did your mother remind you of anyone in the Bible?

V: Oh, I don’t think so.

R: O.k. Do you, as we go to church today, there’s so many youth movements and youth activities. Do you think that’s a good thing for the young people in the church to be so involved, as they are? And do you wish you had that opportunity when you was a young person, say a young teenager?

V: Well, of course, the things are so different now. There wouldn’t have been the, the transportation then that there is now.

R: Right.

V: So there couldn’t have been.

R: Andrew asked you questions about receiving your Elder Emeritus recognition. Had you served as an Elder in the church before?

V: Yes.

R: Was that, how did you feel about being an Elder in the church? Was that something you took pride in? Were you humbled by it? How, how did that, how did that affect you, and how did you see yourself differently than some of the men Elders?

V: Well, yes, I, I took pride in it, and all. Sometimes, it’s hard to say this, but sometimes some of the men Elders just go when they serve. And I, and I learned that it’s that way in all churches.

R: So you, so you found that the men would be there on the days when they were supposed to be serving as Elders, but they wouldn’t necessarily be there at other times.

V: Some of them wouldn’t.

R: And you tried to be there every Sunday.

V: Well…

R: Tried to be.

V: Yes.

R: Do you have anything you’d like to add to this or anything you’d like to say about your religious beliefs or your religious background? Maybe, what is the single biggest thing that you’ve done in church, because I know that you’ve been on search committees, you’ve served on the area board, you’ve gone to how many General Assemblies for the Disciples Church?

V: Two.

R: Is it two general, have you ever been to an international assembly?

V: Mm-hmm.

R: O.k. Out of all these things you’ve done for the church, what stands out in your mind as the one that you feel the best about?

V: Well, I think, the one I, the international convention that I went to in nineteen and seven-, in nineteen and seventy-four.

R: Where was it at?

V: Lafayette, Indiana.

R: And, and why was that, was there a particular speaker, or what?

V: Yeah, it was the speakers and the singers.

R: And, and, and you felt yourself moved by it?

V: Yeah.

R: What did you do when you went to one of these assemblies? What did you do – I assume you went as a representative of your church, right?

V: Yes.

R: Did you come back to the church, did you speak to the congregation, did you just speak to the women’s group, or who did you speak to and tell them about your experience there?

V: Well, I don’t remember if it was ’74 or ’78 that I spoke to the congregation.

R: And did you give a report?

V: Mm-hmm.

R: And told them?

V: Mm-hmm.

R: Was there a particular speaker that sticks out in your mind that you heard speak?

V: Oh, yes.

R: Can you remember who it is?

V: Well, I know who it is, but I can’t, I can’t remember her name. She’s, she’s…

R: It was a woman, now?

V: Yeah.

R: Mm-hmm.

V: From Dallas.

R: Who…

V: From Dallas.

R: Who is the, the best minister that you heard, heard preach his sermon?

V: Well, I, I know, but I can’t think of his name.

R: That’s o.k. O.k., did you ever, did you ever preach a sermon at church?

V: No! I…

R: You think you’d like to?

V: No, I don’t have the …

R: Well, you said earlier that you didn’t have the educational background to be a Bible scholar. And, so, then I guess being a Bible, being a Bible scholar is important to you, in terms of being able to, to stand up and preach. Is that right?

V: Uh-huh.

R: O.k. Do you have anything else you’d like to add? Andrew, do you have another question? Alright, thank you.

A: This concludes the interview.