Church History (Continued)

First Providence honors our church's First Lady, Linda Pope.

Our 8th and current Mother of the Church Sister Tessie Wingfield, served as church clerk for 48 years.

Since 1988, deserving members of the church have been set aside and named Man of the Year, Woman of the Year and Black History Honorees:

	Man of the Year	Woman of the Year	Black History Honorees
1988	Benjamin Anderson	Bernice Norris	Nelson Wingfield, Sr.
1989	Sam Parker	Flora Birt	W.B. Coleman
1990	Williams H. Williams	Tessie Wingfield	Jerry L. Cannon
1991	Frank Donahue	Mary W. Bright
1992	Sebastian Green, Sr.	Mildred Stringer
1993	Jerry L. Cannon	Rosa B. Carter	Rocelia Daniels
1994	Wyatte Brown	Cynthia Green
1995	Mitchell N. Stokes	Juanetter Aaron
1996	Alexander Pope, Jr.	Pamela Wise

First Providence produced the first Black Railroad Engineer, the late Deacon Nelson Wingfield, Sr. Deacon Wingfield retired in that position from the Southern Railroad in 1970.

The first Black manager for Merry Brick and Tile Co., Deacon John H. Jones is also a member of First Providence.

From our membership also comes the first Black to receive a Masters Degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Washington in Seattle, Sister Teresa R. Bright.

Sister Mary Harden Wright brought to the church the idea of Woman's Day some forty years ago. This was an annual affair which was held each year in October.

The first president of the North Augusta Community Association, church member Sister Mary W. Bright was recognized by President George Bush for her community efforts. Sister Bright is the church's first Library Coordinator, the first Nursery Coordinator and the person responsible for bringing the idea of Vacation Bible School to the church more than 30 years ago.

Our Pastor, Alexander Pope, Jr., was elected to his second term as Moderator of the Mt. Canaan Baptist Association, Inc., during their 1996 Annual Session. Also during that Session, the Association organized an Ushers Convention (the first in it's 118 year history), with it's first elected President Mitchell N. Stokes, a Deacon at First Providence Baptist Church.

We have come this far by faith and through God's sustaining power we will continue to press toward the mark of the high calling and "to God be the Glory."

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