JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Bethel Church is grieving the loss of its church mother, First Lady Estelle W. McKissick. She passed away on May 7 at 96 years old.
Her husband, Rudolph McKissick Sr., was the pastor of the church for 47 years, and the church grew tremendously, leading in the community and beyond. She was supportive of him and the congregation while being a loving mother and teacher.
Their son, Rudolph McKissick Jr., now leads the church with his wife. First Lady Estelle W. McKissick was a mother to the Bethel Church and throughout the city, where she spent 50 years educating hundreds of thousands of children in Duval County. Mrs. McKissick began her life being raised in the church at St. Paul AME with her mother, father and two brothers, when she and Rudolph McKissick Sr. crossed paths in high school.
They would date for nine years off and on, and then he proposed. He remembers her being overjoyed. There was just one thing, he would likely become a preacher.
“She said, ‘That’s fine, I always wanted to marry a preacher,’” McKissick Sr. said.
Their work in ministry would blossom and grow for decades in one of the oldest churches and largest predominantly African American churches in Jacksonville. She was a teacher, assistant principal, principal and district interviewer for Duval County Public Schools.
She implemented a drown-proof swimming program with the YMCA, as well as a peer and tutoring program. Among the many community groups she led, she is a life member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated, serving for 77 years.
As their ministry grew, so did their family, giving birth to their son, Rudolph McKissick Jr. He said it’s been challenging to grieve as her son.
“It’s challenging you, know it really is, you have to remember to practice what you preach and sometimes you have to let what you’ve preached to others minister to you and it’s a challenge,” McKissick Sr. said. “I have pastored for 35 years. I have never buried my mother, so it’s different, it feels different. I have to just let myself feel what I feel.”
He described her as “the best, the absolute best.”
For the many ways she has impacted lives, she loved many things. He will remember his mom for her singing.
“My mother was in the choir in the front row of the choir, the most expressive alto you would find anywhere,” McKissick Jr. said.
In life, one day we will all pass, but the legacy we leave behind remains powerful.
“I think for me, I am an only child, but I am an only begotten child,” he said. “She’s got many children. I think from my perspective, that is her legacy. That she mothered so many people that are still yet in this church, and her motherhood was not relegated, I don’t know if that’s the right word, it was not just confined to her womb. I’m the only one from her womb, but I am not the only one in her world, and I think that’s her legacy, not only in the church but in the community.”
For this Mother’s Day weekend, it will be the first time First Lady Estelle W. McKissick will not be there sitting in the front pews but she will be there in spirit as those who know her, learned of her and loved her, grieve the loss of a woman who was a wife for 62 years, mom and grandmother but also a mother to her church and community.
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