Remembering Miss Addie

Retired teacher Addie Jane Peyton Aldridge - Miss Addie - lived by the adage, "If Moses had waited until everybody was ready, the children of Israel would still be in Egypt." One little girl suggested that Moses should have had some grownups like Miss Addie to help him with those children of Israel. Miss Addie has been Cassie McWhorter's best friend as far back as Cassie can remember. When ten year old Cassie was baptized, 92-year-old Miss Addie told the church about her baptism in the creek at Bailey's Mill in 1908, and she told her young friend, "Cassie, when you come to the hard decisions in life, remember your baptism. Close your eyes and feel the water, and you'll know what you need to do." Cassie was fi fteen when she confi ded in Miss Addie that God was calling her to preach. At nineteen, Cassie helps conduct her 101-year-old friend's funeral and soon fi nds herself facing unexpected challenges as the new pastor of Peyton's Chapel Baptist Church, where Miss Addie and all of her kinfolks are buried. Remembering Miss Addie is a story of inter-generational friendship, a powerful blessing, and one who receives the gift and pays it forward.