May 11, 2008
Newton -- Five generations gathered in a small Baker County church to give special honors to Alberta Kelly.
"When I'm down and out, I can go and lean on her. I can talk to her, and she gives me words of comfort. She tells me what I should do and what I shouldn't do. So that lifts me up. She has been a good mother. She has been there for all of us," said her daughter, Ella Hawkins.
Alberta is now 100-years-old, and it is very easy to see how far her self-less love has spread throughout the family, even to those who no longer have their mother's.
"I thank God for my grandmother because I have a mother now because she has taken her place," said her niece, Jeanette King.
"Love builds a strong and solid family. Without love you don't have a family," said Pastor of First Pleasant Grove Baptist Church, Jerome Pace.
And that love has spread through the generations. "I'm so proud of my two kids, Reginald and Lorenzo, because the same love I showed my mother, I get from my two children. And I just thank and praise God for my mother," said King.
And though Alberta's life hasn't been easy, it is her faith that has helped her through the century. "I had a hard time, a hard time, but God brought me through. I had a hard time raising my children back then, but God brought me through," said Kelly.
And it is that faith and her endless love throughout this family that represents the true meaning of motherhood on this Mother's Day.
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