Newspaper, Profile of Aline Chapman Sanders, LaSalle Parish La. ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** Copied by: Pat Ezell PatEzell@worldnet.att.net Submitted by: Kathy LeMay Kelly, P.O. Box 219, Trout, La. 71371 From the Jena Times - Olla Tullos Signal, Wednesday, November 10, 1999, Section A, Page 5 Thank You to the Times -Signal for allowing the following to be added to the Archives. A Times-Signal Feature...."Citizen Profile" A Very Special Salute Faithful. Dedicated. Committed. When one looks at the life of Aline Chapman Sanders, these three words immediately come to mind. For over 29 years, Mrs. Sanders has had a perfect attendance in her Sunday School class at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Little Creek, that is, she has never missed one Sunday in nearly 30 years and doesn't plan being absent anytime soon. Mrs. Sanders was born on September 12, 1919, to John Allen Chapman and Malissa Ann Sills of the Antioch Community. She grew up in the hills of Antioch and attended grammar school at Antioch School until the seventh grade. She then attended Jena High School where she graduated in 1939. This year was her 60th high school reunion. While growing up in Jena, she met a young man by the name of Henry S. Sanders. After high school they began courting while Mrs. Sanders worked as a waitress at Nick's (Nick Edwards) Café in Jena. She then went on to work at the PX at Camp Livingston as assistant manager and then manager. Mr. Sanders grew up in the Little Creek community and graduated from Good Pine High School. Both worked for sometime after high school and were planning on getting married when World War II broke out. "In 1942 he was drafted and went into the Army," she recalled. "But as soon as he got back we were married." And so on November 18, 1945, the two were married in a not so fancy wedding. "A Justice of the Peace married us but if I had it to do over again, I'd gotten married in church," she said, "but it wasn't a big thing back then." The couple first lived in a house on old Widows Lane in Jena, until several years later they bought a house in Jena on the Aimwell Road. And she has lived in that same house ever since. For several years after they'd first gotten married, they would alternate on which church they'd attend each Sunday. You see, Mrs. Sanders was raised a Methodist at the Antioch Free Methodist Church, and Mr. Sanders was raised a Baptist at Ebenezer Baptist Church. "For a while we'd go to my church one Sunday and his the next, but after Steve (their first and only son) was born, we decided that we needed to get established," she said, "so we agreed to go to Ebenezer and I haven't regretted it one bit." On October 24, 1953, Mrs. Sanders was baptized at Ebenezer Baptist Church, as is accustomed in Baptist churches for people joining from other denominations. Mrs. Sanders started attending Sunday School but it wasn't until several years later that the church would begin a program which would recognize and award its members for being faithful to Sunday School classes. The program allows each member who never misses a Sunday School class all year long to receive a special pennant for each year. Mrs. Sanders' pennant today stretches about two feet in length with the last piece reading "29 years." Mr. Sanders was a logging contractor and had a good business, and he was also a deacon in the church and Sunday School teacher. Mrs. Sanders eventually taught Sunday School also and served in many other capacities at the church. She said that going to church on Sunday at the Sanders house was as common as the sun coming up each day. "We never entertained the thought of anything other than going to church on Sunday," she said. "One time, one of our sisters from Oklahoma came down to visit and planned a get together on Sunday. I let her know quick that I wasn't going to miss church." Mrs. Sanders said that as Christians, going to church on Sunday shouldn't even be a question, and being faithful in attendance is something which she believes her Lord expects. "People ask me all the time when they find out I haven't missed a Sunday in nearly 30 years how I did it," she said. "Well you can't go to family reunions, homecomings, and other events on Sunday. You've got to be committed and just go." Throughout the years, there have been two or three times in which she would leave between Sunday School and worship service to attend church somewhere else during a special event - but she always attended Sunday School. "I've even heard of people staying home and missing Sunday School because they said they needed to get dinner ready," she said. "Well, growing up, there were 11 of us altogether and we fed half of the community. But I never heard anybody say, 'I'll stay home and cook dinner'." For over 43 years, until Mr. Sanders passed away in 1989, the two were together for what Mrs. Sanders called a wonderful marriage. "Henry had a good job and provided our needs, so we didn't have that to worry about, but overall we had an above average marriage," Mrs. Sanders said. "We didn't have many problems," she continued. "The real reason our marriage was so great and worked the way it did was because we were both Christians and were raised in Christian homes. Our parents taught us the value of living for God and that is the only way marriages can work." She continued: "Somebody asked Billy Graham's wife if she'd ever thought about divorce, no - kidding, yes'. Well, I can honestly say that I never thought that way and you know, we never even thought above divorce." Mrs. Sanders truly loved her husband and said that she didn't really know how much until he was gone. "Henry was the head, he was first in my life," she said. "I really didn't know I leaned on him as much as I did until he died. But you know, after he died I started praying more, I started studying my Bible more, I started meditating on God more, and I really got close to Him." Mrs. Sanders said that if she had only one message to give that she would tell people to live for the Lord. "Seek Him while you're young," she said. "Everyone that gets Him later always wishes they'd found Him sooner." For young couples, she said that there is no substitute for God in their homes. "Let the Lord be the rule of your house," Mrs. Sanders said. "If both are Christians then make sure you go to church. You might still have problems but you'll have the Lord to help you get through them." Mrs. Sanders also said that the decline of the moral values of our country and the turning away from God is the reason we have so many problems today. "Things that people used to do were unacceptable but today people think that it's 'cool'," she said. "Well, I want you to know that what was sin then is still sin today. A lot of people don't know that." She also said that she doesn't know how the world can stand much longer if people do not return to God and His standards. "Without the people turning back to the Lord there isn't much hope," she said, "but through Christ we do have hope." She noted that one of the ways America has changed is in its practice of reading God's Word. "When I was growing up we'd have what you call a family altar," she said. "Somebody would read the Bible and we would pray. We even did this when Steve was growing up. But for the most part, sadly to say, families don't have family altars anymore." Today, at 80 years of age, Mrs. Sanders is working harder than ever for her Lord. She is not only committed and faithful to Him through church attendance, but she is an extremely dedicated servant. Her ministry of visiting those in need, especially those in the hospital and nursing homes, keeps her busy every week. "It just brings me joy and happiness to share my time and love with those in the nursing home" she said. "My visits to Golden Age Nursing Center probably mean more to me than they do to those I visit." Mrs. Aline Sanders is certainly a model for any Christian to turn to as she witnesses for her Lord each and every day. As a wife, a mother, a friend, and most importantly a Christian, Mrs. Sanders has definitely earned the respect of all that know her as one of Jena's most faithful, dedicated and committed individuals. It is for these reasons that we salute her this week as our Citizen Profile.