Her life was ordinary and yet — extraordinary

BATON ROUGE – She married late in life and moved from her home in Mississippi to Baton Rouge with her husband.

She lived in the same house for almost 50 years. She walked to the nearby grocery store on Plank Road for her basic provisions.

Because she never learned to drive, her husband or friends drove her where she needed to go. And she loved working for the Lord in her local church.

If that was all there was to know about Monnie Mosley then it could be said that she lived a fairly average existence. But this strong, independent lady saw more than the average number of years in her life, 96 years to be exact, during which she touched many lives.

"Miss Monnie," as she was affectionately known to the staff of the Louisiana Baptist Foundation, was born into a farming family in northern Mississippi in June of 1909. As a child she played with the children of sharecroppers who farmed the family land, no matter the color of their skin. "I didn't think they were any different than me," she would often say. "They were my friends." This attitude would serve her well throughout her life.

During World War II, she served as a civilian aircraft mechanic at the Clarksdale, Miss., Air Field, supervising a group of young ladies who serviced military aircraft.

Women aircraft mechanics work on a World War II dive bomber at Clarksdale, Miss., during July 1943.A grin would cross her face as she reminisced "We could do everything to those planes but fly ‘em. Could have done that, too, if they would have let us!"

But what made Monnie extraordinary was her heart. On the outside she could sometimes be testy, opinionated, and even a little gruff. On the inside, though, her heart was as big as her strong, booming voice.

She was a natural teacher. Though not officially "schooled" as a teacher, she spent her life instructing others, mostly in the ways of the Lord. As a young lady, her first opportunity came when she taught the children of migrant Chinese farm workers. These children weren't allowed in the public schools, so Monnie took them into her home and taught them and loved them.

After she and her husband moved to Baton Rouge in the 1950s, she immersed herself into teaching Sunday School to the teenagers at the old Highland Baptist Church. She preferred teaching boys; "Boys were Programeasier to handle than the girls in those days," she would say.

Then Monnie would recount with pride the number of young "preacher boys" who grew out of her Sunday school classes. She later moved on to teach adult ladies classes.

A visitor in her home would usually see her Bible and a Sunday school teacher's guide on the floor by her chair. A Herschel Hobbs commentary wasn't too far away either. She loved the Lord and loved telling and instructing others about His love for her.

Even though Miss Monnie passed away in 2006 she hasn't stopped telling others about her Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

She made sure that her legacy of telling others the Good News will continue. Years ago, Monnie and her husband, James, each drafted a Will that left any assets they had to the Louisiana Baptist Foundation for the benefit of the North American Mission Board and the International Mission Board.

Acting on the Mosleys' instructions, the Foundation will established an endowment that pays an income stream each year to so that the gospel of Jesus can be shared with people of every race, every creed, and every tongue.

Mrs. Monnie Mosley's legacy of teaching others about Jesus will continue because she had the forethought and initiative to act on what God instructed her to do with her assets beyond her lifetime.

That is extraordinary!