Wynn, Pauline Gorton (Mrs. John)
6/19/1918
Aug. 1, 1844 - June 19, 1918 |
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| Mrs. Pauline Gorton Wynn, was born in Natchez. Miss., on August 1st, 1844, and died on June 19th, 1918, having almost completed her seventy-fourth year. She was the daughter of Joseph Gorton and Olive Fuller Wilmarth, and in their home she, along with two sisters and two brothers, received a Christian training through the consecrated example of her parents. She did not have the opportunities of college life, but in addition to the local schools, she attended school in Troy, New York, where her training was exceedingly good for those days. On December 25th, 1862, she was married in Waterproof, La., to the Rev. John F. Wynn, and for fifty-six years she stood by his side and proved a devoted wife and assistant in a ministry of more than usual fidelity and spiritual helpfulness. She was the mother of eight children, two of whom died in infancy. The remaining six, are the Rev. R. H. Wynn, D. D., President of Centenary College; J. W. Wynn of Rayne, La.. Mrs. Octavia Rickey, wife of the Rev. H. W. Rickey, of the Louisiana Annual Conference; Mrs. E. W. Wall, of Baton Rouge, La., Miss Alice Wynn, of New Orleans, La., and Miss Mary Wynn, of Crowley, La. For thirty-eight years, Mrs. Wynn's life was spent in humble homes in-different. sections of Louisiana. During these years she reared her children to manhood and womanhood, with such success-in their spiritual training that each one of them in childhood, some at. a surprisingly early age, entered into the Christian life. Perhaps nothing in Mrs. Wynn's life was quite so evident and characteristic as the simplicity and completeness of her Christian character, for her faith and devotion were sincere and unfailing. She was a devoted student of the Word of God, and in her last illness, she would still ask for her Bible and her glasses. She was unselfish to a fault, and her thought was always for the comfort and welfare of others, literally giving herself in service for others. Her life was indeed a life of prayer, and with deep spiritual views of life she carried everything to God in prayer. In her later years, through physical weakness, she was subject to spells of depression, but those who knew her life never had any doubt of her unclouded spiritual sky. As a pastor's wife, discharging without stint the duties of her position, she left in every community in which she lived the sweet aroma of a rich and helpful Christian life. In 1900 her husband felt forced to retire from the active ministry on account of the increasing infirmities of age, and from that time until her death, their home was in Crowley, La., where her godly life, her Christian ministrations and her spiritual vision were a comfort to many hearts. Near her home was a large community of poor neighbors who quickly learned to come to her for help in their troubles, confident of her sympathy and assistance. Her death and burial were the occasion of universal grief in the community where she lived for nearly eighteen years., "Rich and poor, from the neighbor of wealth to the washerwoman's son. Protestant and Catholic, wept over the peaceful face in it's last sleep." Such a life can not die, but lives in the living of those whom she touched, and will live on as they touch the lives of others, and also will live in glory with the Lord whom she served. |
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| Source: Journal Louisiana Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 1918, page 56-57, by. W. W. Drake and Jno. F. Foster | |
