Boddie, Ella Mae Kegler (Mrs. David B.)
9/1/1965
MRS. DAVID B. BODDIE
July 2, 1885-September 1, 1965
“Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for this is the stuff that life is made of”. No one appreciated this concept of time more than did Mrs. Ella Mae Kegler Boddie. From her childhood, lived in Franklin, Texas, where she was born July 2, 1885, she lived a busy life. Upon completion of her education in high school and college she began teaching in the public schools of Texas. She was married to the Reverend D. B. Boddie in 1914 in the First Methodist Church of Katy, Texas. In 1919 the Boddies transferred from the Texas Conference to the Louisiana Conference.
Mrs. Boddie was especially interested in Christian Education and was never happier than when teaching a children’s class. In practically every church served by the Boddies in Louisiana Mrs. Boddie held an office in the children’s division or taught a class of children. She was Superintendent of the Junior Department of the Nolley Memorial Methodist Church in Jena, Louisiana, when she fell and broke her hip in 1962.
When Reverend Boddie retired in 1956 Mrs. Boddie continued to teach and held the office of Secretary of Children’s Work in the Woman’s Society of Christian Service in the Alexandria District. So time to Mrs. Boddie was the very essence of life.
She fulfilled the duties of a wife and mother in the home with grace, dignity and love. There was a Christian atmosphere about her home. Three sons were trained in her home by precept and example. All three have established Christian homes of their own. They are W. D. Boddie, Harbin Boddie, and George B. (Jack) Boddie. One could always find current Christian literature about the home that was being read and studied. Mrs. Boddie kept well informed about The Methodist Church to which she was always loyal and devoted.
She was interested in the program of the whole Church, but gave her best time and thought to the children’s work in the local church and in the District and Conference levels. She served as District Director of Children’s Work under the Conference Board of Christian Education and as secretary of children’s work in the Woman’s Society of Christian Service. She attended the annual meetings of the Conference Woman’s Society of Christian Service for forty-one years.
In and through all of her busy life she exemplified in her personal life such fruits of the spirit as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, fidelity, gentleness and self-control. These elements of Christian character enabled Mrs. Boddie to live a life rich and full. She sought to live a life rightly related to all persons. She saw people as persons.
In spite of the importance of her life and influence here, God saw fit to give her an opportunity for an even fuller life. So, on September 1, 1965, He transferred her to larger fields of service. She was such a wonderful friend, we will all miss her going.
On September 2 her funeral was conducted at the historic Nolley Memorial Methodist Church in Jena, Louisiana, with Reverends E J. Barksdale, Rev. Jolly B. Harper, John F. Kilpatrick and E. W. Sandel officiating. Burial was in the Nolley Memorial Cemetery.
Source: Journal Louisiana Conference, 1966; p. 235 By George W. Dameron
