This week in our history Alma Hunt reached her centenary. Miss Alma died in June 2008 at age 98. If she had lived another 16 months she would have observed her 100th birthday on Oct. 5. Surely there would have been fireworks over Roanoke; after all, when she turned 90 she was presented a key to her hometown. There would have been cake and candles and many stories to share. She would have been gussied up and sporting her trademark red-polished fingernails. There would have been hugs, kisses and many laughs.
Fred Anderson
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Alma Hunt was arguably the most well known (next to Billy Graham) Baptist in the world. She belonged to the far-flung Baptist world and had visited most of it in her long service as executive secretary of Woman’s Missionary Union, her role as ambassador of goodwill for the International Mission Board and her participation in the Baptist World Alliance. Her passports indicate that she visited 93 countries. She kept her passport current and it was among the last things surrendered hours before her death. She would not need it for the final journey.
She belonged to the world but the world had to share her with Virginia. She had left her native state in 1944 to answer the call of her former pastor, Walter Pope Binns, to serve as dean of women at William Jewell College where he was president. In 1948 her name came to the attention of “national WMU” as the organization was searching for a new executive leader. Mrs. George McWilliams, president of Missouri WMU, wrote Binns for a recommendation. Alma’s only role in “the Union” had been to lead recreation at the annual YWA conferences at Ridgecrest. She flatly said “No, I don’t want the job.” But one night, after dinner in the Binns’ home, Binns said: “Now, Alma, I have to write to Mrs. McWilliams and what will I tell her is the reason that you won’t be considered?” Together the two — the college president and the dean — wrote a list of Alma’s “lacks for the job” and dashed them off to the WMU leader. Alma Hunt was elected in spite of her refusals.
And thank God, Miss Alma let God use her. For 26 years she steered the helm during some of the more exciting times in WMU history. She led “the Union” to acquire an impressive office building, to increase its membership past the one-million mark, to dramatically increase giving to the two great missions offerings and to sharpen its world vision as she served in various Baptist World Alliance posts.
Alma Hunt would have been 100 on Oct. 5
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She was uniquely gifted for her role. She had youth, boundless energy, contagious enthusiasm, a knack for hospitality and a happy disposition. She easily made friends. Her mother once questioned the volume of her out-going Christmas cards, declar ing that no one could know that many people. Alma picked up the pile and began to recite the itineraries of all the trips when she had stayed in the homes of those card recipients.
Alma Hunt officially retired from WMU in 1974 and returned to Virginia. At first, she moved into an apartment — appropriately the Hunt Club Apartments — in Richmond and served as a roving ambassador for the International Mission Board. She brought her passion for entertaining to Richmond and soon her home was the scene of dinner parties. In time, she moved to Roanoke and kept a close eye on her mother.
She moved into a condominium overlooking her hometown and her bedroom had a spectacular view of the skyline and the mountains. But she could not sleep in her own bed because it was piled high with correspondence and papers. She worked in the bedroom and slept in the guest room.
Her speaking engagements calendar as always full with room for just one more. Friends kept urging her to slow down. Once she answered a telephone invitation to speak at a church; and she politely declined. As soon as she put down the receiver, she said: “Well, it does look like I could manage just one more speaking engagement.” She called back and accepted.
On one of those many speaking trips, she was in Richmond and staying with friends. By then, she was in her late 90s. In the night, she needed medical attention. Her blood pressure was wildly fluctuating. This columnist took her to a hospital emergency room. At 1 a.m., the room was full. At the check-in desk, a nurse looked up and exclaimed: “Miss Alma Hunt! I remember when you came to speak at First Baptist when I was a GA!” Alma responded with the subject of her speech from the long ago. We were escorted back into the examining rooms. The doctors were smitten with this lively visitor who was talking non-stop. At three in the morning, we left the hospital; and yes, Miss Alma was in her usual good form to speak that morning for some local WMU group.
She was generous almost to a fault. The first time I ever met her she took out her pocketbook and wrote a membership check for the Virginia Baptist Historical Society. Once when she came to visit the Historical Society, she signed the guest register only to realize that she had just filled the last line in the book. Again, she opened her pocketbook to give me cash to buy another book. On visits to Roanoke, I often took her to some of her favorite restaurants. It always was a struggle to get the bill before Miss Alma could get the waiter’s attention; and once I embarrassed my wife by engaging in arm wrestling with our friend over the bill. She loved fried oysters and enjoyed telling about one man who once observed her eating and said, “Miss Hunt, you have an enormous appetite!”
She literally gave everything she had, including her good name, which was placed on a building at Camp Little Cross Roads, the Virginia WMU camp; a residence for the developmentally challenged operated by HopeTree Family Services; a theological library at the John Leland Center; and a museum and library at the WMU headquarters in Birmingham. In 1998 she also graciously allowed the use of her name for the annual State Missions Offering of the Baptist General Association of Virginia. Every year worthy projects are undergirded through gifts made to the Alma Hunt Offering. The picture which accompanies this column was taken when Miss Alma held up an offering poster in 2006 on her 97th birthday. We had gone together for breakfast at a Roanoke restaurant and I am forever grateful that on that occasion she permitted me to be the host. On her centenary the Alma Hunt Offering is a good place to remember a life well spent.
Fred Anderson is executive director of the Virginia Baptist Historical Society and the Center for Baptist Heritage and Studies. He may be contacted at [email protected] or at P.O. Box 34, University of Richmond, VA 23173.