Our Miss Alma

Alma Hunt had a healthy appetite. Among her thousands of stories which she delighted in retelling on herself, there was the story of the man who observed the petite Miss Hunt eating and exclaimed, “You have an amazing appetite!” And she did! She loved oysters; and whenever this columnist found himself in Roanoke, he and Miss Alma went in search of oysters or some other good food.

Alma Hunt's appetite was catholic. She liked to sample the smorgasbord of life. She enjoyed people, colorful personalities, history, good music, church life and, of course, missions. She partook heartily of the latter. Her grandmother often chided: “Alma, you'll never get anywhere. You like to talk too much.” It was her gift of conversation coupled with a natural gift of hospitality which made her sparkle.

She grew up in the First Baptist Church of Roanoke. Her father was a deacon and her mother was the founding president of a ladies Sunday school class and active in the Woman's Missionary Society. Alma was baptized at age 10 by Pastor John F. Vines and she was taken under the wing of the pastor's wife, Valeria Mabel Vines, who at the time was president of Virginia WMU.

Catherine Allen heard most of Miss Alma's stories and she once retold the following: “When little Alma muffed her parliamentary law in the Girls' Auxiliary, Mrs. Vines strictly ordered her, ‘Now Alma, just sit down and get back up and start over.' ” Alma Hunt remained faithful to those early orders and never quit.

In the '30s, Alma was superintendent of the young people's department of the Roanoke church's Sunday school. Beginning in 1932, she served as recreation leader at the Young Woman's Auxiliary conferences at Ridgecrest.

In 1935 Virginia Baptist women commemorated the centennial of Henrietta and Lewis Shuck's missionary journey to China. Pageants were staged across Virginia and the key leaders of the WMS in the Roanoke Valley turned down the opportunity to stage the Shuck pageant. They feared that it was too large a task. Alma was asked; and she did not know that the older women had refused. She accepted. On the night of the production, Blanche Sydnor White, the dynamic head of Virginia WMU, and Charles Maddry, head of the Foreign Mission Board, were in the audience. They were suitably impressed with the work of the young Roanoker.

In 1943 Pastor Walter Pope Binns left First Church, Roanoke, for the presidency of William Jewell College. He summoned Alma to join the administration as dean of women. In 1948 WMU, SBC needed to find a new executive secretary. Mrs. George McWilliams, president of Missouri WMU, wrote Binns for a recommendation and he called his dean into the office. “I said, ‘No, I don't want the job,” recalled Alma,” and he dismissed me. But that night after dinner in the Binns' home, he said, ‘Now, Alma, I have to write Mrs. McWilliams and what will I tell her is the reason you won't be considered?' And so we wrote a series of lacks which I had for the job and he sent them to her.” Despite her refusals, Alma Hunt was elected.

Another one of Alma's favorite stories was the reaction to her election by Emma Leachman, long associated with the WMU Training School. “[Years later] Miss Leachman told me that she cried all day when I was elected because she felt that WMU was lost forever; and when night came and she was exhausted, she told the Lord that he would have to look after WMU! She told me, practically on her deathbed, how grateful she later became because she had only known me as a recreational leader.”

If Miss Emma was doubtful, Miss Blanche was confident. Blanche Sydnor White penned the following headline for the Virginia WMU page in the Religious Herald: “In Loving Confidence.” She added, “Virginia is proud of Miss Hunt and we support her in every possible way.” Awhile later, Miss Alma dared to disagree with Miss Blanche over the emotional issue of church-wide missions offerings. Miss Blanche maintained that they were the women's offerings. Never mind that many of the wives got offering money from breadwinner husbands. Miss Alma held that the offerings should be open to all.

For 26 years, Alma Hunt gave superior leadership to WMU, the cause of missions and the banner of denominationalism. She led WMU, SBC to acquire a national office building, to increase its membership past the one-million mark, to dramatically increase its two missions offerings (the Miss Annie and the Miss Lottie), and to sharpen its world vision as she served in various BWA posts.

The Lord gave Miss Alma 35 more good years past her so-called “retirement” of 1974. She was active right to the last. She was a goodwill ambassador for Baptists and continued a full calendar of speaking engagements. Once this columnist was present as she pondered whether or not to accept yet another speaking invitation. Faced with the health dilemmas of the very elderly, she at first had declined the invitation. And then she said: “Well, it does look like I could and should! I think I will call her back and accept.” She accepted far more than she ever declined. The speaking engagements and the contact with people energized Alma Hunt. After a quick catnap, she always was as good as new.

She was generous almost to a fault. Once when she visited the Virginia Baptist Historical Society and signed the guest book, she realized that her signature had completed the book. She pulled out her wallet and left money for a new book. She led the annual fundraising walk-a-thons for the Virginia Baptist Children's Home; and for the Baptist General Association of Virginia, she even gave her name for its annual state missions offering. When Kingdom Advance was presented at the BGAV called meeting of 2002, she blessed it by offering the closing prayer.

There are so many Alma stories. She liked to tell the one on herself which might be titled “moving violations.” Her heavy foot on a gas pedal had caused a state patrolman to pull her aside. Miss Alma explained that she was on the way to speak at the dedication of an historical marker to Lott Cary, the pioneer missionary to Africa. “That policeman was not slightly interested in Lott Cary or missions,” laughed Miss Hunt. It was one ticket too many for “moving violations” and she was ordered to take a driver's safety course. She sat on the front row and acted attentive but the entire time she was outlining her next missions speech in her mind!

Her annual Christmas letters were a delightful mix of the sublime and the hilarious. Once she told about the time she unbuttoned her skirt for a more comfortable ride. At a roadside stop, she took a catnap. When she awoke, she got out of the car only to have her skirt fall to the pavement. When the noted minister Herschel Hobbs heard of her experience, he mailed her a pair of suspenders!

In January 2008, at age 98, she was ordained by her church, Rosalind Hills in Roanoke. Alma Hunt still possessed the appetite to do more, love more and give more.

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.