Doheny Memorial Library, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189 Send requests to address or e-mail given. Phone (213) 821-2366; fax (213) 740-2343. USC Libraries Special Collections specol@usc.edu
Description
Interview with Ernestine Reems. She was born on June 7, 1929 and grew up in Oklahoma. Her father was a traveling evangelist, traveling through Kansas, Oklahoma, eventually migrating to Richmond, CA. He preached in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and other towns. Mr. and Mrs. Farthing, her principal at school, took her under their wing when she was between seven and eight years old. She came to the Bay area with Bishop Samuel Crouch, who told her she would be a missionary. She sings small fractions of a few of her favorite songs growing up. "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" is possibly her most favorite from childhood. Bishop Crouch was very well educated, and kept church organized but never kept the congregation late, and so the youth would go to another church in the evenings. Her style of preaching comes from her father's example. He taught mainly in parables, and spoke so plainly that even the children could understand. Unlike her father, she attended Bible college. Her mother was a humble, quiet, and sweet woman. She was an excellent cook, and many memories include baking or cooking other things in the kitchen. Her father's church, the Ephesian Church of God in Christ was the largest of it's kind in the Bay area for many years. Her dad let her preach her first sermon when she was fifteen years old. Though the Church of God in Christ denomination would not allow its members to dance, drink, smoke, play ball, etc. she feels blessed to have had the background and sweet people surrounding her. She had a difficult time starting out in her ministry, because people did not support women preaching, especially in the Church of God in Christ. She made the decision to become independent in order to serve the poor and bring in others who do not know Christ from the community. She calls herself a real woman of faith she bought her first church building and paid for it in five years "with no one but Ernestine and the Lord". She owns 140 units which she negotiated for ten years that go toward low income people. She tells the tale of how the former landlord was inspired by her zeal and told her he would will the property to her after he died, if she would just give him a dollar. Though she agreed, he passed away that very afternoon and her struggle continued in pursuit of the housing. She eventually got the property with a developer with the help of the mayor. Worship is the central idea in her spiritual experience. She is the aunt of Tremaine Hawkins. Her goal throughout life was to put faith in God, no matter what she did. She feels a great need for young people to have people to look up to, and wants to set an example by her life of what she preaches. Her favorite song, her song of praise is "My Soul Loves Jesus".
Type
moving image
Format
2 video files (58 min.) : digital, mp4 file Traditional Gospel Contemporary Gospel interviews streaming vidoe
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