Methodist; surely a Trojan

By JAINE TREADWELL

Features Editor

Aug. 31, 2000 10 PM

What’s a Baptist doing working as a secretary at a Methodist church?

Well, if the Baptist is Susie Davis and the Methodist church is Park Memorial, she’s having the time of her life.

Davis, who is a transplant from North Carolina, has found the same warmth, friendship and love in the membership of the Methodist church that she found in her hometown in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains.

That says a lot because her family tree didn’t branch out very far. In fact, she laughingly said it almost went straight up and was little more than a trunk.

Everybody in the shadow of her mountains was related in one way or the other.

"The biggest town anywhere around was Wilkensboro and, if you added the population of Wilkensboro, North Wilkensboro and all the surrounding area, you wouldn’t have as many people as live in Troy," Susie said. "We lived out in the foothills in Ferguson. Ferguson wasn’t the name of a town, it was the name of the post office where we got our mail."

Susie said no matter which direction she took through the forest around her home, she would come out in the yard of a grandma, grandpa, aunt or uncle or cousin.

"We lived at the end of a little road and, after the road ended, there was nothing but forests and mountains," Susie said. "But I’ve always had people around – family around. It was a happy time, growing up in the foothills of North Carolina."

One day, Susie was in town and saw a handsome young man driving through on a truck and she grabbed him.

"He was the only boy in town who wasn’t related to me," she said, laughing.

Jerry Davis was a Mississippi man and a soon-to-be military man. He and Susie married between his basic training and his advanced infantry training.

"If he wanted me, he had to marry me then," Susie said, with a smile.

The girl from North Carolina married the boy from Mississippi. They had three children in Tennessee and then moved to Germany.

But, they also served a short stint at Fort Rucker, so when Davis was assigned to the Army control tower at the airfield in Troy, Susie couldn’t have been happier – unless the assignment had been to Ferguson and the foothills of home.

"I liked Alabama when we were at Fort Rucker and I love it now," Susie said. "The people make it so wonderful. Everyone is so friendly and nice especially the church congregations that we have been associated with – Southside and Park Memorial."

Susie said although she is Baptist, she feel right at home in her position as secretary at Park Memorial.

"It’s almost like being at home with my family," she said. "So many people here remind me of a relative – an aunt, uncle or cousin – maybe once or twice removed – or even a double first cousin. I feel right at home here."

Susie makes a place for herself by being a part of whatever is going on around her office.

On Teddy Bear Day for the preschoolers, she brought along her Teddy bear.

"Actually, Santa Claus brought Bubba to my son Ethan but I’m more attached to him than Ethan," she said.

"He talks and he has a personality and I just really like him."

Susie still has her first Teddy bear, Claude, which was actually a Teddy dog, that her daddy gave her when she was a child.

"I gave him to my children and he’s still a part of our family," she said.

Susie’s family includes her husband, Jerry, daughters, Brittany, 12, Sarah, 10, and Ethan, 7. The children are students at Troy Elementary School and Charles Henderson Middle School.

Susie’s family, work and church activities keep her busy and involved and that’s the way she likes it.

She teaches Sunday school, plays the piano and sings in the choir.

"Singing is a matter of opinion," she said, laughing. "Playing the piano may be, too."

Other people have their opinions and Susie Davis has hers. She is 100 percent positive that she is right in saying that Troy is a great place to live and work and that being a Baptist secretary at a Methodist church is the perfect job for her.