Elizabeth Dale Brady
December 5, 1938 -  September 19, 2024

Visitation for Sister Dale Brady will be held on Monday, September 23, 2024 at Dexter Pentecostal from 4:00 PM until service time on Tuesday, September 24, 2024 at 1:00 PM with Rev. Jerry Terrell officiating. Interment will follow at Dexter Refuge Center Cemetery.

Elizabeth Dale Brady was born on December 05,1938. She was born to Beatrice Elizabeth Smith and George Thomas Smith, in the town of Halsell, Alabama. Unfortunately, at around 6 years of age, at the time of the depression her parents could not feed her or her brother, Donald C. Smith, and they were sent to a children's home in Montgomery, Alabama. They stayed there about a year and were allowed to go back home after. While she was there, she remembers being taken to a home as a trial for adoption. She believed the couple wanted a young child to be attentive to them and she just wanted to be left to herself. She laughed and said maybe her and her brother were bad and that's why they sent them home but either way she knows God sent her back so she could learn about him.

One of her most terrible memories of the group home, she had gotten out of bed after lights out, and they locked her in a dark room and she could feel roaches crawling where she slept.  She remembered crying all night. They were so thankful that whatever the real reason was, they were allowed to go home.

Once home, she attended school until the age of 16. During that time, she got pregnant, which was not planned or accepted even though it was the result of rape. She accepted a ride home and was assaulted.

She said she will never understand why but she was sent to a Mississippi mental hospital. She believes that her and the others were so poorly treated and that she delivered a baby boy there. She was thankful for the few moments she was given to hold her baby and then recalls them giving her a baby doll and continuing to tell her this was her baby. She said she was given electric shock therapy possibly to stop her from asking for her baby.

She was so thankful that she was eventually allowed to go home after 1 year and 8 months. She says "I wouldn't wish that place on my worst enemy ".

After she was home, she had two options. One was to go to Illinois to her sister Alice Anita's ( her sister ) house or a lady named Mrs. Thornhill had invited her to come to Baxterville, MS and finish her schooling there. She asked God what she should do, and she recalled having a dream that she was at a school and had to share her books and her teacher had red hair. When she woke up, she believed she knew what she was supposed to do. When she got to Baxterville's Christian school she was so shocked to be sharing her books and a red headed teacher walked in. It was just like she dreamed. Her dream had come to life, she exclaimed!! She Finished her schooling and Graduated at this same little Christian school.

Next, she met her husband J. C. Brady. Unfortunately, she was in another bad situation. He was very abusive and ran around on her, she said. Finally, after three and a half years, when she couldn't take it anymore, she remembers leaving him and going to her sister's house in Illinois for a year or so. When she returned, she found her husband had remarried.

This was another point in her life that she really did not know what to do. The Pastor and his wife from the little Christian School in Baxterville, MS offered her to come stay with them. She recalls being around 25 years old. She enjoyed life with them for almost 20 years. Mostly, she sold candy for them. Door to door and business to business.

In the beginning, she enjoyed selling Peanut Brittle for the little Christian school. Near the end of her 20 years in Baxterville she remembers hearing the pastor say things that were not his normal character. She also recalls his wife beginning to be sad over some of his new behavior. Out of nowhere the little Christian school burnt down.

At this point, the almost backslid Pastor and his wife relocated to Jayess, MS and she went with them.  She remembers this being some of the worst years of her life. By this time the former  pastor had become irrational. He got worse and she and many others suffered many unpleasant things over the next 20 years. He ended up in prison.

One day, one of the former Pastors adult daughters came over where she still lived with the family and said "Sister Dale you are going home with me, you are too old to be out selling candy". She remembers being so happy because she was more tired than we can imagine, she said. She gladly went with her.

Over the next 15 years, she said it was like being 18 again. Now she was allowed to make her own decisions and wasn't sure on her direction. She tried to find a way to continue to sell candy. She said "It's all I knew." She broke her hip and felt like the Lord was giving her a wakeup call to hang her candy selling shoes up. That didn't keep her down long. She has more leg strength than most 20-year-olds.     She had to learn the hard-way who to move in with and who not to. Where was good and safe and where wasn't. She said she was thankful the day someone called Brother Terrell & Sis Ruth and told them she needed a safe place to settle. They sent someone to get her and she spent the last 15 years, up to this point, at Dexter visiting and living with her Dexter Family. She now has a relationship with some of her blood family who she talks to daily on the phone. She is part of a daily prayer line. She calls in faithfully Monday - Friday nights, sometimes to listen and sometimes she prays.

She recalled about 5 years ago moving into a room at the Nursing home in Tylertown, Ms. Her Dexter Family continues to pick her up for church, holidays, & events. She wants to go to every church  function. While in the nursing home she prays for anyone who needs it and she will go get water , food , and soda for those who cannot walk. She still has more desire to pray , go do things and  serve the Lord than most anyone you will ever meet. She said she is forever thankful for the love, purpose, and peace she has found in these last years and prays for many more.