Narrative Summary
Interview with Beatrice Felts by Niki Enlow
Beatrice Felts was born in the 1930’s in the small town of Couch, Missouri. She was the
second of three sisters born into the Stogsdill family. Her earliest childhood memories involve
life as a little girl growing up on a farm in a tiny town. Nearly everyone in town attended church,
and her family’s place of worship was a small Free Will Baptist Church. She described her
parents as “Christian people” who had an iron, unquestioning faith in the literal interpretation of
the Bible.
One of the most significant times in Bea’s life was when she was “saved” at nine years
old in her small country church. She explained that as the worship service ensued, she felt the
Lord’s presence in her heart, telling her to come forward in an official profession of faith, but
pride held her back. As she contemplated, she was approached in the pew by a leader in the
church who directly acknowledged the inner battle she was facing. She said he took her hand,
and offered a gentle tug- just enough to cause her to take a small step forward. That, she said,
was all she needed, and she began her walk up the aisle to profess her faith at the altar, and also
began her walk through life as a steadfast Christian, living for Jesus.
Bea married Bill Felts at the age of eighteen and shortly thereafter started a family of
their own, having four children, the third of which was my mother. They began attending a small
church in Springfield called Grant Avenue Free Will Baptist. The earliest bylaws of this
denomination prohibit dancing, movies, playing cards, and, of course, alcohol. It is also
prohibited for women to sit on the deacon board, pastor the church, or even lead youth alone.
Even temporary positions for preaching in the pastor’s absence are filled by men of the church.
When asked if Bea felt that she had ever been limited or discriminated against in the
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church because she was a woman, she shrugged and said she did not. She spent her years in the
church as a devout prayer warrior (and still is) and sang in the choir until she lost her voice due
to treatment complications for cancer, which she was diagnosed with in 2011. At that time, she
was given two years to live at the most. She has not only beaten the odds, but if anyone asks her,
she has prayed her way through them alongside the other prayer warriors of the church.
One of her four children went on to be a pastor in California, and my mother relentlessly
smashed her head into the glass ceiling of Grant Avenue for years as she took on the children’s
choir, Sunday school classes, played the piano, and eventually became the worship team leader,
all the while directing the adult choir as well. Beatrice considers this to be the largest
accomplishment of her life, which she made apparent during the interview. She is pleased and
proud of the family she has raised, and all of her grandkids who have chosen to follow the Lord
in this way or that.
What is perhaps most interesting about Beatrice’s religious journey is that it has been
unwavering and steadfast. When asked about a crisis of faith, she responded that she had never
doubted God’s word, as if that were the only answer that made any sense at all. When asked
about exposure to other religions, she explained that yes, she had visited other churches around
town, but just found Free Will Baptist churches to be her place of preference. At one point in the
interview, when prompted about her opinion around women in leadership positions in the
church, she said she liked having a man for a pastor. When asked what a woman should do
should she feel she is called to ministry, she scrunched her nose and said “Well then she should
do whatever she feels she ought to do for the Lord,” and delivered this answer in such a way as
though she were explaining her life in a single sentence. Bea currently resides in northern
Springfield with her husband, Bill. She has four children, seven grandchildren, and a greatMissouri State University
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grandchild.
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Religious Lives of Ozarks Women