On many occasions since her death there have been many references to her interpretations of the scripture by a number of persons that were in her Sunday School Class. Miss Nealie, as she was addressed most of the time, loved the Lord and served all of the activities of the church. Her greatest blessing from the Lord seemed to be teaching. She was the teacher for the mens' class for several years but most of her years of teaching was in the Senior Womens' Sunday School Class, the T.E.L. Class.Miss Nealie was faithful to and promoted the activities of the Womens' Missionary Union. She was also very active in the mission work of the Pine Barren Association and encouraged her church to support the Cooperative Program of the Southern Baptist Convention. The 1975 Pine Barren Association ministries were dedicated in her honor.
She lived the idea of never saying a bad thing about anyone. "If you can't say something good about someone then stay quiet."
Nealie Nettles Stallworth was born June 10, 1882 and went to Glory on June 8, 1988. She was married to Thomas Nettles Stallworth, Sr. in the New Hope Baptist Church at Natchez, AL. Natchez was her home at the time. Tom, as her husband was known, was a representative of the New York Life Insurance Company for thirty years. He was a Deacon of Beatrice Baptist Church and remained one until his death.
Miss Nealie taught public school for a short period of time after her graduation from Montevallo however she soon turned her attention and teaching skills to the church.
They had three children, T.N. Stallworth who was a merchant in Beatrice for many years, operating the Crystal Market. T.N. is a member of Beatrice Baptist Church , he is a deacon and is very active in all aspects of the church.
Their two daughters, Hasseltine and Mary Jane, after college at Montevallo, went on to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary at Fort Worth, Texas. While at the seminary they both met their lifemates, both of them married Baptist Ministers.
When the doors of the church were open she wanted all the members of her family there. Her thoughts on this were; "If you were not there, then you must be sick!" Many can remember that Miss Nealie sat on the second row from the front and to this day it could easily be said that in many respects her place has not been taken.
Our church has been blessed in that we have had so many Angels Unaware that have taught us in Sunday School classes, lead our WMU and worked tirelessly to promote missions in our church and association and been so faithful to seek God will for their lives. They have been wonderful Godly examples for us in their daily lives, in their dedication to their families, their love of the church and their dedication to the teaching of God's love. Miss Nealie is one of the most outstanding example of Gods' blessings on this church.
God Bless the memory of Miss Nealie!
