05/17/2017

Jeresa Colvin Austin
Obituary

Polk County School Board LAKE WALES -- Mrs. Jeresa Colvin Austin of Lake Wales died of heart failure Monday (May 5, 2003) at Lake Wales Medical Centers. She was 84. Born in Babson Park on Jan. 13, 1919, she was a lifelong resident of the area. She was a schoolteacher for the Polk County School Board, having taught at Roosevelt School in Lake Wales for 26 years and Polk Avenue School in Lake Wales for nine years. She belonged to the American Legion Auxiliary Moultry-Craft Post No. 213 for 56 years and served as its president for 32 years. She was a member of the Salvation Army and Lake Wales Care Center. She was past secretary of the American Red Cross and a life member of the NAACP. She was a member of the Lake Wales Retirement Board, and she was a poll worker for the Supervisor of Elections Office in Bartow. She was a member of Fellowship Dining in Lake Wales, and the Polk County Democratic Executive Board. She graduated from Florida A&M University with a bachelor's degree in elementary education and a master's in education. She was a life member of the FAMU Alumni Association. She was the first black pioneer citizen of the year of Lake Wales. She was a member of First Institutional Missionary Baptist Church of Lake Wales, where she was a clerk for 60 years, assistant superintendent and superintendent of Sunday School, and a member of the Senior Women Ministry Circle No. 5. She was a member of Choir No. 1 and No. 2, director of the Jeresa C. Austin Sunshine Band Choir, and a member of the Ministers and Deacons Wives Ministry. She was past recording secretary of the Children's Department of the National Baptist Convention of America Inc. and a financial secretary for the Progressive Mission and Education State Convention Children Department. She was secretary of the Ministers' and Deacons' Wives Department of the Greater South Florida District Association. She was a Parent Body Memorial chairman and past teacher of the Senior Women Ministry. She was director of the Children's ministry. Mrs. Austin was preceded in death by her husband, James P. Austin Jr. She is survived by her brother, Donnie Colvin, Lake Wales; sisters, Marion Wells, Lake Wales, Alberta Wilson, Calhoun County, Ga. Visitation will be from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday at First Institutional Baptist Church in Lake Wales. Services will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at the church. Epps Mortuary, Lake Wales.
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