Dr. Mildred Jefferson

I met Dr. Jefferson when I was a young mother, when I became one of her drivers. The hours that I spent with her will be among the most treasured hours of my life. She was an incredible, beautiful, (ageless) intelligent, and humble woman who has always been an inspiration to me, and to thousands. We had many conversations regarding the right to life, and her passion for the unborn. I knew that she grew up in Texas (and in that we had something in common, since I also grew up in the deep south). She was the most genteel southern woman who truly was a "Steel Magnolia". It was not physical stature, forceful voice, or fame that had people listening raptly to every word she uttered, but her incredible intelligence and decorum. No one could debate her successfully. I knew that she was the first black woman to graduate from Harvard Medical School and that she had spent time in Washington, working as an advisor to President Ronald Reagan, but to all who knew her, she was the sweetest, most caring and giving friend a person could have. She told me once that a secret desire was to someday become a Dean of a college. I think she has been  Dean of all who profess a call to stand for Life, in the cause of Christ. May we all take what she has given to us, and press forward even more to champion the unborn, the weak, and the unwanted. I'm grateful that she humbly submitted her own desires, to serve out the calling that God placed upon her life. May she rest in peace and may we not rest until the work is done.

Margaret A. O. Holloway