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catholicnewsherald.com | May 7, 2021 OUR PARISHES
CELEBRATING MOTHER’S DAY
(At right) Alberta Hairston – “Mama H” to all who know her – is a beloved member of St. Pius X Church in Greensboro. Throughout her life as a mother, teacher, mentor and campus minister, she emphasizes that in order to share the love of Christ, we must connect with others. PHOTO PROVIDED BY MARYANN LUEDTKE
(Below) Hairston is pictured with Leon Bell, N.C. A&T Class of 2008. Bell went on to receive a master’s degree in clinical/medical social work from Howard University as well as studied in a master’s program for special education at ECU. PHOTO PROVIDED
Faith, love and food: All things ‘Mama H’ Mother, mentor shines as example to others GEORGIANNA PENN CORRESPONDENT
GREENSBORO — Three gifts of grace tell the story of Alberta Hairston, former Catholic Campus Minister for Thea House which serves A&T State University and Bennett College: “My mother’s faith, my community and the Catholic Church.” Through these gifts Hairston – lovingly known as “Mama H” – has fully lived her vocation as mother, teacher, mentor and campus minister. And the roots of her faith and vocation run deep. Growing up, Hairston and her brother Paul walked to Mass each day with their mother, Mary Elizabeth Coughlin. “I was fascinated by the altar,” Hairston said of her childhood parish, Holy Trinity Church, nestled in the west end of Cincinnati, Ohio. “The tabernacle rotated by the push of a button and the monstrance would appear because we’d have Benediction after each High Mass,” recalls Hairston, a Pre-Vatican II African American Catholic. “All around the tabernacle would light up, I couldn’t wait! And the consecration – that was my favorite part of Mass.” “There’s a lot people can do over the breaking of the bread,” says Hairston, who incorporated cooking as a way of building community during her 19 years as Catholic campus minister at Thea House. “Cooking is her gift,” says Krisan
Walker, chairperson for St. Pius X Church’s Community Life group. And, not surprisingly, the story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus is her favorite Scripture. By sharing a meal together, “Mama H” knew what her students needed. “Mama H’s life’s work is a very real pro-life thing,” says Walker. Even students experiencing unplanned pregnancies found Thea House. Hairston accompanied them in charity by providing love, weekly meals and spiritual support – all things needed to stay in school and raise a new baby. “All things Mama H,” says Walker. “To know love, you’ve got to meet love.”
MEET ‘MAMA H’
Raised in a diverse part of Cincinnati in the 1940s, her mother taught Hairston to respect the dignity of all God’s people. Their neighbors were Italian, German, Irish – many of whom were local merchants and shopkeepers. “They lived above their shops. We had the green grocer, the butcher, the apothecary,” recalls Hairston. “Our mother made sure we were on our best behavior when we visited the merchants. We treated them with great respect. And in return, they treated us with respect, even though they knew we were poor.” Hairston’s family lived in an old, substandard plank house. There was always a pot of warm water idling on the stove and Big Band music playing on the radio. Ella Fitzgerald, Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington, played either on an old Victrola, “the kind you had to wind up,” or on one of their two Crosley radios, typically reserved for blackout drills during World War II.
In the summers while still a child, Hairston discovered her love for sharing food. She and her brother and mother made regular trips to the railroad freight yard for food that had arrived for merchants to purchase for their shops. “Cornmeal, flour, sugar, onions, potatoes… if anything was bruised or the bags were busted, it went to waste, so we’d take it home,” remembers Hairston. “Someone made my mother a pushcart out of what had been my baby buggy wheels and put boards on it. We’d
walk down Pike Street behind the brewery with that pushcart full of food.” When she got tired from the uphill walk home, she would climb on top of the potatoes and go for a ride. “My brother strapped me on safely somehow. We could not wait to get home and share our goodies with awaiting neighbors.” Her mother died in 1950, when Hairston was just 12 years old. Several foster homes later, Hairston went to live with her social worker from Catholic Charities, also named Elizabeth like her mother. Catholic Charities took Hairston under its wing and helped form her young life. They paid her high school tuition and gave her a weekly allowance. In return, Hairston mentored young mothers, teaching them to shop, cook and have personal dignity in caring for their homes and children – a glimpse into her own maternal vocation. In 1956, Hairston received a scholarship to Bennett College. Hairston never “felt” segregation up North. At Bennett, they had a strict dress code and never left their dorm rooms without their hats, gloves and stockings. Excited to venture downtown to one of Greensboro’s finest department stores for a new hat, Hairston was appalled when she arrived and was not permitted to try on the hats. Movie theaters were segregated, too. “You want me to pay 50 cents for a movie ticket, but then tell me where I need to sit and insult me with a neon sign that read ‘Colored Entrance’? I had never seen that in my life,” says Hairston. A&T and Bennett students came from all over the country and were not accustomed to this type of treatment. She left college and went to work as a Catholic school teacher in Ohio during the
