Faith, love and food: All things ‘Mama H’
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)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’
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)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, sub-standard 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.
In this photo taken at her mother’s house in the 1940s, Hairston is seated in the middle surrounded by her cousins. Framed on the wall is an image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Her mother had a deep devotion to the Sacred Heart, praying the novena often – and Hairston herself continues to pray it on the first Friday of each month. (Photo provided)She left college and went to work as a Catholic school teacher in Ohio during the 1960s and 1970s. In the 1980s, Hairston’s daughter, Susan Elizabeth
Hairston, discovered Bennett College and upon graduating, encouraged Hairston to move back to Greensboro to finish her degree at Bennett. Hairston not only earned her degree from Bennett, she then went on to earn a master’s degree in pastoral studies from Loyola University.
In 1990, for this mother-daughter duo, St. Pius X Church in Greensboro became their church home. Thea House opened in 1992, run by the Franciscan Friars of Holy Name Province. St. Pius X’s then pastor, Father David Hyman, was the first campus minister. In 1994, Thea House became part of the Diocese of Charlotte’s Catholic Campus Ministry program and Hairston served there from 1994 to 2013.
“Mama H wanted Thea House to be a home away from home,” says Father Amadi Marcel, Thea House’s current Catholic campus minister. “She treated the students as her own children and grandchildren.”
When Hairston’s daughter died, Thea House became her refuge. Hairston remembers Monsignor Anthony Marcaccio, pastor of St. Pius X Church, reminding her that although she had lost her daughter, through Thea House God has given her many children.
“Mama H was my spiritual mom,” says Dr. Janine Davenport, an A&T graduate and veterinarian for the Maryland Department of Agriculture, who converted to the faith during her time at Thea House. “She coached me through the gates of understanding.”
“Mama H brought ‘home’ to me as a student by providing a safe place to grow in my faith,” adds alumna and Thea House supporter Nadra Taylor. “She welcomed everyone with open arms and helped students navigate through issues they faced as they transitioned into adulthood. She is a true example of what God calls His people to do – and that is to love.”
“Mama H is someone special. She is a shining light for Christ,” echoes parishioner Deb Ritzel, who traveled to Lourdes, France, with Hairston and the Order of Malta in 2019.
Monsignor Marcaccio notes, “There are many modes of ministry and many gifts but the same Spirit. Alberta’s gift is a keen and kind maternal sense, which manifested in her role as campus minister and continues among our parishioners today.
“Alberta, who is always observant and very intuitive, can spot the person who needs extra encouragement of knowing that they have a ‘Mama’ in their corner. Alberta can be firm and challenging. She also is not afraid to offer tough love and call things the way she sees them. However, she is supremely generous and forgiving.
“Alberta has walked the journey of faith with our college students in good times and bad. Together they faced so many things, ranging from the crisis of being displaced by a hurricane to supporting a student’s decision for life. Alberta has also helped me with our African refugee families. Some were traumatized by their experience during the camps in Africa and had great difficulty getting adjusted to a new lifestyle here. Alberta’s maternal affection helped them find healing for those deep hurts and prepared them for the achievable opportunities that have led to hope and success.”
“I used to celebrate Holy Mass at Thea House on Sunday evenings, which ended with a delicious home-cooked meal. Alberta makes the best soul food, and her greens are legendary,” says Marcaccio. “I distinctly remember marveling at those enormous trays of chicken and mac and cheese. Why so much and why only thighs? Because thighs were cheaper and Alberta would stretch that grocery budget to the maximum in order to have plenty of leftovers.”
“You see, often the students were the first ones in their families to go to college; and while they may have been able to cover tuition through grants and loans, they had little left for meals,” he says. “Those Sunday meals carried the kids through the week, and me, too. Not that I took a thigh home because of lean times, but because Mama H’s first ingredient on her every recipe was love. Her ministry – her life’s mission – is the unconditional love of a mother, and that takes you very far in life.”
Though Hairston is retired she hasn’t slowed down at her parish, and on her “to-do list” is getting involved with Room At The Inn, a local housing and support program for single pregnant women and single mothers with children suffering from homelessness.
To share the love of Christ, we must connect with others, she insists. “Sitting at the table together puts everybody on the same plane. (And) it is important for our elders to spend time with our youth.”
She encourages people to volunteer with their local campus ministry program or with their parish’s youth group.
It is in the breaking of the bread that we see Christ in each other, she says.
“Just having a cup of coffee and sandwich with someone means a lot.”
— Georgianna Penn, Correspondent