Please join us in making a difference for a deserving student. We are raising money to benefit Decatur Morgan County Minority Development Assn, and any donation will help make an impact. The money raised by this GoFundMe will be used by the Assn to provide a scholarship to a student in North Alabama. This scholarship will be in honor of the late Earline Campbell Patterson.

Earline was a native of North Alabama, and she spent all of her 85 years there, raising a family, building lifelong friendships, and serving in her church (Waymon Chapel, AME) until her death in 2015.

Earline had a heartbreaking early life. She had still been an “arm baby” in November of 1932, when a flood swept away a wagon and three young women in it. A newspaper article referred to the drowning victims only as “three negro women” (but did note that the mules (and the male driver) survived). She had no memory of her own mother.

Sometime after her mother’s death, Earline's birth father took her to live with his family, separating her from her two older siblings. According to census reports, the family members with whom Earline lived as a young child in North Alabama were “laborers.” Few could read or write.

She later spent a few years in Ohio living with a paternal aunt.

Earline left Ohio in her late teens and returned to Alabama, to a neighborhood on the banks of the Tennessee River, where she met and married James. They lived near the river for many years of their marriage.

Haunted by her mother's death, Earline had a lifelong fear of deep water, and never learned to swim. James was an excellent swimmer. He once joined the search for, and helped recover, the body of a young boy who drowned in the river.

James also was musically gifted, and a member of a singing group. Earline used to say that she loved his whistle, and listened for it when he returned from work at the end of the day. Maybe she loved this about him because one of the few things she could not do, besides swim, was sing.

Earline and James worked hard to raise their seven children. James worked as a tire man for Goodyear. When her children were young, Earline worked as a maid. Neither James nor Earline had finished high school, but they both valued education. Together, they managed to send several of their children to college.

Perhaps memories from her own early childhood planted the seed that would grow into her life’s work. Earline always seemed to know her purpose. She was passionate about nutrition and childcare, particularly early childhood development. Earline understood the economic impact of childcare, which allows parents to work and pursue educational opportunities.

There is so much to say about Earline's life. She was a force and an inspiration.

-- At 36, she obtained her GED.

-- At 37, she began attending classes at the University of Alabama, obtaining credits in preschool education. She also began working at a daycare within walking distance of her home.

-- At 40, she continued her education at Samford University.

-- At 47, she opened her first state-licensed daycare, serving low-income

families.

Somewhere between 37 and 40, she learned how to drive so she could travel to Birmingham and Tuscaloosa to attend classes.

She became a board member of FOCAL, the Federation of Child Care Centers of Alabama.

In addition to her daycare centers, she operated a child nutrition program that trained more than 100 in-home childcare providers on proper nutrition guidelines for feeding children. Earline conducted workshops, audited the homes, and helped make sure the providers were following the state-sanctioned menus. This ensured that the children could receive healthy meals and the providers could maintain their licenses.

One summer, she organized a lunch program, packing and delivering meals to children in three of her county's low-income housing developments. Earline understood that many of the children in these communities relied on the meals they received while in school. She took action to try to ensure that children still had access to nutritious meals during the summer break.

Even after she retired from the businesses she started, she volunteered with Meals on Wheels and Big Brothers, Big Sisters for years.

She was passionate about politics, and worked the polls for every election well into her seventies.

Earline was always a boss, in the very best meaning of the word. She was unselfish. She believed in sharing knowledge and working together to help her community. She knew her strengths and did not waste her time on her weaknesses. She had a talent for recognizing the area of greatest need, and for gathering resources to try to meet that need.

She may have had a difficult beginning, but that compelled her to dedicate a lifetime to finding ways to improve the lives of young children.

She believed she could make a difference, and she did.

Our goal is to raise $2000.00 to help a student who is working to improve their community, in Earline's memory.

More information about Decatur Morgan County Minority Development Assn: The Organization Is Working For The Advancement Of Minority Persons In The Decatur/Morgan County Area.