Obituary: Mildred McWhorter

Mildred Beatrice McWhorter, former home missionary who directed the Mission Centers of Houston from 1963 to 1992, died June 17 in Franklin, Ga. She was 87.

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A new mission center in Houston was named for retired home missionary Mildred (Miss Mac) McWhorter (left), who joined with Ginger Smith, executive director of the Baptist Mission Centers in Houston, at the January 2006 groundbreaking. (BP Photo)

Mildred Beatrice McWhorter, former home missionary who directed the Mission Centers of Houston from 1963 to 1992, died June 17 in Franklin, Ga. She was 87. She was born June 26, 1930, near Centralhatchee, Ga., and grew up attending Centralhatchee Baptist Church, where she learned John 3:16. At the age 13, she became aware the “whosoever” mentioned in that verse referred to her, and she committed her life to following Jesus Christ. She attended Berry College in Rome, Ga., where she earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree, and then went on to study at the Carver School of Missions and Social Work in Louisville, Ky. After applying for foreign missions service and being rejected, she taught school in Gwinnett County, Ga., until a contact at the Southern Baptist Convention’s Home Mission Board encouraged her to consider missions in the United States. She accepted a missions director position in Port Arthur, where she served five years before she was invited to work in inner-city Houston. She built what became the Mission Centers of Houston in multiple locations and coordinated the work of hundreds of volunteers—particularly college and seminary students she affectionately referred to as her “critters.” Through the years, “Miss Mac,” as she was known, encountered many families who needed her love, but one particular family became her own. Three boys—Carl Guevara, Lloyd Lane and Terry Lane—arrived at the center when they were young. After their mother died, McWhorter accepted them as her sons. After McWhorter retired from the mission centers in 1992, she returned to Centralhatchee. She was preceded in death by Lloyd Lane and her brother, Bryant McWhorter. She is survived by Carl Lee Guevara of Houston and Terry Lane of Franklin, Ga.; three grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Mission Centers of Houston at P.O. Box 30417, Houston, TX 77249.

 


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