Lucia Rosetta Howe: Pure dedication

LUCIA Rosetta Howe has lived a life totally dedicated to service to the Lord. So committed is she, that she has forsaken all men, and instead focused on raising over 100 children in her 14-bedroom house called ‘Elim’ — the biblical name of the place where the Israelites camped after crossing the Red Sea.

For all her 84 years she has remained celibate, hitting a man in the head with an oil bottle the one time he tried to get too close when she was 14.

Her interest is in those who call her “mom”, pleasing God, and guiding young people.

Having once lived in an old rented board house on her own, she said she went before the Lord and asked him for a home in which she could house the retired ministers of her church, as well as the number of children who had attached themselves to her. Soon the Lord blessed her with the property and she started building.

While some children at the home would be supported by their parents after they moved to Elim, many others were abandoned and left to be totally cared for by Howe, who was also a dressmaker.

Nowadays Elim houses seven adults and eight children, while on holidays the house is said to be filled with the laughter of children content to vacation there.

Fifty-six-year-old pastor Beverly Brown, who was ordained as a minister at age 18 and is now zone overseer for seven churches in Westmoreland and Clarendon, was one of the many who grew up at Elim. She said Howe was a very strict mother, whose stare alone would put one back on track.

“She was very strict, very, very strict,” Brown, who sat for the interview with Howe, said. “But she was someone who was very spiritual, someone to be admired. She was beautiful…”

Brown, who hails from Spanish Town, moved in with Howe when she was 16, and has not left since.

Howe said she met Brown when she would preach in Kingston.

“Young people from everywhere gathered to hear me preach. That’s how she came home with me,” the old lady said.

Said Brown: “My parents attended the same church too, so it was not difficult for me. “Love for people was what drew me to her — her love for young people. She would talk to you, guide you, instruct you and she was quite loving. Her life was a life of denial, a life of sacrifices.”

While Brown moved to Elim as an independent young lady, there were others who were totally dependent on Howe.

“The youngest child we had here was only seven months old,” Howe explained. “His mother and father belonged to the church. But his mother had a nerve problem, and she had six children and was unable to care for them. I decided to do so after the child’s hand was broken.”

Soon after, she took in the baby’s five other siblings and began caring for them too. However, when the mother got better, Howe sent home the eldest child to be with her, and kept five.

Today the boy who came to her at seven months is now 20-something with a child of his own.

Brown explained that there were times when the house had up to 26 persons at once.

To these persons, she passed on her values.

“Some of the values I passed on were that they should not be touched my a man before they got married, and when you marry, to marry pure, and the man too must be pure,” Howe said. “So that is how I was. My whole aim was to be as pure as my mother taught me. And so I kept myself pure.”

Her parents were ardent Christians and so Howe grew up not knowing what it was like going to parties or having boyfriends like many other young girls her age.

“I got genuinely and truly saved,” she said simply. “Church was fun for me. It was just church. I would ride bicycle from Kingston to Rosewell, to Lionel Town to preach.”

And no matter how late it was, once she finished preaching she would not leave until she gave out invitations for those who wanted to get saved. This meant staying until church was over before leaving. Sometimes in the wee hours of the night, she would ride home alone.

Howe had four brothers and four sisters, all of whom grew up in the church and became ministers.

As a teen, Howe’s first job was as a probation teacher but she qualified herself at Mico Teachers College during the long holidays.

On her 18th birthday, Howe left Kingston where she had gone to do her studies to take up a position at Rosewell Government School in Clarendon.

Howe said that at the time, the school did not have a building to house the children, nor did it have water. And so as a young teacher, she strategised how they could get a building. She called the district together under the guise of hosting a ‘drum meeting’ which was popular back then.

“Back then drum meetings (wrap head meetings) were the in thing,” Howe recalled. “And so I organised the meeting and they called me to speak. So I told them I wanted them to sign a letter to Bustamante (Sir Alexander Bustamante) for a good school and water.”

A number of persons signed the letter she had written and a school building was erected and water provided.

It was at the age of 24, after just being promoted in her job as a teacher, that Howe was called by the Lord into full time ministry. She gave up all and answered God’s call. She has been doing the work of the Lord for 60 years. She is the overseer of 20 established Good News Release Centre of the Prophetic Word of God churches, with branches in Canada, United States and India.

Having never been married and having stayed celibate, Howe said it is possible for young people to preserve themselves until marriage, if and when they choose to be wed.

Brown said while many persons have left the home and went on to get married, there were others, like herself, who did not, but who, like Howe, chose to be completely dedicated to the ministry.