Thinking over the names and roles attached to me over the years, I’d say it’s been quite a few. As a baby, I was the first girl born in three Laird generations, making me special to my dad’s mother whom I called Nanny. As a favored child, I took advantage of its pleasures. While my younger sister fell asleep in her crib, I had to be rocked each night. In those years, public school started with kindergarten, so I became a student at five years of age. We moved from Mobile to New Orleans and back to Mobile where I graduated from Murphy High School. Three months later I married Bill Coker and by taking his name (and more) I became his wife. Eleven months later, the birth of our first son gave me the title of mother. Three more children sealed that name and continues today even though they are grown with their own families, meaning I’ve added the names of granny and great-granny.
During Bill’s years at Asbury College, I was known as a professor’s wife, also a student again for I studied for six years to earn a BA. Accepting a job with Good News magazine, I learned to be an editor, a title I’ve kept years past our time in Wilmore. Moving to Indiana, where Bill served as senior pastor at World Gospel Church, I again became a pastor’s wife. Again, because Bill had served churches in Mississippi and Kentucky. I preferred being wife to a pastor above one of a professor.
While in Indiana, I served at a Crisis Pregnancy Center, first as a volunteer and then a client services director. That title served me well as I trained volunteers and met with clients. My writing career continued as I helped edit articles for CPC publications. I continued to keep journals, wondering what use they will be later. Along with Bill, I accepted various positions in the Emmaus community as opportunities arose. Those titles would vary, the last being director for a woman’s walk.
Bill’s dementia journey made it possible and easier for me to get back to editing and writing, compiling his sermons and prayers for four published books. I was not content to call myself an author until I had my first book written and published in 2023. I’m writing a memoir about my role as caregiver through Bill’s dementia journey. After Bill’s death in 2024, I am now a widow.
I didn’t count up all these names, titles, and roles I’ve assumed or earned. But they don’t compare to the one I value the most. I am a child of God, loving Him and serving others in my faith journey.
This blog post is the result of reading a booklet in one day. It’s a gift from my sister Martha: Loving God With All My Soul by Julie A. Link. Identity cannot be lost if someone steals the many numbers associated with an ID. Our identity is based on being made in God’s image. We know His love for us, and we develop our love for Him through the many roles attached to our names.
Ann Coker 