iBerkshires Profiles: Rev. Isabelle King

By Jen Thomas
02:20PM / Thursday, October 11, 2007

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The Rev. Isabelle King will celebrate her 100th birthday on Oct. 13.

NORTH ADAMS - It's been nearly 78 years since the Rev. Isabelle King set foot in America, with virtually no money in her pocket and no place to call home.

Now, two days before her 100th birthday, King sat down with her friend and confidant Dorothy Wilson and recounted an extraordinary life that took her from Glasgow, Scotland, through the streets of Baltimore during the Great Depression and finally to Berkshire County.

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"I have no idea how I came to be here. I just came," said King, who is planning a "big birthday bash" on Saturday afternoon. With more than 220 people already scheduled to attend, the party will honor a woman who has spent the last 60 years helping others and spreading the word of God in the Berkshires and in Southern Vermont.

Trusting the Lord

King left her native Glasgow on March 17, 1930, when she was 22 years old, because "you had to be at least 21 in the old country to do whatever you wanted." Originally planning to go to Africa to do missionary work, King instead traveled to Baltimore, hoping to start a new life.

"It was in the middle of the Big Depression and there was absolutely no place a person could put their hand to make a penny. Money was all tied up in the banks and the banks were down. People lost their whole lives savings. And there was this little girl landed in the middle of it all and it was exciting," King said.

When she arrived at the train station in Baltimore, King was left stranded on the platform. With nowhere else to go, she took up lodging at the local Young Women's Christian Association. Left with only 35 cents, King wondered how she would make it in America when she knew that others had been deported for having no money.

"You had to have money when you came in. They only let people with money in their pockets into America," she said.

King said the experience of living in Baltimore that year was like being "in a great big pond and I was one little fish," but she said she always had faith.

"For some reason, I don't ever remember being afraid. For some reason, I knew the Lord was going to take care of his own," she said. "I trusted in the Lord. I knew whatever happened to me, he would take care of me."

With absolutely no money and two days until her rent at the YWCA was due, King said she experienced a miracle. While sitting at the counter of a drugstore, King was told that someone was looking for her.

"I was alone in this big old country and there wasn't a living soul who knew where I am. I just thought, 'Who could be looking for me?'" King said. "I was just two days from having to pay more room rent and there was this finely-dressed lady standing outside the YWCA with her chauffeur standing outside her limo and she said to me 'I saw your ad in the paper that you were looking for work.'"

King said she never placed an ad in the Baltimore Sun but she later learned that a worker at the YWCA wrote one on her behalf. King spent the next year working for the Randolph family, caring for toddlers Bobby and Priscilla.

"I had everything that anyone could ask for," King said. "You never know who's working to help you, you never know who God has his hand on. Whatever He sends is worthwhile and you need to trust Him and I did. Two days from not having a roof over my head or a penny in my pocket and God himself opened up the way."

King’s True Passion

Though King was grateful to the Randolphs for taking her in, she knew she needed to follow her heart.

"I hadn't found what I was looking for. I had given my heart to the Lord when I was 18 and I knew I needed to find a mission," King said.

Saying she "wasn't ready for any stiff-necked church," King searched for a mission church that would allow her to do the type of work she yearned to do. With a college education at the Bible Training Institute in Glasgow, King had the proper background to embark on missions and follow her true passion - preaching.

Beginning her career in the Hell's Kitchen section of New York City, King loved standing at the pulpit, holding the audience captive with her words.

"I was what they called 'something special.' The first time I had to speak, it was something special. We were supposed to give a testimony about how we came to God, but when it came my turn, I'll never forget it. I had Luke, Chapter 16, and I preached. I preached, I actually preached. It was supposed to be five or 10 minutes but it was a whole sermon. I've been preaching ever since," she said.

After marrying and having two children - Rae and David - King moved to Williamstown to get out of Boston, which she said "was getting pretty rugged." While working at the Williams College library, King took over operations at the rundown Pownal (Vt.) Center Community Church, where she earned the name "the beggar" for her tireless efforts to raise money for various repairs.

"My whole life was practically running a church," she said.

King ran the Pownal church into the 1960s, even after having several heart attacks. Known for her rousing sermons - given without any script and while pacing back and forth on the platform - King became a reverend and guest speaker at several area churches, most notably Stamford (Vt.)Community Church and Blackinton Union Church. From 1948 to 1984, King could be heard on WNAW's "Morning Devotions" program on Sundays.

"If I was able to do it, I did it. I can't think of a church around here that I haven't been in," she said.

King didn't stop preaching until about three years ago.

"I'd still be preaching if my legs would hold me. I'd preach in the middle of the night if I could," she said. "All through this, the Lord has been with me. If asked 'What would I attribute my longevity to?' I’d say 'I trusted the Lord and the way through, all the way.'"

Now, the young woman who came alone from Scotland has a full brood in this country, with three grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren, and one great-great-granddaughter. As her 100th birthday approaches, King is not afraid to think her time is almost up.

"The Lord brought me this far and he'll take me the rest of the way," she said.

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