The late G.C. Seymour, who founded Aberdeen Coca-Cola Bottling Company in 1913, created a trust fund in memory of his wife in 1955. That fund provides financing for missionary endeavors and financial assistance for some students preparing for Christian ministry.
Seymour, in establishing the fund in 1955, wrote:
“In the year 1913, my late wife, Huldah Brown Seymour, and I became members of Page Memorial (United Methodist) Church in Aberdeen, North Carolina. My beloved wife, as a sincere Christian, was an active worker in the Church up until her death a few months ago.
“I am a firm believer in the tenets of the Christian Gospel, and my faith was ever strengthened by the life of Christian service lived by my beloved wife. It is my desire that the name of this trust be the ‘Huldah Brown Seymour Memorial.’ It is my ardent desire to perpetuate as far as possible the great services which the Christian Churches have rendered and are rendering towards the advancement of God’s Kingdom on earth.”
Seymour gave 50 shares of State Capitol Life Insurance Company stock and 50 shares of Life and Casualty Insurance Company stock to start the trust that is managed by the trustees of Page Memorial UMC in Aberdeen.
From 1955 until 1966, trust earnings went to Page Memorial Church (Aberdeen) to supplement “the Mission cause, both Foreign and Home.” Seymour specified that trust earnings were not to be included as part of the church’s regular missions budget but were to be given in addition to the church’s missions giving.
He specified that in 1967 the trust would expand its outreach to “aid in the education of worthy men and women who have resolved to dedicate their lives to the teaching and preaching of the Christian Gospel, to aid them in their preparation for becoming missionaries, whether ministers or physicians, in the furtherance of God’s Kingdom.”
Half of the trust’s earnings now goes to missions and half goes to scholarships for students studying for ministry, according to the Rev. Ron Dietrich, 63, pastor of Page Memorial UMC in Aberdeen.
“Last year we dispersed a total of $66,000,” Dietrich says. “Several hundred pastors have benefited from this fund since 1968.”
Though Page Memorial’s board of trustees administers the Huldah Brown Seymour Memorial fund, an advisory committee recommends missions projects and reviews applicants for scholarship grants.
Seymour named the church positions of Page Memorial (Aberdeen) members he wanted on the advisory committee. That committee has to consist of the presiding pastor of the church, the chairman of the board of stewards, and the president, vice-president and the treasurer of the Woman’s Society of Christian Service.
“The women’s group is still the strongest force for missions in the United Methodist Church,” Dietrich says.
Seymour outlined that the fund’s advisory committee should meet each year on Feb. 14, beginning in 1968, to authorize and direct expenditures. Feb. 14 was his wife’s birthday.
He directed that the advisory committee, “in selecting these worthy men and women” to receive scholarship grants, “should not discriminate among Christian churches” nor “make any discrimination as to race or nationality.” All factors being equal, however, he wanted the committee to give first consideration to Moore and Hoke County residents, and then consider applicants from counties bordering Moore and Hoke.
“But the Advisory Committee shall keep in mind,” Seymour wrote, “that the primary purpose of this trust is for the advancement of the teaching and preaching of the Christian Gospel, and they are not limited to any area in selecting such men and women.”
Dietrich says he’s thankful for Seymour’s vision that now provides “a perpetual ministry.”
“And it’s refreshing to see a man respect and honor his wife’s memory,” Dietrich says.
Steve Crain may be reached at crain207@juno.com .
