Geraldine Pharr

Geraldine Pharr was born on January 4, 1935 in Brighton, Alabama to Mr. J. O. Johnson and Mrs. Millie Williams Johnson. She was the youngest of three children. Her parents, her brother, Joe Johnson (Bessemer, AL) and her sister, Nettie Pearl Pruitt (Cincinnati, OH) preceded her in transitioning back to God.

At an early age she developed a relationship with God and made God the anchor and stability of her life; for Geraldine, life was not �"No Crystal Stair”. She was baptized and became a member of First Baptist Church in Brighton, Alabama and remained there throughout her childhood. As an adult she joined Peace Lilly Baptist Church in Cairo, Alabama and then later joined Mars Hill Baptist Church in Brighton, Alabama. During the summer of 1970 God called her to a place of Higher Learning. Under the teaching of Pastor Benjamin Browne at a Tent Meeting in Bessemer, Alabama she was introduced to the Three Angels Message of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. She was later baptized by Pastor Michael Bernard in the Fall of 1970 and became a member of the First Seventh-Day Adventist Church of Bessemer, Alabama. As her relationship with God deepened she heeded to the call to serve Him more. She became a Literature Evangelist, taking God’s Word and Ellen G. White’s teachings to all who would receive them. After relocating to Michigan, she joined the Sharon Seventh-Day Adventist Church of Inkster in 1974 where she served faithfully until relocating to Indiana to live with her daughter and son-in-law, Effie and Chris Jones in 2009. There she faithfully attended the Capitol City Seventh-Day Adventist Church where she sealed her relationship with God and was granted permission to rejoin Him.

In 1950 she married Jimmie Lee Ferguson. To them three girls were born; Eugenia Chagnon (Thomas), Boston, MA; Nell Van Barron (Nathaniel), Detroit, MI; Valarie Carter (Jessie), Detroit MI. She later married James C. Richmond Jr. in 1955. To them were born three girls and one boy: Effie Jones (Christopher), Fishers, IN; Dr. Dianne Richmond, Washington, D.C.; James C. Richmond, III (Michele), Visalia, CA, and Brenda Delasanta (David), Boston, MA. In 1973 from a union with Henry Tanksley Caroline Rogers (Rodney), Dallas, TX was born. She later married Curtis Pharr who has preceded her in transition.

Equipped with a ninth-grade education she made every sacrifice to prepare her children for a better life than she had. Late in the evenings, using the light from the fireplace, one-by-one she taught them the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic. Her goal was to see that each one of her children got their high school diploma. Because of her determination most went beyond her goal. Single-parenting eight children and traversing every road block, the sacrifices she made throughout the years cannot be quantified. We are all who we are because of her love for us.

Because she has joined God and �"in God we move, breathe and have our being”, we will never be in a place where we are without her, because God is everywhere. Absent the physical body, she continues to love and guide her Grandchildren: Cleo Vanetta, Charlie Poellnitz, Calvin Poellnitz, Geraldine Mohammed, Junnecia Carter, Ashley Carter, Akeela Ferguson, Jessie Carter, Jr., Johnny L. Turner Jr., Terrance Turner, Reginald Turner, Nakia Turner, Micheal Jones, Steven Jones, Brenton Jones, William Jones William Roosevelt Hall III, James C. Richmond IV, Jerel Richmond, Jamar T. Richmond, Sean Ewing, Michaela Delasanta, Anthony Delasanta, Rodney Rogers, Jr. and Elizabeth Rogers and her Great Grandchildren: Amarni Poellnitz, Romello Poellnitz, Jada Poellnitz, Cardiar Poellnitz, Corion Poellnitz, Mya Street, Deshawn Prather, Saunita Prather, Stanley Jackson, Elijay Carter, Tayah Carter, Ashanti Williams, Javier White, Ashanti Williams, Javier White, Johnathon Turner, Jordan Turner, Alison Turner, Arniqua Thompson, Kristopher Jones, Terahnae Turner, Micah Turner, Reginald Turner Jr., Aalliyah Turner, Dayvon Turner, Brenton D. Jones Jr, Brenton N Jones, Bianca Jasmine Jones, Brianna Jade Jones, Adriana Jones, Terrian Edward Thompson, William Richmond Hall, Kingston Isaiah Richmond Hall and her Great Great Grandchildren: Riley Allen, Ayden Robinson, Aiyanna Robinson Alonzo Jones, and Ansel Webb Reece and her Nieces and Nephews: Millie Jean Pruitt Snorton (Cincinnati), Johnnie Pruitt Jr. (Cincinnati), Lynn Johnson (Bessemer) and Joe Johnson Jr (Birmingham) and a host of loving relatives and friends.

Her grandson, Albert Moore and great grandson Charlie Poellnitz II preceded her in transition.