Catherine Aline Summerlin

Aline spent over 40 years in ministry of various kinds, 37 of those years in hospital chaplaincy work. She was a chaplain with Hospice of Chattanooga for nearly twenty years prior to her retirement at the end of 2013. For the last several of those years she was Director of Pastoral Services. An ordained minister of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Aline has been an active member at First Christian Church, Chattanooga since moving here with her family in 1985. She has served as an elder and chair of the elders. Aline’s ministry has included chaplaincy at hospitals in Birmingham, Alabama, Rome and Atlanta, Georgia and Chattanooga. In her early years in Chattanooga she was chaplain at Moccasin Bend Mental Health Center.

Born July 11, 1941 in Oakdale, Louisiana, Aline was the daughter of Linton and Mildred Hamilton Fuselier. Her mother died within a week of Aline’s birth, so as an infant she became a member of the family of Warren and Lucille Marquez. Mrs. Marquez was a sister to Aline’s father. The Fuselier and Marquez families lived in the Bond community, a rural area between Oakdale and Mamou.

Aline was preceded in death by her birth parents and by all members of the Marquez family in which she grew up. More recently she lost two stepsons, Reuben James Summerlin, killed in a traffic accident in Fiji in 2015 and Daniel Price Summerlin, who died of cancer on July 30, 2017.

She is survived by her husband, Philip Summerlin; son, Joshua (Sharon) of Santa Rosa Beach, Forida; Dan’s wife, Scottie of Signal Mountain; Reuben’s wife, Diana of Chattanooga; five grandchildren, Leah, Jack, Jake, Evan and Ike Summerlin.

Aline graduated from Northwestern State College in Natchitoches, Louisiana and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. She worked at the Baptist Student Union at Louisiana Tech in Ruston, Louisiana. Then for a number of years she was employed by the Women’s Missionary Union, first in Alexandria, Louisiana; then in Birmingham, Alabama. After completing her chaplaincy training in Birmingham in 1978, she was ordained to ministry in that city at Baptist Church of the Covenant.

Later in 1978 she married Phil, thereby instantly becoming not only a wife but stepmom to three young boys whom she helped raise to adulthood. In 1981, after the family moved to Rome, Georgia, Aline and Phil together functioned as co-interim ministers at First Christian Church, Rome, in addition to their work at a local hospital.

A memorial service celebrating Aline’s life will be held at 4 PM on Sunday, September 17 at First Christian Church, Chattanooga with Rev. Brandon Gilvin officiating. Prior to the service the family will receive friends from 2 to 3:45 PM .

Arrangements are by the East Chapel of Chattanooga Funeral Home, 404 South Moore Road, East Ridge, TN.