Louise Oldham

God reached down and gently escorted Louise Cress Oldham home to Heaven on January 25, 2021, at 1:45 pm. As God delivered her to Heaven's gates while her son Johnny, her daughter, Kenney, her loving niece Katrina and "son by another mother," Rick and grandson John watched her wing her way to her final destination. Here is where her healed body, mind, and spirit are now in the full-time care of Jesus. Her death is preceded by her husband Dr. Earl K. Oldham, her parents, four sisters, three brothers, and granddaughter, Tracey Christine Oldham.

She is survived by her son, John Lane Oldham and wife Lynn; daughter, Kenney Hayes and husband Stan; John Kenneth Oldham, grandson John Oldham, granddaughter Kisha Hayes Weir, and Annejeanette Hayes Wills, two great sons-in-laws Tom Weir, and William Wills. Three great-grandchildren Bailey Weir, Aly Weir, and Trinity Wills, as well as a host of loving, life-long friends.

Special thanks go to PBH Care Homes, Kanisha Mustafaa, and her care team for their tender care for Mrs. O during her final days. A very loving and special thanks go to Katrina Pawley, Mrs. O's niece, who tirelessly stood by her side and met her every need in her last days and throughout her widowhood. Her extended family of Tommy and Mary Wier, Joyce Williams, Beth Withers, Faith Austin, and numerous other friends stood by Mrs. O in thick and thin while sharing life together.

Virginia Louise Cress Oldham was born on March 14, 1923, to Leslie and Neal Cress and in Happy, Texas. Well suited to its name, Happy became one of the most memorable places in her life as she learned the work ethic and foundational principles of life in this West Texas farming community. Louise or "Luke" as she was affectionately called by her dad because he wanted her to be a boy, would ride atop the cotton as wagons carried their precious cargo to market.

It was in Happy that Louise helped her mother and seven siblings (who would become as dear to her as life itself) began a spiritual legacy that would carry her to the end of her life. As a faithful member of First Baptist Church in Happy, Texas, Louise would often remark that she cut her teeth on the teaching and preaching of God's Word. At the tender age of 10, she accepted Jesus Christ as her personal Savior and never looked back.

While surrounded by numerous beaux, Louise found that the only right choice for her life's partner would be Earl Kenneth Oldham. On July 31 (or 30 depending on who you talked to), 1940, Earl and Louise eloped to a nearby town so Earl could catch the train he was scheduled to manage while working

for the Santé Fe Railroad. Their lives together began as a newly married couple in Canyon, Texas where the closest depot would deposit Earl on his weekly runs. Amazingly, after a harrowing near-death experience with a switch circuit, Earl Oldham fell to his knees and confessed Jesus Christ as the Lord of his life. Within a year, the young couple would travel to Fort Worth, Texas to begin a spiritual journey that would take them to the four corners of the earth.

After enrolling in the Bible Baptist Institute under the leadership of Dr. J. Frank Norris and Louis Entzminger, Earl and Louise sat at the feet of pure wisdom and soaked in the raptures of Truth to prepare them for life even they would not have believed. Eventually, Earl and Louise became the protégés of Dr.Norris and Dr. Entzminger witnessing first-hand the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in ministry and witness.

By 1950, the Oldhams had established their own presence within the World Baptist Fellowship as leaders in their own right. Dr. Oldham studied to further his education while beginning his professorship at the Bible Baptist Institute; and Louise worked for Dr. Norris as his secretary and began her own professorship at Bible Baptist Institute, later to become Arlington Baptist College and is now a university. While there, she equipped men and women for the ministry. "Those were difficult times, but we never knew it because we were driven by a higher call," Mts. O. once told her namesake. By 1952, the World Baptist Fellowship and Bible Baptist Institute reached a crossroads with the death of Dr. Norris. Reluctantly, Dr. Earl K. Oldham took on the leadership mantle of his Elijah and grew the school and fellowship to exponential proportions while at the same time, pastoring the Calvary Baptist Church of Grand Prairie, Texas.

Louise Cress Oldham skillfully took on the ominous call of "preacher's" wife and was used by God to build a powerhouse of praying women, rich friendships, and ministry leaders that would comb the world as missionaries. In the meantime, she gave birth to her two children, John Lane Oldham and Kenney Earlene Oldham who were the light of her life. She raised them in the fear and admonition of the Lord; and taught them how to steady their course as recipients of ministry ups and downs. All who gained from Mrs. Oldham's influence owe a debt of gratitude to her children who sacrificially and freely shared their parents with us. Mrs. Oldham enveloped herself in the Great Commission that Christ so freely gave His Church, to reach all nations. Women all over the United States came to sit at the feet of a woman who simply accepted the call of God on her life and proclaimed the truth of God's Word. If there was anything she taught her students, it was to love the Word of God for from Its pages flows the wisdom for life's issues.

From pet rocks to personalities in colors to budgeting and cleaning a home, Louise Oldham expounded on the Christian Ethics God expects from men and women in ministry. Through her teachings, she established a standard of living for untold thousands built directly on the Word of the Living God. Backed by a life of purity and example, Mrs. Oldham practiced what she preached and led an entire generation by extolling the virtues of Christian living. At Calvary Baptist Church in Grand Prairie, Mrs. Oldham poured out her life on the youth of the 60s and 70s preparing all who learned from her wisdom to carry the banner of the cross to future generations. Her vision for the Teen Ethics program salvaged hundreds of young people who needed answers from God's Word. A countless number of men and women were saved as a result of her infamous Vacation Bible Schools, camp devotionals, Sunday School lessons, and endless counseling sessions. She was even able to fit in some match-making opportunities along the way that married young couples for the ministry.

Mrs. Oldham also loved music and was inspired to learn how to play the piano. She served as the pianist of Calvary Baptist Church until she passed the torch to her own daughter, Kenney. She also inspired the implementation of Calvary's Ladies Prayer Room. Week in and week out, Calvary's ladies stormed the gates of Heaven for miracle upon miracle at the charge of Louise Oldham. God blessed the life of Louise Cress Oldham not only spiritually but physically.

She was able to travel the world, experience different cultures, walk where Jesus walked, and see ministries in the darkest jungles as a result of their ministry. For 56 years, Dr. and Mrs. Oldham gave their all for Christ in every ministry imaginable until God called Dr. Oldham home in 1996.

​Life as she knew it would never be the same. However, never in her wildest dreams did she believe how God would still use her to ignite the fires of passion for Christ in the hearts and lives of all she touched. Her zest for life carried through to her dying breath and thousands mourn her passing today. On January 25, 2021, Louise Cress Oldham entered the portals of heaven and heard the sweetest words ever known to mortal man, "Well done thou good and faithful servant."

As she joins that great cloud of witnesses, Louise Cress Oldham cheers on these loved ones who watch her mortal body lowered into the grave. Survived by a host of friends and family, her life lives on through those she influenced as we carry the charge to new generations for Christ. If you will listen closely, you will hear her sweet, soft voice say, "Press on. Press on for the Savior. Press on Christian soldier. Press on for the time is short. Press on for night cometh when no man can work! Press on."

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.beanmasseyburge.com for the Oldham family.