Office of Public Relations
Missouri Baptist University
One College Park Drive
Saint Louis, Missouri 63141-8698
314.392.2307 / fax 314.392.2265
www.mobap.edu / pr@mobap.edu
For Immediate Release
RE: The Steel Magnolias of Third Baptist
The Steel Magnolias of Third Baptist
February 26, 2007
MBU actors take in real-life storyline
To a group of widows who attend Third Baptist Church of Granite City, Ill., it didn’t seem like that big of a deal when they began weekly going out to eat as a way to cope with the loss of their husbands.
After all, most of the women were friends long before they were ever married.
“These ladies will be there for you, no matter what happens to you in life. We’ve been through it all,” said Dee Maples, 77, who has been attending Third Baptist since it opened its doors in 1932. “They’re more than my friends, they’re my family.”
Over the last seventy years, the women at Third Baptist, an average-size, fairly traditional Southern Baptist church in western Illinois, have developed an intimate and increasingly rare camaraderie with one another. They’ve mourned together after loved ones pass. They’ve rejoiced together as children are born. They’ve gone on vacations together. They’ve prayed together. And all the while, they’ve lived life. Together.
Later this month, the all-female cast of MBU’s upcoming spring play will dedicate their emotionally charged rendition of Steel Magnolias to the women of Third Baptist. And for good reason.
The off-Broadway musical and successful motion picture delves into the lives of six women as they, like the women of Third Baptist, share happiness and heartbreak associated with love, joy, pain, death and rebirth.
“The ladies at Third Baptist are the Steel Magnolias of my life,” said Drama Director Joy Powell, who is a member and director of Worship and Creative Ministries at Third Baptist. “The longstanding relationships of the women of this church have helped them through life’s celebrations and challenges.”
Now, those celebrations and challenges are providing fodder for the MBU cast as they immerse themselves into the true-life story of the bond of six women living in northwest Louisiana. A diverse array of women who are members at Third Baptist—ranging in age from 20-somethings to 80-somethings—spent an evening this past February in their church fellowship hall with the MBU cast, sharing the ins and outs of what it means to have true long-lasting female friendships.
“I think our friendships are more like a sisterhood,” revealed Karen Cline, whose grandmother, mother and daughter were all, at one time, members of Third Baptist. “Your sisters are who you need when you suffer loss, or when you have challenges. They are the women who are your prayer warriors. There is nothing quite like that kind of relationship.”
For Kasey Bartley, a junior at MBU who has been cast as M’Lynn Eatenton in the upcoming play, the evening proved helpful in her pursuit to accurately depict the character she’ll be portraying. But that’s only the half of it.
“These ladies are such inspirations,” Bartley said. “To sit and listen to their stories, to take in their wisdom, is really amazing. Despite all of their differences, they have learned to rely on each other.”
A few of the women in attendance were childhood friends. They remember flirting with military guys together at a local ice cream parlor during World War II. One of the ladies went on to marry the man who owned that shop. They remember the days when doing anything besides going to church on a Sunday was completely taboo. Then, sneaking into Granite City’s movie theatre on the Sabbath took real skill, the ladies recalled.
Other women started attending Third Baptist later on in life. Some of them are daughters—even granddaughters—of the first-generation of Third Baptist women. Age doesn’t really matter, though.
“I have lots of grandchildren. And they’re not by blood,” said 85-year-old Millie Popilchak, who has been a member at Third Baptist for the last 43 years. “The wonderful thing is that we can learn so much from each other. I learn from the younger women and they learn from us.”
Bartley, whose character suffers from loss, was paired with Popilchak in an effort to learn about the aftermath of losing a loved one. It’s a subject Popilchak knows a thing or two about.
She was part of the group of widows who met weekly together to support each other as they grieved the loss of their husbands. Over time, those formal meetings stopped. But their support system remains stronger than ever.
“I’ve lost nearly everyone of my family members. My son, my husband, my parents, my aunts, my uncles,” Popilchak said. “I still love life, though, and to a large extent it is because of these women.”
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Missouri Baptist University is a premier Christian university in Saint Louis, offering graduate and undergraduate studies in over thirty specialized fields and nine degrees. MBU's education and fine arts programs are nationally known in addition to business, religion, administration of justice, and more. MBU is one of the fastest growing higher education institutions in Missouri with an enrollment of over 4,500 students at five locations in the bi-state region — West County, Lincoln County, Jefferson County, Franklin County and the new Illinois extension at Lewis and Clark Community College.
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