Aurtherine W. Steward

Aurtherine Williams Steward, the oldest child of Lottie Mae and Virgil Lee Williams, Sr., was born on November 9, 1946, in Columbia, Mississippi. She moved up a little higher on April 10, 2025. The first nine years of Aurtherine’s life were spent on a farm where she washed clothes on a rub board, picked plums, persimmons, China berries and cotton. She boasted of picking 109 pounds of cotton at the age of nine, of course, no one would corroborate this impossible sounding claim. During those years, the Williams family was active in the Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church, where her uncle, Reverend W.L. Lumzy (Uncle Claude), was pastor. So, as a young child, Aurtherine was very involved in Sunday School and church activities. The family moved to Muncie, Indiana when Aurtherine was nine years old. She accepted Christ as her Savior at Antioch Missionary Baptist Church, under the pastorate of Dr. I.P. Broaddus. Her spiritual mentor and friend, Miss Della Clark, had a profound impact on her walk with Christ, stressing that “no man can serve two masters” and “prayer changes things”. While at Antioch, Aurtherine sang in the Junior Choir, was a Junior Missionary, and a member of the Prayer Band. Outside of church, she was interested in becoming an actress. To further that aspiration, she tried out for eighth grade dramatics homeroom at McKinley Junior High School and made it. Before she could follow that dream, the family moved to New Brunswick, New Jersey in 1959. Once there, the Williams family united with First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens, pastored by Reverend Clifton Graves Wooding. Aurtherine participated in Sunday School (later teaching an adult class and then the Junior class for many years with Cheryl Hughes). She was a Junior Missionary, Junior Usher, member of the Young Adult Choir, Church Chorus, the Ever-Ready Gospel Chorus (renamed C.H. Brown Gospel Chorus) and the Senior Fellowship Choir (under the direction of Mother Mary Soaries). Aurtherine was a Deaconess, founding member of the Leoma Johnson Players (a youth drama group), the driving force behind the church’s Black History celebrations for more than a decade and served as Youth Director. For several years, she served. She also served for several years as Area II Youth Director for Middlesex Central Baptist Association. Under her leadership, as First Baptist Youth Director, the tutoring program was launched, and the Sunbeams were organized. She forged a relationship with the leadership of both Franklin Township Housing Authority (Parkside) and the New Brunswick Housing Authority (Robeson Village and Schwartz Homes) and included their youth on trips and in other church youth activities. Aurtherine – —although she did not coin the phrase – —felt that “a mind was a terrible thing to waste” and pursued developing her mind at South Carolina State (Orangeburg, SC), Howard University (Washington, DC), finally graduating from Rutgers University (New Brunswick, NJ) May 1992, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications. She had an insatiable thirst for knowledge. She always encouraged others to make good choices because they would have to live with the consequences. Aurtherine could be called a “workaholic”. She had an unlimited supply of countless energy and would work hard at a task until it was completed, without regard to time. She always said that she only needed five hours of sleep a night. She was employed by A&P, New Jersey Bell, E.R. Squibb and Sons, and was a district manager at AT&T, retiring after 20 years as a “20 Year Diva”. Her most challenging and fulfilling position, however, was as secretary to the Pastor of First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens, under Pastor C.H. Brown, Jr. (1979-1984). She also owned and operated Aurtherine Steward Enterprises, as fashion and accessory boutique for voluptuous women. Aurtherine felt that she had a direct connection to Heaven through her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. She believed that she could lay hands on the sick, pray the prayer of faith over them and they would be healed and recover. This led her to record “Healing Scriptures” accompanied by her baby sister, Ann Young. She also had great compassion for the elderly and her community. She served the Franklin Township community as a member and president of the Citizens Club of Franklin Township. Preceding her in death were her parents, Virgil Lee and Lottie Mae Williams, and three sisters, Johnnie Mae, Geraldine and Linda Joyce. She leaves to cherish her memory: husband – Rinzalea; daughters, Carla and Jennie of Wilmington, DE; and special son, Rinzalea (Consuela) of Hermosillo, Mexico; granddaughters – Maya, Nai’la, Rinay and Anaya; grandson – Jaxon; siblings –: Virgil (Sonya) of Jacksonville, FL, Ann (Philip) of Charlotte, NC and Felix (Annie) of Woodbridge, VA; brothers/sister-in-love: – Art (Cynthia), Carl (Glenda) and Azalea Spearman of San Diego, CA; aunts, nieces, nephews, cousins and some very special friends. “I will bless the Lord at all times, His praises shall continually be in my mouth.” To my family: I lived a full, rich, joyously complete life with Jesus Christ as its center and my source. You will bring honor to my life and memory if you will do likewise. All my love, Aurtherine

Aurtherine W. Steward

November 9, 1946 - April 10, 2025