By Darragh Doiron
The Port Arthur News
Sat, May 17 2008
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WAHNEETA SEGREST
Age: 88
Community connection: Prayer shawl stitcher
Contact: Call Trinity Presbyterian Church of Port Neches at 722-4491 for information or to make donations to this ministry.
Quick Quote: “Lord God, you know the maker of this shawl prayed to you each time they touched it. We thank you for giving them the talent and the patience to enter into this ministry in such a tangible way.”
PORT NECHES —Most days Wahneeta Segrest’s lap is covered in soft, homespun yarn, as her needles generate rows of stitching that transform into prayer shawls.
Hardly a day goes by that she doesn’t start, add to or complete another shawl designed to warm, console and rejuvenate a body who needs it. If she didn’t pick up the yarn, there would be a gap in her day.
“It’s something you get used to doing. It’s like going to church. If you miss a couple of Sundays, you feel like you’ve missed forever,” the Nederland woman said.
At 88, Segrest is a deacon at Trinity Presbyterian Church of Port Neches and a main producer in the Prayer Shawl Ministry. She prefers crochet, but Doris Parsons, 73 of Nederland, switches from crochet to knitting to ease arthritis pain. The women supported then-pastor Gaither Bailey’s trip to a Houston workshop that started the seniors —and Bailey himself —on the ministry. Now Bailey has moved on to Kentucky and the church is seeking a new pastor. Being able to knit or crochet is not a criteria for the job, Segrest said.
Even though the time commitment to make the shawls is now routine, the focus is not.
“Each time we pick it up, we pray over it,” Parsons said.
Segrest said women get shawls and men get lap robes. Recipients are those who are ill, in retirement settings or have lost close family members.
In addition to prayer going into the making, there are formal prayers read at the presentation, asking God that the maker be blessed and the work be “forever a symbol of your enduring warmth and presence.”
Recipients seem to understand the love put into the project. Segrest said she can’t find words to express her feelings at presentations.
“It’s kind of hard to say how you really feel. You’re doing some of God’s work. It’s pretty emotional,” she said.
Another stitcher says she responded to a call from above to supply these bundles of comfort.
“I think God called me to do it,” Renee Sanders said.
She makes the shawls, but recently received a red one before her own operation.
“It meant a lot to me,” Sanders said.
Sanders said she asked her husband to warm himself with it in the waiting room while she was in surgery.
To learn more about the Prayer Shawl Ministry or make donations, call Trinity Presbyterian Church in Port Neches at 722-4491.
Contact this reporter at ddoiron@panews.com.
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