Elder Willie Strickland

Deacon who worked the same factory line for 38 years and never missed a Sunday

Faith & Ministry Made Here

SAMPLE PROFILE — FILM SLOT

His story is coming to the series soon.

The Old North End

Willie Strickland is old enough to remember when North Fourth Street had Black-owned groceries, a tavern, and a pool hall his mother told him to walk past fast. He grew up in the North End in a house with one bathroom and a lot of rules.

There's no downfall in his story, and he won't invent one. Money was thin, and the town offered Black men a short menu. That was the obstacle. The whole menu was the obstacle.

Thirty-eight years on the same line. Showing up is a talent. Most men never develop it.

The Long Shift

A factory in town hired him onto the line in 1984, and he stayed thirty-eight years, through buyouts, night shifts, and three foremen he outlasted. He raised two kids on that wage and a garden out back.

All that time he served his church, a deacon since his thirties, the man who opens the building and visits the sick. Young guys ask him his secret like it's hidden. He tells them it's Tuesday. Meaning you do right on a Tuesday when nobody's watching, and then you keep doing it.