My Parents Move to Cat Island

Here, in my mother’s words, is the story of our family’s connection with Cat Island. I’ve shortened it for this purpose, and will delay-post one part per day until our expected return to internet access.

 

Cat Island Years, by Florence Eckstrom

“We met Roy and Ruth Beverly at Bibletown in Boca Raton, Florida, before they moved to Cat Island in 1960. At that time, we were in business in Boca, and were ministering to farm migrant workers on weekends. We met several men from Cat Island, and they encouraged us to come there to teach Bible classes like those we were holding in the migrant camps.  So I took teams over for summer Bible School three years, and then Grandpa and I decided to move there. He had never been there, so he went like Abraham—not knowing what to expect. What faith! We sold our business in 1967, and moved to Cat Island.

 

“Grandpa ordered building materials from Nassau. While he was building our house I taught the Beverly children. We lived in a little native house. Our car had not arrived, so Grandpa had a long, tiresome walk after working hard each day. When he had the walls framed up, the Beverlys drove over to hold the walls in place while he nailed them together. Then Dan came out for a few days and helped get the roof on. Finally our cute little house was finished, our furniture arrived, and we were ready to serve. What did the Lord have in mind for us? We decided to drive to the north end of the island, to get the lay of the land. We noticed each settlement had a school. Next to each school was a teacher’s cottage. Our first stop was at Orange Creek, where school had dismissed for the day. We met the teachers, Mr. and Mrs. O. W. Brown.  They offered the use of one room for a Bible class. In time Mrs. Brown became a dear friend, thinking of me as a mother she’d never had.”

 

Note from Carol: I should describe the “cute little house” she refers to. It was tiny; the main floor held a living room, kitchen, and small bedroom. The loft upstairs was only about 4 feet tall in the center, and held four cots and space for storage under the eaves. In the next few days you’ll discover how that small house held so much blessing for so many people.