Ethel Lilly Slayman White Ward Hinrichs

Ethel passed away Saturday, December 24, 2016 at her home in DeWitt, MI. She was born on January 19, 1914 at home on Paramount St. in Los Angeles, CA to the late Arthur Leo and Ellender (Richardson) Slayman. Ethel was the mother of 5 children, 17 grandchildren, 33 great grandchildren, and 5 great great-grandchildren.

Ethel loved her large and growing family, her home state of California, her adopted states of South Carolina and Michigan, her work as a homemaker and as a real estate broker, her many artistic hobbies, a wide variety of pets, her home church, Hampton Park Baptist, in Greenville, South Carolina, and her church in DeWitt, Michigan, South Riley Bible Church. Ethel enjoyed extensive travel, but most of all she loved sharing her faith in her Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, along with Emerson Ward’s booklet “The Greatest Fact of All Time” and the Ten Commandments.

On January 15, 1945, she was born again as Christ saved her and made her His child during special meetings at First Baptist Church in San Bernardino. In her biography she shares these thoughts: “That night Evangelist Fred Jordan very clearly explained how one becomes a Christian. He made it plain that everyone of us is a lost sinner for whom Jesus died and rose again, and that by trusting in Him as our Savior, my sister and I could be born again.” Ethel and her sister Martha listened intently. Never before had they seen themselves as people who were lost and in need of God’s salvation. But things were different that night. The Holy Spirit was tugging at their hearts, and when Evangelist Jordan invited anyone who wanted to receive God’s free gift of salvation and to be born again to come to the front of the auditorium, they both responded and made public their acceptance of Jesus as their personal Savior. That following Sunday, both sisters were baptized. Ethel was an avid reader of the Scriptures until the end of her days on this earth. Psalm 116:15 tells us that, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.”

Ethel’s many pursuits included Homemaker, Leader in Baptist Women’s Missionary circles, Garden Club officer, Real Estate Broker, Gideon Women’s Auxiliary, Volunteer for Republican party polling place, Participant in several evangelistic mission trips to Central and South America, Volunteer trained to counsel incarcerated women, Greenville County.

Her multiplied hobbies included gymnastics, horseback riding, pitching baseball, citrus judging, flower arranging, cake decorating, painting fine china as well as landscapes and still life, sewing for family and friends, gardening, traveling, swimming, motorcycle riding, Scrabble playing, co-authoring two books, Keepsake Kookbook and the Incandescent Matriarch, hostessing dinner parties and picnics, enjoying artist series at BJU, encouraging healthy living which included sharing her apple cider vinegar-grape juice tonic, looking on the light side by encouraging us all to laugh. “Keep your fork. The best is yet to come.”

She was preceded in death by her parents; 2 brothers, James Slayman and Mark Slayman; 2 sisters, Martha Slayman Hicks and Esther Slayman Watts; a grandson, Randall Lee White; husbands, Ernest Wayne White, Emerson Hersey Ward, and Reginald Hinrichs. She is survived by 2 daughters, Nancy White Cropsey and Virginia White Campanale; 3 sons, Robert Wayne White, Ronal Lee White, and Richard Laurence White; 16 grandchildren, 33 great-grandchildren, and 5 great great-grandchildren.

A morning service will be held on Thursday, January 12. Visitation will be held at Hampton Park Baptist Church from 10:00 to 10:45 a.m. with a funeral service following at 11:00 a.m. Pastor Michael Cruice will be officiating.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Ethel’s memory to the Gideons or to Bibles International; The Bible Society of Baptist Mid-Missions. The family is being served by Tiffany Funeral Home, in Michigan and by Woodlawn Funeral Home & Memorial Park in Greenville, South Carolina.