President Robertson married to Superwoman

S. E. "Granny" Goff calls Beth Robertson "Superwoman". Beth is the wife of Wayne Robertson, who at the last rap of the gavel in Columbus on Tuesday will complete his second year as the president of the Georgia Baptist Convention. "Granny", who is 83 years young, is Beth's fishing "buddy".

The fishing tandem of Robertson and Goff has plied their artistry as anglers all over South Georgia and into Florida. "Granny" says, "When Beth comes and picks me up with the boat hitched to the back of the truck I am ready to go. She can back that truck and boat into places that most people wouldn't dare to go. And she's as good at casting a rod as any man in Lowndes County."

Wayne Robertson, pastor of Morningside Church in Valdosta and his "superwoman" will soon be married 25 years. Evangelist Sam Cathey was instrumental in Wayne's life and in the earlier years of their new marriage. As a young adult, at age 21, the Reed Creek church in Hartwell ordained Wayne as a deacon. When Cathey came to preach in the Hartwell church he observed Wayne's life and concluded "God was all over him."

The Lord impressed Cathey to invite Robertson to travel with him and assist him in his ministry. It was during this time that Wayne asked Beth to marry him and it was not long until the wedding bells were ringing.

When Robertson was called to preach Beth confessed that she didn't know how to be a pastor's wife, but Cathey knew she had all the qualities necessary to become a wonderful partner in ministry with the man she loved. He said, "Beth has always had the characteristics of dedication, faithfulness, loyalty, and the ability to organize. Lu Cathey, Sam's wife, began to groom Beth for the role she was destined to fulfill.

Elaine Yates, wife of Morningside's minister of education, declares, "Beth is a wonderful helpmate to our pastor. She is always ready to do whatever she needs to do to love and support him."

At Morningside Beth serves as the director of the preschool department in Sunday School, plays the keyboard for the worship services and is the manager of the kitchen. The Wild Game dinner at Morningside is a monumental happening every year and Beth is the one who organizes the event. The church hosts a capacity crowd of 900 men and boys for each of the two nights necessary to accommodate this festive dinner and under Beth's direction the entire building is transformed into a hunter's paradise, complete with a working pond.

Jack Howell, one of Morningside's lay leaders who was also on the pastor search committee 18 years ago when the Robertsons moved to Valdosta said, "We called Beth and Wayne came along as a bonus."

Since becoming the president of the Georgia Baptist Convention the Morningside Pastor has made over 100 trips in the response to the demands of the office. He has driven over 43,000 miles, attended 129 committee meetings, spoken at 59 different churches and spent 132 nights away from home. His faithful companion has accompanied him on all but three of those trips.

Beth has not only kept her husband company, but she has served as a courier for church members. Elaine Yates reports, "If any of us cannot find something we need here in Valdosta - not to worry! Since Brother Wayne has frequent meetings in Atlanta, she'll get whatever we need there. We simply place our order, stating size and color and she always comes back with several things for us to choose from. We pick out what we want and she takes back what we don't want on the next trip to Atlanta."

Elaine surmises, "Beth has an SUV and is willing to haul whatever we need from clothes to deer heads. She is only five feet tall, but what she lacks in height she makes up in sheer determination. I tell her she looks like 'Atom Ant' in that SUV, but she is in control at all times." She is an avid shopper and always abides by a cardinal rule: "never pay retail!"

The indomitable belle of Morningside recently came up with a football theme for the church's kick off banquet for the new Sunday School year. Everyone brought pictures of themselves in their football, cheerleader or band uniforms. These pictures were used to decorate the tables. For the speakers area she had an ivy-laced lattice with uniforms from the Lowndes County, Valdosta High and Valdosta State teams highlighted in the background.

The attendees at the banquet played a football game quiz. One question was: "What football term describes what happens to the attention span of the congregation if the preacher goes into 'overtime'?" The answer: "Sudden Death!"

Obviously, Beth Robertson has the gift of service and she is happiest when she is doing something for others, especially those who cannot reciprocate - senior adults who need help running errands or those who need to get to a doctor's appointment or young women who need advice about parenting.

Speaking of parenting, the Robertson's have two absolutely charming daughters: Miranda who is a junior at Valdosta State University and Christi, who is a freshman at Georgia Military College.

Both young ladies are radiant Christians and a testimony to the good parenting they received from a genuine Christian home.

That Beth was born on Christmas Day is apropos, because of her love for Christmas and because she is such a wonderful gift to her family and to the Morningside fellowship.

Incidentally, she begins decorating for Christmas at the end of October and has at least one tree in every room and each room is a picture in itself. She has decorations from the mailbox to the backyard. The decorations stay up typically until the last of January, because two groups hosted by the Robertsons can't come until after Christmas: the associational minister's wives and the gospel trio, Greater Vision.

Beth even bedecks the garage in beautiful Christmas decor so that everyone will have plenty of room to sit down at the open house she hosts for the entire Morningside church.

Beth is known as one who loves to play practical jokes on those individuals she loves most. Indeed, there is a mischievous twinkle in her eye much of the time. Some are wondering what creative, ingenuous plan she may have up her sleeve for her husband's upcoming 50th birthday. That day in April is destined to be "interesting" to say the least.

By the way, Annie Laurie "Granny" Goff said, "I saw Beth catch the biggest bass of her life. It was a beauty and weighed 9 and 1/2 pounds."

After the interview with "Granny" and upon congratulating Beth on the size of her portentous catch, Beth said with an expression of absolute resolve, "The fish didn't weigh 9 and 1/2 pounds; it weighed 10 and 3/4 pounds, and that's a fact."