New Deliverance Evangelistic Church Bishop Gerald O. Glenn credits his mother, Joan P. Andrews, for providing the guidance he needed as a young man to follow his call to ministry.

“We loved to play church when I was growing up,” said Bishop Glenn, the pastor at 1,500-member New Deliverance on South Side.

“I would always end up as the preacher, and I would preach to one of my cousins and the other cousin would sing. My mother always encouraged me and told me I would make a good preacher.”

Bishop Glenn said his mother gave birth to him in rural Kingsville, Texas, as a 16-year-old single mother.

“At that time, for a young black woman to have a child out of wedlock in the segregated South was considered disgrace- ful,” he recalled.

Living with his grandparents, Bishop Glenn said his mother worked two jobs — as a beautician and, in the same room, cooking and serving hamburgers — to make ends meet.

“She overcame a lot of hurdles to make a life for me,” he said.

She eventually married and relocated to Petersburg with her husband of 40 years, Navy man Edward Andrews in 1967, and the couple eventually relocated to Portsmouth when he was stationed in Norfolk.

Mrs. Andrews is being remembered following her death Sunday, Jan. 4, 2015, in First Baptist Church Portsmouth. She was 77.

Bishop Glenn eulogized his mother at her funeral Jan. 9 at New First Baptist Church (Taylorsville) in Portsmouth. Mrs. Andrews was born Nov. 10, 1937, one of 10 children, in Bishop Texas, a stone’s throw from Kingsville. She overcame an impoverished childhood through a deep faith and strong will, Bishop Glenn said.

She was the first female trustee at New First Baptist Church, where she remained a member for more than 40 years.

“I was at her bedside when she died,” Bishop Glenn said. “She died during the Dallas Cowboys first playoff game. Being from Texas, she was a big Cowboys fan. I said in my eulogy she went to heaven and told Jesus, ‘Please help the Cowboys,’ and he did as they won the game (24-20 over Detroit).” Mrs. Andrews is survived by her son, five grandchildren and a host of other relatives.