Page 4 - Alene Valentine Memorial PDF Web Brochure_Neat

Life’s Journey

Alene Valentine was born to the union of Lemuel Thomas and
Estella Norman-Thomas on December 6th, 1936 in Warren, Ar-
kansas. She was the youngest of eight children. Her family did not
have much materially but there was an abundance of love.

Alene was educated in the Bradley County, Arkansas school sys-
tem. She remained in close contact with her classmates until the
very end and spoke regularly with Mr. Kloyce Davis and Ms. Ruth
Hardin. She completed her last year of secondary school at North-
western High in Detroit, Michigan. Upon returning to Arkansas,
Alene attended college at Arkansas AM&N in Pine Bluff on a full
music scholarship. She had so many fond memories of traveling
and singing in the choir with Gloria Wilson and she relished the
good times shared with her college roommate, Sister Shirley Lam-
bert. After graduation, she began her teaching career in West He-
lena, Arkansas where she met the love of her life, Alfred Valen-
tine. In this union a son, Michael Valentine, was nurtured and a
daughter, Alfreda Valerie Valentine was born.

Alene always wanted to be a teacher. She considered it her life's
calling. She loved all of her students and they adored her as well.
She formed close bonds with her fellow teachers, especially Caro-
lyn Williams and James Sims. However, Alene had a greater call-
ing and in October of 1973, she was baptized as one of Jehovah's
Witnesses. Upon retiring from teaching public school in 1992, she
immediately embarked on her greatest teaching assignment, de-
claring the Good News about our Heavenly Father, Jehovah God.
This was her greatest joy. She wanted to bring comfort and hope
to people who were suffering by sharing Jehovah God's wonderful
promise for the future, where there would be no sickness or
death. (Revelation 21:3-5)

Alene was a member of the West Helena, Arkansas Congregation
and later the Twin City, Arkansas Congregation. She gained so
many friends, Ophelia Corbin, Earnese Jacobs and Lynette Harrell,
just to name a few; and she told so many stories about the fun