Rhett and Mamie Sumerel, parents of Dot 
                    Stephens, Joyce Smith, and Jerry Sumerel



      Rhett Fleming Sumerel and Mamie Rebecca Ramey Sumerel, a deaf couple, left a legacy of a strong faith in God, a strong love for their family, and a heart for caring about others. Rhett Sumerel (1903-1977), born in Laurens, South Carolina, was two months old when he had the mumps. Later, it was discovered that, as a result of this, he lost his hearing. Twenty-two-month-old Mamie Rebecca Ramey (1902-1995) of Mountain Rest, South Carolina had scarlet fever which caused her to lose her hearing. 
        At the age of nine, Mamie’s mother enrolled her at Cedar Springs School for the Deaf in Spartanburg where attending church was mandatory for the students. (The school is now named South Carolina School for the Deaf and Blind which is located on Cedar Springs Road in Spartanburg.) It was there that Mamie received Jesus Christ as her personal Savior, was baptized, and joined the church. Mamie stayed at school all during the school year, and when school was out for the summer, she rode the train from Spartanburg to Easley to meet her family. Each of Mamie’s brothers and sisters learned finger-spelling and some sign so they could communicate with her and therefore shared a strong bond. While attending Cedar Springs School, Mamie met Rhett Sumerel, a fellow student at the school, who became her husband in 1928. 
        Mamie and Rhett Sumerel had three children: Dorothy (Dot) (Stephens), Joyce (Smith), and Jerry. They grew up at Arial in Easley. Dot, being the oldest, went with her parents to the doctor to interpret for them. The doctor gave Dot a medical book to read so she would be familiar with some medical terminology to help her in translating conditions to the doctor and also translating back to her parents. Dot was nine years old when she would go with her Mom to the doctor to translate for her and the doctor before Joyce was born. Dot not only translated for the doctor, but she also went to church and took notes, then came back home, took her Bible, and told her parents what the preacher had preached about. Dot reminisced: “We grew up with loving and compassionate parents. They taught us how important families are to one another. We learned to love one another unconditionally, and grew up learning about God’s love. Mama would always tell us, ‘God is always with you. God always watches over you, and God knows everything you do.’ Mama and Daddy left us a legacy of family values we will always treasure.” 
        At the age of ten, Joyce began to go to GA’s (Girl’s Auxiliary, a mission group of Woman’s Missionary Union, WMU) and was taught about missions. Missions became a lifestyle with Joyce, and she answered God’s call to be a missionary when she was a GA. She did not realize exactly what that meant or how God was going to use her as a missionary. In 1950, Arial Baptist Church of Easley, South Carolina experienced a great revival, and eleven-year-old Joyce was one of over 200 who came to know Jesus Christ as their Savior.
      Joyce married her high school sweetheart, Olen Smith, in 1956. That same year, she joined WMU, an association that would further influence her future ministry. Also that same year, she interpreted a church dedication service for the deaf which was her first public interpreting. When Joyce was 23 years old, she had a spiritual encounter with God that changed her life completely. At that point, she surrendered her life totally and completely to God and gave her husband, her children, her home, everything she had in order to serve Him.
      Recently, Joyce said, “I just started the journey which has led us to many countries and to many states throughout the United States starting deaf ministries which began at Arial.” God gave Joyce a gift of ministry to the deaf to begin in 1963 in her home church at Arial for 15 deaf people in Pickens County which included her mother and father. Mamie and Rhett finally had an opportunity to become contributing members having a part in the life of the church. A memory that Jerry continues to hold dear of his Mom and Dad was their commitment to Christ. He reminisces, “I remember walking from our home at Arial to the highway, waiting for the bus to take us to Easley, then getting on another bus for the ride to Greenville. We would walk from the bus station to the First Baptist Church where the deaf were given a room in the basement for Sunday school. Then we would walk to the S & S Cafeteria for lunch and do the return trip. That was the love and the hunger my parents felt until Joyce started the ministry at Arial.” Dot reminisces, “There is so much that God has done through a deaf couple and their children. We are all very supportive of one another. We need to be obedient to God’s Word and His calling, and give God the glory and praise.” 
        The deaf at Arial began attending national training conferences at Ridgecrest Baptist Assembly in Ridgecrest, North Carolina with Joyce and later to Glorieta, New Mexico. 
        In 1968, all the deaf people in the Deaf Ministry at Arial along with Joyce and her nine-year-old daughter, Pam, among others, flew to Albuquerque, New Mexico and took a shuttle bus to Glorieta for the Southern Baptist Conference for the Deaf annual meeting. Pam attended Day Camp and made lots of friends, not only from the US, but also from other countries, while the deaf had an opportunity to attend Bible Study, study in conferences how to become leaders in their churches, and meet new friends. 
        God was also opening doors that would improve the quality of life for deaf people. Joyce was instrumental in the formation of the South Carolina Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID) and served as the group’s first president. Mamie served on the board of the South Carolina RID and on the nominating committee for the South Carolina Baptist Conference for the Deaf. In 1970, Joyce served as chairperson for the state legislative committee that wrote and achieved passage of a bill permitting deaf persons to have an interpreter with them in a court of law. In 1972, Joyce received her National RID Certification, the highest level of certification in that field. That same year, she served as the interpreter for the first National RID meeting in Wisconsin. 
        Since 1972, Joyce has traveled throughout the United States and other countries as a conference leader for Bible Study Conferences, interpreter training conferences and missions education conferences. 
        Joyce established the first sign language course offered for college credit in the state of South Carolina. It was the forerunner of the interpreter training college degree program at Greenville Technical College. Joyce taught at Greenville Tech for the next 11 years, and her mother, Mamie, worked along side her, co-teaching sign language and interpreter training classes. Joyce went on to organize courses in four South Carolina colleges, and the instruction manual she wrote for use in those courses was later used in courses across the Carolinas and Georgia. She began interpreting for deaf students at Greenville Tech, allowing them an opportunity to attend with hearing students, which was the first program of its kind in the area. 
        In 1976, Joyce worked with Southern Bell Telephone Co. to place TTY machines in the homes of the deaf families and in the hospital, police stations, and fire departments in Pickens County. These were the first in the state and now her parents, Rhett and Mamie, had a telephone for the very first time in their lives. 
        All three of the Sumerels’ children, Dot, Joyce, and Jerry, have worked with deaf ministries. For six years, Dot was secretary of the South Carolina Baptist Conference of the Deaf. While Dot was still able to be active in Rock Springs Baptist Church in Easley, she was an interpreter for the deaf and also Sunday School teacher for the deaf class at Rock Springs. Jerry was the director of Deaf Ministries at Hampton Heights Baptist Church from the early 70’s until 1978. During that time, they had over 20 deaf members and many hearing involved in the ministry. Jerry left Easley in 1978 and took a position with Central Piedmont Community College in North Carolina as an Educational Interpreter. He earned a National Certification and Legal Certification. During the Reagan Administration, he traveled the Southeast training participants their rights under the 504 Disability Act. He says, “My involvement in my church is very important to me, but just as Joyce was called into the ministry, I felt a calling to serve in the educational field. I have worked with many hundreds of deaf students over the last 26 years and will continue to do so in a part-time capacity. My wife, Tanya, worked as an Educational Interpreter for over 15 years and is now a home school mom and teaches children’s chapel at our church.” 
        In 1980, Mamie received recognition as Mother of the Year, an award given annually by the South Carolina Baptist Conference of the Deaf at its annual meeting at White Oak Conference Center in Columbia, South Carolina. The plaque read: Deaf Mother of the Year, 1980, Presented by SCBCD, Mamie Rebecca Ramey Sumerel, The Mother Who Loves God and Her Family and Whose Three Children Have Been a Blessing in Their Service to the Deaf.



Mamie Sumerel received the Deaf Mother of the Year Award in 1980
from the South Carolina Baptist Conference for the Deaf. Pictured with
her are her children, Jerry, Joyce, and Dot. 


        Through all the years, Olen and the children, Pam, Dee, and Jon, were a part of the deaf ministry. They looked forward to the South Carolina Baptist Conference for the Deaf meetings at Camp Rawls and at White Oak. They traveled with Joyce to Ridgecrest and Glorieta where they worked and played with deaf children in the summer camps and they worshipped with the deaf in churches and revival crusades. 
        The family moved to Ridgecrest in 1984 when Olen accepted a position at Ridgecrest Baptist Conference Center as manager of maintenance for the buildings and grounds. Joyce began to write The Bible Lessons for the Deaf quarterly printed by LifeWay Christian Resources and it has been a joy of hers to write, now for 20 years. Joyce began deaf ministries in two local churches, Ridgecrest Baptist and First Baptist Black Mountain and strengthened the work in others including Merrimon Avenue Baptist. She taught sign language classes, interpreted at local colleges, and led deaf believers to be ministers themselves including through a prison ministry at the Black Mountain Correctional Center for Women. Joyce developed a national prayer conference for women which she led for seven years from Ridgecrest.
      In 1994, Missionaries Jerry Potter of North Carolina, Jerry St. John of South Carolina, Jerry Baker of Georgia, Neal Peyton of North Carolina, a North American Mission Board representative, and Joyce began TriState School of Theology for the Deaf, a Seminary Extension with Southern Seminary of Louisville, Kentucky. The committee selected Joyce to serve as the first Director of the Seminary, and she served for seven years. The Seminary was begun at Ridgecrest Conference Center, mainly because Joyce lived there close by, and there were already classrooms and AV equipment available and also Montreat College Library was nearby. In 1998, eleven students participated in the first graduation commencement exercises at TriState. There are now 23 deaf adult students traveling from six states to Ridgecrest each third Saturday for all-day classes from August to May. Joyce said, “What a joy to be a part of young deaf Pastors and leaders called to serve their people in the United States and in other places of the world.” 

          
           Dot Stephens, Joyce Smith, and Jerry Sumerel at Joyce's     
           retirement celebration at Ridgecrest on November 4, 2000. 


        After many years of ministry to the deaf on the local, state, and national level, Olen and Joyce have retired. Olen retired from Ridgecrest in 1995, five years before Joyce did, and he worked with a custom builder while he patiently waited for Joyce to retire and said, “Now, we are ready to go on mission with Christ.” “It was time to retire from full time responsibilities with the Deaf Ministry at the church and also, as Director of TriState School for the Deaf,” stated Joyce. They really did not retire. They just moved from Ridgecrest in North Carolina to Glorieta in New Mexico, still ministering to the Deaf as volunteers. 



Related story -- On Mission with God: Through OJoy Smith Deaf Ministries