MOTHER NORMA L. BURRELL Supervisor of Women

Mother Norma Lorraine Burrell has touched and continues to touch the lives of many throughout the Spiritual Arena and secular arena of this world! Mother Burrell was the eldest of ten children born to Administrative Assistant T.R. Harris and Erma I. Harris, Big Sister of Sunshine of the Church of God in Christ, in a little town of Edmondson, Arkansas.

EDUCATION:
Her grade school years began in Edmondson and continued in the city of Chicago, Illinois where she lived with her aunt, Missionary Rosetta (Jenkins) Jeffries. She attended her high school years in Flint, Michigan, graduating from the Flint Northern High School in June, 1941.

She pursued a higher education in a period of economic depression, attending the following institutions:
• Baker’s Business College, Flint, Michigan
• Cortez Peters College of Business specializing in Office Practices and Office Machines, Chicago.
• Northwestern University, Evanston Campus, Business Administration and Business Law.

EMPLOYMENT EXPERIENCES:
• Fuller Products Company, Chicago, Illinois--Office Management and Administrator of Finance.

• Attorney Richard N. Westbrooks Law Firm which specialized in Criminal Law, Contracts negotiated through the courts between unions and the Workplace. A special experience related to this job ended in Mother Burrell having to travel With Attorney Westbrooks to Washington, D. C., in negotiations of a case between the Amalgamated Transit Union of America and Santa Fe Railroads, which ended in the U. S. Supreme Court.

• Child and Family Services of Michigan, a United Way of America affiliation. She retired from this job after 29 years concluding her career as the comptroller of finance.

Mother Burrell through marriage in Chicago, IL, birthed three sons: Walter Emile, Allan Roy, and Edward Tyrone. She was later joined in Holy Matrimony to Deacon Arthur George Burrell, who later was called into the ministry and pastorage at the St. George Beth El Church of God in Christ. God prospered his calling in ministry. Pastor Burrell was elevated to serve as the Progressive District Superintendent, Administrative Assistant, and then Auxiliary Bishop in April, 1995. He served in this position as Assistant to Bishop P. A. Brooks until his demise on June 30, 2002.

CHURCH AFFILIATIONS:
• St. James Church of God in Christ under Superintendent James Markem, Flint.
• Harris Temple Church of God in Christ, Flint, Michigan.
• Gospel Temple Church of God in Christ as Pastor’s Wife, and later to St. George Beth El Church of God in Christ.

DISTRICT AFFILIATIONS:
• Secretary of District #10/Progressive District and as Hospitality President.

STATE OF MICHIGAN APPOINTMENTS:

Appointments under Supervisor Mary Mangum Johnson
• Missionary License, August, 1955.
• State Hospitality President, appointed by Mother Mary Mangum Johnson, March,

Supervisor Captolia Thomlison – 1961 through 1963;
• Steering Committee Member;

Supervisor Mary Jane Hopkins:
• Reappointed as Hospitality President - 1963 to 1995.
• Co-Chair of Steering Committee, Treasurer of Women’s Department.

Supervisor Lillian Keyes Johnson:
• District Missionary, Maranatha District; Assistant Supervisor; Executive Hospitality President; Member Clergy Wives Circle; Member, Bishop’s Wives Circle.

Supervisor Madge Cyars:
• Executive Hospitality Chair, District Missionary, Assistant Supervisor, Member of Missionary Training Institute.
• Delegate to General Assembly of the Churches of God in Christ, Memphis, Tennessee
• Delegate to International Constitutional Convention, St. Louis, Missouri – September, 2003

• Appointed Supervisor of Women, Northeast Michigan “Historic First” Jurisdiction under the leadership of his eminence, Bishop Phillip Aquilla Brooks, II, Prelate, Northeast Michigan; First Assistant Presiding Bishop, Church of God in Christ, Inc., in November, 2009. Appointed Supervisor of Women, Northeast Michigan “Historic First” Jurisdiction under the leadership of his eminence, Bishop Phillip Aquilla Brooks, II, Prelate, Northeast Michigan; First Assistant Presiding Bishop, Church of God in Christ, Inc., in November, 2009.

NATIONAL AFFILIATIONS:
• Appointed to the International Board of Hospitality Workers, 1959. Mother Lillian Brooks Coffey, General Supervisor and President of Women’s International Convention.
• Appointed as Special Aide to General Mother, Hospitality Worker, National Secretarial Department of Historical . Mother Anne L. Bailey, General Supervisor and President of Women’s International Convention.
• Continued to serve in appointments listed above. Mother Mattie MCGlothen, General Supervisor and President Women’s International Convention.
• Appointed Financial Secretary of the International Hospitality Department, Head Hostess, Coordinator of Secretarial Department; Aide to the President. Mother Emma F. Crouch, General Supervisor of Women and President of Women’s International Convention.
• Appointed International Chair of the Secretarial Department. At this time, she released the National Hospitality assignments. Mother Willie Mae Rivers, General Supervisor of Women and President of Women’s International Convention/Crusade.
• Chair of the Secretarial Unit, which preserves the historical minutes of the Women’s International Convention/Crusade.