WOMAN OF THE YEAR

Loretta Revisas born October 7, 1933. Mrs. Loretta Revis was living in Houston then move back home to Wharton at the age of 25 where she subsequently had her 3 children, Wayne Revis in 1959, Darryl Revis in 1960, and lastly Bruce Revis in 1962. When her children were small she realized that her marriage was not the best for her and her children and she decided that she would rather be a single mother of her three boys than to live in a domestic violence situation and subject her children to this environment. Once her mind was made up she never went back. At the time when she made her decision to leave, some of her neighbors, which were older, supported her decision. "I was blessed that it wasn't really difficult for me and that I didn't really have to ask for help because I worked." Mrs. Revis relied on Tommy Redwine, her father, and Mrs. Sally Ross, a member of the Church of Christ, to watch her children so she could work. "I just went to work and came home. I worked for Carl Shannon and some of his friends, I did house work." Mrs. Revis became a member of Canton Street Church of Christ in October either 1962 after studying the Holy Bible with Bro. E L Brinkley. Once she understood the calling from the Doctrine of Christ, she made her mind up to be a faithful follower. Mrs. Loretta worked at Gulf Coast Hospital from October 3, 1978 until October 2007 (29 years) after a year of retirement, she needed something to do and it happened that the Church needed help to clean the building when the member who was doing it retired. "God helped me through all those years and so it was time for me to give back." She enjoyed that service and agreed to help in the kitchen for events. She states "The more I did the more I wanted to help!" Her community service expanded when she saw that Mrs. Hazel Hurd was wanting to become a school board member and that she wanted to make a positive impact for Wharton ISD, Mrs. Loretta Revis volunteered to help in any way she could including setting up for fundraising and post event breakdown. She always volunteers when she sees someone needs help or something needs to be done. She also went out in the community and volunteered to help various people for three years once or twice a week until her partner, Beth Jimenez, was no longer able to do the work. Together they inspired others to do the same. With her efforts she was able to minister to people, encourage, and enrich their lives with not only service, but also by sharing wisdom and spreading positivity. When she notices that people need food, she feeds them as part of her services. She recognizes that her struggles made her stronger. She states "I had misunderstandings at Church from time to time, but I was not going to let that stop me from worshiping God." She worked through the tough times using love and kind acts of service and was always able to reconcile because of her efforts. At 90 years old Sister Revis states "As long as I can come out of the rain, I can keep working!" With this attitude she still strives to help in her Church and in her community. For those and other reasons she has been chosen as EMA'S woman of the year for 2023.