Barbara Berry’s voice easily filled the small chapel. As the music flowed from her, one came to realize that her voice would likely fill any church, or any venue, regardless of size. It is a mixture of perfect tonality and steadiness. It gives great comfort.

Berry was talking about the power of music, and specifically the role of singing, in her life.

“I simply cannot imagine going a day without singing,” she offered, “It is more than just a part of my life.” After going through a number of terms to try to identify just what it means, she finally settled. “It is a ministry,” she admitted.

A lifetime educator in the Tyler school district, where she specialized in the inclusion program, Berry returned to Quitman in 2016 to assist her father, Bobby Jones, with a long-term medical ailment. 

Jones is the pastor of the Mt. Calvary Church of God in Christ on Bookman St. Naturally, that assistance to her father also applied to the church. Her voice became a part of the church’s services, and Berry assumed duties as the church mother. 

So it was that she came to mind the office phone at the church. One of those duties was to create a telephone voice message that callers would hear should no one happen to be in the office. 

“After several attempts at creating a nice message, I just wasn’t happy with any of them…so I decided to sing the message,” she explained. The recording is just a standard message, but it is sung in her beautifully fluid and soulful voice. 

She laughed. “I often get family members who hear it and leave me a singing response,” she stated approvingly. She also admitted that she likely gets a few callers who call just to listen to the message.

Having called the church while conducting research on a different story, her singing message led to a sit-down with Berry about how it came to pass.   

Berry credits her voice and love of singing to her mother’s family, the Punch family of Elmo. Speaking of her late mother, Bertha, she easily slipped into her mother’s favorite song and a verse of “His Eye is on the Sparrow” highlighted the discussion. 

She also recalled one of her earliest memories, standing in a crib with her hands on the rails – singing.

A 1974 graduate of Quitman High School, Berry attended the University of Texas and University of Kentucky before beginning her work in Tyler ISD.  She worked for 27 years as a teaching assistant with the Boulter, Dogan and Stewart middle schools. During that time, she was on the forefront of the inclusion program, ensuring that special education youngsters had all the tools necessary to learn. 

Through all the expected occasions of life, including raising two daughters – Kimberly and Angela – song remained perhaps the most prominent influence. Both daughters have inherited the love of music and notable musical abilities.

When asking Berry about the most memorable performances she may have ever given, she quickly answered, “Well I can tell you that it would be in a church, I’ll just have to think of in which one.”

That perspective was not offered lightly. Berry reiterated that her singing is a ministry. So much so, that there are times when she does not know what words will come forth when she begins to sing. “The spirit can overtake me and suddenly a message is being birthed through me,” she admitted.

“I have seen people come to Christ through the power of song,” she added. 

To the churchgoers at Mt. Calvary Church of God in Christ, that will come as no surprise. She has been active in her father’s churches her whole life. Jones has pastored ten churches in East Texas including in Mt. Pleasant, Rocky Mound and Newsome. He also served as a superintendent of churches within the Church of God in Christ fellowship. 

The small church in Quitman is a bit of a historical landmark and draws mainly from four extended families in the Quitman area. The church building is tucked back off of Hwy. 154, 100 yards up on the east side of Bookman. Berry said that they should look into some type of historical designation for it.

It is a church with a long history of producing pastors and serves as a generational home church. Services commence on Sunday at 11 a.m. There you will find Berry, “feeding the soul” as she describes her singing. She offered a favorite Bible verse: Exodus 15:2, “The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.”  

Should one need a soothing voice during the week, just dial the church office after hours.