She's a woman who leads her children by example, with her husband Pastor Perry Wallace. And although she raised six children, she still found time to give of herself to community and church events. She participates in the Ministry of Sisters; she's a director of the Chums Department in Awana and the Ministry of Prayers at her church, Blue Hill Gospel Chapel, and it's for this reason that Marjorie Wallace is the newest Bahamas Mother's Club Mother of the Year.
The honor came as a surprise to Wallace, who thought she was attending a ceremony for her sister Elsie Knowles. She sat through most of the ceremony at Archdeacon William Thompson Park (former Southern Recreation Grounds) totally oblivious. Even when they recited her favorite Bible verse, she said to herself that she was a little surprised to hear that her sister's favorite scripture was the same as hers. It wasn't until they started calling out her children's names that she figured out what was going on and that the ceremony was actually being held to honor her.
Despite her surprise Wallace, who took her role of mother seriously, said for her being a mother meant leading by example.
"There are so many negative influences out there but we brought our children home and led by example. If you drink and smoke in your house, your children will follow suit, so my husband and I made sure we gave our children the example we wished them to follow," she said.
She also described motherhood as a joy, and something she had always looked forward to from her childhood. So when she married at the tender age of 17, it was no surprise that she had completed giving birth to her six children within 12 years.
The stay-at-home mom said for her, motherhood was a privilege because she realized there were so many women who could not have children. And she said she also realized that raising her children would not be an easy task with all of the influences and distractions of the world. But she attributed her success as a mother to her relationship with God.
"Just as you have a manual to your new car, you have a manual to motherhood. That manual is the Word of God and it has guided me through motherhood."
With special attention to scriptures like Proverbs 22:3, "Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child and the rod of correction shall drive it away", and Proverbs 3:5, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not to your own understanding", Wallace raised a family firmly rooted in their spirituality and their community. She said mothers have to be praying, loving and supportive, and their children's cheerleader.
"Let them (children) know you believe in them. Chastise when wrong, but encourage when doing good. And above all, set a good example in the home."
Wallace's third daughter, Rochelle Sealy, said her mother provided a good example for her children to follow when they became mothers themselves. And she said they believed their mother was deserving of the honor which was why they nominated her. As a mother of three children herself, Sealy said she had taken to follow the example that her mother set in raising her own children.
"I find myself feeling that whenever my children approach me with issues or whenever I suspect they are going through something, I would first pray about it then encourage them with a word of Scripture," said Sealy who said she and her siblings were raised to consult the Word of God for all issues of our lives.
"I could not do it without my mother," said Sealy.
She said her mother's great contributions to her life have been varied, but she said there is one experience that stands out to her. "When all of her girls went through the various times of having our own children, Mommy would leave home and move in with us to help us in the first few weeks of the difficult time of a newborn. She even went to Chicago for a month to be with our sister when she had her first child. When I went through law school I had moments of great distress and she would cook dinner for my husband [Charles] and [our] children, and fill in where I was unable to at the time," she said.
An inspiration to young and seasoned mothers, Wallace's honoring establishes her as a spiritual and loving standard for all mothers to follow.
For most of her life, Wallace was a stay-at-home mother. She did work a short stint at a lumber company before she became an entrepreneur as she operated a souvenir store that has since closed. She has refocused her considerable efforts in helping to raise her 19 grandchildren and has settled comfortably into her role as the family matriarch.
The Bahamas Mother's Club mission is to honor pillars of the society in church and community service, according to club president, Frieda Johnson. She said that it is a civic organization geared toward community outreach specifically for mothers. The club's motto is "Charity and Love", and candidates for the Mother of the Year award are selected based on those criteria. Nominees must be Bahamian citizens; married, Christian ladies; mothers with grown children out of the home and ladies who are giving back to the community.
In selecting the winner each year, the club receives nomination essays and the committee makes an anonymous vote on the most civic-minded individual to be named Mother of the Year.
The Mother's Club was founded by Francis Butler, wife of the country's first Bahamian governor general, Sir Milo B. Butler.

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