Whelchel, Larma
WHELCHEL, Dr. Larma
Services for Dr. Larma Jean Whelchel were held Saturday, June 4, 2022 at Trinity CME Church, 22571 GA Hwy 16, Sparta, GA.
Larma Jean Whelchel was born on March 19, 1939 in Quitman, Georgia, and was raised by her parents Lucille and Quincy Miller in Moultrie, GA. She attended Paine College in Augusta, Georgia where she met her future husband. While attending Paine, she was a majorette in the marching band, she received the honor of being crowned Miss Paine in 1961 and she graduated with a Bachelor's Degree.
In 1963, she married Love Henry Whelchel, Jr. who was then an itinerant minister with the C.M.E. Church. Larma and her husband had four children and raised a family together beginning in Birmingham, Alabama before moving to Durham, NC, Dayton, OH, Los Angeles, CA, and after her husband retired from full-time ministry to enter academia, they moved to the Atlanta metropolitan area.
In 1986, Larma received the Master of Arts degree in Religious Education from United Theological Seminary, and in 1997, she received the Doctor of Arts degree from Clark Atlanta University. Her dissertation entitled The Implication of Aging, Health Status and Survival Strategies Among Older Black Women in One Large and One Small Urban Population in Georgia became one of the most frequently referenced research studies in the topic area. She would later serve as Adjunct Professor of Humanities at Atlanta Metropolitan College and Clark Atlanta University.
Larma had a passion for educating young children. She was a devoted teacher, conscientious administrator, and she was respected for her skills as an early childhood educational leader. She was a founder and served as Director of the Russell Memorial Child Development Center in Durham, NC, Director of the Head Start Program at the JF Beavers School and the Delta Sigma Theta Head Start Program in Los Angeles, CA, the Executive Director of the Trinity Child Development Center, Inc. in Decatur, GA and was the principal of Victory Christian Academy in Stone Mountain, GA.
Larma enjoyed telling stories about how her students came to learn and experience new things. Throughout her career, Larma spent her spare time, creating new lessons and trying out innovative educational resources that she would use with her students. Many of her pre-school students excelled and went on to skip grades once they started grade school. Educating young children was such a joy and passion, that she continued to do so until she was 80 years old, retiring in May 2019.
Larma also enjoyed the arts, had a creative gift and a beautiful voice. While living in Durham, she studied voice at North Carolina Central University and performed as mezzo soprano in several local operas, she also adapted, directed, and produced "The Wiz" and "Your Arms are Too Short to Box with God" which received rave reviews and played to sellout crowds. She directed children, youth and young adult choirs at many of the churches her husband pastored. And, most recently, she started and danced in a praise dance group at her church.
Dr. Whelchel was predeceased by her parents; her brother, Wilbert Lee Miller; and her husband, Dr. Love Henry Whelchel, Jr. She is survived by her four children, April, Kenyatta, Noel, Love III (Quanda); grandson, Love IV; sister, Voncille Yvonne Toure (Abdullah); her niece, Kecia Coleman; and her nephew Brian Miller and a host of cousins. The final sunset of this life for Larma Jean Whelchel occurred on May 31, 2022.
