Mother Earlene Eley

Earlene Smalls was born in Charleston, SC, the second of 10 children. The family later moved to Frogmore (St. Helena Island), SC, where she helped raise her younger siblings, attended school, and worked on the family’s farm. She enjoyed driving the school bus while attending Frogmore High School. Earlene also enjoyed playing the trumpet in the school’s marching band.

After high school, she moved to Tallahassee, FL, to pursue a career in nursing. After a year in Florida, she moved to New York where she met and married Robert Eley and had a beautiful baby girl, Cheryl. Earlene was affectionately known as “Lene,” but most of her family and friends referred to her as “Eley.” While in NY, she worked as a nursing assistant at Flower Hospital and was an active Jehovah’s Witness.

In 1969, Eley moved to Boston, MA, and began her Christian journey, giving her life to Jesus Christ during a service at Deliverance Revival Tabernacle where the late Rev. E.I. Osborne was the Pastor. While attending a revival at the John Hancock Hall, Evangelist Kenneth Roger prophesied to her that she would have a son who would preach the Word and become a Pastor. Thereafter, she had a son, born in 1973, naming him Kenneth Roger after the preacher. Eley lived to see this prophecy come to pass.

Throughout the years, Earlene worked very hard while being a single parent, sometimes working two jobs at a time while raising her children. In 1986, she decided to continue her education and began studying nursing, but changed her major and earned her bachelor’s degree in Sociology.

Eley was also very active in her church. She served in many capacities. Among them, she was a dedicated Sunday School teacher, Youth Leader, and usher. She sang in the choir, served in hospitality, and even started a church bookstore while attending International Outreach Ministry under Pastor Isaac Adeyemi.

In 2017, Earlene began attending Jubilee Christian Church, where she enjoyed the teaching of the Word of God. A year later, she became a member. She was looking forward to serving in ministry, but COVID shut down in-person services. During that time, her health began to decline; however, she continued to watch the services online while remaining faithful to God’s Word.

Eley enjoyed reading and studying the Word of God. At every opportunity, she spent her time in church. When she couldn’t be there, she could be found watching and listening to the Word on TV with her notebook in hand. She also enjoyed doing word searches, as well as spending time with family, and looked forward to family cookouts and hosting family dinners. She enjoyed traveling, especially the road trips with her sister Doris and her friends. Eley enjoyed baking and was particularly known for her famous “mistake cake,” which people always asked her to make. She had a heart and desire to help those in need, and whether it was for family or in the community, she could be found meeting the needs she encountered.

Most importantly, Earlene was best known for being a woman of God and a prayer warrior. A part of her legacy is her willingness to not only serve the Lord, but also teach others to follow Christ in all things. She passed away peacefully in her sleep.

Earlene is preceded in death by her father, David Nathan Small; mother, Lilie Mae Smalls; and sister, Ella Mae Nash. She is survived by her children, Cheryl L. Eley-Spriggs (Bryan Spriggs, deceased) and Kenneth R. Eley (Morgan Frazier-Eley); her grandchildren, Xavier B. Spriggs and Jateja A.C. Spriggs; and her siblings, Doris L. Adeyemi (Isaac Adeyemi), Nathaniel Smalls, David Smalls, Ellis Smalls, Eugene Smalls, Alethea Smalls (Warren K. Dixon), and Timothy Smalls (Kathy Smalls). She also leaves behind many nieces, nephews, cousins, grandnieces, and grandnephews. Her family will miss her dearly.

"Rooted in Her Love"

You stand now in the shadow of her absence,

but her presence still lingers in every breath you take.

She planted you deep, not just in soil, but in the Living Vine

— teaching you to cling, to stretch upward even when storms bend you low.

Her prayers were your first covering, her voice your first gospel, her love the first sermon you ever believed.

Yes—grief feels heavy, and faith feels tested.

One of you wrestles with the silence, the other preaches through the ache,

yet both of you—both—are bound by the same sacred truth: her love never let go of you, and it does not let go now.

So we honor her best not by standing without tears, but by standing with them — watering the seeds she planted until joy blooms again.

The Vine still holds. The Gardener still tends.

And your mother, rooted forever in His care, smiles at the fruit of her labor

—her children, still growing, still loved, still held.

"Her absence is like the sky, spread over everything."— C.S. Lewis

Blessings, Your Director  ~ 7/16/25