It doesn’t take long sitting in conversation with Lettie Terrell that one can tell she has music in her heart and her soul. Her smile lights up the room, and her love for people can be felt instantly.
Oh, you’re too sweet,” she said, grabbing this reporter’s hand. “But what we sing on our lips, what we believe in our hearts...that is what shows in our lives.”
For the past five decades, she has spread her love and God’s Word as music director at First United Methodist Church. And she doesn’t have any plans on slowing down.
“I would never give this up,” she said. “Especially with the children because I have the opportunity to plant seeds. Those seeds will multiply, and they will grow.”
Terrell was born in Greenville, and she spent a lot of her childhood in Gulfport and Indianola.
She would later graduate high school in Indianola and attend college at what is now known as the Mississippi University for Women. She earned her degrees in music and music education from North Texas University.
But music has traveled with her along her family’s relocations over the years.
“My mother was a musician, but she didn’t have much formal training,” Terrell said. “She did have about nine months of training, but she played mostly by ear.”
For Terrell, the love for music never changed addresses. It remained in her heart.
“I began taking piano lessons when I was about seven or eight years old in Gulfport,” Terrell said. “My music teacher had a house on the beach, and she had a music studio inside of it.”
When her family moved to Indianola, piano lessons continued under a new instructor.
“My teacher required that you had to practice before you went to school in the morning,” she said. “I can remember my brother was about three and half years older than me. And with me pounding that piano so early in the morning, sometimes before the sun came up, he would slam his door. But I kept up with my practices despite waking up the whole house.”
Terrell said she was also very active with playing music in church, learning many of the classical pieces and traditional hymns. With an aunt who was an organist at several Delta churches, she was greatly influenced by the musical pieces played in God’s house.
After marrying her husband Marvin Terrell, her family made their way to Yazoo City in 1971. And it didn’t take long for her to find where God intended her to be.
“I was music director at FUMC in Greenwood, so we arrived here at FUMC of Yazoo City to worship,” she said. “At the time, the church didn’t have a formal music program director.”
Terrell directed her first Christmas Cantata in 1971. And her own seed was planted that would grow into a successful and thriving program.
“For almost 14 years, I was in charge of coordinating youth activities mingled in with music overall,” she said. “The best moments during that time were our Christmas programs when all the choir groups within the church participated.”
Aside from her work at FUMC, Terrell also taught elementary and high school music at Manchester Academy. Regardless of whether she was at school or church, it was the children who inspired her.
“I simply just love the children,” she said. “Through them and other choirs at church, I consider my ministry here as my Golden Age. We keep the traditional spirit alive, but we have been able to incorporate uplifting, inspirational pieces as well. It all has been very exciting.”
“Each child and young adult has a deep love for the Lord, and through music, we are able to bring it out...all for the Lord,” she added.
