GREENSBORO —The Sister Thea Bowman Campus Ministry at NC A&T State University recently dedicated a memorial plaque honoring the beloved Alberta Hairston, lovingly known as“Mama H,” to celebrate her decades of service as Catholic campus minister at NC A&T and Bennett College.
Alberta Hairston was a member of St. Pius X Parish in Greensboro and served at Thea House as Catholic campus minister from 1994 to 2013. She died on Nov. 29, 2023, at 86.
Throughout her life as a mother, teacher, mentor and campus minister, she emphasized that in order to share the love of Christ, we must connect with others.
Numerous friends and students attended the April 20 dedication in person and via Zoom. The day featured a blessing by Father Marcel Amadi, Catholic campus minister for N.C. A&T and priest chaplain at Wake Forest University, along with readings and reflections by Darien Clark, director of campus ministry for the Diocese of Charlotte; Krisan Walker; Dr. Christian Bock Hyeng; and alumnus Jermaine Dennis.
“We literally adopted each other over 25 years ago,” said Krisan Walker, a dear friend of Hairston’s. “It was so great that her students initiated this, most specifically Jermaine Dennis, who organized and fundraised for this special day.”
Dennis, who graduated from NC A&T in 2006, noted how Hairston’s dedication and passion helped make Thea House what it is now, and how she touched the lives of all who came there.
“Mama H’s impact on the people she encountered was evident by the variety of people that attended both in person and online,” he said. “Mama H did not start Thea House, but she was an integral part in its sustainment and growth. Thank you, Father Marcel, for taking up the torch and allowing this event to take place.”
Hairston’s spiritual and physical mentorship inspired many and prepared them for their roles as leaders in their own lives and careers – as parents, priests, teachers, engineers, educators, veterinarians and more.
“There’s a lot people can do over the breaking of the bread,” Hairston often told her students. She believed firmly in incorporating cooking as a way of building community during her 19 years as Catholic campus minister at Thea House.
“Mama H’s life’s work was a very real pro-life thing,” Walker said. “Even students experiencing unplanned pregnancies found Thea House. Hairston accompanied them in charity by providing love, weekly meals and spiritual support – all things needed to stay in school and raise a new baby. To know love, you’ve got to meet love.”
Thea House was Mama H’s passion, said Dr. Elimelda Moige Ongeri, former faculty advisor for Thea House.
“She is the reason I got involved with campus ministry,” Ongeri said. “She loved our students and strived to give them a home away from home, a place they could gather for spiritual and physical nourishment.”
After reflections and singing hymns, Dennis and Father Amadi unveiled Mama H’s memorial plaque, now permanently fixed on the brick wall of the entrance to Thea House.
“One of the things I learned from Mama H was how to just keep the house going, making it a home away from home for students,” said Father Amadi. “In an age when there was no social media, she was able to get the students together and keep them going. She would meet them and just bring them in. ‘I’m not just your campus minister, I’m your mother, your grandmother,’ she would tell them. She made them know she was a no-nonsense woman.”
Some people come into our lives as blessings and others come as lessons, Father Amadi noted.
“Mama H was both for the many students who encountered her over the period of 19 years that she was the campus minister at Thea House.”
— Georgianna Penn, correspondent
