Baby Lillian was an orphan. At three months of age she was "given" to a deaf couple...named Fitzgerald. They had no children of their own, and their parents discouraged them not to keep Lillian, but Lillian's mother was adamant... God had given her this baby for a reason, and she WOULD keep her. Of course, Lillian's first language was Sign Language. Lillian's grandparents and aunts and uncles never learned to sign more than a few rudimentary signs, just enough to "get by".

One of Lillian's early memories was accompanying her mother to a department store. Her mother wanted to buy face powder, but could not make the clerk understand the brand she wanted. She turned to Lillian, around five years of age, and signed "You tell her... L-U-X-O-R". Thus began Lillian's life in Deaf Ministry...

Early in Lillian's life her mother heard that one of her old school-mates from the Deaf School in Georgia was coming to a town nearby. So Lillian and her mother took the train to the "reunion". So, at the age of around seven, Lillian met Helen Keller.

Lillian started interpreting for her parents and a few other deaf people, at First Baptist Church, Houston, when she was 15 years old, around 1924. First Baptist Church welcomed the deaf of the community, but had no idea "what to do with them". They recruited Dr. Bryant to teach the Deaf Sunday School class, and Lillian interpreted for them for many, many years.

In her early years Lillian worked for Houston Lighting and Power Company, then in the office at Houston's First Baptist Church.

During her early twenties Lillian lived with a judge and his wife and daughter. The wife wanted to help with Lillian's ministry, but she couldn't sign very well, so Lillian asked her to help prepare a list of all the Interpreters in the Houston area, with their levels of skill. Thus began the precursor of RID. Later, Lillian became one of the original members of in the organization of the RID.

She met and married Louis Beard, an engineer, and he became her greatest fan. Any time Lillian had self-doubts about herself because of her lack of education, Louis was there to tell her, "Yes, you CAN do it. You are the ONLY ONE who can do it." And he was right. Only Lillian could have done what has turned into a world-wide ministry to the deaf.

During one early Billy Graham Crusade in Houston in the 1950s Lillian was the main Interpreter through every service. The sign she used to explain her feelings when she was asked to interpret was "knees knocking"!

Lillian continued to interpret for the deaf at First Baptist Church for many years. She and Louis bought a house in Kingwood, Texas. And after Louis passed away she decided that she would "pass the torch" to younger Interpreters and she moved her church membership to Forest Cove Baptist Church in Kingwood.

The Deaf Ministry at Houston's First Baptist Church became a separate congregation, with its own pastor, Sunday School classes and missionaries. Several pastors were called to lead the Deaf Congregation, and around 1988 the congregation physically moved to their current location on Long Point Road and became Woodhaven Baptist Deaf Church, retaining the name of the original hearing church. In 2005 Woodhaven celebrated its 81st year of Deaf Ministry. Woodhaven now has four ordained ministers, and many faithful deaf and hearing members. Woodhaven also has a Prison Ministry to the deaf in the Texas Prison System, and offers a Christmas Drama every year, completely in American Sign Language, free to all who want to attend.

As a result of Lillian's ministry today there are deaf Southern Baptist missionaries all over the world...Y.A. is in Thailand, L.D. serves in South America, Fritz and Karyn Koehrig are in Central Europe, and Kaori and Steven James are home on furlough from the Czech Republic, just to name a few. And there are also deaf native missionaries serving in their own countries, as a result of Lillian's ministry.

In 1998 or 99 Lillian went to the Czech Republic with a mission team. Several of the deaf noticed Lillian demonstrated an unusual spirit of joy. One of them, an older woman named Anna, knelt in front of her and asked, "Why do you have that glow on your face? Older people here don't have that." When Lillian replied that her joy came from having Jesus in her life, Anna said, "I want that," and prayed to receive Christ. Today Anna is a native missionary in her home country.

Lillian continues to live in Kingwood, Texas, in an independent living facility. She loves to receive visitors, especially her deaf friends, and has so many stories to tell...it would take a book.....

And Woodhaven Baptist Deaf Church, a mission church of Houston's First Baptist Church, is "Still Signing, Still Serving, Still Sending".