{"id":1315,"date":"2011-03-30T17:48:34","date_gmt":"2011-03-30T17:48:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lockhartbaptistchurch.org\/?page_id=1315"},"modified":"2026-02-09T12:57:59","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T17:57:59","slug":"daughter-of-the-house","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/lockhartbaptistchurch.org\/?page_id=1315","title":{"rendered":"Daughter of the House"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Reverend Irene (Deacon Willie) Abney<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NEW LIFE COMMITTED TO CHRIST<\/strong><\/span>
Reverend Irene Abney is a praise and worshipper of Almighty God because she believes that He is the one and only true living God, and therefore, her love for him makes her not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  For she knows that it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believes.  She was baptized as a member of the Lockhart Baptist Church at age 12 but did not become a true believer until age 36.  She received Jesus Christ as her personal Savior during Revival, on the third  Sunday in August in 1989 under the powerful preaching of Rev. Alvin Deal.  She was later baptized again by her then pastor, Rev. Harry Legons.  She was licensed to preach the gospel of Christ on April 28, 2008 by the Lockhart Baptist Church under the care and tutorage of her pastor, Reverend Herman N. Jenkins.  She was ordained as a preacher of the gospel in February 2013 by the Simmon Ridge Samaritan Baptist Association.   Reverend Abney professes that \u201cOne of the greatest miracles God taught me was how to love others and how to praise him.  I was \u201chome schooled\u201d  on loving and praising.  I was taught by God (in my living room and at my kitchen table) how He wanted me to praise Him,  and then He taught me how to love.  I was over 50 years old when I discovered (it was there all alone) what true love is and how to give it and receive it.\u201d AMEN and bless the name of Jesus.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

EARTHLY BLESSINGS<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Family<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She is the daughter of the late Mrs. Georgia Bell Mobley and the late Mr. Johnny Lee Clarke.  She has two sisters that were reared in the home with her.  Carolyn Clarke Peterson and Brenda Clark Abney.  She is also the daughter of the late Mr. Henry Bell (Ella Ruth) Gray.   She has three paternal siblings, two brothers and a sister, Tyrone Strughill, Tracy Gray and the late Zandra Gale.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She was once married to Mr. Jerome Jones and they have three children between them.  Her son Terrances and he is the parent of two daughters, Bailey and Tyra Jones.  Her only daughter is Carolyn Yolanda (Dana Tyrone) Tillman  and she is the mother of a daughter, Crissy, and a son Jamil.  Her youngest child is Brandon Lee Jones (Baby boy).  Somebody else\u2019s man, Always my boy.  She also is great grandmother to the one and only Jaycee Carter.  <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She and her husband Deacon Willie Abney have been united in holy matrimony for 29 years now.  Deacon Willie is the father of the late Audrey Abney-Bass, Karen, Tosha (Jamal) Hilton, and William LaTroy (Corinthia)  and Sukaundra Abney.  Audrey was the mother of Monique, twin girls Erin and Erica (Coy) Brooks,  and Tevin, her only son.  Karen is the mother of one daughter Whitney and 2 sons, Eric and the late Calvin (CJ) James.  Tosha\u2019s children are Breon, Chastity, Hassanah and Elijah.  She has two grandchildren.  Troy is married to Corinthia Hill Abney and they have four children between them;  his daughter Tecora (TT) , and their son Koran and daughters, Amiya and Trinity.  And Mr. Willie\u2019s Baby Girl is Sukaundra better known as Toot and she is the mother of one daughter Arionna.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Education<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reverend Abney attended Riverside School for 11 years.   In 1970-71, integration of public schools was mandatory and, therefore, she graduate from Saluda High School in 1971.  She attended South Carolina State College in Orangeburg from 1971-1973 and received her Bachelors Degree in Business Education in 1982 from Lander University, Greenwood, SC.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Work Experience<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reverend Abney\u2019s first job was while she was in high school when she worked as a waiter for Dot\u2019s Lunch in downtown Saluda.  She also worked at Saluda Mill for nine years as a textile operator and as a mini shift supervisor.   In May 1982, she began working at the  Department of Energy-Savannah River Site (SRS).    She held various positions while employed by the federal government.  She served as a Clerk Typist, Branch Secretary, QA Specialist, Supervisory QA Specialist, Administrative Program Analyst and as the Black Employment Program Manager.  She left SRS to pursuit her calling into children\u2019s ministry.  She owned and operated her own Childcare Center, Abney Education Center, for nine years.  She also worked part time for her home church (Lockhart)  as an Administrative Secretary. She presently works part time for the Saluda Schools District as an occasional sub.    <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hobbies <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reverend  Abney is a child at heart.  She loves to color and draw. Her hobbies include all forms of dancing (worshipping God thru dance,  enjoying her grandchildren thru dance, line dancing and swing dancing with her husband for pleasure.).   Her favorite color is white and purple (Especially white).  She loves to plant and root flowers and watch them grow.  It reminds her of the tender care of the Father in heaven.  It excites her to see how nature praises God.  The flowers as they open up each day to the sun, the trees as they praise God with their limbs as they move when the wind (the spirit of the Lord) blows upon them. One of her favorite passages of scripture is Psalm 150.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vision <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I look forward to the day that the church becomes as a sports fan.  Supporting the Savior with visible signs of unity, i.e., with the fruit of its lips, with the movement of its body, with colors of unity.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reverend Irene (Deacon Willie) Abney NEW LIFE COMMITTED TO CHRIST Reverend Irene Abney is a praise and worshipper of Almighty God because she believes that He is the one and only true living God, and therefore, her love for him makes her not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  For she knows that it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3114,"parent":1304,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"full-width-content","footnotes":""},"class_list":{"0":"post-1315","1":"page","2":"type-page","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"entry"},"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/lockhartbaptistchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Minister-Irene.jpg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/lockhartbaptistchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Minister-Irene.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lockhartbaptistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lockhartbaptistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lockhartbaptistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lockhartbaptistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lockhartbaptistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1315"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/lockhartbaptistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1315\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4312,"href":"https:\/\/lockhartbaptistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1315\/revisions\/4312"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lockhartbaptistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1304"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lockhartbaptistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lockhartbaptistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}