The Woman at the Well

by Dale Evans Rogers
Hennepin County Library hardcover 191 pages
(copyright 1970!)
genre: autobiography, Christian witness

I don't remember why I requested this book . . . a conversation with someone or a reference in something else I read. I vaguely knew who Dale Evans and Roy Rogers were, but am always curious to learn more. Born in 1912, Frances Octavia Smith eloped at age 14 and got divorced when she was just 16 (and her firstborn was six months old)!

She condenses much of her early life into the first few chapters so that she can focus on her life as a Christian. At times, I loved this book. At other times, I cringed. (Like when she referred to her daughter Robin as a "Mongoloid" . . . even if that's the terminology of the time, I actually had to search it online to ascertain that it referred to Down Syndrome.)

She was an entertainer all her life, and this paragraph on page 48 really caught my eye!

"I worked harder than hard, and things seemed to be OK until I turned down the invitation of a top executive . . . I never meant to insult him, but he took it as a personal affront . . . I had too much pride in accomplishment to buy my way. I did not want to become obligated to anyone, in any way, to further my career. I had promised myself that I would never get trapped in such an involvement. I have always been infuriated with men who used their high position to acquire the scalps of hapless and heedless women. This was one area where I stuck to my guns, and I have never regretted it."

Good for her! What a tough cookie!

I also loved this on page 84: "I am Baptist, Episcopalian, Methodist, Disciples of Christ, Presbyterian! I don't think of the Church as a building or as a denomination; it is a body of believers in Christ - in His birth and Person and ministry, in His Atonement, His Resurrection, His Coming Again to receive us unto Himself. Denominations are fellowships. The Church is His body, and it has many members - not all of which function in exactly the same way. Who is to say that one denomination (or function) is 100 percent right and another 100 percent wrong? God is the judge of all that."

I am so glad that God judges and knows our hearts!

Page 113 horrified me . . . I understand that some people lack the idea of boundaries and compassion with celebrities . . . but to have a carload of fans and autograph seekers show up at her dad's FUNERAL to ask for autographs!?!? That is just horrifying.

That said, I love that she included some photos. They really added to the book. It would have been nice to see even more! (Thanks to Google, I got to see more pictures.)

Page 136-146 was a bit too much for me. I liked an early statement: "It was God who made the races, not man. And nowhere do we hear God saying that He prefers any one race to another." She talks about pride (as in thinking you're better than someone with a different skin color) as a sin and a stench in God's nostrils.

But then she basically says that she's against "intermarriage" of people of different races. As she's going on and on about race and animals and interbreeding, it just gets messy and unpleasant. "Basically I am opposed to such intermarriage, because I know that it seldom works, and that it can have a terrible effect upon the children of such a marriage. And basically I believe that each race has its own beauty and its particular value in God's creation. Would we like our pretty bouquets of many-colored flowers, if they were all red roses, or all yellow, or all white roses?"

She does explain that love is the key component for dealing with differences and conflict, but this chapter went on way too long and was too jarring (especially considering her pride in having adopted two children who were clearly of different ancestry . . . who according to her, should only be allowed to marry men of similar skin color to them?)

There were many places throughout the book where I silently cheered her for sharing her faith and trust in Jesus so boldly! (She died in 2001 at age 88.) There were many great lessons in her life story about relying on the Lord and boldly sharing his love.

 "I have also learned that Satan loves nothing better than a chance to split every Christian fellowship on the face of the earth; he loves to divide and conquer, and we should think twice before helping him do that."

Amen! Unity, love, and faith. The threads of her story are strongly woven.