Illaree “Mother” Triplet is a woman full of joy — and faith personified. She recently celebrated her 105th birthday with family and friends at Christ Community Temple Church of God in Christ. She sits on the Mothers Board of the church, on Norwood Avenue, and took pride in saving souls during revival services in her younger years.
“When the Lord saved me, he made a new person out of me,” Mother Triplet said. “Jesus is in you, and you in him when you get the Holy Ghost. Where he leads you is where you go. It might seem rough, but be obedient. I guess that’s why I’m living so long.”
Along with saving souls, Mother Triplet is proud of her God-given ability to draw others to the wisdom found within the Word.
“I didn’t get a good seventh grade education, but the Lord told me he wanted me to teach his people,” said Mother Triplet. “I would say, ‘Lord, I’m not a educated person.’ He said three times, ‘I want you to teach my people’ and he put my head in the book.”
She “followed the sound of her shepherd’s voice” and became known for her ability to provide essential lessons drawn from the Bible. She taught the most popular class and was eventually promoted to superintendent of Sunday School for her beloved church.
She counts her devotion and obedience as keys to her longevity.
“You need to know the Lord, and let the Lord lead you — don’t you try to lead Him,” Mother Triplet said. “I tell anybody, obey. If you obey, God will carry you through.”
God carried her to St. Louis as part of the Great Migration. Born in Arkansas on July 16, 1920, she came to the region in the 1940s.
Married at the young age of 15, she was left to raise seven children on her own when her first husband died in 1953. At the time, her youngest child was only 4 days old.
“When my father died, she took money and bought a four-family flat,” her son Cullen Reed said. “She knew people wasn’t gonna rent to her easy with seven children, so she bought a place of her own over on Kennerly.”
The family stayed there until they moved to the Penrose area in 1982. In the wake of her husband’s death, she was forced to instantly transition from homemaker to provider. She found work cooking her mother’s recipes for white families.
“What was important to me than anything is my children,” Mother Triplet said. “I tried to make not me comfortable, but my children. I tried my best, trained them, and I never had no jailbirds.”
Her determination to see her children thrive led them to be a part of history. In the 1940s, she and her husband made a way for four of their children to attend St. Nicholas. It was an effort to provide them with an opportunity to thrive.
“I managed to get them in Catholic school,” Mother Triplet said. “They wasn’t letting colored kids in Catholic school at that time, but I was blessed to get mine in.”
Her children were a part of the first generation of Black students to attend St. Louis area parochial schools.
“My children were so nice they thought that they might could let more of the children come in, and they did!” Mother Triplet said.
Upon the arrival of Archbishop Joseph Ritter in 1946, the opportunity was further extended with his decision to fully integrate in 1947 — nearly a decade before the landmark Brown vs. Board of Education U.S. Supreme Court ruling made segregated public schools unconstitutional.
More than 70 years since she was part of the fight for equality in education for the sake of her children, Mother Triplet is still here to offer the experience as a praise report.
Although she uses a walker and her hearing has declined, she speaks coherently and has sharp vision. She credits her balance and patience for helping her avoid falls and broken bones.
She still combs her own hair, cleans her home, washes her own dishes and even washes some of her clothes by hand. And she maintains her weekly church schedule — all at 105 years old.
She fills her days watching faith-based programming from the late Jimmy Swaggart. And she still cooks the sacred recipes that supported her family.
“I didn’t know how long I was gonna live, but God knew,” Mother Triplet said. “And if I hadn’t obeyed the voice of the Lord, I wouldn’t be as happy as I am now. I don’t have a care at all. And as long as I am a proper child and obedient servant, I will be rewarded.”