78-year-old Goldsboro woman publishes a book
By Brandon Davis
Published in News on December 1, 2016 9:57 AM
Twenty-six years ago, while lying in bed one morning, Sarah Newkirk Pearson heard a voice.
Her eyes thrust open.
She sprang up.
Her right hand grabbed a pen; her left hand clutched a sheet of paper.
"God spoke to me and said, 'Get up and start writing,'" she said.
So she did.
At 52 years old she penned her first story, "Love Thy Neighbor."
Now 78, Mrs. Pearson reads the story among 40 others in her book, "Let's Get Real: For Spiritual Growth and Stability," published on Aug. 31.
Mrs. Pearson will autograph purchased copies of her book at the Peggy Seegars Senior Center's Christmas Bazaar from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 3. Books will cost $15 each.
"I wanted to write -- actually -- that one article, but once I started writing, I just kept on writing," she said. "I just felt like we needed more love, and I wanted to write on it, hoping it would help somebody."
Born in Goldsboro, Mrs. Pearson attended Dillard High School before graduating from Wayne Community College in 1972. She became a licensed practical nurse, and went to work at Wayne Memorial Hospital.
Three months into her career, she discovered a better nursing opportunity at the O'Berry Neuro-Medical Center where she spent the next 10 years, after which she transitioned to Cherry Hospital.
Mrs. Pearson retired from nursing 10 years later in 1992.
"As a little girl, I always wanted to be a helper," she said. "I always wanted to help people, so God allowed me to do that."
One day at Cherry, she heard people talking. She heard in their voices a loneliness and a desire to be loved.
As a member of Antioch Missionary Baptist Church, Mrs. Pearson began to minister at group homes and hospitals as an in-home missionary. She read from the Holy Scriptures, prayed for people in their rooms and encouraged them to reach out for help.
Soon after, she said, she heard the voice of God.
Mrs. Pearson wrote "Love Thy Neighbor" for the Good News Gazette newspaper company -- without pay. She continued writing five years after retiring from nursing, and in 2006, Mrs. Pearson's daughter, Aletta Taylor, asked her mother if she wanted to publish the stories.
She collected some of her mother's most treasured works for the book.
Then came time to design the cover.
Mrs. Pearson celebrated her 75th birthday with family and friends, and she said each person brought a pink, silk stem rose for her. The bouquet sat in her living room for three years, and it eventually caught her daughter's attention.
The book cover bares the image of the bouquet.
Mrs. Taylor's son, Richard Taylor, published the book through his company -- Taylor House Publishing.
"It makes me feel so proud of her," Mrs. Taylor said. "The Lord has truly just blessed her. She's always been a person who perseveres and pushes forward through hard times."
"She never felt sorry for herself but was always willing to help others."
The flowers still sit in Mrs. Pearson's living room, and a copy of the book rests on an end table. After looking at the bouquet, she reads scripture from the book and prays for people she is no longer able to visit.
"I like it because it is explaining the gospel, and I believe it will help somebody," she said. "That's the main reason. I know money's involved, but my main reason was so I could spread the gospel."