Churches for Deaf Get $1 Million
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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Two Alabama churches for the deaf will share a $1-million bequest from a friend of the pastor, who pioneered deaf ministry in the Southeast.
The churches, both Episcopalian, are St. John’s Church for the Deaf in Cahaba Heights and St. Mark’s Church for the Deaf in Mobile.
The benefactor, Mary Brigham, died in 1998. She was a friend of the founder of St. John’s, the Rev. Robert C. Fletcher, and his wife, Estelle. Brigham was not deaf, but the Fletchers were.
The Fletchers’ children, including actress Louise Fletcher, who won an Oscar for her role as Nurse Ratchet in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” were on hand when the money was presented to the churches.
“All I can say is, ‘Thank God,’ ” the actress said.
Brigham and her mother became friends of Estelle Fletcher when they lived in the same boardinghouse before Fletcher’s marriage.
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