Linda Gadson & Family
Family Gallery
The South Carolina United Methodist Advocate Newspaper calls Linda Gadson, “The Mother Teresa of Johns Island.” She would later become known as, “The Mother Teresa of the Sea Islands.
Linda Gadson honored in the Charleston Magazine for her tireless work helping families & children.
Linda Gadson’s North Star, was her grandmother, Emily Judge Simmons. Ms. Simmons reared Linda Gadson, along with a host of other children and youths, in Hollywood. Big Mama is taught Linda to feed the hungry, clothe the naked and provide shelter to unhoused. Big Mama was the steadying hand, guiding light, chief childcare provider- and, child rearing force multiplier- for ten of her grandchildren. Emily Judge Simmons is the, “Big Mama”, in Big Mama, Mama & Me Oil.
Linda Gadson being interviewed by Lowcountry Live television show, on Charleston’s ABC Affiliate, about her historic life and times.
Linda Gadson, was truly “The Mother Teresa of the Sea Islands.” She took care of indigent residents of Charleston, South Carolina’s Five Sea Islands, as Executive Director of Rural Mission, Incorporated.
The United Methodist Advocate Newspaper celebrates Linda Gadson being named the 2010 Order of the Palmetto Award Winner, which is the State of South Carolina’s Highest Civilian Honor.
Linda Gadson was the First Black Woman Graduate of the First Municipal College in America, and the oldest college in the South, the College of Charleston. The College of Charleston honored her by emblazoning her name on, on a Legacy Bench at the school, so that generations of students to come would know that she was a Trailblazer.
Linda Gadson on her College of Charleston graduation day, pictured with her eldest child Reggie.
Linda Gadson tells her story of being the College of Charleston’s First Black Woman Graduate, to a group of Claflin University students, in Linda’s legendary Hallelujah! In Hollywood Prayer Room.
Annabelle Pinkney Dingle was Linda Gadson’s mother. While she was a salad maker at the famed Francis Marion Hotel in Downtown Charleston, enduring the hardships of a black woman in the restaurant and hospitality industry in the Segregated South of late 1950’s until the 1970’s when she retired, her daughter would make history- literally right across the street from the Francis Marion Hotel, at the College of Charleston, as both the College and the Francis Marion Hotel are located on Calhoun Street- in large part because “Mama Clay” as Annabelle was affectionately known, worked tirelessly to keep her family going. Mama Clay taught her daughter Linda, that hard work, dedication & commitment, were the keys to living a fulfilling life. Mama Clay is the, “Mama”, in Big Mama, Mama & Me Oil.
Linda Gadson became the First Black First Lady of Hollywood, South Carolina, when her former husband Herbert Gadson was elected Mayor of Hollywood, South Carolina in 1989.
Linda Gadson being celebrated for tireless work on behalf of Migrant Farmworker Families.
Linda Gadson standing outside of her home after Sunday morning church.