Delight Judith Anderson Ericsson

Born October 26, 1904; Married June 26, 1928 (Carl Gustav Ericsson); Died January 23, 1983

Children: Dwight Victor Ericsson, January 11, 1931; Stanley Carl Ericsson, January 29, 1934

Delight was the third daughter and sixth child of Victor and Hannah Anderson. 
Five of their children were born in Chicago.   Their sixth and last child, Delight,
was born in Des Moines.  She was named Judith Delight Mabel - Judith was her
father's choice, Delight was the choice of her two teenage sisters, and she does
not know where Mabel came from.  She found "Delight" an uncomfortable name.  Until
she moved to San Diego she preferred "Mabel," but after that time she was "Delight."

At the age of six her family moved to the Albin farm, where she spent her youth.
 It was there, at the age of eight, that she became a Christian. Her brother, Elam,
was preaching in the church that summer.  One Sunday his sermon particularly moved
her.  A few days later she came into the kitchen and told her mother she wanted
to go forward at church next Sunday.  Elam was also standing there.  His response
was, "Let's settle that right now, little sister," and they did.

She graduated from high school in Pine Bluffs and then taught school at High
Point, near her home, for two years.

In 1924 she moved to San Diego.  She attended a business college and then found
secretarial work in the Health Department of the City Schools.  She joined the
Evangel (Bethel) Swedish Baptist Church and became quite active there.  She played
the piano and the pump organ and was very active with the young people.  In the
spring of 1927 Carl Ericsson, newly arrived in town, joined the church.  He proposed
the following January and they were married that June.

From that time on her life revolved around two places, her home and her church.
 Two sons arrived in due time, to claim the majority of her time and energy.  It was
not easy to make ends meet, so to do her part she took in two boarders.  Her mother
had done the same thing 50 years earlier in Chicago. There was not much leisure
in those days, but she bore it cheerfully.

What time was not taken by her family went mostly to her church.  Over the
years she held just about every church job open to a woman of her generation.  She played
the piano, taught Sunday school, was President of the Women's Missionary Society,
a deaconess, and helped at hundreds of dinners.  The only thing she never did was
sing in the choir.   She could play the piano, but she could never carry a tune.
She was an active member of the XYZ's, the church's senior citizens group, right
up to her final illness, and played the piano for monthly services at a rest home.
 When she joined the church it was located downtown in the shadow of the big First
Baptist Church of San Diego, and had about 40 members.  She and Dad shared in the move to
College Avenue and in the growth to what College Avenue Baptist Church has become.
The success of College Avenue Baptist today owes much to the dedication and
commitment which she and others of that little band back at 16th and E showed
through the years.

When her children left home she went back to work at the City Schools Health Department. 
She and Dad began to travel more, and for 15 years they attended every
annual meeting of the Baptist General Conference, usually using the Conference
as an excuse to see another part of the country.  After his death she went even
farther, traveling to Europe and the Holy Land.

Her faith was a simple one.  She had trusted herself to Jesus at the age of
eight, and that trust lasted a lifetime.  She did not trouble herself with complex
theological questions. She prayed and read her Bible regularly.  She knew the
promises of the Bible and took them at face value.  She trusted herself to God and
His promises in Christ, and that faith was more than enough to sustain her for a lifetime.

- Dwight V. Ericsson, 1984

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