A lifetime of devotion: Carolyn Crites celebrates 57 years of perfect church attendance

ADVANCE — It is not every day you meet someone who has gone to the same church their entire life but in the case of Carolyn Crites, it’s just that.

For the last 81 years, she has attended Fairview General Baptist Church, 6509 County Road 253, and has not looked back. Growing up, she said it was the church her family went to when she was a baby and throughout childhood, and they never wavered between churches.

“​​Well, my mom and dad always went to church, and they grounded into us to go so we just did what they wanted at that time,” she said.

Into her adult life, she and her late husband, Bob, lived close to the church on their farm where it just made sense for them to keep attending Fairview General Baptist Church along with raising their family.

“I tried to teach my kids to attend church, too,” she said. “It's never been a question in my kids, I don't care how many prom dates or whatever they had, they know they had to go to church on Sunday.”

Crites said she remembers times when her son would be out late on a Saturday night and would come home, eat breakfast and take a quick nap, and still end up at church with the entire family.

She believes everyone should go to church on Sundays and her statement shows. In January, she was given her 57-year pin badge for perfect attendance at Sunday school. That is over 2,960 Sundays in a row she has attended church.

The pins give her an incentive to go each week, even though she said she would go anyway. She has the longest pin collection from the church and the church’s history as far as she knows.

While she got the pin for 57 years this year, others have gained a first and second-year pin. To her knowledge, no one has received a pin such as one for 15 or 20 years and had to restart.

No matter if she and her family went on vacation, she would attend a church and bring back the week’s pamphlet to give to the secretary of her home church to be counted as present in church.

“When we would go on vacation and that's the first thing that they did: set me up at church so I could go on Sunday. You could go on vacation and visit churches, but you have to visit one on Sunday. You can't just stay home,” she said.

The church she thinks she has attended the most as her visiting church is in Branson named Skyline Baptist Church. Rules for a perfect attendance pin is you can miss two times a year for sickness and, if the church is not in session, it does not count against you.

In her 57-year streak, only one year was she close to losing her perfect attendance and that was in 2022. Crites said she had come down with COVID-19 and missed two Sundays but, by the third Sunday, she was able to attend safely and healthy.

Along with her perfect attendance, she has taught Sunday school to the children for many years, but could not say how many years. She taught the children the stories of the Bible to help them grow in their faith.

Crites said the church has been growing like hotcakes recently, going from 15 to 20 to now 30 to 40 attendees each Sunday. She credits this to a new pastor and a new music director, who is drawing in a younger crowd to the tight-knit church family.

In her 81 years, she thinks there have only been 10 different pastors through the doors.

“We have not (had) a whole lot, because we had one that was there for 15 years before this one,” she said. “They're staying in it. You know, it's a great church,”

With the church on the smaller to medium side, it is like a family, if not an actual family, in the congregation. Crites said there are a lot of people who are related who attend the church but because of the new wave of younger people, the church is gaining people who are not related, which she says is a great thing.

Like family, there are trips and night outs the church holds or the ladies’ schedule. One trip Crites remembers was the Christmas light tour the ladies went on.

“We don't do that much anymore, but the ladies did go on a trip for Christmas. We went to see all the church lights. The tour went through Perryville and Ste. Genevieve and up through there, and the churches were really pretty decorated. It was a church tour and was free, but we gave donations and all the churches had refreshments for us,” she said.

Along with doing fun trips, the ladies of the church have a night out to themselves to eat and socialize. Crites said they have planned a trip to the local Mexican restaurant coming up and around 20 ladies of varying ages plan to attend that night.

Crites credits the good Lord for her good health, so she can go to church every Sunday. Her favorite scripture book is Psalms, especially Psalms 95.

“O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation”.

Her favorite song to hear and sing is “I Can’t Even Walk Without You Holding My Hand”.