Biography

Adell W. Bird
May 26, 1925 – October 17, 1980

Adell Woodward Bird was born May 26, 1925 in Nanking, China to Southern Baptist Missionaries, Mabel Williams Woodward and Frank Tennyson Woodward. She returned to the United States in 1940 with her mother and two younger sisters, while her father remained a prisoner of war.

Adell graduated from Woodlawn High School in Birmingham, Alabama and attended Judson College in Marion, Alabama with a major in Voice and a Minor in Biology. She shared her love of music with young people for many years by serving as a public school music teacher. Adell served the churches she joined through their music programs and as President of the Women’s Missionary Union. She married Joseph S. Bird, Jr. and they lived for many years in Marietta, Georgia.

In the fall of 1980 she wrote to a family member: My hopes and prayers for your future are that you two will continue to grow in your love for the Lord and each other. This growth will have a way of rubbing off on your children and those among whom your influence is felt. The results of this will be a fulfilling life at the end, as I feel mine is, and few regrets. I am thankful that I have utter peace of mind and feel the hand of God has directed my life many times in spite of me.

Adell Bird died in Atlanta, Georgia on October 17, 1980 at the age of fifty five.

Recipients

1997 Brett Jansen
1998 Lindsey Thomas
1999 Ahmed Al-Jazra
2000 Tabitha Hodges
2002 Cheryl Smith
2003 Jessica Guyett
2004 Anne Terry
2005 Sarah Adcox
2006 Lauren Whitehurst
2007 Hannah Brothers
2008 Samantha DeBari
2011 Elizabeth Wenzel
2012 Ben Carr
2013 Lucille Scott McLaurin Taylor
2014 Lucy Dills