Showing the love to ‘Mother Laws’
Vernitta Lenor could always rely on one congregant to remind her she was beautiful every Sunday at Pilgrim Rest Missionary Baptist Church.
“I'm legally blind and I was funny-looking as a little kid,” Lenor, now 65, said Saturday while sitting on a pew in the same church. “I didn't look like the rest of the kids in the neighborhood.”
Miola Donahue Laws, known fondly as “Mother Laws” to many, as well as the matron of the church and its surrounding west Houston community, was the light Lenor said she needed during her childhood.
“She made me feel beautiful
and that I wasn’t ugly and I wasn’t different,” said Lenor, through tears. “It built my self-esteem to a level it probably would have never been where it is today without her words of wisdom and kindness in my ear.”
Lenor is one of many women Donahue Laws has taken under her wing and treats as daughters in addition to her own eight biological children, 15 grandchildren, 21 greatgrandchildren and one great-great-grandchild. Seen as an invaluable leader in the community, the 103-year-old matriarch is known for spreading love to everyone she meets.
“There’s a lot of people who don’t know their own worth, but a lot of times it takes somebody to let them know,” said Donahue Laws.
In a show of love for Donahue Laws, dozens of people flocked Saturday to Pilgrim Rest to celebrate the milestone of her Aug. 24 birthday. The greatgreat-grandmother was honored with a performance from the Jack Yates High School Band, her alma mater, and a car parade of people whose lives she touched. And she received a congressional proclamation from U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee’s office making Aug. 27 “Miola D. Laws Day.”
The matriarch, decked out in gold and red — the Yates High School colors — teared up as she watched the band play for her as her loved ones held an umbrella over her to protect her from the sun. She waved gleefully as she greeted a line of her friends from their cars. Some brought her balloons, cards and gifts in vehicles decorated with banners for the occasion.
“She’s got these layers and networks (of people) because she has her entire life given with such an open heart and open arms,” said Dr. Nicole Mazwi, Donahue Laws’ granddaughter. “She’s got a ripple that emanates from her.”
Mazwi said everyone knew who she was growing up, in part, because of her grandmother.
The family also became known by many because of the musical talent and successes of Donahue Laws’ children. The matriarch and her late husband, Hubert Laws, were parents of Hubert Laws Jr., an international classical and jazz musician; Eloise Laws-Ivie, vocalist, Broadway actor and author; Ronnie Laws, a jazz musician and saxophonist; and Charlotte Laws-Thompson, a former author and poet who was an “Ikette” for Ike and Tina Turner.
Their other children also found success, including Johnny Laws, a veteran and vocalist; Debra Laws, a vocalist and Broadway actor; Blanche LawsMcConnell, a former church minister of music and general manager of Angelus Funeral Home in Los Angeles; and Dr. Donna Y. Laws, a professor, author, inspirational speaker and classical dancer.
Mazwi, a neuro rehabilitation physician and director of stroke rehabilitation at the University of Washington Medical Center, said her grandmother’s love nurtured her children’s talents.
“They’ve had a really good model in her,” said Mazwi. “People see and feel her light. She’s led and lived by example.” Mazwi said her grandmother has always been one of her biggest cheerleaders.
“I remember one thing she told me when I was quite young was, ‘All they can say is no,’” she said. “Behind that, for me, was the encouragement to just kind of go for it. The worst thing someone can tell you is no.”
The Rev. Daymond Wilkins, pastor of Pilgrim Rest since 2021, said he’s known Donahue Laws since he was a child, when his father led the church.
“The love she shows is just magnificent,” he said. “She’s positive, but then also, she’ll tell it like it is. She doesn’t bite her tongue. She will tell you the truth.”
Mazwi said her grandmother’s welcoming nature has touched the lives of countless people.
“She’s the kind of person that really opens her arms and welcomes everyone, no matter their walk of life or status, and that is not always the case, particularly in a very religious community.”
“She has really transcended that and people see that,” said Mazwi. “Because she’s always willing to listen and she really is full of love, she just exudes love, people really feel that and it’s something they go back to over and over.”