5 minute read
Leading by Example: The Power of Action to Influence Others
By Dr. Kimberly Eades
As the Program Director for Family Studies and Gerontology, Dr. Delilah Joiner Martin is not new to SNU. For 41 years, Delilah has been part of the school as a student (class of 1981), graduate and employee. Her choosing SNU as a student was providential. As she explained, “I believe with all of my being that it was the leading of the Holy Spirit who brought me here as a student through a faculty connection and a traveling university singing group and then kept me here as an employee.”
It is not hard to believe that it was God who led her to SNU. Her dedication to helping others, especially students, is what endears her to so many people at SNU and in the Oklahoma City Community.
Dr. Joiner Martin’s path has not been an easy one. In 2014, Delilah’s daughter, Kaytie ‘08, was preparing for her wedding when she collapsed after running a half marathon. She did not survive. Heartbroken, Delilah wanted to do something to celebrate her daughter’s life. She, along with help from family and friends, decided to make gift baskets to give to new parents of babies born on Kaytie’s birthday, July 22, at Mercy Hospital. Her passion for this project has led her to continue the tradition each year since. The impact of her selfless act is one of the reasons she was nominated for and received Oklahoma’s Mother of the Year award in March 2024.
Dr. Joiner Martin gives that same commitment to the students of the Family Studies and Gerontology (FSG) program. “The SNU Family Studies and Gerontology program students are primarily adult women, and many are mothers. In our studies, as the program director, I have the privilege of impacting mothers and future mothers in very practical ways. They are equipped and can take what they are learning immediately into their personal lives with real-world applications. It is an honor to work in higher education as an extension of the church.”
FSG graduate Ellyn Marsh ’68 gave a glimpse of the deep care Dr. Joiner Martin extends to each student, describing her experience with the program as life changing. Ellyn originally enrolled at SNU in 1964 but didn’t finish. However, she found her way back to SNU as an adult. “The practical skills that you gain in FSG helped change me. I had no confidence; I had no knowledge; I had no skills of communicating, and it just really changed me. It just changed the path of my life completely.” She and Delilah are close friends today.
David Odle, a 2012 FSG alumnus, shared an idea that Dr. Joiner Martin instilled in him as a student.
“You’ve got a full tank of gas, everything’s going great, but when the tank is empty, you stop.
And so learning to refill your tank and how to do that is so important. I can only imagine the impact that you’re having with that. People need to take care of themselves.”
Ask any FSG student and they will tell you story after story about how the program and Dr. Joiner Martin has impacted their lives. Some of those stories include how Deliah gave money to students to pay for rent, gas, bills, and other necessities so that the student could keep pursuing their education. These acts of kindness and generosity seem to be in Delilah’s DNA. She is a champion for her students, for the FSG program, and for SNU.
“These are some of the most extraordinary human beings that I’ve ever met. The people who are called to complete this degree are the ones who feel called to help and serve. Issues in our world that others look away from, these degree seekers kneel to pray, stand to face, and then walk toward those, believing that they, with God’s help, can and will make a difference.”
Today, her vision for her students and the FSG program continues. Recently, Dr. Joiner Martin worked with SNU’s Office of University Advancement to re-envision a scholarship dedicated to serving students in the FSG program. As she noted, “They will not earn big money in this field of service, and knowing that, I would love to have a scholarship big enough to pay off their educational debt for this program.”
As she nears retirement, Dr. Joiner Martin hopes to raise an additional $25,000 for the scholarship before saying goodbye to her role as program director. This would provide an additional $1,000 per year scholarship to a deserving FSG student, directly reducing loans or tuition payments.
“I believe our work is Holy. I love being entrusted with an opportunity to come alongside a student for a specific season of life, sometimes longer, and knowing that even if I may never know the outcome of that person’s life, I was faithful to my season, always praying, ‘Thy will be done’ over that student, being completely surrendered to the fact that with every human exchange, verbal, written, assignment, greeting, that a Holy spiritual exchange is also being communicated through the work of the Holy Spirit... and in truth, that is the most important aspect of all the work being accomplished at SNU.”
To honor Dr. Delilah Joiner Martin and her Kingdom work at SNU, you can make a gift to the Family Studies and Gerontology HOPE Scholarship Endowment at the link below. For questions about other ways to give, such as through an IRA, Donor Advised Fund, or other special situations, contact Heather Fairbanks, Associate Vice President for Advancement at hfairbanks@snu.edu.
