Lawrence, Allen, Singleteary Scholarship Fund

“Just give it to the kids…let’s do some good with this money,” Charles Lawrence remembers his grandfather, Arthur Lawrence, saying of the proceeds from the now demolished Church of God in Jesus Christ which the elder Lawrence founded in 1952 with Mac Allen and Lila Singleteary.

Located at 900 Eddy Street in Providence’s south end, the church had an active congregation for three decades. “The church is a big part of the Black community. It adds a real sense of community,” Charles Lawrence explains, recalling that his aunts were in the choir and that the church would attract “a couple of hundred people on a Sunday morning.”

Built in 1888 by renowned architect William R. Walker – whose granddaughter, the late Helen Walker Raleigh, established several endowments at the Foundation – the building originally was home to Christ Episcopal Church. When the Episcopal Diocese no longer needed it, Mr. Lawrence explains of the founders, “They pooled their money and bought it with their own funds.”

Arthur Lawrence worked for 25 years as a mechanic at Electric Boat. He and his wife, Ruby, have lived in the same house in Providence’s south side for more than 60 years. Mac Allen is the Lawrence’s son-in-law. He and his wife, Dorothy, moved to South Carolina in the 1980s. Lila “Mother” Singleteary lived across the street from the Lawrence family. “She was the glue holding the church together,” Charles Lawrence recalls. She died in 1991 at age 93.

“With her death, the congregation getting older, and people moving away, the church just couldn’t survive,” he continues.

The Eddy Street church closed its doors and the building fell into disrepair; it was demolished in 2006. Although sad about the demise of the church, the younger Lawrence notes with pride the significance of this permanent scholarship fund for graduating seniors and graduates of Providence’s Hope and Central high schools. “This puts the Lawrence name on something great and gives my grandfather a wonderful legacy,” he concludes.

Return to Funds Page