Ables, Purlia
Purlia “Aunt Pearl” Ables (1898-1968) was the first student to successfully complete the correspondence course at Bible Training School (now Lee University). In September 1919 a BTS correspondence course began with 203 students enrolled initially. This course included 20 lessons for $40. By the end of the first year, 788 students had enrolled in the course.
Ables was a local church treasurer and Sunday school teacher from Carbon Hill, Alabama. Like many women of her time, she did not work outside of the home. However, she was very active in ministry and attended to local church matters while her husband, Frazier Ables (1895-1967), worked in the coal mines.
The BTS correspondence program continued for many years, and Nora Chambers served as the grader and supervised the program in those early years. Other forms of extension training have been implemented by the university through the decades, including the establishment of a Division of Continuing Education in 1976 and the introduction of an online course in 1999, which since has evolved into the Division of Adult Learning/Lee Online.
/ L.F. Morgan
Ables was a local church treasurer and Sunday school teacher from Carbon Hill, Alabama. Like many women of her time, she did not work outside of the home. However, she was very active in ministry and attended to local church matters while her husband, Frazier Ables (1895-1967), worked in the coal mines.
The BTS correspondence program continued for many years, and Nora Chambers served as the grader and supervised the program in those early years. Other forms of extension training have been implemented by the university through the decades, including the establishment of a Division of Continuing Education in 1976 and the introduction of an online course in 1999, which since has evolved into the Division of Adult Learning/Lee Online.
/ L.F. Morgan