Peninsula In Passage

John H. Sheally II

The Purple Lady, Rachel Presha and her daughter Delzorra Presha.

strongest man in Belleville, Delzorra says. He carried logs single-handedly from the sawmill to build the original church in just 30 days. Rachel was born in Belleville July 1, 1925, and raised there on a farm. She had two daughters, Pearl and Delzorra, but never married. “In those days that was a problem,” Delzorra says. Rachel was in her 30’s when after years, she says, of “going along with everyone else” she sought her own identity, peace and happiness. She dressed all in white, then black, before settling on purple as a serene, Biblical color. “There are certain things you love,” Rachel says.

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