Mother Bertha (Flake) Seats

Mother Bertha (Flake) Seats was born on November 26, 1931, in Cedar Grove, Tennessee, to Asberry and Laura (Kirby) Flake. She attended the Cedar Grove School System. She was saved and healed from leukemia in 1941, at the age of nine years old, when her brother, then Elder Dennis Flake of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, stopped to visit her on his way to the Church of God in Christ International Convocation in Memphis, Tennessee. He told her that even if the Lord didn’t heal her, she needed to be saved. As many have heard her testimony, the Lord filled her with the Holy Ghost that day, and although Mother’s doctors told her parents that she had only a few days to live, God delayed that diagnosis for 80 years.

Services celebrating Mother Seat’s life will be held at 10:30 AM on Saturday, November 20, at the Abundant Life Church of God in Christ on Columbus Avenue in Benton Harbor. Burial will follow at North Shore Memory Gardens. The visitation will be from 10:00 AM to 10:30 AM on Saturday at the church. Memorials may be made to the Abundant Life Church. Arrangements are by the Fairplain Chapel of Florin Funeral Service in Benton Township. Please share messages or memories at www.florin.net.

Mother Seats was married to Deacon Floyd Seats on May 7, 1949, in Alcorn County, Mississippi. They were married for 64 years until his death on September 16, 2013. Four children were born to this union: Eugene Jr., Barbara, Dwight, and Duane Sr.

Mother Seats and her family moved to Benton Harbor in February 1952. She immediately joined Community Church of God in Christ under the leadership of Bishop Nathaniel Wells, Sr., and served faithfully in many capacities as a very young woman. She served as a Youth Department Sunday School teacher, Deaconess, and the President of the Women’s Department. In 1974, the Lord led her to join Prayer House Church of God in Christ under the leadership of her brother, Overseer Versie Flake. The church was ultimately relocated, and the name was changed to Flake Temple Church of God in Christ. Mother Seats served as the Women’s Department Sunday School teacher and Church Mother. In addition, Mother Seats was later appointed as the District Missionary of District Thirteen and the Fellowship Coordinator of Women. She continued to serve her local church in the role of Church Mother as the church name and leadership changed to Abundant Life Church of God in Christ, under her son, Elder Duane Seats, Sr., and again 17 years ago to her grandson, Superintendent Duane L. Seats II, until her passing.

Mother Seats retired from the Benton Harbor Area School District as a Skills Department teacher and School Nurse in 1992, after 21 years. She graduated with her Associates of Science Degree in Nursing from Lake Michigan College and went on to obtain her Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing from Western Michigan University. Before her employment at the School District, she worked at Mercy Hospital – Benton Harbor in the Obstetrics Department and as a charge nurse over the Dialysis Department.

Fondly known as “Nana,” Mother Seats was highly-esteemed, a Saint of God, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, great-great grandmother, mentor, and role model to everyone who crossed her path.
Mother Seats leaves to cherish her memory two sons, Eugene Jr. (Denise) and Dwight (Veronica); one daughter, Barbara Hall; grandsons, Superintendent Duane L. (Lana) Seats, II and Marlon Easley; granddaughters, Nicole Singleton, Ericka Williams, Nikola Cross, Shontielle (Tobias) Pagel, and Geena Seats; the following great-grandchildren; Duane Seats III, Micah Seats, Ethan Singleton, Trinerty Thompson, Ezekiel Pagel, Morgan Singleton, Katarina Easley, McKenzie Seats, Alexa Williams, and Kindred Pagel; and, a great-great granddaughter, Navi Easley; as well as a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, and church family members.

Mother Seats was preceded in death by her husband, Deacon Floyd Seats, her parents, her four brothers, Bishop Dennis Flake, Overseer Versie Flake, Carl White, and Willie White; three sisters, Beatrice Strayhorn, Ruth Whitmore, and Mother Gracie Greer; and a son-in-law, Minister Bernard Hall Sr.