By Dianne Anderson
Rev. Dr. Elizabeth “Elsie Faye” Coleman Dowdy loved horses, and although she didn’t ride them, she did walk them around by the leash to make sure they got their exercise.
As Pastor, she saved people, and also the many cats of her Sage Blossom House, a place for orphans and strays that God had told her to give them food and shelter. Like humanity, they faced a harsh end without intervention, and she’d call them by name based on the promises of God – Abundance, Increase and Prosperity come forth.
Naturally, she hated snakes, although she lived among them on her 10-acre ranch in the hot High Desert where she would often check the perimeter of the property. One day she cursed a rattler poised to strike, too closely coiled around a bush. When she returned a week later, it was petrified, dead.
To know Pastor Dowdy is to not be too surprised. It was the average day in the life of a woman of faith.
She transitioned, or as she would put it, she shed her earth-suit and has gone back to where she started from the foundation of the earth. She was 84.
Long time friend, more like a sister, “Aunt” Bernice Lytle met Dr. Eliz when all their children were younger in the mid-70s. Ms. Lytle had moved out of state, but they remained tight friends staying in touch through the decades. She came to rely on Pastor Dowdy’s spiritual advice, the closeness and all the encouragement that she had given her over the years to live life.
“Even when we first met, she was very honest, a very studious person. She was not a pastor when I met her, but she was an encourager. I could call her and she would go through the scriptures with me. We were just close,” she said.
There were so many other standout qualities that she brought to not only their friendship, but her own family and Pastor Dowdy’s children are also a testament to her integrity. She said they are of top quality, educated and respectable.
When it came to the Word, she said Pastor Dowdy was very serious, believed and trusted, which made her trust and believe all there more. She was always open and able to relate her belief, trusting in God even in the times that were difficult for her.
“I was sitting here in Michigan thinking she was not going to be here anymore, that I wouldn’t be able to talk to her again about so many things in my life, my thoughts and some of the ways I’ve continued to live. All of that is because of her,” she said.
A pioneer of sorts, at times she lived out of a big tent on her ranch where she was in good part a survivalist long before it was fashionable. While serving in the Women’s Army Corps in the 1950s, she was also a medic, and talked about mastering the art of holding breath and breaking out gas masks as part of the job. Her training was not too far removed from WWII.
Always a truth seeker from when she was 10 years old, she came up out of the river waters of baptism speaking in tongues in Providence, TX, a fitting name for her place to grow.
For years, she served as a prayer warrior with Trinity Broadcasting Network, and as an editor of a top Christian magazine, as well as a skilled, knowledgeable journalist with the Precinct Reporter where she covered issues of social injustice.
Brian Townsend, editor and publisher of the Precinct Reporter commended Dr. Dowdy as an important and vital part of the team, and that she was engaged on the pulse of community when covering events.
“She has been irreplaceable in that she was willing to cover events in the High Desert, all the way to Long Beach,” he said.
Yet again, he also was personally impacted by her ready heart and ability to pray for others in times of need.
“Dr. Dowdy was a prayer warrior,” he said. “There were times when I was in need of the Word when I lost my mother and brother, for example, and she helped quiet my soul. I am going to miss her and I think the community will miss her kindness and support.”
Pastor Dowdy held a deep sensitivity for a solution to the killings of young Black men, which took its strongest measure and commitment through her prayer group. The 100,000 Praying African American Women was spurred by the tragic vigilante racist killing of Trayvon Martin.
For all her lifetime of intense focus on the Word, she also took her place in a society where women are often scoffed as pastors, and where she hadn’t quite expected her calling to the pulpit.
Sometimes, she spoke about how she thought she would be working and living her young lifetime dream as a businesswoman. Her Classicchicclothing.com was a side hustle to her real calling as Pastor, as she had an eye for elegance and vintage quality.
But her main focus was the way she lived her life.
She believed that humanity could not stand still on the sidelines spiritually, that it required an active process of growth through the Bible, through study, through worship and prayer. Over time, she amassed a great body of teaching at Lion of Judah Worship Center at lojwc.org, where she poured her heart out week after week, and taught with conviction and urgency.
Her natural style and ability to break down tough theological concepts into everyday language came amid some truly laugh-out-loud moments.
She was also not shy in preaching and teaching about calling out the evils of incessant racism that was dead-bent on tearing society apart. It was for the preservation of that same society that she served in the military, and as her husband fought for and died in the Tet Offensive in the Vietnam War.
Rochelle Williams, a decades-long friend of Pastor Dowdy, said she loved the way she carried herself, even her fashion sense, and just her willingness to go the extra mile with all energy and vigor for those who asked. She was always young at heart.
“She brought people together whether through the stories she writes, and the connections,” Williams said. “She had the ability to connect people and wasn’t fearful. She brought people together who normally would not see each other so they could help advance one another. I liked that about her.”
Williams’ mother had moved from Louisiana to Victorville where she was a member of Emmanuel Temple CME. Pastor Dowdy, who was also a member, took time to be with her mother, who fell ill, always visiting, sharing her knowledge on herbs and flowers.
“She was very inclusive, even in her 70s to open a clothing boutique, things that normally persons at that age wouldn’t do. She didn’t let age hold her,” she said. “She cared and she showed it.”
Dianne Anderson, fellow reporter with the Precinct Reporter, recalls how Pastor Dowdy was always quick to offer words of encouragement in times of need. She always reminded people to never forget about love and that the heart was more than a muscle.
When she told Pastor Dowdy about her young nephew, who lived a hard troubled youth, and had been baptized, but died way too young, she had an uncanny ability to see through the situation. She gave the right word for a stressful time.
Without thinking twice, she said, “He’s probably happier now than he’s ever been in his life.”
Her Memorial Service was held Wednesday, Aug 28, at Emmanuel Temple CME in Victorville. Her burial with full military honors will be held on Thursday, Aug 29 at noon at the Los Angeles National Cemetery, located at 950 S Sepulveda Blvd, Los Angeles.