Services will be held Sunday and Monday afternoons in Mathews and Gloucester to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the two counties.
The slain civil rights leader would have turned 97 years old today, Thursday, Jan. 15. MLK Day has been a federal holiday since 1986, observed on the third Monday of January.
In Mathews
Mathews Branch NAACP will hold its annual MLK Jr. program at 3 p.m. Sunday at Mathews Chapel United Methodist Church, 4185 Buckley Hall Road, Cobbs Creek.
The program’s theme is “Reclaiming the Dream” and the keynote speaker is Bryant Hudgins, administrator of Walter Reed Post Acute in Gloucester, a division of Virginia Health Services.
Hudgins began working at Walter Reed in 1995 as a Certified Nursing Assistant working with elderly patients. He soon went to Rappahannock Community College to become a Licensed Practical Nurse, and worked his way through the ranks, running the Skilled Rehabilitation unit up to overseeing facility admissions, insurance reimbursement, and quality control in all seven of the company’s long-term care centers.
After a successful tenure as the administrator of the Lancashire Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Hudgins returned to Walter Reed as the administrator of what is one of the larger health care facilities in the area. He assembled a team and instituted processes that took the facility from a two-star CMS rating to its first ever five-star rating, a release from the Mathews NAACP stated.
The facility has been named one of Newsweek’s Best Nursing Homes four years in a row. In late 2025, he was named the Administrator of the Year by the Virginia Healthcare Association.
Hudgins currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Gloucester-Mathews Care Clinic. His wife Stephanie is a registered nurse. They have two children, Maurice and Aubrey. In his spare time, he is active as a coach in youth sports.
The Worship Leader at Sunday’s service will be Pastor Sean Cummings of Antioch Baptist Church, Susan. Music will be provided by the Men’s Chorus of Emmaus Baptist Church, North.
Attendees are asked to bring donations of boxes of tissues and disinfectant wipes for Mathews County Public Schools, to help alleviate a shortage of these supplies needed during the cold and flu season.
For more information, contact Edith Turner at mathewsnaacp@gmail.com.
In Gloucester
Gloucester Union Relief of Missionary Baptist will hold its King Day program at 2 p.m. Monday at The First United Baptist Church, 6188 George Washington Memorial Highway, Gloucester.
The Rev. Dr. Jonathan Stubbs of Bethel Baptist Church, Gloucester, will be the speaker. A Gloucester native and professor at the T.C. Williams School of Law, University of Richmond, Stubbs was a practicing attorney prior to his position at the University of Richmond.
Stubbs has written and edited several books, including the autobiography of Oliver Hill, “The Big Bang and Beyond: The Life Story of Oliver W. Hill Sr.,” now in its second edition (2007), as well as co-editor of the “Memoirs of the Honorable Henry L. Marsh, III: Civil Rights Champion, Lawyer, Public Servant” (with Professor Danielle Wingfield, 2018). Stubbs has also authored a first-hand account of his challenges in overcoming prostate cancer: “Out of the Boat: Trusting God in the Midst of Life’s Storms” (2013). With the late Oliver W. Hill, Esq., Stubbs has written a book presenting an historical overview of race and the law in the United States beginning in colonial Virginia: “No Clue: White American Affirmative Action Exists and Demands a Moral Revival Now!” (2024).
A combined youth choir will provide music.
GURA’s Youth Committee will hold a King Day breakfast from 9-11 a.m. Saturday at Shepherdsville Baptist Church, Gloucester. Tickets are $20 per person. For information/tickets contact Brenda Davis at 804-693-2178. Proceeds from the breakfast support the GURA Youth Programs, AP college classes, and the Scholarship Fund.
The First United Men’s Baptist Chorus, directed by C. E. Radford, will perform. Gloucester High School assistant principal Alexis Foster will lead worship.
Fairfield Foundation
Also, in Gloucester on Monday, the Fairfield Foundation will host its second annual MLK Day program beginning at 11 a.m. at the Fine Arts Museum of Gloucester, 6894 Main Street. The program will be a presentation on the documentary “The Gate: The Story of America’s First Contraband Community,” with commentary and video segments from PBS filmmaker Laura Seltzer-Duny.
This event will offer exclusive behind-the-scenes insights into the documentary, which explores the historic Brooks Cemetery in Mathews, and reveals the untold story of the first Contraband families. “The Gate” is a descendant-led PBS documentary and educational program initiative in production in Hampton Roads. Filming is centered at Fort Monroe, the birthplace of freedom for thousands of self-emancipated people in 1861. Known as “Contrabands,” these men, women, and children fled enslavement, sought refuge behind Union lines, and built the first free, self-governed black community in the shadow of the Civil War.
Additional presenters include the Contraband Historical Society and descendants of Contraband Robert Langley Brooks. The presentation will be followed by questions and answers and lunch. The presentation will also be aired on the Zoom platform. Email Sara Lewis at sara@fairfieldfoundation.org for more information.
