Newspaper clipping about Jacksonville’s Bible Lady:

I was all set to write about me this morning, but this clipping from today’s Florida Times-Union by Jim Schoettler is more important. I never met Mrs. Jarvis, but I think we would have understood each other.

Sarah (L) and Jefferson Jarvis (R) flank their grandson Kenneth Justice Barrow
at his Terry Parker High graduation.

Jacksonville's Bible Lady killed in accident: Sarah Jarvis preached for Jesus on the streets of East Arlington for 22 years

Sarah Jarvis is home.

After witnessing for Jesus on the streets of East Arlington for 22 years, the neighborhood fixture known as The Bible Lady died Monday after being struck by a truck.

The accident occurred as Jarvis walked across Mount Pleasant Road about dawn, Jacksonville police said. Witnesses said the driver had a green light and tried to brake before hitting Jarvis, 73, tossing her and her Bible into the street. The driver knew Jarvis from her walks and was distraught, a friend said.

Jarvis was hit near one of several school bus stops she visited daily with Bible open, reminding youths about prayer and staying in school. Those students fondly remembered Jarvis as they stood across from a makeshift memorial Wednesday.

“I never knew somebody who believed in God so much that they would just come up to people they didn’t know and talk to them,” said Hannah Adamec, 12, who attends Landmark Middle School. “Everybody in the community knew her.”

Jarvis’ subtle preaching touched generations. Adamec’s mother, Amanda, said she remembers listening to her as a first-grade student at Sable Palms Elementary.

“She’d come to the bus stop every morning to let us know how important it was to make sure we did the right things in life and looked out for people around you,” said Amanda Adamec, 27. “She was just a gold-hearted soul.”

Most area residents knew Jarvis only by sight, but admired her determination and devotion. She spent every morning but Sunday, rain or shine, walking on or near McCormick and Mount Pleasant roads reading her bible. She always wore a hat with a JESUS pin stuck to it and carried an umbrella.

Jarvis would occasionally bless vehicles as they passed. Every Sunday after church she’d sit in a lawn chair at a neighborhood bus stop and read her Bible. She also held Bible studies in her Spanish Point home and comforted neighbors in need, including a man who recently lost his wife.

Though gone only a few days, Jarvis’ absence has shaken her neighbors. Some called her the community’s guardian angel.

“You miss seeing her,” said Katie Fulton, 27, who lives across from where Jarvis was hit. “It’s a normal routine.”

Jarvis was a native of the Caribbean island of Montserrat, said Jefferson Jarvis, her husband of 53 years. The retired postman said the couple was living in New York 26 years ago when his wife gave up partying for preaching. He said she simply picked up a Bible one day and began to witness in the streets and hospitals.

Jarvis, 78, said his wife was on a lifetime mission to better people’s lives.

“She spoke to God. God spoke to her. Who am I to interfere?” he said.

Jarvis said his wife continued walking when the couple moved to East Arlington with their three children in 1987. He said she’d leave the home by 5:30 a.m. and would stay out three or four hours, greeting friends and strangers over several miles.

“It didn’t matter if the person was a saved person or a lost person. She wanted to reacquaint them with what she felt in her heart,” her husband said.

Upon returning home, Jarvis spent much of her day going from room to room reading individual Bibles and praying. She had few other interests, her husband said.

A few hours before her death, Jarvis said he watched his wife turn and smile as she headed out the door. He said he’ll never forget how she seemed to glow with love for him and for God.

And then she began her trip home.

Services
A visitation for Sarah Jarvis will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at the Monument Point Fellowship church, 13720 Mount Pleasant Road, Jacksonville. A Celebration of Life for Jarvis will be Friday at 11 a.m. at the church. The public is welcome to both events. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to World Harvest Missions, 3357 Pinehurst Drive, Lake Worth, FL, 33467.