The compelling story of the death of Beulah Wootten.

The story begins as daughter, Olivia is to pick up Jesse and Beulah to drive them to the Original Mt. Pleasant Baptist Association meeting. As Olivia explains, these were important events for the Woottens. This Sunday morning of September 1969 was more important than most in that Rev Postell Wooten (son) was to preach at 11:00 A.M., followed by the dinner hour. Olivia and her husband John drove Beulah to the church, which by then was already very crowded. When Postell finished preaching, as was the custom, the congregation stood to sing as they waited to shake hands with him.

As the congregation began to sing, Beulah made her way through the crowd and was able to get to Postell and hug him. At that moment, she was overcome with ecstasy and began to shout. Filled with the holy spirit, her heart stopped and she fell dead.

As the story unfolds, fragment by fragment, we see how deeply family members share the sense of awe at Beulah's fulfillment of her wish to "die a-shoutin'." She routinely prayed that this would be the way she left this world, without suffering. As Philip puts it, "You've got to be proud of it. Not many get what they wanted-to die a-shoutin' would be the best way in the world to go."

Beulah's story resonates with Sacred Harp values and gives us a definitive glimpse at the personal connection singers feel with the song texts. The phrase "die a shouting" is familiar to singers from the opening line of "New Harmony" (page 406):
I want to live a Christian here,
I want to die a shouting,
I want to feel my Saviour near,
While soul and body's parting.

It is also the source for the inscribed commemoration on Beulah's gravestone-"I want to live a Christian here and die a shouting." But this is a commemoration already inscribed in the music, one which anticipates death and gives life meaning and structure. (from "Sweet Is The Day")