CHRISTIAN, W.Va. — The death of a woman in Logan County this week sent shock waves through the faith community of the West Virginia coalfields. Logan County Deputies identified the victim of the pedestrian accident as Priscella Cline-Smith of Christian, W.Va. Smith was struck by a passing vehicle when she was apparently in the road trying to help with a semi which was broken down on the roadside.
Priscella , along with her husband, ran Miracle Island Unlimited since 2001. The operation, was a ministry of their faith to the needy of West Virginia. The couple purchased Paradise Island in the middle of the Guyandotte River in the early 1990’s when it was covered in trash and refuse. They had since turned into into a Christian themed camp and grew a large food ministry which provided millions of meals to thousands of southern West Virginia residents in need over the last two decades.
“They had a clothing ministry and a food ministry that fed thousands and thousands of people. She had an awesome ministry,’ said Pastor Clifford Rawls who runs the Storehouse Food Pantry in Mingo County.
The day Priscella was killed she had called Rawls to offer him more than 100 boxes of excess food she had received in her ongoing collection efforts. It wasn’t the first time. Rawls noted she would often donate overflow stock from her operation to other food pantries in the region. He added, Smith’s work was a labor of love and her faith was first and foremost in her life.
“I know a lot of news people don’t like to put things in their story about Jesus Christ, but if you’re going to talk about Priscella, you’re going to have to talk about Jesus,” said Rawls.
Michael Browning, who now works in the Office of U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, remembered interviewing Priscella for the Williamson Daily News in the 1990’s when she and her husband first acquired the island.
“She asked me when I was interviewing her all those years ago ‘Are you saved?’ And, at the time, I was not so I told her no. ‘Well, why not,’ was her reply,” Browning recalled.
“She got saved when she was 8 years old and she’s been 110 percent for the Lord ever since. If you ever met her I guarantee you she would be talking to you about the Lord,” Rawls added.
Priscella wrote on her Facebook page; “Yes, I live on a island. Paradise Island of Christian WV. I got marooned on a 20 acre island and didn’t want to get off. I love my life and live it to the fullest! I have created my dream and I am living it.”
“She was a force for good in this world, spiritually feeding thousands of people the good news of Jesus Christ and feeding them with food that she gathered and gave away so often,” Browning offered.
She was in the process of stocking and preparing for a massive food delivery Wednesday when she was killed. Now, the giveaway has been turned into a tribute to her life’s work. Hungry Lambs Initiative, another Logan County based food pantry, plans to carry out the massive distribution Priscella had planned. They’ll do it Friday at the Logan County Resource Center, which is the old 84 Lumber building in Peach Creek beginning at noon. The distribution will be done in her honor.
“Priscella would go anywhere and do anything to help anybody in need of food, clothing or otherwise,” said Rawls.
“My goodness, she’s going to be very deeply missed by all of us,” he added.