The National Association of Ministers’ Wives was founded to provide training for ministers’ wives, with the first conference taking place in 1941. The organization is now known as the International Association of Ministers’ Wives and Ministers' Widows, Inc.

The founder and first president of the association was Elizabeth Coles Bouey. She was born around 1890 in Liberia to American missionaries, Reverend John J. Coles and Lucy Anne Henry Coles. She came to Virginia in 1893, and graduated from Armstrong High School in Richmond as the class valedictorian. She studied at the Armstrong Normal School, attended the theological seminary at Virginia Union University, and earned a master’s degree from Columbia University. In 1920, Elizabeth married Edward H. Bouey (1890-1956), also the son of missionary parents who had lived in Africa. The pair traveled to Liberia for a mission lasting nearly five years, where they had three children and built the Carrie Dyer Hospital in Monrovia. Upon returning to the United States, Bouey worked as a school teacher, and also continued to lead Bible classes at Mt. Cavalry Baptist Church, where her husband served as paster from 1931-1956, in Richmond. She spoke in radio broadcasts and to various groups nationally.

In 1941, Bouey founded the National Association of Ministers’ Wives. She served as the association's first president from its founding until her death in 1957. During her teure, ministers' wives from the United States, West Africa, and eight denominations joined the organization. The organization also started the Ministers’ Wives’ Herald, Prayer Group Certificates, and several awards.

The secretary of the National Association of Ministers’ Wives was Mrs. W. L. Ransome, who was likely Mary M. Ransome, who attended the first meeting with Bouey to discuss potentially founding the association in 1940. She is likely Mary M. Ransome, born to Harry and Nannie (Williams) Cobbs on December 24, 1899, in Richmond, Virginia. She married Dr. William Lee Ransome (1879-1975), the pastor of First Baptist Church in South Richmond from 1920-1971. Mary Ransome died on January 13, 1968, and is buried alongside her husband in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Richmond.

External Sources:

"Dr. Elizabeth Coles Bouey," International Association of Ministers' Wives and Ministers' Widows, https://www.iamwmw.org/founder, accessed December 6, 2022.

"Elizabeth Coles Bouey," Virginia Changemakers, https://edu.lva.virginia.gov/changemakers/items/show/40, accessed December 7, 2022.

"Elizabeth A. Coles Bouey," Findagrave.com, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/178427203/elizabeth-a-bouey, accessed October 4, 2023.

"Mary M. Cobbs Ransome," Findagrave.com, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/218401585/mary-m-ransome, accessed October 4, 2023.

"Mary M Ransome" in the Virginia, U.S., Death Records, 1912-2014, Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/discoveryui-content/view/1708432:9278, accessed October 4, 2023.

"Rev William Lee Ransome," Findagrave.com, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/8584510/william-lee-ransome, accessed October 4, 2023.