SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) — We introduce you to one woman whose love has helped guide many through life’s darkest moments.

“I find that if I can just help them stay on the right path, then I’ve done something that I know that the lord had asked me to do,” said Myra Mitchell.  

‘Mama Myra,’ that’s how most people refer to Myra Mitchell. Born and raised in Savannah, she’s spent a lifetime pouring love into the community often with the help of her bible study group.

For Myra, it’s all about faith even in the darkest of life’s moments. The people who know her say her light shines through. 

“What caught my attention about her was the light, it’s just the, there’s a natural light that just follows her and that attracts you to her,” April Jackson, Program Manager at the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office. 

It’s a light that’s helped guide many to a better path in life no matter where they’re coming from. 

Myra served as a chaplain for the women in the Chatham County Jail for more than a decade. although she’s now retired from that role, her legacy there lives on. 

Jackson also said, “She just has this community of women that she’s loved on for many, many years and they follow her in their transition way, way back from 20, 30 years ago.”

She continued, “These young ladies who’ve gone from maybe drugs and alcohol, abusive relationships, just lives of crime, that have changed their lives for the better.”

“Her name, her legacy is still here, when they call they’re asking for Ms. Myra.” 

And when they call, she still answers. 

Albert Blackston, Chaplain of the Chatham County Jail said, “The love that she had for the ladies when they were here…. it didn’t just stop when they left, and it didn’t stop when they went to prison. If they went to prison, she wrote to them. When they came home and she saw them on the street, she would hug them, she would sit down and talk to them, she would bring them food, she would take them to the doctor if they needed it.” 

Myra says she continues to help the women she served during her time as a chaplain. Because, for her,  it was never just a job — it was a calling. 

And those she met along the way are now family. 

Mitchell said, “When they call me Mama Myra… means that they got their trust in me so I have to help hold up that banner so that I don’t let them down.” 

She continued, “It’s by my love for them that I can move them to go back to where they need to be.” 

“There’s a whole generation of younger ladies that they don’t have a mom, they don’t have older sisters, they don’t have any of those things, but they have Ms. Mitchell,” said Blackston.  

It’s a legacy of love that continues to change lives. 

“We’ll be talking about Ms. Myra for another 30 years,” Jackson said.