Words by Jenny Lynn Davis | Images by Ryan McGill

Lainey Blair is wise beyond her years. The 18-year-old Sumiton native realized early in her life that, for her, fulfillment comes from being of service to others. She considers it her mission to put others before herself.

“My heart is fully surrendered to the service of others. I find immense joy in making other people feel seen and heard,” Lainey says. “For me, service isn’t just organized events that you volunteer for. It’s also helping an injured friend carry their books or paying for the meal of someone who is struggling financially; just being a friend during good times and bad.”

While she was a student at Sumiton Christian School, Lainey was involved in many organizations that allowed her to serve others, including City of Lights, an after-school program for students in East Walker County from grades K-8. She served as a mentor and tutor for students in the program and worked with her peers during the holiday season to ensure students received gifts and items that met their needs. 

Lainey is now majoring in secondary education in English Language Arts at Troy University in Troy, Alabama. She has always known that she wants to be a teacher, as it would allow her to invest in the lives of students. “Teaching is a ministry that, for me, goes farther than the walls of a classroom,” she says. “The students aren’t just another group of kids, they’re people that have varying experiences in their lives, and sometimes they will need help in those experiences. As a future educator, I want my students to know I am not just here to teach them and send them home, I am here to serve them in any way. My goal is to make them feel like we are a big family.”

Like service to others, family has strong significance in Lainey’s life. She credits her parents, Lance and Beth-Anne Blair, as her biggest inspirations. She says she is forever thankful for the home and life they created for her and her brother, Grayson, and that the relationship she has with her parents is one of understanding, patience, honesty, encouragement, and love. “They guide me through life with the Word of God and teach me to work hard and never give up on my dreams,” she says. 

Because of her faith and persistence, many of those dreams have already come true for Lainey, including becoming a danceline member of Troy’s Sound of the South Marching Band. She initially found out she’d made the danceline when she was “in the middle of nowhere, Colorado” on a family vacation. “I was overjoyed that all my hard work had paid off and my longtime dream of being on a college auxiliary line was now a reality. I have been able to find joy in every minute of it, even the more difficult parts.”

While at Troy, Lainey hopes to make lifelong friendships and get to know people from all walks of life, from places bigger and smaller than her hometown, and of course, be of service to those people. 

In college and beyond, she says she wants to be known and remembered as someone who loves God and that always puts others first. 78