Ms. Maxine Durilla Bronner

 Obituary for Mother Maxine D. Bronner

Mother Maxine Durilla Hayes Bronner entered the church triumphant of January  13, 2026.  Mother Bronner was born July 24, 1939, in Dillon, South Carolina, to the late Emory Hayes Sr. and Luella McKellar Hayes.  Shortly after her birth, her mother passed away, leaving her and her siblings to be raised by her maternal aunt and uncle, Mr. K. C. Nesbitt and Mrs. Sarah McKellar Nesbitt. She was raised in the church and acknowledged her calling at a very early age. She was a prayer warrior and a gifted, anointed singer even in her youth.  Upon graduating from high school, Mother Bronner chose to further her education at Bennett College in Greensboro, North Carolina. After attending  college, she moved north to Trenton, New Jersey,  where she met and married Mr. Carlton L. Bronner. To this union was born a daughter, Melecia Joy Bronner. Mother Bronner took a leap of faith as God commissioned her to her first assignment in Los Angeles, California. She began running revivals all over the city. Many were saved, healed, delivered, and set free. In one of those infamous revivals, two men came in the church with loaded double barreled shot guns to rob the parishioners. Evangelist Bronner plead the blood. The rifle was put to her head. She continued to call on Jesus. The robber began to tremble. They ran out of the church only grabbing the purse of a lady at the door. The power of God had prevailed!

She came upon her next assignment, where she was placed in a spiritual partnership with the late Evangelist Florence Black. Together, these two young women preached around the  globe, spreading the message of Jesus Christ. This went on for 26 years. Both eevangelist Black and Evangelist Bronner felt God's leading for the next assignment which was a community work. Together, they formed a non-profit, they opened fully accredited training schools in Los Angeles, California and Atlanta, Georgia. They opened a popular bar-b-que restaurant called 'Holy Smokes' in the heart of Inglewood, California where many black celebrities frequently patronized for some down-home barbeque with all the fixings. They established state funded boys'  group homes that cared for abused  and neglected boys between the ages of 7-18.

After the death of Evangelist Black, Evangelist Maxine Bronner continued the work until she received her next God given assignment. So, she turned the businesses over to her daughter Melecia, and headed to her final assignment in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In Tulsa she purchased the historic Fairview Mansion as well as a  40-acre ranch in Sapulpa for setting up group homes. But God had another plan. Mother Bronner met the late Mother Grace Tucker and began working faithfully with Mother Tucker as the administrator of her non-profit organization and church. While working with Mother Tucker Ministries, Mother Bronner received an honorary Doctor of Divinity for her philanthropic work in the community and the City of Tulsa. Upon the death of Mother Tucker, Mother Bronner was introduced to Pastor Melvin Cooper. She worked diligently and closely with Pastor Cooper at World Won Ministries. She has served as a spiritual counselor to many in the congregation, worked with the anniversary committee, and later became the church mother. Being the church mother was one of her greatest joys. She even found time in her twilight years to author a book entitled 'I Forgot', chronicling her journey through her diagnosis of Alzheimer's and dementia. 

As her health began to fail, her daughter graciously cared for her mother until the end. While here in Georgia, Mother Bronner served as assistant church mother at Abundant Life Church of God in Christ under the leadership of Pastor Alan S. Robinson. Mother Bronner's final assignment was at Holy Bethel Church of God in Christ where she was respected as a mother in Zion.

 As all her siblings have preceded her in death, she leaves to continue her legacy in the hands of her only child, Evangelist Melecia Joy Bronner, and her only granddaughter, Jordynne Elizabeth Tsenat Bronner, a plethora of spiritual sons and daughters, and a host of nieces and nephews, relatives, and friends.