I was appointed by the Bishop of Arkansas to serve as Interim Vicar at All Saints’ Church this past February. It is a privilege to count All Saints’ among the Episcopal Churches in Arkansas that I have loved and served since I began my ordained ministry. I was ordained Deacon on February 22, 2001. That was not a date of my choosing. But, it was the anniversary of George Washington’s birthday. I was ordained Priest on September 15, 2001. That was four days after 9-11. It was a tender and tumultuous time for our nation. However, I had purposely chosen that date for my ordination because it was one day before the 25th anniversary of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church’s approval of the ordination of women.
St. Mark’s Church in Little Rock was my first love as an Episcopal priest. That church is
still special to me. In 2003, I moved to Mountain Home to serve as Vicar of St. Andrew’s
Church. The second church that I have loved. That was the year the General Convention
approved the election of the Rev. Gene Robinson, to be consecrated as Bishop of New
Hampshire. He was the first openly gay priest to be elected as a bishop. It turned out to
be a tender and tumultuous time for the Episcopal Church. At the beginning of 2009, I
moved to Springdale, Arkansas to serve as Priest-in-Charge and then Rector for the next
thirteen and a half years at St. Thomas Church. I loved that church the longest. I
officially retired last August. After a good six month rest I am pleased to be serving All
Saints’.
I have a BA in Theology from St. Mary-of-the-Woods College in Indiana. That was the
first Roman Catholic institution dedicated to the education of women in our country.
Established in 1841 by five French nuns from the Order of Our Lady of Providence.
Their courageous leader, Mother Theodore Guerin was canonized as St. Theodora by
Pope Benedict in 2006. The story of her life and ministry is fascinating. I have a M. Div.
from The School of Theology at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. The
seminary’s current worship space, The Chapel of the Apostles was built during the time I
was there. I was among the witnesses when the chapel was consecrated and it too, is one
of the churches I have loved.
All of the churches I have loved have shaped me into who I am. My family has also. I will
have been married to Kevin for fifty years next September. We have three adult children
and nine grandchildren aging from five to twenty-four years old. We have a little Jack
Russell Terrier named Jackson who is the most spoiled dog alive. I like to spend my time
interacting with my family and the people I have known and loved over the years. I love
to bake bread, work in the garden, read, listen to a variety of music, count my blessings,
and thank God for all that has been, is now, and is yet to become one of my loves and
life’s work.