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April 17, 2008
Notes about people
Toya Richards Hill Toya Richards Hill, an award-winning journalist who has served as a reporter for the Presbyterian News Service (PNS) for the last three years, has announced her resignation effective May 30.
Prior to coming to PNS, Hill wrote for Business First, the Chicago Sun-Times, the Lexington Herald-Leader in Kentucky, the Little Rock Gazette in Arkansas; the Burlington Free Press in Vermont and the Gary Post-Tribune in Indiana.
Prior to coming to PNS, Hill wrote for Business First, the Lexington Herald-Leader in Kentucky, the Little Rock Gazette in Arkansas and the Burlington Free Press In Vermont. She also served as an editor for the Chicago Sun-Times and the Gary Post-Tribune in Indiana.
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Mary Thompson, widow of former General Assembly Stated Clerk William P. Thompson, died April 9 in suburban Chicago. She was 87.
A memorial service will be held May 3 at First Presbyterian Church of LaGrange, IL. Condolences may be sent to Bill and Mary Thompson’s daughter, Mrs. Judith Koop, 37 W. 605 Grey Barn Road, St. Charles, IL 60175.
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Akira Doi, 81, professor emeritus of historical theology at Doshisha University in Kyoto and a historian of Japanese Protestantism, died of heart-related complications on March 31.
Doi wrote extensively on Japanese Christianity, and was the author of a 1980 book, A History of Protestant Christianity in Japan. He converted to Christianity in 1946 while trying to cope with the impact of World War II. He later studied at Doshisha University, Kyoto University and Union Theological Seminary in New York.
Following a private funeral for Doi attended by close relatives, a memorial service for him will be held in the Doshisha chapel on May 31.
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Actor and human rights activist Mike Farrell — who played “B.J. Hunnicutt” on the hit television series M*A*S*H* — will be featured speaker at the June 22 General Assembly Media Luncheon during the upcoming 218th General Assembly in San Jose, CA.
“Mike really fits the theme of the assembly — “Do justice, love kindness, walk
humbly, with your God” — said Presbyterian Media Mission (PMM) executive director Gregg Hartung. “If you read his book, Just Call Me Mike, you’ll understand.”
PMM — which serves nine presbyteries and two synods from its offices in Pittsburgh, is co-sponsoring the luncheon with the Presbyterian Communicators Network, a ministry of the Communications and Funds Development office of the General Assembly Council. PMM is best-known for its “Passages” radio program.
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Martha Davis Camenisch, 84, who with her husband Robert served as a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) missionary in Brazil for 36 years, died March 29 in Stanford, KY.
She is survived by five sons, Robert C. Camenisch, Glenn D. Camenisch, Roger E. Camenisch, Steven C. Camenisch, William L. Camenisch and their spouses; a daughter Marlena Kay Webb and her husband; a brother, Burnett Davis; a sister, Carolyn Rankin; a sister-in-law, Nell Davis; 35 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.
Services were held March 31 at Stanford (KY) Presbyterian Church.
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Krister Stendahl, a visionary of inclusive Christianity and a proponent of stronger Christian-Jewish relations, died April 15 at the age of 86 in Boston.
Stendahl, who served as Harvard Divinity School’s dean from 1968 to 1979 and was its first chaplain in the 1980s before concluding his career at Brandeis University, was ordained in the (Lutheran) Church of Sweden in 1944. He went on to serve as bishop of Stockholm in the mid-1980s and led reform efforts on women's ordination and gay rights.
He was among the religious leaders who officiated at the 2003 consecration of New Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson, the first openly gay Episcopal bishop in the United States. |
