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In Memory of Betty Addison
Betty Addison died Tuesday, September 12, 2006, after an extended illness.
She was a member of Toms River Presbyterian Church in Toms River, New Jersey. Betty will be remembered for her long and dedicated service to Presbyterian Women at all levels. Most recently she served on the Churchwide Coordinating Team of PW as PW Enabler Coordinator.
She is survived by her husband, Louis. |
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In Memory of Priscilla Alden Chaplin
Priscilla Alden Chaplin died peacefully in her home in Yucca Valley, California, on May 14, 2006. She had recently celebrated her 85th birthday on May 2.
Priscilla Chaplin was ordained in October 1957 — she was the third woman to be ordained in the Presbyterian Church and the first to be the sole pastor of a congregation. She was ordained to serve the Union Presbyterian Church of Sauquoit, New York, which she pastored for eight years. During this time the congregation doubled in size. In 1965 she became the administrative assistant to Dr. Eugene Carson Blake, Stated Clerk of the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. She also served as the Executive Director of the Southern California Council of Churches.
Personal Reflection
I am grieving Priscilla’s loss deeply — she was someone I admired and cared for deeply as a role model and as a person.
She was one for whom those years of being a pioneer for women carried extreme pain, and she carried many scars. She told me of her conversations with God in her late years, trying to wrestle with and understand some of the injustice and suffering that she endured. She continued to wrestle with thorny theological issues that didn’t quite add up for her. The last time I saw her, she was making pantsuits to wear to the Union Theological Celebration of her as one of their first women graduates; she was too unwell to go in the end. However, her dressmaking skills were as stunning as her preaching and administration!
She also continued to try to do things that matter as long as she could; more recently she wanted to give every effort to work against the war in Iraq. The institutional church failed her in many ways, and she was very alone. I will always be grateful for her place in my life as one who didn’t initially share my theological starting place, didn’t understand a lot of the choices that I made, but who supported me and appreciated my calling to Ministry of Word and Sacrament.
—Elizabeth Nordquist |
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In Memory of Sara B. Cordery
Dr. Sara B. Cordery, PW moderator 1991–1994, died June 13, 2007, following a lengthy illness.
Dr. Cordery was the first African-American woman to be elected moderator of Presbyterian Women in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). She served on the Self Development of People Committee from 1978 to 1984 and chaired the committee from 1983–1984. She was the first African-American female chairperson of SDOP. Dr. Cordery graduated from Barber-Scotia College in 1940. She was on faculty at Barber-Scotia and served as vice president for Academic Affairs and dean of School of Business and Management. She was an elder, a commissioner to General Assembly and an author. |
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In memory of May Denham |
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May Denham, 1970–1973 moderator of Presbyterian Women (or as the role and organization were then called, National President of United Presbyterian Women) died in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Saturday, February 10, 2007. She was active in the Presbyterian Church beginning with youth groups; she stayed involved in the church her entire life and took on many leadership roles. She was a member of Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Albuquerque. She served on the board of directors for Presbyterian Hospital Center and as moderator of the Presbytery of Santa Fe. She is survived by her husband, Roy; brother, David Simms and his wife Betty Lou; and sister, Margery Miller. She was 82. |
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In memory of Ann
DuBois |
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Ann DuBois died in late August
2005. She spent her life in service to others, including work
with the Gatekeeper Project in Philadelphia, which brought a
community’s natural informal helpers together with social
work support systems, and with the headquarters of the Presbyterian
Church in the 1970s through 1990s, addressing concerns of women
employed by the church. After Ann’s move to Santa Fe, New
Mexico, in 1992, she consulted with nonprofit organizations developing
new programs and strengthening their operations. She was a case
manager for homecare, personally provided care-giving services
and was the director of Community Outreach for Open Hands just
before she died. |
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In memory of Maisie Holmblade
Maisie Holmblade died on June 14, 2007. She was involved with Church Women United and a variety of mission projects at her church, Government Street Presbyterian Church in Mobile, Alabama, including serving as her church’s coordinator for Meals on Wheels. She helped establish Christmas International House, a ministry that helps international students find places to stay during Christmas break at school.
Maisie served as the Horizons representative for the Presbytery of South Alabama for many years. She attended the Montreat Women’s Conference and the Alabama/Mississippi Women’s Conference annually and every Churchwide Gathering she could. She received an Honorary Life Membership in Presbyterian Women in 1975. She served as Moderator of Presbyterian Women in South Alabama Presbytery, 1985–86. She served as Moderator of Presbyterian Women at Government Street Presbyterian Church, 1997–98. |
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In memory of Emily V. Gibbes |
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Well-known Woman
of Faith award recipient Emily V. Gibbes died March 22,
2004, in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.
Emily's life was filled with significant dates, important
assignments and interesting visits to Africa, Asia, Europe
and the United States. Her first job was as a private secretary
to Genevieve Earle, the first woman elected to the New York
City Council. After earning her Master of Arts degree in
religious education from New York University, her pastor
advised her of an opening in one of the agencies of the United
Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Emily served two years
as a secretary to the Field Director of Christian Education
in the presbyteries and another six years in leadership development.
These were years when the major ecclesiastical bodies were
facing vigorous confrontations regarding the status of women
in the life and mission of the church. The Women's Department
turned to Emily for appointment as one of the area field
directors for the Easter Area, extending from Maine to Florida.
In 1953, while still serving as field director for the Eastern
Area, Emily was invited to engage in a four-month leadership
training program with women in the churches of India and
Pakistan. In 1966, she assisted with a four-month study project
of Church Women United with three international and interracial
teams of women working and visiting with women in east, west
and South Africa. From February 1969 to December 1972, she
worked with the churches of Kenya, the Cameroon and Ethiopia
as an ecumenical fraternal worker of the United Presbyterian
Commission on Ecumenical Mission and Relations. During one
of these years, she taught a course in Christian Education
at St. Paul's Theological College in Limuru, Kenya.
Once, before speaking to a group of women in Madrid, Spain,
Emily was introduced with the words, "Emily Gibbes has
come as a "Living Letter,'" referring to Paul's
letters to the churches. Emily later said those words "echoed
in her head" and became a high mark in her work, driving
her to become a living letter to every child, young person
or adult whose life she touched.
Emily Gibbes will be remembered as someone whose ministry
strengthened women to move more confidently into the whole
life of the church, while challenging the church to move
more boldly into the life of the world.
* Excerpted from Women of Faith of the Presbyterian Church
(U.S.A.), 1986-1996, edited by Beth Basham, Curriculum
Publishing, 1997. |
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In memory of Rhoda Akiko Iyoya |
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Rhoda Akiko Iyoya, age 78,
passed away on July 17, 2005. She was active in United Presbyterian
Women, Presbyterian Women, Asian Presbyterian
Women, Church Women United and with many entities at the national
level of the Presbyterian Church. She participated in the antiracism
plenary session at the 2003 Churchwide
Gathering of Presbyterian Women. Rhoda served as the financial
secretary for Church Women United at the national level. She
is survived by her husband Nicholas. |
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In memory of Pauline Leatrice
Kornegay |
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Pauline Leatrice Kornegay,
age 78, passed away on May 31, 2004. She was a member of White
Rock Presbyterian Church in Kinston, North Carolina. Pauline
was involved with Presbyterian Women as well as an elder, deacon
and trustee of White Rock Presbyterian Church. She is survived
by Helen Kornegay Isler and Ruby Mae Kornegay. |
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In memory of Letty Mandeville Russell |
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Letty Mandeville Russell, feminist theologian, professor and author, died July 12, 2007, at her home in Guilford, Connecticut, at age 77. She was one of the first women ordained in the United Presbyterian Church and served the East Harlem Protestant Parish in New York City from 1952-68, empowering black and Hispanic people to take leadership roles in their church and community. She taught at Yale Divinity School for more than 25 years and even after retiring continued to teach some courses there as a visiting professor.
She was active in many ecumenical groups, including the World Council of Churches and the YWCA. She received a Women of Faith award from Women’s Ministries of the PC(USA) in 1999, and Union Theological Seminary named her a Unitas Distinguished Alumnae. She was recognized as a distinguished alumna with the Rabbi Martin Katzentein Award from Harvard Divinity School in 1998.
Letty graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in biblical history and philosophy in 1951 from Wellesley College, and she was among the first women to receive a bachelor of sacred theology degree from Harvard Divinity School. She earned a master’s in sacred theology degree from Union Theological Seminary in Christian education and theology, and a doctorate of theology in mission theology and ecumenics from Union.
A global advocate for women, Russell was a member of the Yale Divinity School Women's Initiative on Gender, Faith, and Responses to HIV/AIDS in Africa and was co-coordinator of the International Feminist Doctor of Ministry Program at San Francisco Theological Seminary. |
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