Greetings in the love of Jesus Christ.

I was called to Central Presbyterian Church in 2011 and quickly came to love both this congregation and this village. But my pathway to Geneseo has been a long one…

I was blessed to have grown up in a Christian home with parents who maintained a loving environment which nurtured the faith of my three brothers and me, yet which allowed us to ask challenging questions about that faith.  Though I grew up in the Lutheran tradition, my husband Timothy (who has a more fundamentalist background) and I quickly found common ground in the Presbyterian Church.  We have been Presbyterians for over 30 years.

Tim and I met in college at Ohio Northern University during a production of You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown – me on the stage and Tim in the pit.  We were married after we graduated from college, and (after my time in graduate school at Penn State) moved to Meadville, PA where I had accepted a position at Allegheny College.  I taught in the Departments of Chemistry and Education at Allegheny for twenty-six years.  During our time in Meadville, Tim (who is a pharmacist) and I raised our three children: Meredith, Kaelyn, and Benjamin.  Though I loved collegiate teaching, I sensed that I was being called into a different vocation – to serve God through seminary study and parish ministry. I left teaching to enter Pittsburgh Theological Seminary’s Master of Divinity program and three years later was led by the Spirit to serve God with the saints at Geneseo Central.

Ongoing theological study is very important to me; I believe that I can serve the church and – through the church – serve God only by continuing to learn and grow as a pastor-theologian. One of the ways I study is through participation each summer in an ongoing archeological excavation located at the border region between ancient Judah and Philistia in modern Israel.  However, when I am not studying, I enjoy a wide variety of activities.  My husband and I love to walk and play tennis.  We have participated in music, in dance, and in theater groups.  We are a family of avid sports fans (of baseball in particular): our hearts still are with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Penguins, and Pirates.  I especially look forward each week to the particular challenges of the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday New York Times Crossword Puzzles.