Alumni/ae News

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1920s | 1930s | 1940s | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s

1920s

1930s

Richard Thomas, '38, has moved to Ohio to be close to family. He continues to be active in his new community and new church, Fair Park Baptist Church in Marion. (6/03)

1940s

Allan R. Knight, '46, recently completed a term of volunteer service as a Staff Associate Minister with the American Baptist Churches of Wisconsin, where he counseled with pastors and preached upon request. (10/02)

1950s

Karl Karpa, '55 and '64, a retired American Baptist missionary to Japan, is now a volunteer chaplain with the Space Coast Seafarers Ministry in Cape Canaveral, Florida. This ministry is an outreach to the crew members of cruise and cargo ships that call at Port Canaveral. (10/02)

1960s

On June 1, 2002, George Boltniew, '61, received an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Moscow Theological Seminary. Since its opening in 1993, George has served the seminary as a trustee and teaches a course there annually. (6/03)

On September 29, 2002, Dorcas Diaz-Shaner, '61, was installed as pastor of North Hunterdon Baptist Church in Glen Gardner, New Jersey. Four fellow alums participated in the installation service: husband, Donald, '61, Frank Reeder, '81, President of American Baptist Churches of New Jersey (ABCNJ), and ABCNJ Area Ministers Dawn Mays, '81, and Kenneth Fey, '81. (6/03) While Interim Pastor there, Dorcas was honored with the ABC Ministers' Council 2001 Ralph Garfield Schell Presidential Award. (10/02)

Howard Taylor, '67, is serving as Interim Executive Minister for the American Baptist Churches of New Jersey. (10/02)

1970s

In August, 2001, C. David Salico, '70 and '84, became pastor of the Federated Church of West Winfield, New York. (10/02)

In March 2002, Richard Kauffman, '71, joined the editorial staff of The Christian Century magazine. Previously he served as pastor of the Toledo (Ohio) Mennonite Church. (10/02)

Stan Murray, '79, is serving as Area Director for Southeast Asia and China for International Ministries, American Baptist Churches, after spending nearly 22 years with his wife as ABC missionaries in Japan. Stan is currently responsible for China and Hong Kong, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Bangladesh. (10/02)

1980s

Ken Fey, '81, began serving as area minister for American Baptist Churches of New Jersey on October 1, 2001, joining classmate Dawn Mays, '81, who also serves as an area minister for ABCNJ. (10/02)

Jonathan Reed, '81, recently co-authored Excavating Jesus: Beneath the Stones, Behind the Texts (Harper San Francisco, 2001). Jon is professor of the New Testament and Christian Origins at the University of La Verne in California. (10/02)

Reinventing Sunday: Breakthrough Ideas for Transforming Worship (Judson, 2000), by Brad Berglund, '83, recently went into its second printing. Brad also brings his expertise in worship renewal and pastoral spiritual formation to the American Baptist Churches' Partners in Discipleship Ministries. (10/02)

Witherspoon Press recently published Children Among Us: Foundations in Children's Ministries, edited by Cassandra Carkuff Williams, '84. In addition, her article, "Liberating the Enlightenment: How a Transformed Understanding of Animals Can Help Us Transcend Modernity," appeared in the Winter 2003 issue of Religious Education. Cassandra also serves on the editorial board of Bible Quest publishers. (6/03)

Sarah "Nancy" Beaman, '85, recently published a children's novel, Dragon Mountain (1stBooks Library). Based on the Aberfan, Wales landslide disaster of 1966, the story follows the adventures of four children who escape the landslide by fleeing into an abandoned mine. A United Methodist pastor for ten years following graduation, Nancy is now retired. (10/02)

Rev. Dr. Emilio Marrero '85 was promoted to the Navy rank of Captain on August 1, 2005. He currently serves as the Assistant Chief of Staff on Religious Affairs for the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing in Okinawa, Japan where he advises the Commanding General on religious, moral and ethical issues impacting 27 operational Marine Corps commands over the Western Pacific. In 2004 he was awarded the Bronze Star for his services in Iraq while overseeing the protection of the ancient ruins of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar's Palace and two adjoining villages. He holds a D.Min from Claremont School of Theology in Religious Education. He has been married to the former Wanda Villafana for 23 years. Tabitha (22) graduated from the University of Arizona in Classical History and their son Emilio (20) is a student at Mira Costa College in California.

Anna Steward, '89, retired as pastor of Haven Peniel United Methodist Church in Philadelphia in June 2002. Anna became a pastor after 32 years as an educator in the school district of Philadelphia. In addition to providing leadership in her congregation, she served her United Methodist district and conference in a number of areas, including United Methodist Women, the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference School of Christian Missions, United Methodist Neighborhood Services and the Board of Ordained Ministry. (6/03)

1990s

Adalia Gutierrez-Lee, '92, and Ray Schellinger, '93, are serving as American Baptist missionaries to Tijuana, Mexico. Currently they are working with a program for battered women, a new urban ministry project of the Mexican Baptist Convention. (10/02)

Gail Baird, '94, was installed as pastor of the First Baptist Church in Boonville, New York on March 17, 2002. (6/03)

Ann Marie Gore, '96, is the pastor of the Sherwood Christian Outreach Center in Philadelphia, a church she founded on the site of a now-closed Presbyterian church in her neighborhood. Among the ministries of the church are a day care center and a weekly soup kitchen. Ann Marie and Sherwood were featured in a Philadelphia Inquirer story in April. (10/02)

After serving for a year as associate pastors at College Place First Presbyterian Church in Walla Walla, Washington, Desiree, '96, and Osias Segura-April returned to Kentucky so that they can both complete Ph.D. work at Asbury Theological Seminary. Ultimately, they hope to teach at the college or seminary level in Costa Rica, where they have been involved in numerous short-term, cross-cultural missions trips. (6/03)

Peter Livingston Manarin was born November 16, 2001 to Trisha Miller Manarin, '97, and her husband Tim. Trisha and Tim reside in Indiana, where Trisha is serving in a United Methodist church as Minister of Education and Family Life. (10/02)

David Brown, '98, has launched a new advertising agency that will focus on multicultural consumers, called BrownPartners. BrownPartners is also the first minority-owned and focused, full service ad agency launched in Philadelphia in over a decade. (6/03)

Wayne Croft, '98, is a 2002-2003 recipient of the Fund for Theological Education Expanding Horizons Doctoral Fellowship. One of seven recipients this year, Wayne is pursuing a degree in Liturgical Studies at Drew University. (10/02)

2000's

In August, 2001, G. Elaine, D.D. '98, and Wallace C. Smith, '74 and '79, were recognized for their dual career accomplishments in Ebony magazine. Elaine is an attorney with the employee and labor branch of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and serves as the first African American female president of the American Baptist Churches, USA board. Wallace is pastor of the Shiloh Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. and serves on Palmer Theological Seminary's Board of Directors. He also teaches in the Seminary's West Virginia Extension program. (10/02)

The ministry of Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church in Philadelphia, pastored by Alyn E. Waller, '98, continues to expand, as noted in a Philadelphia Daily News feature. The church has recently undertaken an ambitious project to develop a 34 acre lot in the Mt. Airy section of the city into a 3,000+ seat sanctuary to accommodate a rapidly growing congregation. The remaining 19 acres will be leased by Church officials to First Tee, a service of the World Golf Organization that teaches golf to inner-city youth. (10/02)

In May 2002, Guy Williams, Sr., '98, completed a Doctor of Ministry at the Howard University School of Divinity. Guy is senior pastor of Parker Memorial Baptist Church in Burtonsville, Maryland. (6/03)

2000s Iwao, '00 and Michiko, '00 Kochihira are heading to Nepal as the first missionaries commissioned by the Okinawa Baptist Churches. After graduating from the Seminary, Iwao and Michiko returned to their church, Ishimine Baptist Church, where Iwao served as assistant pastor and where he was ordained on March 17, 2002. Iwao and Michiko have two young sons, Makito and Kento. (10/02)

Rev. Suzanne (Spragg) Uittenbogaard (1986) and Rev. Diane A. Burkland (2002) served as co-interim pastors of Oxford Presbyterian Church, Oxford, PA from June 2004 to January 1, 2006