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August 18, 2009 Dear Fellow Parishioners, The Vestry, Wardens and Search Committee are VERY happy to tell you that we have a wonderful new rector for St. James'. She is Susan Crawford from the Memphis area who is currently interim rector at St. Martin's Episcopal Church in Ellisville, MO, a suburb of St. Louis. After our visit with her, the Search Committee unanimously recommended to the Vestry that they call her and the Vestry unanimously voted on August 7 to issue a call. Susan and Ralph have completed negotiations on details of her contract and the Vestry approved it Tuesday night. She will begin her duties on December 1. Susan is single, has a yorkie and is 61 years old. She has promised to be at St. James' for five years and more if her health continues to be good. Priests do not have to retire until age 72. She meets all of the good qualities we were looking for - rapport with youth, preaching, teaching, spiritual development, pastoral care and administration. She is willing to help us grow and has the maturity and experience that will work well for St. James'. She plans to visit every family in the church in her first year or two. Susan was highly recommended to us by our own Andy Andrews for whom she led a vestry retreat; Reynolds Cheney, our former rector, and his wife who is the first female canon in the diocese of West Tennessee; Joe Porter, a retired priest who grew up in Clarksdale and is the brother-in-law of Kenyon Williams; and former parishioners at St. George's in Memphis where she spent the first 12 years of her ministry. She graduated from Sewanee Seminary in 1989. Before seminary, she worked for 15 years in corporate communications. Her last position was manager of the Corporate Communications Division at First Tennessee National Corp in Memphis. Reynolds told us he had a long history with Susan that began when his church, Holy Communion, worked with Susan's and two other large Memphis Episcopal churches to promote a common ministry. He said he would hire her immediately "if he was still in the business." And now I quote Reynolds: "She is a hell of a good preacher, has a great sense of humor, has business sense, loves people, works damn hard, is a sharp and bright person, is a good listener, is perceptive regarding the real world, is ebullient (the quality of lively or enthusiastic expression of thoughts or feelings) and will always tell you the truth. I give her my highest recommendation." Joe Porter described Susan as a very good teacher, very good at pastoral care, very strong in the spiritual area helping others get into the interior of their lives. Susan hopes to find a small house with a fenced back yard where she can garden and her yorkie can play. Please call me if you know of one. I also want to thank my diligent, hard working Search Committee - Marsha Baird, Mike Boyd, Noel Harris, Warren Harper, Jane Jones, Ann Macvaugh, Harley Metcalfe, Theresa Skelton, Doug Wade and our ex officio senior warden, Ralph Owens. They are real troupers. Peace to all our Parish, Marian Alexander Search Chairman |
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