Source: Site page, //Who We Are/aph-intro-essay-6-26.html (GUID page-3192618). Text in the summary is truncated; the essay continues beyond what is recorded here.

Biography

• Born in Clovis, NM (Cannon Air Force Base); raised in Archer City and Odessa, TX. Father was an airplane mechanic deployed to Vietnam, later an oil rig mechanic.
• Played in orchestra and band in Odessa; attended Angelo State University for a year.
• BSN from Midwestern State University (Wichita Falls).
• Married David, a cardiologist who co-founded a private practice in Lewisville, TX; sons Sam and Ben.
• Career: OR registered nurse at Parkland Hospital, later at an ophthalmic surgery practice; mostly a stay-at-home mom while the children were young.

Faith and call

• Raised Southern Baptist; baptized as a teen at First Baptist Church, Archer City. Felt called to serve but knew she could not in that system, given debates over women in leadership. Saw nursing as a way to live out the call.
• David introduced her to the Episcopal Church; she found her spiritual home, volunteering at Annunciation Episcopal Church, Lewisville, TX. Priests there recognized her call to ordained ministry.

Ordination path

• Entered the process in the Diocese of Dallas; graduated cum laude from SMU Perkins School of Theology.
• Describes being the seventh woman in those years denied ordination in Dallas without material cause.
• Welcomed into the diocese formerly known as Fort Worth under Bishop Ted Gulick; Bishop Wallis Ohl continued to encourage her and appointed a Commission on Ministry in the continuing diocese.

Related

• Other candidate essays: page-3192620 (Betsy Randall), page-3192621 (Christopher B. Thomas)
• Context: diocese-northwest-texas