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GA06019
A family tradition Three generations serving as delegates at GA
by Emily Enders Odom
BIRMINGHAM, June 16 * Matthew's genealogy has nothing on the Fisher/McGormley clan.
Three generations of their expansive, Presbyterian family are serving as delegates here at the 217th General Assembly. And hosts of smiling forebears and neighboring relations are watching from the wings.
The eldest of the clan, Ruth Fisher, is an elder commissioner from Redstone Presbytery. She is joined in Birmingham by her oldest daughter, Ellen F. McGormley, and her granddaughter, Megan McGormley, who are respectively a minister commissioner and youth advisory delegate from Maumee Valley Presbytery.
Fisher, who is both the widow and daughter-in-law of Presbyterian pastors, raised five children in Oxford, PA. Anne Fisher, her youngest, is also an ordained Presbyterian pastor, specializing in interim ministry in the Presbytery of Chicago. Anne, like her sister Ellen, is married to a Presbyterian minister.
"At my sister Anne's wedding, I was so far down the list of ministers that I gave the prayer at the rehearsal dinner," the elder McGormley said. "My brother-in-law's father was a Presbyterian minister, and my husband's brother is also a minister."
Fisher has attended previous assemblies as an observer. But she admitted it is a challenge mastering her laptop at this first less-paper Assembly, and is grateful that she and her daughter Ellen were both assigned to the same assembly committee (Mission Coordination and Budgets).
"It's a great support for me to have Ellen here," said Fisher, "It has made it easier."
The younger McGormley concurred. "I sit with my mom in the plenary, which is great when you have questions about everything that's going on," she said. "It's nice to have someone you know very well and trust."
Megan McGormley, a graduate student at the University of Denver, recently completed her coursework toward a master's degree in international administration. Two years in the Peace Corps will complete her requirements for the program.
"Coming to the General Assembly is one of the best things I could have done before heading for the Peace Corps," Megan McGormley said. "I can just imagine that being in the Peace Corps is going to test my faith more than anything. I think it's really great to reinforce my beliefs where I go."
As her mother and grandmother looked on, a proud Fisher observed, "Megan is right with me in the faith."
And all the generations were glad.
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