wfn.org | Notes about People

[PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org]

12-March-1997 
97121 
 
                        Notes about People 
 
                      by Jerry L. Van Marter 
 
     The National Ministries Division in Louisville has announced the 
appointment of the Rev.  Barbara Elaine Dua as associate director for 
women's ministries.  She begins work April 7. 
     Dua has served as pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in 
Wooster, Ohio, and as campus minister at the College of Wooster.  She is 
currently associate pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Greensboro, N.C. 
 
                              # # # 
 
     James D. Nesbitt, 75, known to generations of Presbyterians as "Mr. 
Churchman," died March 11 in Carlsbad, Calif., after a long, painful 
illness. 
     Nesbitt left the oil business in 1954 to work for the Presbyterian 
Church, beginning as director of men's work and interpretation and 
stewardship for the then Synod of Southern California in the United 
Presbyterian Church in the United States of America.  He subsequently moved 
to New York, where he served on national staff in a number of positions. 
     Nesbitt was best known for his work on major fund-raising campaigns in 
the Presbyterian Church spanning three decades: the $50 Million Fund in the 
1960s, the Major Mission Fund in the 1970s and The Bicentennial Fund in the 
1980s.  He retired from the position of  special consultant for major and 
special gifts to The Bicentennial Fund in 1990. 
 
                              # # # 
 
     Martha Harp, wife of Homestead Presbytery executive the Rev. Roger 
Harp, died March 10 in Lincoln, Neb., after a brief illness.  She recently 
had been diagnosed with cancer of the liver and pancreas.  Memorial 
services were scheduled for March 13 at First Presbyterian Church in 
Lincoln and March 15 at Yale Avenue Presbyterian Church in Tulsa, Okla. 
 
                              # # # 
 
     The Rev. Mary Margaret Thiel, Women's Ministries associate for the 
Synods of The Trinity and the Covenant, died suddenly of a massive heart 
attack at her home in Punxsutawney, Pa., March 9. In addition to her work 
with Presbyterian Women, Thiel has pastored several churches.  She is 
survived by two daughters, Elizabeth and Katherine.  Funeral services were 
tentatively scheduled for March 15 in Punxsutawney, Pa., as this issue of 
"NEWS BRIEFS" went to press. 
 
                              # # # 
 
     Gladys Strachan, who has served the Presbyterian Church in a variety 
of positions for 36 years, has announced her retirement as coordinator for 
Presbyterian Women as of Aug. 1, 1997. 
     Stachan has been a missionary to Kenya and has served in inner-city 
and new church development  ministry.  She has been with Presbyterian Women 
since 1970. 
 
                              # # # 
 
     The Rev. Shin-Hwa Park, Women's Ministries associate for the Synods of 
the Pacific and Southern California and Hawaii, has resigned, effective 
March 1, 1997.  She has held the position since April 1993. 
 
                              # # # 
 
     The Rev. Mac Charles Jones, 47, an internationally known 
African-American minister and one of the National Council of Churches 
(NCC)'s two deputy general secretaries, died suddenly March 6 of an 
embolism (blood clot) in Irving, Texas.   
     Jones, an ordained minister in the National Baptist Convention, served 
concurrently as the NCC's associate for racial justice and as pastor of St. 
Stephen Baptist Church in Kansas City, Mo.  Jones was elected NCC deputy 
general secretary for national ministries last November and had taken up 
that new position just three days before his death.  He also played a 
leading role in the NCC's response to the arson attacks on predominantly 
black churches as director of the NCC's Burned Churches Fund. 

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