wfn.org | PAT BROWN ELECTED MODERATOR ON FIRST BALLOT

[PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org]

15-June-1997 
GA97015 
 
                  PAT BROWN ELECTED MODERATOR ON FIRST BALLOT 
 
                              by Bill Lancaster 
 
SYRACUSE--Patricia G.  (Pat) Brown, an African-American elder from 
Cincinnati, Ohio, was elected moderator of the 209th General Assembly in a 
swift, clear election on the first ballot at the Saturday evening business 
session. 
 
    The vote was Brown 287, Louis H.  Zbinden, Jr., 180, and D.  Eugene 
(Gene) Sibery 72. 
 
    After her election, she told the commissioners, "We have a covenant.  I 
said if you elect me, you will work," a reference to a comment she had made 
earlier. 
 
    She drew applause twice during the question and answer session, which 
the moderator cautioned commissioners against.  In response to a question 
about what the candidates would do in light of dissent to the passage of 
Amendment B and the authority of the Constitution, she referred to an 
Ashanti proverb which says, "When two elephants fight, it is the grass that 
suffers."  She urged the church to "Talk and understand each other." 
 
    In response to a question on abortion rights, she told the story of her 
son Ivan's who had been born with brain damage, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, 
and other problems and died at age 22.  When deciding whether to have a 
third child, it was with great fear, she said, but her daughter, Tamara, 
is verification that she carried the birth to term.  The applause came when 
she said she was pro choice and would defend a woman's right to an 
abortion. 
 
    Once, she drew a laugh from commissioners when she said, "Unless you 
want to roll up your sleeves and work, don't vote for me," in response to a 
commissioner's question on how the candidates would keep the Assembly on 
track. 
 
    Brown, 52, is currently serving as chair of the Advisory Committee on 
the News which reports to the General Assembly Council Executive Committee, 
as a member of the Synod of the Covenant nominating committee, member of 
the Presbytery Permanent Judicial Commission, and as chair of her session's 
Evangelism and Outreach Committee. 
 
    She has served as local arrangements coordinator for the 207th GA, 
commissioner to GA in 1983, member of General Assembly Council and the 
Corporate & Administrative Services Committee of Council, vice chair of the 
GAC Stewardship and Communication Committee, member of the Task Force on 
Mission Personnel Funding, vice president of the Advisory Committee for 
Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations Committee, and a member of the 
Communications Task Force. 
 
    She is married to Thomas H.  Brown and they have two children, Erik and 
Tamara.  A third child, Ivan, died in 1992 at age 22.  She has a BA degree 
in English/Journalism from Bennett College in Greensboro, NC, and a Masters 
of Social Work degree from the University of Maryland.  She is currently 
working on a Ph.D. in sociology from the Union Institute. 
 
    She is manager of her husband's Commercial Real Estate Consultant 
Development Consultant firm.  She lists as her work experience, social 
worker, program director, writer and meeting planner. 
 
    Zbinden is pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in San Antonio, 
Texas, and Sibery is an elder in the Faith Presbyterian Church in Cape 
Coral, Florida.  Brown was endorsed by the Presbytery of Cincinnati. 

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