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Note #8469 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:


04387

Notes about people

by Jerry L. Van Marter

        Nellie Gray Stimson - a pastor's spouse, Christian educator and mother of Presbyterians Today editor Eva Stimson - died Aug. 27 in a Statesville, NC, hospital of pneumonia. She was 77.

        A Statesville native, Stimson graduated from Mitchell Community College and Flora McDonald College. A specialist in early childhood education, she taught Bible in public schools and Christian education in churches throughout her life. A lifelong member of Concord Presbyterian Church in Statesville, she married the Rev. Jamie D. Stimson in 1950.

        In addition to Jamie and Eva, Nellie Gray is survived by a daughter, Anne, of Durham, NC; two sons, David of Richmond, VA, and Timothy of Pittsburgh; a brother, David Sides, of Stony Point, NC; and five grandchildren.

        A funeral was held at the Concord church on Aug. 30.

                                # # #

        Merrie Bass, a Presbyterian elder with extensive professional experience in the church, has been named director of program development and marketing for the Montreat Conference Center.

        Bass' experience with Montreat began in the early 1980s when she served the conference center in the areas of promotion and marketing.  She also has served in lay education and officer training in Savannah Presbytery and as director of communications for St. Andrews Presbyterian College in Laurinburg, NC.

        Denominationally, she is southeast representative for Presbyterians for Restoring Creation and has served on the planning team for the National Presbytery Leadership Training Event held annually on St. Simons Island, GA.

                                 #  #  #

        David E. Anderson, 63, who is departing next month as editor of Religion News Service after three decades of religion reporting, will be honored with the William A. Reed Lifetime Achievement Award from the Religion Newswriters Association at its annual convention, Sept. 9-12 in Washington.

        With his encyclopedic knowledge of religion and keen sense of the news,
Anderson is widely recognized as a pioneer who helped set the standard for
reporting on a subject that touches nearly every aspect of the news. He is moving with his family to Plentywood, MT, where he will continue with RNS as a senior editor and as a consultant to the PBS television show, "Religion and Ethics NewsWeekly."

        Anderson started out as a copy boy at his hometown Minneapolis Star and
Tribune before arriving in Washington in 1965. He joined United Press International in 1967 and was its lead religion writer from 1974-1991. Anderson joined RNS as its Washington correspondent in 1992 and was promoted to editor in 1997.

                                    # # #

        The Rev. Shirley C. Guthrie, long-time professor at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, GA, has been diagnosed with incurable lung and liver cancer.

                                     # # #

        J. Irwin Miller of Columbus, IN, a prominent industrialist, philanthropist, biblical scholar and first lay president of the National Council of Churches, died Aug. 16 at his home. He was 95.

        Under Miller's leadership, in 1963, the NCC founded the Commission on Religion and Race, which coordinated organized religion's support for strong civil rights legislation, and jointly sponsored the March on Washington. He was instrumental in development of federal legislation that became the Civil Rights Act of 1964. He served his own denomination and the NCC in a variety of capacities.

         A memorial service was held at North Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Columbus on Aug. 21.

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