Nowadays: Alumni/ae News Extended online version
Jennifer Amy-Dressler (M.Div., 1988) is
Associate Pastor of Saron United Church of Christ in Linton,
Indiana. Her husband,
Dale Dressler, who took ESR classes 1986-1987, received his M.Div.
from Chicago Theological Seminary in 1994. Dale now serves as
director of the Merom Conference Center (www.merom.org), a camp
and conference center of the United Church of Christ. Jennifer,
Dale, Noah (10), and Grace (7) live in Merom, Indiana, and welcome
visitors, especially old friends from ESR. “We have lots of bed
space if you’re passing through.”
Peter Anderson (M.Div., 2000) has become
editor and publisher of the journal, Pilgrimage, a publication
of story, place, spirit
and witness. He also serves as adjunct faculty for ESR’s Ministry
of Writing emphasis.
Josh Brown (M.Min., 1984) writes, “I’m in my 10th year of service
as pastoral minister at West Richmond Friends. During that time,
I’ve supervised seven ESR students doing their field education
in our meeting. Over the years, dozens of West Richmond’s members
and attenders have been from ESR; today I count 11 current or
retired staff and faculty, 13 alumni, and seven current students.
Our meeting has an award-winning web site at: www.infocom.com/~jjbrown/welcome.htm,
which gets about a thousand visitors a year. We host several
interesting organizations in our meetinghouse -- the Midwest
field office of the American Friends Service Committee and Friends
World Committee for Consultation, plus On Earth Peace, a Brethren
organization which works to build up peacework in local congregations.
I’ve got two books out right now -- What Does An Angel Look Like?
Six Meditations on Christmas, put out by Good Read Press, and
A Good Idea of Hell: Letters from a Chasseur a Pied, published
by Texas A&M University Press. The latter is a collection
of letters from the trenches in WWI -- strange writing for a
Quaker pastor, but the letters have a very strong anti-war theme.”
Marie Cavanagh (M.Div. 2000) writes “Greetings
from the Central Coast of California! I am still a chaplain
at Dominican Santa
Cruz Hospital and am very pleased to report to all of you that
as of yesterday [June 13, 2003], I am now a Board Certified Chaplain
with the Association of Professional Chaplains! I want to thank
everyone of you who, through your faith and sense of Spirit,
touched my life and guided me through my years at ESR. You believed
in me! --and I cannot thank you enough. You all hold a dear place
on my journey and in my heart. Santa Cruz continues to embody
everything I want in a home: the beach, the surf, the gorgeous
climate and the people all resonate with me. Being a chaplain
in California is a very rich experience and continues to bring
a lot of nice surprises. I am filled with gratitude.”
In November 2002, Juliet (Julie) Dodds (M.Div. 2000) passed her qualifying exams and became a Ph.D. candidate at Garrett
Evangelical Theological Seminary. She recently taught an intensive
course at Garrett on the New Testament, and a course on the Gospels
at Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in Evanston, IL. She
is also working on her dissertation, with the help of a Heckman
Research Grant.
After four-and-a-half years organizing conferences and weeklong
courses at Pendle Hill, Shirley Dodson (M.Div., 1981) has become
Director of Marketing. Pendle Hill is an exciting place to work,
and this is a challenging job. Your prayers are most welcome!
I continue to live in Swarthmore, PA, on the same block where
I grew up, with my husband, Rich Ailes, and 10-year-old daughter,
Katie Ailes.
Chris Ebbers (M.Div. 1991) is just finishing
his sixth year of serving the United Methodist Churches in
both Harris and Lake
Park, Iowa. Chris reports that, “we’re the church that will ‘baptize,
marry and bury anybody,’ a reputation I cherish! My heart just
sings when talking with youth and adults who finally connect ‘heart,
mind and soul’ with God’s love and grace. My ESR training continues
to sustain me, and I confess that my ‘moments of silence’ tend
to be significantly longer than most United Methodists are used
to!” Chris’ wife, DeLyte, is teaching full time at an alternative
high school in Spirit Lake and enjoying the challenges of working
with that “at-risk” group of students. Daughter Ariel, now 24,
is band director at a high school just an hour from DeLyte and
Chris. Son Jaron, 19, is a sophomore at Luther College (“we’re
very ecumenical,” quips Chris) studying vocal music education.
The
semester after graduation, Ingrid Fabianson (M.Div. 2002) taught
ESR’s first course on “Spirituality and Addictions.” After
that, she reports, “I worked in Alaska December and January,
and am now using this time to sort and clean. I am particularly
interested in gifting the Swedish Collection at the University
of Washington with my father’s papers. In April I went to Ireland,
England, and France. I was on pilgrimage in Ireland and found
the country sweet with spirit and good will. In York, England,
I visited the Quaker Psychiatric Centre called ‘The Retreat’ and
marveled at the openness and wisdom of the treatment plans.
I then went to the QUIP conference (Quakers United in Publishing)
at Woodbrooke in Birmingham and met a wonderful group of people.
My week in France was spent in Burgundy and Paris with old
friends.
Now [June 2003] I am home and about to go to Sitka, Alaska,
for the Island Institute conference, its twentieth and my fifth.
We study love of the earth and writing, and how to bring the
two together. This year should be especially poignant as the
government has opened up the Tongass Rain Forest to logging
roads.”
Sabrina Falls (M.Div. 1995) writes from
Indianapolis, “As a
certified Music Practitioner (www.SabrinaFalls.com), I’ve been
ministering by playing live harp music at the bedside of patients
on the renal/oncology unit at Community Hospital East and the
in-patient hospice unit of Methodist Hospital. Hospital foundations
are the sources of funding for this ministry. I hope to obtain
funding to expand the ministry to reach newborns in intensive
care at Methodist. Besides the hospital ministry, I play my harp
for gatherings such as weddings, retreats, funerals, and special
programs for retirement communities. My CD, “Healing River,” continues
to sell steadily. My son is teaching me how to play the guitar,
too! In addition, I continue to receive occasional invitations
to preach when pastors are away from their congregations.”
Margaret Fraser (M.Div. 1997), who joined Friends in Britain,
is now Executive Secretary of Friends World Committee for Consultation
Section of the Americas. She was a sojourning member of Indiana
Yearly Meeting while at ESR, and is now a member of Philadelphia
Yearly Meeting. After ESR, she served as Dean of Pendle Hill
(Wallingford, Pennsylvania) for seven years.
John (M.Div.1990), Manuela, Maya and Milo
Guffey have recently moved to Estes Park, Colorado, gateway
to Rocky Mountain National
Park. John writes, “Manuela
is heading up our new role as house parents at Eagle Rock School
(ERS), where I am employed as a service-learning instructional
specialist. Maya is our energetic and thoughtful daughter who
turned nine in August. Milo is a rambunctious five year old who
already knows the ten acre campus like his own backyard. ERS
is an independent residential alternative high school with a
diverse population of 100 students from all over the country.
In its quest for a more transformational education, Eagle Rock
has developed some wonderful qualities that are reminiscent of
Earlham College
and ESR.”
Kenneth E. Hall (M.Div. 1978) now resides
in Fort Worth, Texas, where he serves as the Trinity-Brazos
Area Minister for the Christian
Church (Disciples of Christ) in the Southwest. The Trinity-Brazos
Area comprises 54 congregations in 19 counties, with an average
Sunday morning worship attendance ranging from 25 to 1,200. Kenneth
comments, “This keeps me very busy being a pastor to pastors
and helping to resource congregations for their ministries. I
love the work I do. My spouse, Hyacinth, is vice principal of
an elementary school. I do not get back to Indiana much but look
forward to an opportunity to visit ESR again and get reacquainted
with friends.”
Robert Hayes-Bennett (M.Div. 1981), D.Min.,
LMHC, and his wife Ginny live in Indianpolis. Robert worked
for eleven years at
Buchanan Counseling Center/Clarian Health. On April 1, 2003,
he left Buchanan to develop Root & Wings Counseling to work
with individuals, couples, families, faith groups, and the community.
Robert can be reached at 317.502.4411 or rhayesbennett@hotmail.com
Phyllis Chamberlin Hutson (M.Div., 1982)
received the 2003 Distinguished Alumna Award from Hood College,
in Frederick, Maryland. The award
is in recognition of Phyllis’ work enriching the lives of people
challenged by dyslexia. In her more than twenty years of experience,
Phyllis’ accomplishments include founding the Language Skills
Academy in Richmond, Indiana, numerous professional certifications,
and a term as President of the International Dyslexia Association.
In 2002, a new private day school for dyslexic children in Indianapolis
was named for Phyllis. She now lives in Frankfort, Michigan.
Holly Inglis (M.Min. 1983) has been with
Arvada Presbyterian Church (APC) for six years. Husband, Mark
Inglis (M.Min. 1983)
writes, “Holly has a strong vision of in-depth spiritual development
and growth for both adults and children. She invests long hours
at APC, but we put in many more working for our three kids: Peter,
19, working towards self-sufficiency and trying to decide what
to do about girl- (and guy-) friends and further education; Seth,
almost 16, continuing his lifelong acting career, and Leah, 14,
playing her heart out between boys and the Colorado Olympic Development
Soccer Team. Holly and I celebrated our 25th anniversary
this summer. I am a ‘techie,’ teacher and administrator at the
Center for Discovery Learning, an alternative methodology, experiential charter
school. After four years, I still enjoy working in the crazy,
dynamic, mixed up world of public education. Between school and
kids, I squeeze in a little remodeling (at home & for others),
a little computer consulting, and a little soccer refereeing.
All of us pray for sanity to strike our national leaders and
God’s mercy on us all. Any friends (old or new!) looking
for a jumping off place for a visit to the Colorado Rockies are
invited to look us up: 303-432-2251 or markaiy@yahoo.com.”
Katherine Jaramillo, M.Div. 2003, spent the summer immediatately
after graduation living and working in Bloomington, Indiana,
where she served as the Interim Chaplain/Director of Pastoral
Services at Bloomington Hospital and Healthcare System. She is
searching for a permanent hospice or hospital chaplain position
and hopes that by the next issue of ESR Reports she will be able
to tell you where.
Trish Roberts (M.Div. 2000) has settled
in Australia’s national
capital, Canberra. Trish works from home as a spiritual director,
and is on the local planning committee of a spiritual direction
network. After graduating and returning to Australia, Trish completed
several units of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) and is now
in training as a CPE supervisor. Trish continues to be active
in Canberra Regional Meeting and Australia Yearly Meeting. She
recently learned that Scott Fisher, also an ESR alum (MA, 1999),
has been based in New South Wales, at the University of New England,
Trish’s alma mater. Trish and Scott have been in email contact
and caught up on all the news.
Peter Sebert (M.Div. 1973) is a storyteller
and minister in Southern Indiana’s Brown County. Ordained in the Christian Church,
Pete reports “I have great stories of biker weddings, simple
vows near a covered bridge or in the country church, and ceremonies
at the country club.” In addition to officiating at weddings,
Pete recently started offering walking tours “as a character
called Jacob Brown, an ambassador from another time. I tell tourists
about history but also a place called Brown Country, located
on the edge of the village forest, in the Hoosier state of mind,
near the heart of the universe.” Tours are offered every weekend
and for by arrangement.
Send your alumni news to Marty Sulek, Director of Development,
228 College Avenue, Richmond, IN 47374. Email: sulekma@earlham.edu. Phone: (800) 432-1377.
Notes may be edited for clarity, consistency and length. Submissions
for the spring 2004 issue should be received by December 1.
8/1/03
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