Nancy and I first m
et in college. We were married two weeks after we graduated from Messiah college. Nancy has been, and continues to be a fantastic wife, mother and life partner.
She has is an elementary education teacher and has taught in first grade, kindergarten and Pre-K classrooms. She has used her leadership skills to serve as the director of two daycare centers, on in NY the other in MA. Her love for children and commitment to education led her to focus on how conflict within the classroom kept children from reaching their full potential. She designed and implemented a conflict resolution plan for her classroom that taught the children to handle conflict in a way that helped them grow and enabled her to focus on education rather than resolving everyday personality conflicts.
Nancy has a very deep and growing spirituality about her. She is continually growing and seeks to be faithful to God’s leading in all areas of her life. Nancy is a good adult spiritual formation facilitator and has spent the last six years working with our adult Sunday School class to teach, organize and help set direction. It has been fun watching her grow as she stepped into a more formal teaching role and shared what God had taught her over the years (number left out to protect myself).
One of the greatest gifts Nancy has given congregations we have been a part of is an increased focus on some of the women of the Bible. As she has studied and grown God has often led her to ask what it would have been like to walk in the shoes of some of the women whose stories we read about in the Bible. Her meditations have led to some deep, meaningful and challenging times of reflection, especially around the Advent season when we think about Mary, the mother of Jesus. She has led Advent reflection groups for multiple years and enjoys helping women explore what they can learn from the life of Mary as they seek to grow in their own spiritual walk.
To read her poem If Mary was Unavailable Would God Have Chosen Me?
