Yale Divinity School

Notes from 2008

Lloyd Buzzell ’75 M.A.R. never left New Haven, but he’s moved through three careers: university administrator (mostly in financial aid and mostly at Yale), a counselor to people in financial distress, and more recently as a teacher of inmates at a maximum security facility. Married 36 years, his wife is a professor at Southern Connecticut State University, and their son just received a masters in Jewish studies from Budapest's Central European University.

Marc Harshman’s ’75 M.A.R. eleventh children’s book, Only One Neighborhood (co-authored & illustrated by Barbara Garrison, Dutton Juvenile, 2007), was published this past year by Penguin/Dutton. This newest title is being hailed as the “rich companion to [his] classic Only One (Dutton Juvenile, 1993).” Other recent children’s titles include Roads (Cavendish, 2002) and Red are the Apples (Harcourt, 2001), the latter co-written with his wife, Cheryl Ryan. Finishing Line published his third chapbook of poems, Local Journeys, in 2004.

Richard O. Johnson ’75 M.Div. is now the editor of Forum Letter, a whimsical and sprightly rag published by the American Lutheran Publicity Bureau. It often gets him into trouble. His wife, Lois (we just celebrated thirty years), is a wonderfully creative kindergarten teacher. Son Luke, a journalist, just finished a one-year contract with the China Daily in Beijing, while daughter Johanna is in her third year at YDS.

John F. Lacaria ’75 M.A.R. had a great lunch with other YDS graduates and friends in Fort Worth this April at the General Conference session of The United Methodist Church. He led a group of 18 persons to Masaya, Nicaragua in January where they were able to connect with Project Chacocente, a resettlement project for former residents of the landfill of Managua. The group was able to help bring the residents of Chacocente a step closer to their goals of land ownership, education, and self sufficiency. Project Chacocente was birthed during a previous Mission of Peace to Nicaragua with high-school age youths from across the Northeastern Jurisdiction of the UMC. For more information on this remarkable project, search online for "Project Chacocente."

Deborah Mathieu ’75 M.A.R. retired from the Political Science Department of the University of Arizona (where she taught political theory and constitutional law) in order to pursue her first love: writing fiction. She lives in Tucson, AZ, with her husband and two canine companions.

Charles Scalise ’75 M.Div. and his family celebrated two significant milestones: the marriage of older son, David, and the college graduation of younger son, Daniel. They not only rejoice with them, but marvel at how swiftly the years have passed!

Stephen J. Sidorak Jr. ’75 M.Div, ’76 S.T.M. of the Rocky Mountain Conference, is General Secretary of the General Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns of the United Methodist Church. He was previously the Executive Director of the Christian Conference of Connecticut, the state council of churches.

Daniel Solberg ’75 M.Div. is pastor at St. Paulus Lutheran Church in San Francisco. He and wife Barbara are about to move into San Francisco after living for some fifteen years in the East Bay. Between them they have five children and three grandchildren.

Alacia Stubbs ’75 M.Div bids, “Greetings fellow class-members!” Alacia went to Divinity School seeking her vocation and she definitely found it! She has been a practicing visual artist ever since graduating YDS (Primarily a landscape painter in oils, but she make some clay sculpture). After living most of her life in NYC, Alacia moved to Charlottesville, VA late in 2006, thinking that she wanted to spend the rest of her life immersed in nature. But, Alacia finds that she misses NYC too much, and is hoping to move back. “The stay in C'ville hasn't been all disappointing - my large-scale sculpture, "Little Plant Dancing," was selected by the City of Charlottesville to be erected in a public park.” Life as an artist has sometimes been financially difficult and emotionally challenging, but Alacia loves the practice of art and finds it as intellectually fascinating now as when she first began.

John Thomas ’75 M.Div. writes, “Just when you think you’ve got being General Minister and President figured out, along comes Fox News, Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama, Trinity Church and presidential politics to make life interesting.” Maneuvering the minefields this winter and spring became something of a full time job, and John hopes he’s come out the other side with integrity intact. Meanwhile, this all occurred while his younger son’s National Guard unit was being mobilized for service in Afghanistan. He arrived there in February and will come home in December. For parents come of age in the anti-war fervor of the Vietnam era, this takes some getting used to. John is grateful to YDS classmate Admiral J. David Stinson ’75 M.Div. and many other UCC chaplains who have offered helpful counsel, encouragement, and prayer.

Notes from 2007

John R. Corbiere ’75 M.Div. is the interim rector at St. John's Episcopal Church in Naples, FL.

Since her year at YDS, Susan Davies ’75 Div.  has been taking Experiential Education course for people in full-time parish ministry, been ordained by the United Church of Christ, done a D.Min. with New York Theological Seminary, served congregations in Ridgefield, CT and Hancock, ME, completed an Ed.D. at Union Theological Seminary and Columbia University in Religion and Education, and been on the faculty at Bangor Theological Seminary. She currently teaches in the Pastoral Studies department at Bangor, which has recently led her to teach Feminist Theology and Ministry, The Pastor as Ecumenical and Interfaith Theologian, Reflective Practice, a sociology course focused on gender, race, and class, Ministry with People who are Dying or Bereaved, and soon a course entitled Justice in the Heart of God.  She is currently serving her last year on the Board of Commissioners for Accreditation of the Association of Theological Schools, her last few months as Co-Chair of the Faith and Order Commission of the National Council of Churches, and is in her third of nine years as a member of the Executive Committee of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches.  She calls it all “aging-up in the ecclesial systems.”

Sim Gardner ’75 M.Div. recently become Director of Pastoral Care at Lawrence Hospital Center in Bronxville, NY so his wife Susan Andrews HDS ’74 could accept a call to become Executive Presbyter of Hudson River, after she served a church in Bethesda for 17 years and also took a turn as Moderator of the PC(USA) in 2003.  They have two grown children, a Washington environmental lawyer and a St Louis inner city high school teacher, both in their mid-twenties.  They look forward to this last “tour of duty” in NYC and Hudson River Valley, discerning how to live the later midyears of ministry with a sustainable pace, refreshed passion, and renewed wonder.

Marc Harshman ’75 M.A.R., having taught grade school for many years, has left teaching to concentrate on his writing of children’s books and poetry.  He is the author of ten children’s books including THE STORM, a Smithsonian Notable Book for Children, Parent’s Choice Award winner, and Junior Library Guild selection. He lives in Wheeling, West Virginia with his wife, Cheryl Ryan, and their seventeen-year-old daughter, Sarah Jayne. They are active in the life of St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church.

Meg Herbert ’75 M.A.R. was recently appointed to the Associate Secretary Ministry of the NSW Synod of the Uniting Church in Australia. Herbert will leave the Centre for Ministry in August after more than 13 years as the Dean of Candidates. During her time as Dean, Meg provided guidance and administrative support to the Synod Selection Panel, administered the Candidate Education Assistance Grant and was the Executive Officer of the Commission for Specified Ministries among other duties.  She will be remembered for her generous pastoral support, her understanding of the candidates’ issues during formation and that “she is a lot of fun to be around.” In her new role, Herbert will be responsible for the over-all placements process and all the committees involved in the prevention of abuse by ministers. She will also be a representative on the National Council of Churches “Safe Church Project”. She came to Australia in 1975 with her Australian born husband, Rev. Harry Herbert ’75 S.T.M. (now Executive Director of UnitingCare NSW/ACT). She is the Secretary of the Yale Club of Sydney. Meg and Harry have two daughters, Catherine Amy Herbert and Julia Grace Herbert, both in college.

Rick Jackson ’75 M.A.R. has spent a decade of campus ministry (1976-85) at the University of Minnesota; served as vice president of two YMCAs (Minneapolis 1985-91; Seattle 1991-2001); and founded (with Parker J. Palmer) and co-directed (with his wife Marcy) the Center for Courage & Renewal. The Center is the hub of a national network of trained Courage & Renewal facilitators who provide retreat programs that help teachers and leaders in other serving professions (education, medicine, law, religion, philanthropy) to “reconnect who they are with what they do”.

Richard Johnson ’75 M.Div. has been pastor for the last 23 years at Peace Lutheran Church in Grass Valley, CA (yes, he was a Methodist a YDS; long story). Along the way he earned a Ph.D. in church history at the GTU and has done some adjunct teaching, most recently at Fuller Theological Seminary. He has been married for 28 years to Lois, sister of Dan Solberg ’75 M.Div.  Lois teaches kindergarten. They have two children, the younger of whom, Johanna, is a first year student at YDS. He’s also the class secretary, so if you want to see your name here, contact him at roj@nccn.net.

Since 1979, Dieter Kuchenbecker ’75 M.A.R. has been a pastor in the Northelbien Lutheran Church (which includes the States of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein). At the present he is senior pastor in The Church of Schlamersdorf, north of Hamburg. He has been married to Hannelore, an architect, for 19 years, and their daughter Irene is 11 years old. He has benefited much from the theoretical studies at Tuebingen, Yale and Goettingen and especially the practical view of American Theology. One highlight in the life of his churches was his visit with a group of Germans to churches around McVeytown, PA, in 2000 and the reciprocal visit of a group of Americans to Germany in 2001. The theme has since been to discover common roots, which led them of course to Wittenberg and Wartburg castle and to a place close to Marburg, where members of the Church of the Brethren were baptized. Besides parish work, he is the President of the American Society of his District and at the American Center of Hamburg. Last June Florence Jowers ’77 Mus.M. fulfilled a promise from their time at Yale and performed an outstanding concert in Kuchenbecker’s church. He closes “Greetings and ‘Auf Wiedersehen,’ Dieter.”

J. F. Lacaria '75 M.A.R. has been recently appointed as the Director of Leadership Formation and Ministry Support of the West Virginia Conference, The United Methodist Church.  He is an ordained permanent deacon, and has been a member of that conference's staff for the past 17 years, working in the areas of youth ministry, child advocacy, and leadership development.  His wife Lin still charms the hearts of hundreds of three-year olds as a pre-school educator. He and Lin will celebrate their 30th anniversary, also a milestone for classmate Bill Chidester '74 M.Div., his first marriage ceremony. Their son John Michael has graduated from West Virginia Wesleyan College with a degree in philosophy, and many hours in math.  He is an assistant manager of a locally popular food coop in Minneapolis, and continues to be the apple of his parents’ eyes.

Through a circuitous route, YDS lead Kent Logan ’75 M.Div. to his actual calling, a ministry of teaching students with significant disabilities, including students with mental retardation, physical disabilities, and autism. In the past 32 years he’s been a classroom teacher, program lead teacher, technical assistance provider, model program developer, researcher, and consultant. Along the way, he earned an M. Ed., and Ph.D. in Mental Retardation from Georgia State University. He most enjoyed developing programs to more fully include students in general education classrooms, making real the essence of the gospel, radical hospitality. At the end of last year he “retired” but continues to work half time as one of two Autism Specialists with a large urban/suburban district in Atlanta. He and his wife Mary Calloway Logan ’75 M.Div. have two daughters. Hillary and her husband Torry live in Asheville, NC. Hillary will finish her MSW from UNC Chapel Hill next May; Torry is selling real estate. Hannah worked in a shelter for undocumented immigrants in El Paso, and traveled after college. She is married to her partner Anne and they live in Miami where Hannah teaches primary grades at a Montessori school and Anne dances with a small dance company.

Mary Calloway Logan ’75 M.Div. and her husband Kent Logan ’75 M.Div. moved to Atlanta in 1975 so she could do a year CPE program at Georgia Mental Health Institute in Atlanta. She has continued her work as a pastoral counselor and is currently a “Fellow” with the American Association of Pastoral Counselors. She has practiced in various settings, including a county mental health center and a women’s counseling collective. She currently has an office in a Methodist church near where they live. She attended the Atlanta College of Art for five years, returning to her roots as an artist and studying Spiritual Direction. Ten years ago she combined her therapy, spiritual direction, and art interests and created the Seeds of Light Studio. In the studio she leads women in spiritual direction using lectio divina, meditation, and art materials. She calls this process Spiritual Autobiography with Visual Expression. In addition she leads retreats for churches and sessions at conferences. In the Studio she creates her own work, with a current focus on three dimensional collage work with found objects (assemblage).

Thomson K. Mathew ’75 M.Div., ’77 S.T.M. pastored Gospel Tabernacle on Orange and Edwards in New Haven for five years (1976-81).  The church outgrew the facilities and moved to North Haven as Calvary Temple. He was chaplain at the former City of Faith Hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma from 1981-89.  He received a D.Min. from Oral Roberts University (1986) and an Ed.D. from Oklahoma State University (1992).  He became professor of pastoral care at Oral Roberts University School of Theology and Missions in 1989 and now serves as dean of this ATS-accredited seminary cum undergraduate Theology program.  His wife, Molly, is a registered nurse.  They have two adult daughters - Amy, married to a missionary doctor, holds a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Texas Woman’s University; Jamie, a University of Oklahoma graduate, is a corporate attorney. Mathew has two books in print –Ministry Between Miracles (Xulon Press, 2002) and Spirit-led Ministry in the 21st Century (Xulon Press, 2004).

Jim Rubins ’75 M.Div. went on for an M.S.W. at Smith College and then spent 25 years working in administration for Napa County Mental Health [just north of San Francisco in the "Wine Country"] with the substance abusing population. He and the Rev. Ann Hallisey ’75 M.Div. were married for 23 years and raised three children.  Their first daughter got Ph.D. from Stanford and is now at M.I.T. doing small pox research.  Their second daughter is following her “ol' man” and getting an MSW from USC in Los Angeles.  Their son is applying for medical school.  Rubins is semi-retired, working at the Napa hospital as a social worker and Chaplain.  Ann Hallisey and Richard Allen ’75 M.Div. are the only ones, regrettably, that he has kept up with; but he looks forward to hearing from other classmates, and lists his email address as jmrubins@gmail.com.

Charles Scalise ’75 M.Div. Professor of Church History at Fuller Seminary, and his wife Pamela Scalise are both on sabbatical during this academic year. Pam is writing a new commentary on Jeremiah for the NICOT series. Charlie is working on a book proposal concerning the hermeneutical circle of Scripture, doctrine, and practice, as well as continuing his research on the history of Italian Protestants in America. His case study of Angelo di Domenica, the first person of Italian origin to graduate from YDS, will soon be published in the journal Italian Americana.

Charles Silver ’75 M.Div. will celebrate 30 years as a Foreign Service Office next year.  After graduation, he taught at Friends School of Baltimore before joining the United States Information Agency in 1978 and the Department of State in 1999.  Most of his career has been spent in East Asia: Jakarta (twice), Taipei, and Beijing, although he has also served in Europe several times.   Just back after three years in Indonesia, he and his wife, Moo Lan, are enjoying being closer to family and friends in the U.S.

David Stinson '75 M.Div. was recently selected for promotion to Rear Admiral by the US Navy. He will become Deputy Chief of Chaplains for Reserve Matters on October, 1 2007. 

John Thomas ’75 M.Div. is concluding seven years of a ten year term as General Minister and President of the United Church of Christ, living and working in Cleveland, Ohio.  His life is a challenging array of administrative, pastoral, preaching, teaching, ecumenical, and advocacy opportunities, with lots of travel, whether to preach at a congregational anniversary or visit partners in Palestine or India.  His wife Lynda is a librarian in the Shaker Heights Public Library, and their two sons, who have completed college, are both living and working in Philadelphia where they share an apartment.

Rob Weiner ’75 M.A.R. writes, “Hi, folks! I hope this finds you well.” Since YDS, he has lived in Europe for seven years, gotten a doctorate, worked as a journalist, and then settled in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he currently lives with his wife Susan (nurse practitioner) and their son and daughter (young teens). He has taught interdisciplinary studies (including a course on religion, biography, and politics) at Cal State Sonoma and at St. Mary’s College for more than 20 years, written a book, Creativity and Beyond: Cultures, Values, and Change, and scripted Leonardo Live!, a one-man show of the life of Leonardo da Vinci, which he performs for universities, community centers, museums, etc. Despite the endless financial stress of living in the Bay Area, they enjoy themselves with tennis, soccer, camping, and friends; and occasionally they transcend this pleasant bourgeois existence to serve the greater community.

Robert M. Werner ’75 M.Div. happily sends along a few lines on his life's journey and pastoral ministry since YDS days. For a sum total of 18 years after divinity school he worked as a hospital and hospice chaplain in Chicago, Austin, Houston, Amarillo and Boston. He was a campus minister in Grand Junction, CO, spent eight very formative years as a Benedictine monk in Abiquiu, NM., where he practiced the potter’s craft and met his future wife. He was a potter's apprentice in Blue, TX for two more years. Ordained a permanent deacon for the Diocese of Galveston-Houston in 1990, he has been married for 20 years and they have a beautiful teenage daughter who is a budding violinist. Since 1997 he has been doing prison ministry in correctional environments, employed as a prison chaplain with the Federal Bureau of Prisons in New Jersey and Massachusetts. Recently back at YDS for the Symposium on Henri Nouwen, he was positively amazed at the campus makeover, especially the new library addition.

Melinda Worley ’75 M.A.R. is chair of the academic committee for the Trustees of Abilene Christian University, and a regular Bible teacher at Brentwood Oaks Church of Christ. David Worley '75 M.Div. works with the Institute of Theology and Christian Ministry in St. Petersburg, Russia and owns Thelese related businesses. Their oldest daughter Heatherly McDaniel (with her husband and four children) is working with a church in Denton, Texas. Second daughter Christiana Noel Worley submitted her dissertation to St Andrews University Scotland. Youngest daughter Elena Worley is a junior at ACU.