Exhibit - Women GA Moderators -- Presbyterian Heritage Center

Women Leaders in the Presbyterian Church — Moderators

This special exhibit explored the history of women leaders in the Presbyterian Church, both in the U.S. and around the world. It opened on Sunday, August 3, 2008, and closed in December 2009. Exhibit links will be activated soon.

Women Moderators of the General Assembly of the
Presbyterian Church
It is only in the past 55 years that women ministers and elders have been elected as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church.

Moderator Cynthia Bolbach In July 2010, the current (219th) General Assembly Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA) is Elder Cynthia Bolbach (at right). Elected at the 219th General Assembly, Bolback is an attorney and legal publishing company executive in Washington, DC. Publicity photo by Danny Bolin, courtesy of PCUSA.

Among the other women moderators of Presbyterian General Assemblies are:

Lois H. Stair UPCUSA moderator 1971 Born June 22, 1923, and died July 16, 1981. In 1971, Lois Harkrider Stair was elected moderator of the 183rd General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (UPCUSA). An elder of the First Presbyterian Church in Waukesha, WI, she was the first women elected as General Assembly (GA) Moderator in the history of the American Presbyterian church.	Lois H. Stair
Dr. Thelma C. D. Adair UPCUSA moderator 1976 In 1976, Thelma C. Davidson Adair was elected moderator of the 188th General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (UPCUSA). An elder of the church, she also was the first black women elected as GA Moderator in the history of the American Presbyterian church. She was a university professor with a doctorate in Education. She is a former president of Church Women United.	Thelma C.D. Adair
Sara Bernice Moseley PCUS moderator 1978 She was elected moderator of the 118th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS).	Sara Bernice Moseley
Dorothy Barnard moderator 1981	Dorothy Barnard
Harriet Nelson moderator 1984

Isabel Wood Rogers PCUSA moderator 1987 Born Aug. 26, 1924, and died March 18, 2007. Author and professor at Presbyterian School for Christian Education (PSCE) from 1961 until her retirement in 1998. Before that, she served at Georgia State College for Women between 1949 - 1961 as chaplain and then director of religious affairs. She was elected moderator of the 199th General Assembly (1987) of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America.	Isabel Wood Rogers
Joan Salmon Campbell PCUSA moderator 1989	Joan Salmon Campbell
Marj Carpenter PCUSA moderator 1995 Previously, she had served as director of the Presbyterian News Service for 15 years — from 1978 to retiring in 1993. A journalist with Texas newspapers, Life magazine, The Associated Press and The New York Times. She was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.	Marj Carpenter
Patricia Brown PCSUA moderator 1997	Patricia Brown
Freda Gardner PCUSA moderator 1999 Born April 7, 1929. She is professor emeritus of Christian Education at Princeton Theological Seminary, where she was the first woman to obtain tenure. She taught from 1961 to 1992. She was elected moderator of the 211th General Assembly (1999) of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. She is the author of numerous books on religion and ministry.	Freda Gardner
Susan Andrews PCUSA moderator, 2003
Joan Gray PCUSA moderator 2006

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