Earlier this month two individuals who served in leadership in Presbyterian governing bodies joined the church triumphant.

Dr. Isabel Rogers, professor at Union Theological Seminary-Presbyterian School of Christian Education and moderator of the 199th General Assembly in 1987 died on March 18 of cancer.  Her election that year is still the closest election of a moderator since the reunion that formed the PC(USA) in 1983.  Her life and work is remembered in a PC(USA) news service article.

On March 9 The Rev. Marguerite Bowden-Reed died of a stroke in Tucson, Az.  She is credited with being the first woman called to serve as an executive in the PC(USA) or it’s predecessor churches.  She was elected executive presbyter for the Presbytery de Cristo in 1973 and later served as the executive of the Synod of the Covenant.  Following that she was an associate pastor in Tucson where she was active in the Sanctuary Movement.  She is remembered in a PC(USA) “Notes about people” as well as more extensive articles from the Arizona Daily Star and The Tucson Citizen.