alumni news & notes |

Nancy McCranie honored by the ASA

Austin Seminary Association 2023 Award for Service

The 2023 Alumni Service Award was presented to The Reverend Nancy Chester McCranie (MDiv’87) during the Alumni Luncheon following MidWinter Lectures on January 25.

After graduation from Austin Seminary in 1987, McCranie was ordained in the PC(USA) and served a congregation in Louisiana before joining Hospice Austin in 1996. Seminary classmate Sallie Watson says, “Nancy’s work there has been stunning. She has worked with countless individuals and their families in the last weeks of their loved ones’ lives … The jewel in her crown has been her ministry with Camp Braveheart for twenty-five years. She founded the camp for bereaved children to give them a chance to experience not only the healing beauty of nature and the presence of God, but also the companionship of other children who have experiences similar to their own.”

From 2003 to 2008 Nancy served as the director of professional development at Austin Seminary. Through that work she helped shape our College of Pastoral Leaders. She is grateful for that work and says, “I was on the road all over the country and I met so many great friends as I worked with cohort groups.”

She has served as the director of Volunteer and Bereavement Services at Hospice Austin since 2009, coordinating staff and two hundred volunteers in direct patient care and bereavement, administrative support, and special events. She is also a frequent speaker for area groups, leading discussions about end-of-life issues and the process of grieving a loss.

In her spare time, McCranie serves as chair of the Clinical Pastoral Education Committee at The Seton Family of Hospitals and alongside Rev. Amy Meyer (MDiv’06). produces a podcast and serves as parish associate for First Presbyterian Church in Elgin. She serves as Mission Presbytery’s moderator and 2023 chair of General Council. Nancy’s father, Ray Chester (DMin’77), was one of Austin Seminary’s first doctor of ministry students, and her mother, Fern Chester, served at the Seminary for many years as an assistant to the continuing education and DMin programs. Nancy is married to Bill, an organic/bio-dynamic farmer and rancher who raises blueberries and beef. They have two sons, three dogs, two cats, and a donkey named Jennifer.

Written by Gary Mathews, director of alumni relations

class notes

1960s

A new book by Warner Bailey (MDiv’64), Groaning: Sounds in Search of a Witness, has been published by Cascade Books. The publisher notes, “This book seeks a better understanding of this visceral reaction [to the murder of George Floyd], and its pastoral importance. In Lamentations 1, groaning plays a pivotal role, and a witness to groaning is indispensable to relief. Groans are sounds in search of such a witness.”

1980s

Karl-Heinz Schell (ecumenical student in 1979-80) retired from ministry in April with a celebration at St. Bartholomew Church where he has been serving in Hachenburg, Germany. One of his seminary friends, Robin S. Heckathorne (MDiv’83), flew in just for the occasion from his home in North Carolina. Karl says “the next step on my journey will provide me with more time and open range.”

James H. Hopper Jr. (MDiv’84) was honorably retired on October 1, 2022. At the time of retirement he was pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Clearfield, Pennsylvania. Prior to that he co-pastored churches with spouse, Kathleen Hopper (MDiv’84), in Texas (Haskell and Denison), Pinetop, Arizona; Rogers, Arkansas; and Danville, Illinois. Katie continues to serve as pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Philipsburg, Pennsylvania. Jimmy also earned a DMin from McCormick Theological Seminary. In retirement, he plans to do parttime preaching/teaching, serving presbytery, a little more golf and fly fishing, and visiting their two adult children.

1990s

Dan Fultz (MDiv’91) was honorably retired by Mission Presbytery on December 31, 2022.

Fran Shelton (MDiv’93, DMin’07) announces the publication of her new book, The Spirituality of Grief: Ten Practices for Those Who Remain (Broadleaf Publishing). A certified spiritual director, Fran says, “My book addresses the nature and dynamics of grief and provides a spiritual practice at the end of each chapter.” A book signing will be held in Austin at the Arboretum Barnes and Noble on June 3 at 11:00 a.m.

Since retirement, Linda Norris (MDiv’97) has served as parttime pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Hamilton, Texas.

2000s

Chris Johnson (MDiv’06) lives in Covington, Washington, and is working in the aerospace industry as a procurement manager in the Boeing supply chain.

Marta (Marty) Peña (MDiv’06) retired as an army chaplain. She was ordained in 2019 to the priesthood in the Episcopal Church Diocese of the Rio Grande under the Bishop of the Armed Forces. Marty notes, “I am currently on a journey with God to see where the next road will lead me.”

Aquanetta Hicks (MDiv’08) has accepted a position as a workforce chaplain at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, Texas.

2010s

Sherry Kenney (CIM’19) serves as a certified financial planner, providing financial coaching to pastors and churches through the Presbyterian Foundation and New Covenant Trust Company.

Ordinations

Julia Burkley (MDiv’22) was ordained into the PC(USA) by Shenandoah Presbytery, August 14, 2022. She serves as associate pastor for Opequon Presbyterian Church in Winchester, Virginia.

Savannah Shivers (MDiv’22) was ordained into the PC(USA) by Mission Presbytery on February 25, 2023. She serves as a Dickson Pastoral Resident at Northridge Presbyterian Church, Dallas, Texas.

Milestones

Ordained fifty years Woody Anderson (MDiv’72, DMin’97)

John Strange (MDiv’73)

In memoriam

Otis Moore (MDiv’53), November 23, 2022, Kerrville, Texas

Robert A. Pitmas (MDiv’53), June 14, 2022, San Mateo, California

Robert R. Shepperson (MDiv’54, ThM’61, DMin’81), January 30, 2023, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Jerry R. Tompkins (Diploma’55), December 19, 2022, Austin, Texas

Wayne A. Meeks (MDiv’56), January 20, 2023, Hamden, Connecticut

Robert H. Leslie Jr. (MDiv’59), March 13, 2022, Cedar Park, Texas

Henry O. Freund (MDiv’59), May 29, 2022, Dyersburg, Tennessee

David Sebesta (MDiv’59, ThM’66, DMin’84), January 20, 2023, Seguin, Texas

Thomas Kenneth McElhinney (MDiv’60), August 23, 2022, Silver Spring, Maryland

William Van Loan (MDiv’65), July 21, 2021, Pasadena, California

Don G. Sheperd (Cert’66), May 15, 2021, Albuquerque, New Mexico

John T. Camp (MDiv’69), February 13, 2023, Alamogordo, New Mexico

Ray A. King (ThM’71), December 2022, Highlands, North Carolina

Susan Z. Trei-Conrad (MDiv’92), January 31, 2023, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Marti Stratton (MDiv’01), Nov. 1, 2022, San Antonio, Texas

Chris B. Harper (MDiv’05), December 28, 2022, Castle Rock, Colorado

Kerry K. Westerwick (MDiv’06) January 25, 2023, Wewahitchka, Florida

Adam T. Carrington (MATS’08), January 26, 2023, Corpus Christi, Texas

F. Daniel Cross (MATS’08), February 12, 2021, Huntsville, Texas