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Minister
Rev. Ann Marie Alderman |
Picture of Ann Marie. |
The Reverend Ann Marie Alderman grew up in Jacksonville, Florida, as an active Southern Baptist youth. She graduated from Florida State University with a major in religion in 1975. Unsure what to do with her fascination with all things religious, she found herself at Vanderbilt Divinity School in the late-seventies, just when the first woman dean of a major seminary was taking over...it was exciting times. Ann Marie changed denominations, moving from Baptist to Methodist, (at least they were ordaining women ministers!)
Upon graduation from Vanderbilt she realized that the traditional Christian ministry was not for her. She spent several years in "alternative" careers, including several years as automobile mechanic and nearly twenty years managing her family’s wood flooring business. By mid-life the urge to find a deeper purpose began with a move to Savannah, Georgia. While living there, she found the giant welcome extended to her by a tiny UU fellowship in South Georgia just what she needed to recognize where her journey was leading. In a few years she returned to Jacksonville and by 2001, had become fellowshipped by the UUA and jointly ordained by both of the UU congregations in her hometown.Years of experience in small business administration, a full year of intensive training as a hospital chaplain, two years as a Director of Religious Education, three as an Associate Minister with responsibility for religious education, pastoral care and church administration, and two more years as the sole minister of a thriving small congregation in Pennsylvania whose membership doubled while she was there, Ann Marie is delighted to be in her first year of serving the UU Congregation of Greenville.
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