A Letter from Our Designated Pastor

Dear New Friends at St. John United Church of Christ,

Greetings in the name of Christ! I am very excited and eager to get to know you, minister with you, and serve with you! In case you would like to know more about me, I hope this snapshot of me helps. My parents named me Laurette Colleen Hurd, hoping for the nickname of “Laurie”. I was born in Rockford, but we lived in Winnebago, a southwest “suburb” of Rockford. My father was transferred to New Jersey, so we moved when I was almost five. We lived in three towns until they settled in Warren, NJ where they still live. My Grandmother, who is 100 years old lives with them now. Shortly after moving to NJ, my baby sister, Valerie was born

I went to college at University of Dubuque, Iowa, to be close to those northern IL relatives. I majored in Elementary Education and Spanish. I met, dated and married a Presbyterian seminary student named Stephen Hill. Steve’s first call was in Lafayette, Indiana. We decided this was a good time to have children, so we had two daughters: Victoria Elizabeth and Gwendolyn Anne. While they were growing up, I earned an MA in pastoral counseling and then started on the Masters of Divinity. I was Presbyterian at the time and the Presbytery would not allow me to continue my education at CTS in Indianapolis. So, we moved to Granite City, IL and I transferred to Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis. However, that, too, didn’t work out (because of events at Granite City not ETS), so I transferred yet again and eventually graduated from Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary in 1990. After which we moved to Evansville, IN.

I was ordained and installed to my first call was in Newburgh, IN, as an Associate Pastor. The senior pastor retired about 18 months later and I became and talk often throughout every day. My oldest daughter Victoria, married to Ryan, has two sons: Michael Andrew who is 12 and a new 4-month-old baby, Alexander Robert. They live in Decatur. Vickie doesn’t work but she is an incredibly talented artist and photographer. She still has health concerns but is much better than she was in the past. Ryan is a semi driver and drives a tanker. My other daughter, Gwendolyn, is in the Human Resources dept. at Shell Oil in Houston. Her husband, Niall, is from England, and is a business consultant. They have a baby girl who is one year old, Eila Josephine. I love to read, walk, watch movies and tv, play with my grandchildren, do counted cross stitch, cook and bake, travel, planning parties, and write. I have an old Siamese cat, or rather, she has me. Her name is Ophelia and is at least 18 years old.

Normally, I take Fridays and Saturdays off. I keep Fridays as more of my “Sabbath” time, but of course, if there is an emergency, you can call me. And if there’s a need for a funeral or wedding, I juggle days around. I keep general office hours from 9-12 from Monday to Thursday morning. Of course, if those don’t work, I’m available other times as well. You may call me Rev. Hill, Pastor Laurie, or whatever you’d like to call me. Pray with me for a very fruitful two years of serving, glorifying and loving God with our whole hearts, minds and souls! Peace be with you!

Pastor Laurie