Another PIONEER WOMAN IN LEADERSHIP is Bishop Leontine Turpeau Current Kelly (March 5, 1920 – June 28, 2012), who was the first African American woman elected and consecrated a Bishop in The United Methodist Church in 1984. She was born in Washington, DC, one of eight children. Her father, David D. Turpeau, Sr., was a prominent Methodist minister, who later served four terms in the Ohio House of Representatives. For a period of time he also served simultaneously as a Pastor and a District Superintendent. Her mother, Ila Marshall Turpeau, was an outspoken advocate for women and Blacks and a founder of the Urban League of Cincinnati, Ohio. Bishop Kelly’s first marriage (to Gloster B. Current) ended in divorce. They had three children. She then married the Rev. Dr. James David Kelly, a United Methodist minister. Following her husband’s death, she adopted his great-granddaughter. Bishop Kelly earned a BA degree from Virginia Union University (1960) and completed graduate work in economics, history and humanities at North Texas State University, the University of Cincinnati, and the College of William and Mary. She served as a public school teacher in Richmond and Northumberland County, Virginia for eight years. She completed the Course of Study for Ordained Ministers in the Virginia Annual Conference of the U.M. Church by attending summer school at Wesley Theological Seminary (1970, 1971). She earned her MDiv degree from Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Virginia (1976). Bishop Kelly held honorary doctorates from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary (1984), DePauw University (1989), Christian Theological Seminary (1989), Virginia Union University (1989), Nebraska Wesleyan University (also 1989), Bennett College (1991), Willamette University (1990) and Dillard University (1992). Bishop Kelly became a Certified Lay Speaker in Virginia in the late-1960s. She then served the Galilee Church (1969-75). She was ordained a Deacon by Bishop William R. Cannon in 1972 and an Elder by Bishop W. Kenneth Goodson in 1977. She served on the staff of the Virginia Conference Council on Ministries (1975-77), directing social ministries. She then served as pastor of Asbury-Church Hill in Richmond, Virginia seven years before becoming Assistant General Secretary of the United Methodist General Board of Discipleship with the portfolio of Evangelism. She also served on the Health and Welfare Ministries Division of the General Board of Global Ministries. Although a member of the Virginia Annual Conference in the Southeastern Jurisdiction, Bishop Kelly was elected to the Episcopacy by the Western Jurisdictional Conference in 1984 (only the second woman, and the first African American woman, to become a Bishop in any major Christian denomination in the world). She was assigned to the San Francisco Episcopal Area where she served until her retirement in 1988. Bishop Kelly also served on the General Board of Church and Society, as the President of the Western Jurisdictional College of Bishops, and on the Executive Committee of the Council of Bishops. Bishop Kelly was the 2002 recipient of the Thomas Merton Award. She was also inducted into the National Womens Hall of Fame. She was known as a preachers preacher, and we can hear her line her favorite hymn: How firm a foundation ye saints of the Lord is laid for your faith in his excellent word ... Servant of God, WELL DONE!
Posted on: Sat, 09 Aug 2014 19:46:52 +0000
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