rector
Interim Rector | Fr. Kevin Wittmayer
I am excited to be at Trinity Episcopal Church in Marshall as the Interim Rector. I grew up in Cedar Falls, Iowa and went to college in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In college I obtained a undergraduate and graduate degrees in Business Administration. After an eight-year career in banking I went to Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia and was ordained in 1991. After a three-year curacy in Oklahoma City my wife and I started a church in Yukon, Oklahoma a bedroom community of Oklahoma City with ten people in our living room. I served that church, Church of the Savior, for nine years. I then served as the rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Longview for fourteen years before serving as the school chaplain at All Saints Episcopal School in Tyler, Texas for five years.
My wife Pamela is a C.P.A. We met in college and have been married for forty-six years. Pamela retired in June 2022 as the Chief Financial Officer for Trinity School of Texas in Longview. We have two daughters and five grandchildren. Our eldest daughter Kristel and her three children live in Longview. Our youngest daughter Melissa who lives in the San Diego area is married and has two sons. Both our daughters played basketball and we are huge Iowa Hawkeye women's basketball fans.
In the summer of 2012, while on sabbatical, I walked 500 miles across northern Spain on the Camino de Santiago Compostela. Pilgrimage is a significant part of my spiritual life and this trip was one of the top highlights of my life. I welcome any invitation to talk with civic groups about that unique experience. I have been fortunate to have made Christian pilgrimages to the following destinations: Jerusalem, Rome, Canterbury and Mt. Athos (the spiritual center of Eastern Orthodoxy). I hope to walk a path of Celtic Christian pilgrimage in the future walking from Iona, Scotland to Holy Isle in Lindisfarne, England.
I am excited to be at Trinity Episcopal Church in Marshall as the Interim Rector. I grew up in Cedar Falls, Iowa and went to college in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In college I obtained a undergraduate and graduate degrees in Business Administration. After an eight-year career in banking I went to Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia and was ordained in 1991. After a three-year curacy in Oklahoma City my wife and I started a church in Yukon, Oklahoma a bedroom community of Oklahoma City with ten people in our living room. I served that church, Church of the Savior, for nine years. I then served as the rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Longview for fourteen years before serving as the school chaplain at All Saints Episcopal School in Tyler, Texas for five years.
My wife Pamela is a C.P.A. We met in college and have been married for forty-six years. Pamela retired in June 2022 as the Chief Financial Officer for Trinity School of Texas in Longview. We have two daughters and five grandchildren. Our eldest daughter Kristel and her three children live in Longview. Our youngest daughter Melissa who lives in the San Diego area is married and has two sons. Both our daughters played basketball and we are huge Iowa Hawkeye women's basketball fans.
In the summer of 2012, while on sabbatical, I walked 500 miles across northern Spain on the Camino de Santiago Compostela. Pilgrimage is a significant part of my spiritual life and this trip was one of the top highlights of my life. I welcome any invitation to talk with civic groups about that unique experience. I have been fortunate to have made Christian pilgrimages to the following destinations: Jerusalem, Rome, Canterbury and Mt. Athos (the spiritual center of Eastern Orthodoxy). I hope to walk a path of Celtic Christian pilgrimage in the future walking from Iona, Scotland to Holy Isle in Lindisfarne, England.
CUrate
Prior to her ordination in the Episcopal Church, Rev. Dana’s work primarily focused on transforming communities through education and food. Rev. Dana’s career began in Mexico where she taught and developed bilingual curriculum at the Universidad de Guadalajara and the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey. She later served as the first Executive Director of Universal Learning Centre and led the organization in building three libraries in Haiti and one in Jamaica. Her vocational call became louder and clearer when she began working for the Church, serving as Director of Social Transformation Ministries at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in McKinney, Texas, where she led the Hands & Feet Ministry and launched the BlessMobile, a mobile food ministry. During her tenure there, she was invited to represent the National Presiding Bishop, Michael Curry, on his delegation to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. When the pandemic hit, Rev. Dana was serving at the Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration in Dallas as Director of Youth and Outreach Ministries where, among other things, she pivoted quickly to create a safe, virtual space for the youth and volunteers and grew the program despite the pandemic. In the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd, Rev. Dana wrote a very moving blog series that exposed for a largely white audience how racism and white privilege have impacted her biracial family. She established and grew a Racial Justice Ministry at Transfiguration that discerned a call to fight for justice in the prison system among other things.
Rev. Dana speaks English and Spanish fluently and French and Haitian Creole conversationally. During Seminary, she served at St. Gabriel ~ San Gabriel Episcopal Church, a bilingual parish in the Diocese of Virginia where she preached and offered pastoral care in both Spanish and English. She graduated from Virginia Theological Seminary in May, 2024 with a Master of Divinity and a concentration in new mission practices. Rev. Dana was ordained to the diaconate in June, 2024. With God’s help, her priestly ordination will be in early 2025. Rev. Dana has three adult children, two in Dallas and one in Washington, D.C.
Rev. Dana speaks English and Spanish fluently and French and Haitian Creole conversationally. During Seminary, she served at St. Gabriel ~ San Gabriel Episcopal Church, a bilingual parish in the Diocese of Virginia where she preached and offered pastoral care in both Spanish and English. She graduated from Virginia Theological Seminary in May, 2024 with a Master of Divinity and a concentration in new mission practices. Rev. Dana was ordained to the diaconate in June, 2024. With God’s help, her priestly ordination will be in early 2025. Rev. Dana has three adult children, two in Dallas and one in Washington, D.C.
Church Staff
Stacey Shaw - Parish Administrator
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