Brethren bits

— Remembrance: Lauree Hersch Meyer, 90, a former professor at Bethany Theological Seminary, died at home in Durham, N.C., on Sept. 24. She was born on July 15, 1934, to Orville and Mabel (Harley) Hersch at the same farmhouse in Manassas, Va., where her mother was born. She held degrees from Bridgewater (Va.) College and the University of Chicago, where she earned a master’s and doctorate from the Divinity School. Her career in church ministry included, after college, working as a Youth Field Worker for the Central Region of the Church of the Brethren, and then volunteering with Brethren Volunteer Service in Germany as part of ecumenical activities aimed to rebuild trust. She was hired to stay on, remaining in Germany six years in total. Her teaching career included brief work at Notre Dame and Belmont (N.C.) Abbey and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and then many years at Bethany Seminary where she was professor of biblical theology and interpretation and also taught Old Testament and feminist theology. She taught for one year at Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pa., as the J. Omar Good Visiting Distinguished Professor of Evangelical Christianity. She directed a Conference on Theology and Ecology at St. Xavier University in Chicago. She also was a fellow at the Institute for the Advanced Study of Religions, University of Chicago Divinity School. She spent the final part of her teaching career at Colgate Rochester Seminary. Her writing career included articles for Messenger magazine, Brethren Life and Thought, and other publications, such as the Christian Century and theological journals. Her volunteer leadership in the Church of the Brethren included service on several committees and conference planning groups including the Committee to Study Abortion, the Conference on Moral Choice held at Elizabethtown (Pa.) College, and conferences on higher education. She was a speaker and Bible study leader for the Church of the Brethren Annual Conference. She retired to a 200-acre farm in Rushville, N.Y., later moving to Durham, N.C. Memorial donations are received to Heifer International. A service celebrating her life may be announced at a later date.