This oral history interview is an intimate conversation between two people, both of whom have generously agreed to share this recording with Oral History Summer School, and with you. Please listen in the spirit with which this was shared.
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This interview with Reverend Kathryn Beilke was recorded on June 15, 2015. Reverend Beilke is the current pastor at the First Presbyterian Church on Warren Street in Hudson, NY. Reverend Beilke was born in St. Louis, MO. She is expecting her first baby in about a month, a girl who she plans to name Harvest. Reverend Belke lives in the country with her husband and dog, Tiger, who you will hear in the interview. She enjoys gardening and baking and looks forward to integrating Harvest into her church working life.
Reverend Beilke grew up in a Presbyterian church that had a woman pastor, so it was always a career possibility that was on her radar. She attended Baylor University in Texas. The First Presbyterian Church in Hudson is her first assignment as a pastor. Reverend Beilke is active in the community, and considers her involvement in social justice work as an extension of her faith.
Subjects discussed: Presbyterian Church, faith, Hudson, social justice, child rearing, women in the ministry, gardening, Catholic school, family, interfaith connections, maintaining an open and welcoming spirit, community, and changes in 2015 in the Presbytery.
This interview may be of interest to those researching women in the ministry, history of churches in Hudson, the Presbyterian church, social justice in Hudson, faith, Warren Street, community gardens, faith in action, and equality.
Kristina Whipple is social service program manager and fundraising events coordinator living in Port Townsend, WA. Kristina grew up in New Jersey, and came to Oral History Summer School in 2015. She would like to incorporate oral history techniques both into her work as a Guardian as Litem/Court Appointed Special Advocate and possibly in a radio show highlighting local residents in Port Townsend.
Oral history is an iterative process. In keeping with oral history values of anti-fixity, interviewees will have an opportunity to add, annotate and reflect upon their lives and interviews in perpetuity. Talking back to the archive is a form of “shared authority.”