On March 19, Margaret Towner celebrated her 100th birthday.
If you are unfamiliar with her name, Towner was the first woman to be ordained as a minister of Word and Sacrament in what is now the PC(USA). Her ordination took place in October of 1956. In a 1978 interview conducted by Ed Wicklein, in response to his query regarding her reception by the church, Towner mentions that she felt like a curiosity. “So, do you turn down opportunities to speak, because you feel like a curiosity,” she wondered aloud, “or do you go, because — even though you’re a curiosity, maybe by your presence and what you say you can help other women along the way.”
Towner’s “first” became a steppingstone for other women to balance on as they found their footing. In this installment of Through A Lens: Stories of RNS Photographs, the Presbyterian News Service shares images of the other "firsts" that inevitably followed: more stones being laid along the path, linking each of the women featured in these images together in a powerful legacy: faithful women forging the way for future generations, across denominations.
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