Brent Reynolds (1997) has been called to be Director of the Florida Christian Center, Jacksonville, Florida, a ministry site of the National Benevolent Association.

Congratulations to June graduate Laura Jennison Reed (2009), who was ordained August 12 at North Hill Christian Church, Spokane, Washington. She is now serving as Assistant to the Dean at the Disciples Divinity House. More here.

Emily Brooker Langston (1985) was quoted in the Irish Times on June 29 with her response to the Supreme Court's decision on the Affordable Health Care Law.

John Cheadle Rich (2001) graduated in April from the University of Southern Indiana with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. In June, he passed the state boards to become a Registered Nurse and is working as a Nurse Resident at Deaconess Hospital in Evansville, Indiana. He and Amy continue to serve as Co-Executive Directors of Patchwork Central, a nonprofit ministry operating near downtown Evansville. See www.patchwork.org or the Patchwork Central blog.

Congratulations to June graduate Katherine Raley (2008), who was ordained June 23 at First Christian Church, Columbia, South Carolina.  She has been called to serve as Associate Minister of First Christian Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where Chuck Blaisdell (1976) is the Senior Minister.

Bill Wright (1995) and Jessica Barr welcomed Silas Alexander Barr Wright into the world at 4:33 am on Thursday, June 14, weighing 7 lbs. 1 oz. and measuring 21 inches long. Silas and his parents are doing well and are now home in Eureka, Illinois (both his parents are members of the faculty at Eureka College).

Congratulations to December MDiv graduate Jonathan Wallace (2008), who was ordained into the Christian ministry on June 10 at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church in Memphis, Tennessee, his home congregation. Dr. Frank Thomas preached, and Pastor Virzola Law presided; Dean Kris Culp (1982) presented him as a candidate for ordination; Divinity School Director of Ministry Studies Cynthia Lindner (1978) gave the ordination prayer.

Kenneth Atkinson (1991) is the author of Queen Salome: Jerusalem's Warrior Monarch of the First Century B.C.E. (McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2012). This first biography of Queen Salome Alexandra, the sole legitimate female monarch of ancient Palestine, recounts the events of her tumultuous life as well as women in the Dead Sea Scrolls and related texts. Mr. Atkinson is currently Associate Professor of History at the University of Northern Iowa.

Joe Blosser (2005) has received a prestigious Think Big faculty grant from High Point University to support a $50,000 Democracy USA project and a $34,000 external grant to support his work with the Service Learning Program. He has received a named position in recognition of his work, and he is now the Robert G. Culp Jr. Director of Service Learning and Assistant Professor of Religion and Philosophy at High Point.

Walt Abel (1949) died May 14, 2012, in Denver, Colorado. He was 85 years old. Walter Henry Abel was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on November 15, 1926. He met his future bride, Myra, in  the church youth group at Norwood Christian Church in Cincinnati. They married and had four children: Steve, Phil, Catherine and Dale. He joined the Navy at the end of WWII, and then attended Tulane University on the GI Bill, where he earned a BE in Electrical Engineering in 1947. In 1949, he entered the University of Chicago as a Disciples Divinity House Scholar to work on a Bachelor of Divinity degree. While there he met lifelong friends Dale and Betty Miller, and Ian and Cynthia McCrae.

Walt went on to Kansas State University, where he served as a youth pastor, preached in small congregations, and eventually earned his MA in Counseling and Guidance in 1958. He worked as a minister to students, and finally he earned a PhD in Counseling and Guidance at the University of Kentucky in 1968. He moved from there to Pittsburgh, taking up a position as Research Psychologist and part-time counselor at Carnegie Tech (now Carnegie Mellon University).

Walt was involved in his community. He served on the Board of the Carnegie Tech Faculty Federal Credit Union. He was active at East End Christian Church, helping run a church-basement coffeehouse for youth in the late 60s early 70s, and serving as President and Chairman of the Board. He was also involved with the regional Disciples gatherings in Western Pennsylvania. In 1999, the Abels moved to Foxwood Springs, near Kansas City (where the Millers and McCraes had also moved); later, they moved to Colorado. He is survived by Myra, their four children, seven grand-children, and three great-grand children, and his brother Frank.