Married to Andrew, Marilyn is a retired engineer and Anglican priest. Ordained in 1995, she, for many years, combined a technical career and executive positions with informal chaplaincy in the mining and business communities while also serving as a parish priest and spiritual director. All her church work has been voluntary, thanks to the support of her husband and employers.
In the wake of disasters, Marilyn was called on to provide both engineering advice as well as trauma-counselling and spiritual help—for example, in Kyrgyzstan after a helicopter crashed into the Himalayas while ferrying workers from a construction site or in Montana after a landslide. Concern for folk dealing with death drew her into the ecumenical Sovereign Order of St. John, which is devoted to helping the sick and the poor, especially by providing hospice care. Marilyn is also a member of the Society of Ordained Scientists—an internationally dispersed Christian Order.
With a B.Sc. in Engineering, plus chartered or professional status on three continents, she also holds an M.Div., M.A. Celtic Studies, and D.Min. in Spirituality. Onetime Ecumenical Officer for this Diocese, she has facilitated retreats, local pilgrimages, and many workshops on prayer and meditation and provided leadership in Christian education on topics such as the Basis of Belief, Faith in the Workplace and Christian Symbolism in Art. Trained in spiritual direction, she has helped people in the Church, boardrooms and offices, underground at mines and in remote construction camps.
Raised in Wales, Marilyn continues Welsh language studies. With a life-long passion for art, she also tries to capture life’s journey through watercolours that use landscapes and natural features to symbolize spiritual life. A keen hiker and sailor, she has enjoyed many adventures with Andrew, but nowadays, they are to be found at St. John’s Shaughnessy on Sunday mornings.