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Local woman ordained in ceremony SundayBY LEAH LEACHOptic ReporterFran Buss, former political activist and mother of three, was ordained a minister in the United Church of Christ Sunday, using the facilities of the First United Presbyterian Church of Las-Vegas.Dressed in an official stole made for the occasion by a frienci in Colorado, Mrs. Buss took her ordination vows and knelt for the traditional “laying on of hands’* by the attending ministers. When she arose, she was an ordained minister.The Rev. Buss has worked as a lay minister in Las Vegas for the past two years, sharing a team campus ministry with her husband, David, who was ordained in this church two and one half years ago. The United Church of Christ was formerly the Congregationalist Church.The ministry is “greatly involved with the community,” said the Rev. Buss, “serving a wide age group for a campus ministry.”She and her husband provide worship services, Bible studies, workshops, and counseling services, as well as performing wedding ceremonies.Social events for students and members of the community are held in the upstairs of the Bridge Crisis Center. David is also involved in the First Offenders Program, and Fran works as_ part-time director of the New Horizons United Presbyterian Pre-School and Day Care Center.The couple has three children, 12 year-old Kimberly, 10-year-old Lisa, and Jimmy, 8,Asked why she decided to become a minister, the Rev. Buss pursed her lips, pausing for a moment before commenting, “That’s a hard question to answer.She explained she was a “strong political activist,” deeply involved in politics and the women’s movement, when she suffered a severe illness.“For two years, I didn’t know whether I would live or die,” she said.During the illness, she “thought about where strength and courage really come from,” adding, she said,a “spiritual” awareness to her other concerns about people. “It helped me see that there is more to life than I thought before.”Upon recovery, the Rev. Buss founded a large crisis center in Ft. Collins, Colo., and served as director and counselor for it. She said her first concern was to provide others “with the medical information I hadn’t had.”The center was located in the local campus ministry building. “This was my first contact with the church since I was 15,” she said. “I was really impressed with their caring...impressed by the church member’s willingness to take a stand.”She “decided to go to Seminary to find out more about it/’ When she and her husband were offered the team ministry here, she made arrangements to finish her last year of seminary while working in Las Vegas, and commuting to Denver.“It took two years to get it all done,” she said.The Rev. Buss received her college degree in high school teaching from the University of Iowa. She has taught classes from pre-school through college in Colorado, Iowa and Las Vegas. “On the side” she is an artist, and has sold many of her paintings and crafts.After being ordained, the Rev. Buss gave communion to the assembly of friends and associates ■ with two other ministers, the Rev. Marge Coons of the United Church of Christ in Albuquerque, and lay minister Pat Washburn of the Episcopal Church.Rev. Buss feels “Women have always been important in the church. They are just now being ordained but they have always been important. They’ve been a mainstay of the church for 2,000 years.”The Rev. Buss’s future plans include finishing a book about the relationship between women in the church and the community. Eventually, she hopes to earn a PhD and teach in a seminary.Participating in the Sunday ordination ceremony were Fran’s husband and children; ElizabethBunch, member of First United Presbyterian Church; David Bye, Attorney from Ft. Collins. Colo.; the Rev. Alfonso Esquibel, associate minister of the First Presbyterian Church of Las Vegas; the Rev. Bob Geller, United Campus Ministries, Ft. Collins; the Rev. Ted Hastings, Southwest Conference of the United Church of Christ; Toni Jones, Memorial Middle School student; the Rev. Al Juterbock, minister of the First United Presbyterian Cliurch of Las Vegas and member of the Community Ministry Board;Also, the Rev. Nelson Murphy,minister of St. Paul’s United Church of Christ in Rio Rancho; Sandy and Karl Schiltze, residents of Albuquerque; Dr. Jay Schufle, professor at Highlands and member of the Campus-Community Ministry Board; the Rev. Verne Spindell, minister of the United Church of Los Alamos; Art Trujillo, professor at Highlands and Chairperson of Campus-Community Ministry Board; Peggy Walker, University of Wyoming; the Rev. Armin Weber, minister of local United Methodist Church and member of the Campus-Community Ministry Board.
Newspaper Details
Las Vegas Optic
Las Vegas, New Mexico, US
Mon, Mar 07, 1977
Page 5
Full Page
Clipped by
Susun W.
USA 13 Apr 2024
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