Pastor Patrick J. Willson comes to First Presbyterian Church of Albuquerque after a brief retirement and a season as Interim Pastor at The National Presbyterian Church in Washington, D. C. Before that he served 13 years as Pastor/Head of Staff of Williamsburg Presbyterian Church in Williamsburg, Virginia. He has served churches in Mississippi, Alabama, Texas, and Tennessee.

He is a graduate of The University of Texas (International Relations) and Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia.

His wife Nancy Weaver Willson is a fund-raising consultant. They have two daughters: Robyn lives with her husband and two sons in Merritt Island, Florida; and Polly lives in London with her husband

Since moving with his wife and daughter to the Greater Albuquerque area in 1999, he has also served as Temporary Supply at the Jemez Springs Community Church and Grants Presbyterian Church; and as Pastoral Associate at Shepherd of the Valley Presbyterian Church. Prior to moving to New Mexico, he was the Pastor at Little Redstone Presbyterian Church in Fayette City, Pennsylvania. He served as a Pulpit Supply in Redstone and Kiskamenitas Presbyteries during the 1990's. He has served as a Pulpit Supply in the Presbytery of Santa Fe since moving to New Mexico.

Mike received his Masters of Divinity degree from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in 1996 and has been active in pastoral positions since that time as well as working full time in industry. He received his B.S. in Biochemistry from Manhattan College, New York, in 1981; went on to receive a M.S. in Chemistry at CarnegieMellonUniversity, Pittsburgh, in 1983; and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Pittsburgh in 1987. During the 1981-1987 period, he was a Teaching Fellow at CarnegieMellonUniversity and the University of Pittsburgh, where he developed curriculum for courses and taught Chemistry for Liberal Arts majors, Nursing students, Engineers and Biologists.

Mike and his wife, and their daughter reside in Albuquerque.

The Rev. Karen Hill brings a wealth of experience and training to the position. She has served as an associate pastor for children, youth and their families at First Presbyterian Church in Fort Wayne, IN and Director of Youth Ministries at Claremont Presbyterian Church in Claremont, CA. She spent many years before that working with young people in other ministry and teaching positions in California and Minnesota. 

Karen graduated from San Francisco Theological Seminary/Southern California in Claremont, Calif., in 2003 with a Masters of Divinity. She received a Bachelor of Arts in History and Secondary Education/Social Studies from Bethel College in St. Paul, MN., in 1989. In addition, she attended La Universidad Biblica Latinoamericana in San Jose, Costa Rica in 2002, and studied Clinical Pastoral Education at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles in 2003.

Following graduation in 1982 Libby began her 20 year career as a Christian Educator at the First Presbyterian Church in York, South Carolina. After working for one year she relocated to Charlotte, North Carolina where she held a position with the Seigle Ave. Presbyterian Church from 1983 until 1992. She then moved on to San Angelo, TX where she was a Christian Educator for the First Christian Church and the St. Luke United Methodist Church respectively. In 1995 Libby and her family moved to Memphis.

In addition to her position as Christian Educator, Libby has been the Educational Consultant to the Presbytery of Memphis and a member of the Congregational Leadership Committee of the Presbytery of Memphis.

Paula Wood works with volunteers in the Helpline office, checking on our homebound and hospitalized members and friends. She also works with our Parish Associates for Visitation and is a staff resource person for the Board of Deacons.   

Paula also works as Staff Resource with the Membership Committee.

A First Presbyterian Church member since 1983, Paula has served as an elder, a deacon, and a teacher of young children. She has served on the Christian Education and the Youth Committees. Paula is a member of Presbyterian Women's Coordinating Team. 

   
Born and reared in Texas, Paula earned a B.S. degree in elementary education from TexasTechUniversity in Lubbock in 1964 and came to Albuquerque to teach in the Albuquerque Public Schools.  She retired from the APS in 1996. Paula feels very fortunate to be working at First Presbyterian and loves getting to know many of our interesting senior members better.  

A Child’s Garden is fortunate indeed to have a person of Susan’s expertise, commitment and ethical stature guiding this important community outreach of First Presbyterian Church.

Not only are Susan’s now-grown sons, Jed and Carson, alumni of the Garden, she has served on the ACG Board periodically over the years.  She is currently vice-president and chair of the administrative committee, and she has been integral in revising and updating the preschool’s policy documents.

Susan has been the director of St. Mark’s in the ValleyDay School for 10 years.  On January 26, 2006,  both  St.  Mark’s  and  A Child’s Garden were recognized by Lt. Governor Diane Denish at Pre-K Day at the Roundhouse for “their important contribution to the development and education of New Mexico’s children as Pioneers of New Mexico PreK.”  St. Mark’s was NAEYC accredited just after A Child’s Garden in 1987, and these “sister programs” have been highly regarded for their work with young children throughout their mutual history.

Prior to her work at St. Mark’s, Susan served as director of early childhood programs at La Mesa Presbyterian Church and for Catholic Social Services.  She has an MA in Family Studies and has done extensive post-graduate work in family studies and early childhood.  She teaches early childhood coursework for SIPI and CNM.  Susan is enthusiastically welcomed to guide A Child’s Garden of First Presbyterian Church under a mission statement she helped articulate.

Recently retired, he was Professor of Sacred Music and Director of Music at the Josephinum College in Columbus, Ohio (since 1984) where he created an extensive curriculum and program of sacred music. His first love in music is the pipe organ—its mechanisms, its history, and repertoire. He is particularly devoted to organ pedagogy and the encouragement of organ study. He directed the Josephinum Choir, the Brass Ensemble, and a Gregorian Chant Schola Cantorum. The Josephinum Choir, a thirty-five voice male chorus, produced its third professional CD in 2006, Viva Roma! The Josephinum Choir at Home and Abroad. The choir toured Europe in the summers of 2003 and 2005. At the college Dr. Yeager founded a performing arts series called i Fiori Musicali, now in its twenty-first season on the campus. He taught the Liturgical Music Seminar at St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota (in recent summers) and has presented workshops on sacred music in Wichita and Columbus.

In addition to his teaching, Dr. Yeager is a past Dean of the Columbus Chapter of the American Guild of Organists (AGO) and currently serves on the AGO national Task Force for the Part Time Church Musician.

Dr. Yeager holds a Bachelor of Music from The Ohio State University, a Master of Sacred Music from Union Theological Seminary—New York, and a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Colorado—Boulder. He studied harpsichord in Paris with Dr. Davitt Moroney in 1982. In 1997, during a six-month sabbatical leave, he studied improvisation at the organ with Dr. Naji Hakim, Organist Titulaire at St. Trinité Church, Paris.

Among other things in retirement, he has rekindled his interest in model railroading. He currently resides in Mountainair, New Mexico with his wife, Elaine Zabor, who currently works part-time as a contractor with the New Mexico Public Education Department evaluating No Child Left Behind after school programs. Elaine’s current passion is the remediation of their desert acreage with wild grasses and other xeric plants.