Our beloved former pastor, The Rev. Carol Miller

Carol Ann Miller was born in 1949 and grew up in Pine Plains, New York, as a member of the First United Presbyterian Church. After graduation from Pine Plains Central School in 1967, she studied at the State University of New York at Albany and the Duke University Divinity School. Upon her graduation from Duke in 1974, she was the first of two women to be ordained as Presbyterian ministers. In 1976, after serving as an associate pastor in North Carolina, and at the age of 27, the Reverend Miller was named full pastor of the United Presbyterian Church of Ozone Park, Queens. She was the first woman to be appointed to such a position by the 110 church Presbytery of New York City. The Reverend Miller went on to lead churches in Far Rockaway, Queens and Weybridge, Vermont, before moving with her husband, Craig Shelley, and their daughter, Christa, to Saudi Arabia where he worked for Saudi Aramco and she assisted in the work of the Episcopal Fellowship Group. In 2007, the Reverend Miller returned to Pine Plains to serve the spiritual needs of her home church, along with the Ancramdale Presbyterian Church, and the Pine Plains community as a whole.She pastored with immense love, great vigor, sharp intellect, and an unyielding faith in God until her retirement on November 30, 2018. Our congregation is indebted to her forever for her energetic, enlightened, and passionate leadership.