Peabody's new UM pastor is from Hutchinson church
Members of Peabody United Methodist Church welcomed a new pastor to town July 1.
The Rev. Linda Willey has settled into her new position and is busy making friends in the church and around town.
She was born and raised in Iowa, the daughter of a United Methodist pastor. Her parents are retired, living in Estes Park, Colo.
Pastor Willey graduated from the University of Indianapolis (Ind.) in 1989 and from the St. Paul School of Theology in Kansas City, Mo., in 1992.
She worked as a refugee resettlement case manager at Don Bosco Centers in Kansas City for two years after graduating from the seminary.
She was a minister serving churches in Kansas as follows: Republic and Webber 1994-97; Colby (associate pastor) 1997-99; Mulvane (associate) 1999-2001; and South Hutchinson from 2001 until moving to the Peabody charge July l.
Not only her father and Linda are UM pastors, so is her husband, Mark, who grew up in Derby and currently serves Buhler United Methodist Church. He is in his senior year at Bethel College, North Newton. Mark is the father of two children, Chris, 21, and Stacy, 17.
The family includes two pets, a black Labrador named Phoebe and a new English Setter puppy named Ruthie.
