Susie C. Stanley

We are saddened to announce the passing of Rev. Dr. Susie C. Stanley in November 2022. She joined the Messiah community in 1995 and served as professor of historical theology in the Biblical and Religious Studies Department, retiring in 2011. In addition to being a talented teacher and scholar, Stanley, a minister in the Church of God (Anderson, Indiana), was founding executive director of the Wesleyan/Holiness Women Clergy (WHWC). The purpose of WHWC is to encourage women to serve as ministers of the church. In the early 2000s, she wrote a key aspect of Messiah’s Lilly Vocation grant in support of female students sensing a call to ordained ministry. She earned her Ph.D. from Illiff School of Theology at the University of Denver and taught throughout her adult life either at the seminary or college levels. In addition, she loved chocolate, so much so that she taught classes on chocolate at Messiah! Colleague David Weaver-Zercher ‘83, former chair of the Biblical and Religious Studies Department, said, “Susie demonstrated boundless energy as a teacher and a scholar, and she loved her students. She was particularly attuned to the gifts that women could offer the church as ordained leaders, and her encouragement of Messiah’s female ministry students to follow their callings was exactly what they needed. Susie was a gift to them, to the church and to all of us who worked closely with her.” Her late husband John Stanley, who also taught classes at Messiah, passed away in 2020. We are grateful for her legacy of affirming God’s call to ministry among all our students.