Beverly St. John

Beverly St. John (born c. 1919) is an elder in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and served as that denomination's first female moderator of the General Assembly in 1988. The Cumberland Presbyterian denomination had been the first Presbyterian body to ordain women as clergy beginning with Louisa Woosley in 1889. St. John also authored a collection of essays for parents of small children, As the Twig is Bent, in the mid-1960s, and co-authored a book of poetry with Rev. James Knight, "The Prophet is a Snow Man" in 1986.

In 1977 she was awarded a Doctor of Letters Degree by Bethel University in McKenzie, Tennessee. In May 2008 at the age of 89 she was awarded the first Honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Memphis Theological Seminary. An endowment fund was established in honor of Beverly and Bill St. John by Rev. and Mrs. Alfred Bennett to benefit the seminary.

She is a member and Sunday School teacher of Brenthaven Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Brentwood,Tenn., a member of The Woman's Club of Nashville where has served as program chairman for several of the departments over the past 15 years.

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