Published: January 18, 2008 05:08 pm            

Journey of faith

Lindley shares ordination with community she loves

DUNCAN — A few years ago, without even realizing it at the time, Susan Lindley stood at a crossroads in her life.

With her legal career in the U.S. attorney’s office in Oklahoma City behind her, her son a young adult and her husband looking toward retirement, the Duncan woman could have followed an easy path to her own retirement. That would not have been the right direction, however, for the Susie Lindley many Duncan residents know and love to take.

Instead, with a single step — not even aware exactly when she took it — Lindley took the road less traveled, and that has led her on a seven-year journey of discovery and personal growth.

The community will celebrate another milestone on that journey with her on Saturday when Lindley is ordained as an Episcopal priest. The Rt. Rev. Edward Konieczny, newly consecrated bishop of the Diocese of Oklahoma, will officiate at the 11 a.m. service at All Saints’ Episcopal Church.

Lindley wasn’t exactly idle, even before that journey began. An artist and sculptor who works in bronze, clay and watercolors, Lindley taught art at the alternative education program in Duncan that preceded the EDGE Academy, and had been very involved for many years in church and community activities.

A “people person,” Lindley’s faith and down-to-earth sincerity draw people to her. She genuinely cares about people and their joys and sorrows, and it shows. Survivor of a brush with cancer many years ago, she often reaches out to newly diagnosed patients with words of comfort, for example.

But the priesthood?

“I never intended to become a priest. Who, me? But Dwight Helt, a friend who was pastor of All Saints’ at the time, got me preaching. When he first suggested it, I thought he was kidding. But my husband and son weren’t surprised, and I guess I shouldn’t have been, either,” Lindley said.

She enjoyed preaching, and became a licensed Episcopal lay preacher and an ordained deacon. In her denomination, however, licensure allowed her only to preach. It would take a master’s degree in divinity for her to fulfill the requirements for the next step — ordination as a priest.

Lindley already had a couple of degrees from prestigious institutions of higher education. A native of Washington, D.C., she had earned a bachelor’s degree in foreign service from Georgetown University. Then, deciding to further a career in law, she enrolled in law school at the University of Texas in Austin. On her first day, standing in the registration line, she met a young man named George Lindley, who was born and raised in Duncan.

“Those registration lines tend to be long and boring, and you start looking around for someone to talk to ...,” she said. The young students began talking, and haven’t stopped since.

The couple married a year out of law school after he had taken a job in Oklahoma City and she had returned to Washington to work in the Justice Department. After commuting for a time, she took a job in the U.S. attorney’s office in Oklahoma City. In 1972, George Lindley decided it was time to come home, and the couple moved to Duncan. They consider themselves blessed to have been able to raise their son in the friendly town in which George grew up.

Sean Lindley now lives in Colorado with his wife, Alisabeth.

George Lindley’s career path led to him becoming a special district judge, an associate district judge, then district judge for Stephens County in 1978. He “retired” two years ago, but as a “senior active” attorney, he travels around the state and nation, teaching classes on various aspects of the legal profession. His work on the board of the Oklahoma Juvenile Authority also keeps him busy.

Susan Lindley’s return to the classroom at Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa wasn’t as easy as she thought it might be, but her faith in God — and sense of humor — carried her through.

“I’d been out of school a long time, and a lot of new technology had come along. Some aspects of it were easier — many of the classes were online, papers could be e-mailed — but I quickly learned a lot more about computers than I had ever cared to know,” she said.

One heart-stopping moment came when an electrical outage occurred as she was in the middle of writing an eight-page paper and her computer screen went blank. When the power came back on, an onscreen prompt asked her a question she didn’t know how to answer. Her husband told her to just click “yes” and, when she did, the paper she had thought was lost forever reappeared on the screen. She discovered in that moment that it was possible to breathe a sigh of relief and say a prayer of thanks at the same time.

The middle of the three years it took to earn her master’s degree in divinity was spent at the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, near the university where she had met her husband.

Now, with her degree in hand, she is looking forward to Saturday’s ordination service. There has not been an ordination service at All Saints’ since Gary Templeton was ordained as a deacon 20 years ago, she said.

“Traditionally, a candidate for ordination either goes to the bishop’s church or to the church where he or she will be assigned. Our new bishop was just consecrated in September and hasn’t been assigned yet, and has not determined where I will go, so I asked him if we couldn’t have the service in my home parish and he agreed to come to Duncan. The people of Duncan have been with me through thick and thin. I wouldn’t have been able to do what I’ve done without their prayers and support. Not only would they pray for me, but many of them would take time to send a card or an e-mail, saying, ‘Hang in there,’ and that really helped.

“A lot of people wouldn’t have been able to come to the service if it had been held anywhere else, and I wanted to share it with them. I have a lot of friends here. It’s a very loving group of people here in Duncan. Very unique,” she said.

As her first “official” duty as an ordained priest authorized to administer the church’s sacraments, Lindley will celebrate Holy Eucharist (Communion) Sunday at All Saints.’ She will probably be assigned to serve one or more small congregations within commuting distance of Duncan.

        

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