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BY LINDA WORTHINGTON
UMCONNECTION STAFF

Twenty-three clergy in the Baltimore-Washington Conference will retire this year. Altogether, they have served more than 600 years, with an "average" tenure of service 23 years.

Eleven retirees are female clergy, 12 are male. The retirees include Local Pastors Judith Stone, Lucius Ross Jr., Judith Kelly and Richard Shamer. Most retirees are Elders, but one, Linda Coolbaugh, is an ordained Deacon.

Eleven clergy have served 30 or more years, with two serving more than 40.

The longest serving pastor is the Rev. Richard Kroll who is retiring after 42 years, the most recent at Asbury UMC in Charles Town, W. Va., where he was appointed in 2003. The Rev. Robert Hershberger is one of three retirees in extension ministry. He has served 41 years as a member of the conference, but since 1980 as chaplain at a VA Medical Center in upstate New York.

Whereas most retirees serving local churches have faced a number of moves as their appointments have changed, one pastor, the Rev. Dennis Yocum, has served Calvary UMC in Mt. Airy for 26 years, 19 of which his wife, the Rev. Carol Yocum, also served with him. She retired last year.

The conference will honor the 2012 retirees and celebrate their 600 years of service at a luncheon May 15.

Ann Adams 11 yrs.
Donna H. Bennett 34 yrs.
Ken Brown 38 yrs.
Linda Coolbaugh 13 yrs.
Richard Craig 31 yrs.
Sandra Demby 17 yrs.
Charlotte Hendee 26 yrs.
Robert Herschberger 41 yrs.
Mary Ellen Huzzard 35 yrs.
Diana Hynson 37 yrs.
Richard Kroll 42 yrs.
Judith Kelly
Vera Mitchell Mallett 20 yrs.
Mapipi Mawokomatanda 14.5 yrs.
Albert Moser, Jr. 36 yrs.
Lucius Ross Jr. 14.5 yrs.
Richard Shamer 12 yrs.
Judith Tye Stone 9 yrs.
Jimmie Ward 19 yrs.
Nancy J. Webb 35 yrs.
Jean Weller 4 yrs. 
Marion Monroe Wright 39 yrs.
Dennis Yocum 39 yrs.