Next Chapter Highlight: Michele

Age

62

Retirement Status

Retired

How does Michele spend her time as a retiree?

Storyteller – Lifelong Learner – Priest

Upon first meeting with Michele, I noticed a feeling of calm and thoughtfulness about her. Which certainly fits because she is an Episcopal priest. Recently relocated from Texas, she is still relatively new to her diocese. She is enjoying her new location and getting to know the congregations within her state.  

Getting to this point was not easy, but it’s apparent that it was a labor of love. Everything we talked about held a story she shared graciously.

Seeing the sparkle in her eyes when she spoke about her life as a priest, I was immediately curious about her journey to this time in life. Michele lit up as she explained that she had ignored the call to the priesthood for about 20 years before finally listening.

It was time.

Smiling, she said, “God wouldn’t leave me alone.” 

Before Michele met her husband, she attended church regularly. When they met, he began attending out of love and the wish to marry. It became a lovely habit of attending church and then going out for brunch. Eventually, life (as it is wont to do) changed their patterns, and the habit dwindled.

After her husband passed in 2012, Michele felt the pull back to church. Still feeling a need to stick close to home, she chose a nearby congregation, but it wasn’t a fit. The following year, she attended one closer to her work, the one where she and her husband had married, and she immediately knew she was home.

A few years later, she set off on her spiritual journey after ignoring “the call” for so long by spending three years in school while working full time. She became ordained as a Deacon in June 2018 and was ordained as a Priest in January 2019. She noted that one must be a Deacon for 6-12 months before becoming a priest.

To this day, Michele still looks fondly back to that church in Texas. It wasn’t just where she was married. She was also received into the Episcopal Church there (It’s like being confirmed, but for those already confirmed in another Church. In Michele’s case, she was originally confirmed in the Catholic Church). And what better Church than that one when Michele had her priest ordination!

Now, she is settled back home, in the state where she spent a great deal of her childhood, and looking toward her future.

What did Michele do for work before she decided to retire?

Retired in 2023, Michele was a Senior Business Systems Analyst. In a nutshell, she wrote and managed policy and process for the IT department of a utility company.

How does Michele see her future?

Michele is always looking to the future. She would love to be a permanent part of a congregation. Still, for now, she is happy with being a supply priest (filling in as needed throughout the state) and a coordinator of a task force that focuses on reparations for African Americans and Indigenous People.

She looks forward to being fully settled in her home, too. There are still boxes to unpack and a craft room to set up.

Michele sees her future filled with time spent with her dog, Shelby, getting to know the area again, strolling through the local, historic towns, and reading and crafting. And, best of all, spending time with old friends.