The Rev Eleanor Hart to retire June 1

The Rev. Eleanor Hart will preside at her final service at St. Thomas Morgantown on May 29 at 10:30 a.m. A reception will follow.

Eleanor was married to the recently deceased Harry Hart. They have a son Sean now living in Reading. She also has two stepsons and two Grandsons. She taught in the Twin Valley School District for 25 years.
 
Eleanor was ordained a Deacon on April 22, 1989, at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Birdsboro after training at St. Gabriel’s in Douglassville. She began volunteering at Rainbow Home a personal care home for people with AIDS. Discerning a call to this ministry she retired from teaching and served as pastoral care at Rainbow Home and was hired by Berks AIDS Network in Reading. This ministry led to ordination to the priesthood in October 1994. During that time she also was associate at Christ Church Reading. At the request of the diocese she trained for interim ministry and served in that capacity in St. Anne’s Trexlertown, St. Mary’s Reading, and St. Thomas Morgantown. She also served as associate at St. Alban’s Sinking Spring and priest-in-charge at St. Barnabas Kutztown. Eight years ago she began her ministry at St. Thomas Church in Morgantown, first as priest-in-charge and then as rector. She has served on the Commission on Ministry and the diocesan AIDS task force. 
 
Through Berks AIDS Network, she ran a support group at Berks County Prison and is now leading Bible Study at New Persons Center in Reading, a transitional housing for men coming out of prison. She intends to continue that ministry after retirement.