Oral History Project
Candler School of Theology
Contributions
Below is a sample story that reveals something of women's contributions. We will later add other stories and audiovisual clips, but this sample gives you a glimpse of women's contributions.
SARA ARMSTRONG—Associate Council Director, California-Pacific Annual Conference, United Methodist Church
Oral History Interview on 16 November 2005, Candler School of Theology [Narrative is lightly edited for a written manuscript.]
When asked about her contributions, Sara Armstrong replied:
"Wow! That's a hard question. I certainly see my time as Mayor in Shorter, Alabama, as a great contribution. I…I can physically see where my actions there made a difference. I go back now to a town that was a loose-knit community before. Now it has a name, a purpose, and a bureaucracy . . . They now have streets where they didn't before . . . They have running water. They have a lot of things they didn't have before. They have fire protection. It used to be that, if your house caught on fire in Shorter, the fire department had to come from Tuskegee, so it would burn to the ground by the time they got there. They also have a police department. So I can truly see how—even though, when I left there, I was not a happy camper and was very discouraged—that something positive came from that.
"I see a contribution in . . . my children. I think my daughter particularly, has made the world a better place. . . .
"I would hope that I was in some way. . . a help to the students I had in Uganda [when I was there with the Peace Corps], especially in giving them another view of the world. Having them meet someone from America who was different from the diplomats. . . or the movie stars was important. They could say they knew me, and I think all Peace Corps volunteers can say that. We presented a face of America that not a lot of people saw.
"This might be a bit presumptuous, but I think in my present position on the conference staff, I make a contribution. I am not a lifer in that conference; I wasn’t there from day one, so I really don't have enough sense to know who I can't say things to, so I. . . I say and do things that people gasp at sometimes. But I hope I have brought some honesty. . . It's important that I have some integrity about my work and about my ministry."