Remembering
Rev Mary Petersen
Rev Mary Petersen died on
Saturday 6th May after a
long battle with Leukaemia. She
served as Minister at St Andrew’s for 11 years,
from 2004-2015, and won the hearts of the
fellowship and of many in the community. Mary’s
selfless caring touched lives. Mary
gave unstinting help and support, often at the
expense of her own energy and resources. A trained primary school
teacher, Mary loved working with children. In
1990 she was appointed National Co-coordinator for
Bible-in-Schools in New Zealand, travelling
extensively with that work for ten years. It was
in that role that we first met Mary. In
2001 the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New
Zealand appointed Mary as the National Coordinator
for Children and Families, a role which she kept
for three years.
She also undertook work on behalf of
various Presbyteries around New Zealand. Mary had moved to her parent’s
home in Tairua when Stan and Pauline Stewart left
the Parish, and she came to us for interview to
fill the vacancy.
Although she had studied theology and
worked extensively in church affairs, Mary had
never been ordained as a parish minister, so
Presbytery agreed that she be ordained as a LOM –
a Locally Ordained Minister for our congregation.
During her ministry with St
Andrew’s Mary continued the Mainly Music programme
for pre-schoolers, started by Stan and Pauline
Stewart in 2002.
Scores of children came to those sessions
and Mary baptised many babies, as well as
conducting weddings and funerals. Mary instigated the Monday Meals,
free of charge for anyone in need of a hot meal,
which still continues today. She also
served as Chaplain for the RSA in Mercury Bay, as
school chaplain at MBAS, and of course, she taught
Bible-in-Schools at Mercury Bay and Coroglen. While
she was with us we often had the added blessing of
Mary’s sister Val, helping with Monday Meals and
with Mainly Music.
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Val
and Mary at Day Camp 2015
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