by Rita Larom

Special to the Sounder

“It’s like getting an early Christmas present,” said Jan Sunquist, Lutheran Church in the San Juans council president, referring to pastor Anne Hall’s acceptance of a two-year term call.  She is replacing pastor John Lindsay, who retired.

The new “flying pastor” serves three branches on Lopez, Orcas, and San Juan, all existing as one church.  She recently moved to Lopez full-time but has visited the islands since 1975.

Growing up in a suburb of New York City, Hall graduated from Radcliff College and has a Master’s Degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She met her spouse David (from Seattle) while at Harvard. She became a Washington state resident soon after.

Pastor Hall was a school counselor, an administrator, and a teacher of pre-school through college level students. She became involved with a small American Baptist Church that was assisting refugees. She then pursued theological studies and earned a Master of Divinity from the Pacific School of Religion.  Hall was ordained by the American Baptist Church in 1993.  Following a co-pastor position at University Baptist Church that she held until 2003, she sought a part-time pastoral position and, after a course of study, became rostered in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. She served at University Lutheran Church for the past eight years.

“The pastor asks us about our spiritual journeys and joins with us in that discovery,” said Friday Harbor parishioner Sharron Kick.

Hall says her goal is to “empower people to find their own vision and pursue it.”

Hall’s husband, Dr. David Hall, is a psychiatrist with a practice in Anacortes working with children, adolescents and their families.  The couple has two sons and two grandsons.