United Church of Norwood Welcomes Husband and Wife Ministry Team Rev. Patricia H. Farr and Rev. Ronald S. Farr-November 14, 1980

Covenant Service and Public Reception Scheduled to Celebrate Co-Pastors Commencing Ministry

NORWOOD – The United Church of Norwood is set to formally welcome its newly elected husband and wife co-pastorateteam with a special covenant service and reception this Sunday at 4:00 p.m. The Reverend Ronald S. Farr and the Reverend Patricia H. Farr officially assumed their shared ministry duties on October 14, bringing impressive academic credentials, pastoral training, and community leadership backgrounds to the local congregation.

The service will feature participation from church clergy and lay members, highlighted by a formal covenant of commitment delivered to the co-pastors and the congregation by Russell S. Finbow, chairman of the deacons. The primary address will be presented by the Reverend Philip H. Mitchell, pastor of Rev. Mr. Farr’s home church in Binghamton, New York. Following the sanctuary service, the public is cordially invited to greet the ministers during a receiving line in the church parlor, followed by a celebratory gathering in the fellowship hall.

Educational Backgrounds, Pastoral Training, and Prior Ministries

Both co-pastors share distinguished educational foundations and diverse clinical pastoral experience:

• Rev. Ronald S. Farr: A native of Binghamton, N.Y., Rev. Farr earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania—spending his junior year studying Hinduism and Hindu meditative traditions at Banaras Hindu University in India. He received his Master of Divinity from Yale Divinity School in 1979 and was ordained at the First Congregational Church of Binghamton in April. Alongside extensive involvement in youth programs and adult religious education, he served during the past year as a psychiatric chaplain at Norwich State Hospital in Connecticut.
• Rev. Patricia H. Farr: Hailing from Basking Ridge, N.J. (noted in records as Baskin), Rev. Mrs. Farr likewise earned her Bachelor of Arts from Bucknell University and her Master of Divinity from Yale. Ordained in January at the Hadlyme Congregational Church in Hadlyme, Connecticut, she served as pastor of that church prior to her arrival in Norwood. Her clinical background includes serving as a training chaplain at St. Raphael’s Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut, and as a counselor at a hospital community pastoral care center.

Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger