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The Very Rev. Dr. Hilary B. Smith
Rector
The Very Rev. Dr. Hilary B. Smith came to St. Paul's on-the-Hill from Richmond in September 2003. Following ordination in June of 2000 at the age of 32, Hilary was the Assistant Rector of St. Paul's in Richmond for two years and then the Associate Rector at St. James the Less in Ashland for a year. While at St. James the Less, she also started an Episcopal campus ministry at Randolph-Macon College.
Hilary loves being a parish priest with all of its many aspects and activities. Working with children and youth is a joy for her, but so is building community among adults and caring for the elderly. Hilary’s sermons are thoughtful, engaging, based on scripture and often provide a new way of considering well-known Bible stories. Her sermons and her ministry in general nurture the spiritual growth of members. Having not been reared in the church, but coming to faith as a young adult, she has a passion for welcoming people to our church who are new to Christianity or coming back to church after time away. Supporting the ministries of the laity is of great importance to Hilary; she enjoys helping members of SPOTH discern God’s call to them. Hilary lives in Winchester with her dog, Maggie. Maggie, a cocker spaniel from Mount Jackson, looks forward to the blessing of the animals every year in October.
Hilary holds a doctorate in history from the University of Virginia. Her dissertation is entitled, "Community and Belonging in Early Modern England: Life in the Trent River Valley 1520-1640." She had intended to teach at the college level, but, during the Ph.D. process, felt a strong call to ordained ministry. Issues of "community" and "belonging" continue to be of great interest to her as they relate to our life as a Christian community and to the role of faith in our world today. |
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She also received a B.A. in history from the University of Richmond; an M.A. in English Local History from the University of Leicester, England; and an M.Div. from the Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria.
Hilary is a trained spiritual director having completed a two-year course in spiritual direction at Richmond Hill, an urban retreat center located near downtown Richmond, VA. She offers spiritual direction to seminarians at the Virginia Theological Seminary, as well as to clergy of the diocese and lay persons. Having been appointed dean of Region XIV in the Diocese of Virginia by Bishop Shannon Sherwood Johnston in January 2010, Hilary will serve as dean until January 2014. She also serves the diocese as a Fresh Start facilitator. Fresh Start is a program created by the Episcopal Church to support newly ordained clergy and clergy beginning a new call. Hilary was a member of the Standing Committee of the Diocese of Virginia from January 2005 to January 2008, serving as its president for one year.
Hilary's monthly epistle messages can be viewed by clicking here, and her weekly sermons are also stored online. Please check out Hilary's blog, Stories from the Hill.
The Rev. Dr. Ellen Richardson
Priest-in-Residence
The Rev. Dr. Ellen Richardson was ordained to the priesthood in the Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Georgia in September of 2008, where she served as Interim Vicar of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church of Effingham County until her move to Virginia in August of 2009.
She is a medical doctor who graduated from the Medical College of Georgia and completed post-graduate training at East Tennessee State University in Family Medicine. She is Board Certified in both Family Medicine and Hospice and Palliative Medicine, and completed the Program for Palliative Care in Education and Practice at Harvard University in 2005. She received her Masters in Divinity From Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts in May, 2011.
Her ultimate goals for ordained ministry include the blending of her role as a priest in the Episcopal Church with a practice of medicine in End of Life care, becoming both a pastoral and educational resource to the Church in matters of managing the last phase of life, and to the medical community in creating the sacred space around the seriously ill and dying which leads to careful choices, and appropriate use of medical resources to manage comfort, dignity and quality of life at its most fragile stage. She is employed by Capital Caring as Medical Director of their Manassas Region, serving Prince William, Fauquier, and Stafford counties.
Ellen has been married for 30 years to Mark Richardson, a professor, who teaches Writing at Shenandoah University. Their two sons live in Athens, Georgia. Owen will soon graduate from the University of Georgia and plans to attend medical school ; Will also lives and works in Athens, Georgia and is married to their beautiful daughter in-law, Hope.
The Rev. Bruce Gallup
UMC Pastor and Licensed Preacher for St. Paul’s on-the-Hill
My name is Bruce Gallup, and I welcome this opportunity to introduce myself to you.
I earned my BA degree in Philosophy from Houghton College, Houghton, NY. Subsequently, I received an M. Div from Gordon – Conwell Theological Seminary in S. Hamilton, MA.
For most of my working life, I served as a pastor of local United Methodist churches in Pennsylvania and New York, the last 18 years at Christ United Methodist Church in Mountain Top, PA, south of Wilkes – Barre. In July 2008, I retired from the ordained ministry. Interspersed with my pastoral work were sixteen years teaching as an Adjunct Lecturer in Philosophy and Critical Thinking at Kings College, in Wilkes Barre, PA. Currently, I am an Online Instructor in Critical Thinking for Axia College of the University of Phoenix, and substitute teach in the Winchester and Frederick County School Districts.
Apart from teaching and ministry, I enjoy reading, hiking, watching movies, and playing golf. Most importantly of all, my wife, Sarah, and I enjoy our time spent with our 3 daughters and their families, particularly our 3 grandchildren.
Sarah and I moved to the Winchester area at the beginning of 2008. We have appreciated the opportunity to worship and serve Christ with you at St Paul’s-on-the-Hill.
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