Hallsville musician and church leader Donna Dean Hutcherson
receives Seals Laity Award from Perkins School of Theology

DALLAS (SMU) — Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, announces the selection of Donna Dean Hutcherson of Hallsville, Texas, as the 2010 Woodrow B. Seals Laity Award recipient. The award will be presented at a luncheon on March 6 during the three-day Perkins Theological School for the Laity.

Donna Dean Hutcherson has been an active member of the Hallsville First United Methodist Church for more than forty years, serving in a variety of roles, including pianist, organist, choir director, Church Council secretary, church historian, Pastor-Parish Relations Committee member, and chair of the Board of Trustees, Worship Committee, and Missions Committee.

The Seals Award is presented annually to a layperson in the United States who embodies the Christian faith and commitment of service to Christ in the church, community, and world as exemplified by Judge Woodrow B. Seals, a distinguished layperson whose interest and energy were instrumental in establishing the Perkins Theological School for the Laity. Selection for the award is made by a committee of the Perkins Lay Advisory Board.

Beyond her local church responsibilities, Hutcherson helped organize the Longview Interfaith Hospitality Network, a consortium of churches assisting homeless families in the area. She has been a member of the Longview Area Chamber of Commerce for more than thirty-five years, and has served on Hallsville’s Park Committee, which recently concluded a complete renovation of the city park.

Hutcherson’s service has extended well beyond her local community. For nearly three decades she has worked with Native Americans through the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference and the Four Corners Native American Ministries. For the last fifteen years she has served as the Four Corners Coordinator for Partners in Mission in the Texas Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church.

Her other responsibilities within the Texas Annual Conference have included membership on the Conference Worship Committee, the Conference Committee on the Status and Role of Women, and the Conference Committee on Archives and History, which she has chaired.

To register or find additional information about Perkins Theological School for the Laity, scheduled for March 3-6, 2010 on the SMU campus, please visit http://www.smu.edu/Perkins/PublicProgram/LaySchools/Dallas/March2010.aspx.  

Perkins Theological School for the Laity is supported by the Howard-Holbert Endowment Fund. The fund was established in 1986 in honor of Dr. Virgil P. Howard (1936-2005) and Dr. John C. Holbert, who serves as the Lois Craddock Perkins Professor of Homiletics at Perkins School of Theology.

Perkins School of Theology, founded in 1911, is one of five official University-related schools of theology of The United Methodist Church. Degree programs include the Master of Divinity, Master of Sacred Music, Master of Theological Studies, Master of Church Ministries, and Doctor of Ministry, as well as the Ph.D., in cooperation with SMU’s Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences.

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