After 13 years of dedicated service to Friends, our Junior Gathering Coordinator Patsy Arnold Martin is retiring in October. We are so grateful to Patsy for the passion, warmth, and sense of adventure she has brought to our office and our community of Friends. We wish Patsy light and love as she begins this new journey.

After 13 years of dedicated service to Friends, our Junior Gathering Coordinator Patsy Arnold Martin is retiring in October. We are so grateful to Patsy for the passion, warmth, and sense of adventure she has brought to our office and our community of Friends. We wish Patsy light and love as she begins this new journey.

Read the Minute of Appreciation presented to Patsy by the Long Range Conference Planning Committee of FGC below.

Patsy Arnold Martin has been a valuable part of the Friends General Conference community since before she took on the role of Junior Gathering Coordinator in 2005.  Her work as Junior Gathering Coordinator has helped create a program for our children which is rich, Spirit-led and bursting with love.  Her spirited, tireless, reflective leadership has shepherded the program with care always holding the children at the center.

Patsy personifies truly seeing the Light in every child and in her work we have seen the true embodiment of seeing “that of God” in each person.  Each person Patsy has encountered has been treated with profound and genuine care whether in public or in private. 

Patsy has a warm smile, and easy laugh that work hand in hand with her absolute dedication to the young Friends in our community.  Patsy’s dedication extends to the staff she has trained and worked with over the years.  Her good humor, creativity and attention to detail ensured that child and staff safety training remained fresh each year.

Patsy shows Friends of all ages and stages that they are part of an ever present Quaker tapestry, and that they are never a thread alone.  Her smile, her love for her husband and family, her enjoyment of her work, her deep commitment to the children in her care, her love of music and the look of joyful peace on her face in worship are things that each of us can learn from.

Her wicked sense of humor and tear-producing, side-splitting laughter will be deeply missed amongst the Junior Gathering staff.  

Thank you, Patsy, for the love and the Light you have shared with us in your work for Friends General Conference.  We hope our paths cross again in faith and service to Friends.