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The Rev. Dr. Candine E. Johnson, chaplain at St. Margaret's School for girls in Tappahannock, is a teacher and spiritual adviser for both staff and students. The Brooklyn-born Episcopal priest answered the call to seminary when she was in her 40s, and knew she made the right choice.
Just after she entered seminary in New York, Johnson was called on to minister to 9/11 emergency workers.
St. Margaret's School chaplain the Rev. Dr. Candine E. Johnson tidies up the school's chapel. The priest is affectionately known as Dr. J on campus, where her duties sometimes include sharing her love of carpentry with her students. |
STUDENTS and parents at
"I've got a simple response for people who find that unusual," said Candine Johnson. "It makes perfect sense because my ultimate boss was a carpenter."
Johnson, a teacher, spiritual advisor and staffer at the Tappahannock school since 2004, is one of those special people you feel lucky to know.
The 56-year-old Brooklyn-born chaplain would seem to be a bit of a personal paradox, the New Yorker tending to the spiritual and academic needs of students and staff here in the South.
Her academic credentials include master's and doctoral degrees in education from the University of Virginia and a master's from The General Theological Seminary in New York and years teaching at the University of Richmond and Syracuse University.
The woodworking? She picked that up on her own, starting decades ago with Christmas-present projects that eventually escalated to furniture, from bookcases to tables to cabinets.
"My relatives now let me know what pieces they'd like me to build," said Johnson.
It's not a life the child of a New York City firefighter initially imagined.
When learning didn't come easily, she was awed by the strong, accomplished women who helped her--nuns at the Catholic schools she attended.
At the University of Richmond, from 1985 until 2001, Johnson was director of academic advising for the athletic department, summer school and more.
"Boy, was that a steep learning curve," she said. "I did all the talking, joking, laughing, crying and whatever else they needed, sometimes all in the same session."
Eventually, she felt a pull she couldn't ignore--the calling to dedicate her life to the faith that's an integral part of her.
"Here I was in my 40s, starting a new life," she said. "But the second I got to seminary, I loved every minute of it and knew it was the right decision."
In the first week she was back in New York, terrorists felled the twin towers, and Johnson ministered to police, emergency workers and others who needed care.
"It was very rewarding to be involved with that," she said.
When she finished at the Episcopal seminary, Johnson began looking for a posting.
When the opening at St. Margaret's came to her attention, she got in touch.
"She's a very important part of our school family," said Margaret Broad, head
Johnson starts the day for the students and staff several days a week with chapel services that will encompass both scripture and special happenings at school that week.
She's an administrator on campus as well, making her thoughts known at Broad's cabinet meetings and taking her turn being administrator on duty.
"I canceled school one morning when it looked like we were going to get clobbered with snow," she said. "Of course, the snow never arrived and now the girls tease that they hope I'm in charge whenever there's snow in the forecast."
Rob Hedelt: 540/374-5415
Email: rhedelt@freelancestar.com
