Judith Craig (1937-2019) was a United Methodist Church bishop. Craig was born in Lexington, Missouri on June 5, 1937. Her education started at William Jewell College (B.A., 1959), then Eden Theological Seminary (M.Div., 1961), and finally at United Theological Seminary (M.A., C.E., 1968). Baldwin-Wallace College bestowed an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree on her in 1980. Bishop Francis E. Kerns ordained her a deacon in 1972 and elder in 1974 within the East Ohio Annual Conference. Craig served at Cleveland's Epworth-Euclid United Methodist Church from 1972 to 1976 as a religious education minister and later as an associate pastor. Her next appointment from 1976 to 1980 came as the pastor at Pleasant Hills United Methodist Church. In 1980 she was appointed the Director of the East Ohio Conference Council on Ministries. Craig was elected to the episcopacy in 1984 by the North Central Jurisdiction and assigned to the Michigan Area until 1992. Afterwards she administered the Ohio West Episocpal Area until her retirement. Post retirement work includes the Office of Bishop in Residence and visiting professor at Methodist Theological School of Ohio. Craig has served on the General Commission on the Status and Role of Women ( 1984-1988), the General Council on Ministries (1988-1992), and the General Board of Publication.
Cyrus Jeffries Kephart (1852-1932), American Bishop was born in Decatur, Pennsylvania on February 23, 1852 to Reverend Henry and Sarah Kephart. He attended Western College from 1869 to 1874 where he graduated the valedictorian. During his time at Western he entered the ministry in 1871 and married, Sarah Perry, in 1873. He began his ministry in Toledo, Iowa but quickly moved to Dayton, Ohio where he entered Union Biblical Seminary. During this period of his ministry he served as pastor of the Ludlow Street United Brethren Church in Dayton. He graduated Union Biblical Seminary in 1878 and was ordained by Bishop Milton Wright the following year.
Following his completion of training at Union Biblical Seminary he became the principal, and later president, of Avalon Academy (College) in Avalon, Missouri. He remained here until 1885, when after a sabbatical, he and his family returned to Toledo, where he became employed by Western College. For the next twenty years Cyrus Kephart moved back and forth between the clergy and academe. During this time he served as pastor of the East Side United Brethren Church, Summit Park United Brethren Church, in Des Moines, Iowa and in Lisbon, Iowa. He also served as the General Secretary of the Pennsylvania State Sabbath School Association from 1894 to 1897. In academe, Kephart for a second time was president of Avalon College and Western College, which during his time became Leander Clark College in 1905.
In 1908, Cyrus Kephart became the pastor of the First United Brethren Church in Dayton, Ohio. Serving with distinction, he was elected to the office of Bishop in 1913 by the United Brethren General Conference, held in Decatur, Illinois. Afterward he was supervisor of the Southwest District from 1913 to 1925. He retired from active ministry in 1825 and continued to live in Kansas City, Missouri until his death on July 20, 1932.
His published works include: Jesus the Nazarene (1894), The Life of Jesus for Children, The Public Life of Christ, What is a Christian? (1910), Jesus Lord and Teacher (1913), Christianity and the Social Weal (1914), with Dr. W.R. Funk, The Life of Isaiah L. Kephart (1909), and numerous other articles.
*Biographical Information from:
Koontz, Paul Rodes and Roush, Walter Edwin. The Bishops: Church of the United Brethren in Christ. Dayton: Otterbein Press, 1950.