08535
July 25, 2008

Notes about people

by Jerry L. Van Marter
Presbyterian News Service

The Rev. Karen Blomberg, associate pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Alexandria, VA, died July 21 from asphyxiation due to a pulmonary embolism while hiking in the mountains above Independence, CA, about 170 miles north of Los Angeles. She was 54.

Blomberg, a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, worked part-time for Westminster Church and had a private counseling practice in Washington, DC.

She is survived by her father, Kenneth; and two brothers, Bruce and Ronald. A memorial service is scheduled for July 27 at Westminster Church.

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Alaska Presbytery has scheduled a celebration to mark the 100th birthday of the Rev. Walter Soboleff, the first Native Alaskan to be ordained to the ministry in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

The celebration will occur during the presbytery’s Oct. 17-19 meeting in Sitka, AK.

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The Rev. Gary Califf, pastor of First United Presbyterian Church in DuBois, PA, and an activated Air Force Reserve chaplain at Camp Ramadi, Iraq, has been honored with the Air Force Reserve Distinguished Service Award for chaplains.

Lt. Col. Califf, a member of Huntingdon Presbytery, received the award at the recent Military Chaplains Association Annual Meeting at Fort Jackson, SC. It was accepted on his behalf by the Rev. Ed Brogan and Rev. Thomas Chadwick of the Presbyterian Council for Chaplains and Military Personnel. Califf is expected to return to the U.S. this fall.

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The Episcopal Church has chosen veteran newswoman Solange De Santis as the new editor of Episcopal Life Media (ELM). She succeeds Jerry Hames, who retired in 2007 after 17 years at ELM.
   
De Santis, a native New Yorker who has reported for Reuters, the Wall Street Journal, and the Anglican Journal of Canada, began her new work July 1. Since 2000, she had been a staff writer at the Anglican Journal, the national newspaper of the Anglican Church of Canada.