At the recent retreat for Adventist clergywomen (April 1-4) at Pine Springs Ranch, three La Sierra University women received special documents of thanks for their work through the years of striving for women's equality and recognition in the church. All the large proclamation sheets were personally signed by most of the 120 women attending the retreat from all over North America.

Madelynn Jones Haldeman (right) accepts commendation.

Madelynn Jones Haldeman spoke daily during the retreat leading the group in exegesis and better interpretation of the Gospel of Matthew. She was cited for her many years of teaching, her encouragement to women and men in her classes, and her personal perseverance despite difficult circumstances and obstacles during her career. Haldeman is also one of the founding mothers of the La Sierra University Women's Resource Center, the first one ever established in the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Penny Shell, associate director of the Women's Resource Center, was one of the honored women.

Penny Shell, associate director of the Women's Resource Center, was a member of the planning committee for the women clergy retreat. She was cited for being the first to begin collecting the names of Adventist women in ministry and developing a newsletter to them in the early 1980s. She was also the first woman president of the Seventh-day Adventist Healthcare Chaplains Association (SDACHA) and has served as a hospital chaplain for 16 years.

Kit Watts accepts her commendation from Dúane Schoonard.

Kit Watts, director of the Women's Resource Center, was cited for many of years of advocacy for Adventist women, serving on four of the church's Commissions on the Role of Women in the Church in 1973 and again in 1985, 1988, and 1989. She has edited the Adventist Woman, a news publication of the Association of Adventist Women, for many years, and also produced several special issues of the Adventist Review that focused on women's concerns during the 1990s.