PRESS RELEASE: 

Rev. Dr. Joretta Marshall and Joy Allen Named Recipients of Bishop Karen Oliveto/Robin Ridenour Inclusiveness Award
by Donald E. Messer

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April 1, 2026 – Centennial, Colorado – Rev. Dr. Joretta Marshall and Joy Allen of Plymouth, Minnesota, have been named the 2026 recipients of the Bishop Karen Oliveto and Robin Ridenour Inclusiveness Award by the United Methodist Association of Retired Clergy (UMARC).

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Life-long United Methodists, Marshall and Allen have faithfully served the church despite its historically discriminatory policies toward gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ+) individuals—policies not rescinded until the 2024 Charlotte General Conference.

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The awardees will be honored at a special UMARC brunch on May 30 at 9:30 a.m. at Hope United Methodist Church in Greenwood Village, Colorado. Tickets ($30) and sponsorships are available on UMARC’s website: www.umarc.org.  People can be sponsors of Inclusiveness Tables honoring Bishop Melvin Wheatley ($1,000), Bishop Mary Ann Swenson ($500), Rev. Gilbert Caldwell ($250), or Rev. Julian Rush ($150).

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The program will feature remarks by the awardees and Bishop Kristin Stoneking of the Mountain Sky Conference, music by Daryl J. Walker of Park Hill UMC, Denver, and video tributes from Rev. Amy Stapleton, St. Andrew UMC, Highlands Ranch, Colorado, Rev. John  Thompson, Columbia, South Carolina, and Rev. Dr. Donald E. Messer, UMARC Co-Chair, Centennial, Colorado. Rev. Dr. Kay Palmer-Marsh, Longmont, will preside.

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Allen and Marshall have shared 44 years of commitment to one another. Early in their careers, Joy served as a Christian educator in Minnesota, while Joretta was an associate pastor in southwest Wisconsin. Allen, a licensed clinical social worker, spent decades counseling couples and leading marriage enrichment workshops across Tennessee, Colorado, Missouri, and Texas, retiring from clinical practice in 2024. Marshall served as a professor of pastoral care and counseling, as well as an administrator, at The Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis, and Brite Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, retiring in 2019. Her first book, Counseling Lesbian Partners (1997), broke ground in pastoral care. She has served as the first openly lesbian President of the American Association of Pastoral Counselors and on the boards of the Reconciling Ministries Network and UMARC.

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The Oliveto-Ridenour Award honors individuals or organizations that courageously challenge church policies by proclaiming and living an inclusive Gospel, rejecting the stigmatization and mistreatment of LGBTQ+ people. Robin Ridenour is a United Methodist deaconess and nurse anesthetist, and Bishop Karen Oliveto was the denomination’s first openly lesbian bishop.

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The inaugural award in 2024 recognized the Reconciling Ministries Network. In 2025, the late Bishop Melvin Wheatley, retired Bishop Roy Sano of Oakland, California, and retired Bishop Mary Ann Swenson of Pasadena, California, were honored for denouncing denominational anti-gay policy and advocating for inclusiveness at the 1996 General Conference in Denver.

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Rev. Dr. Donald E. Messer serves as Co-Chair of UMARC and Board Chair of the Center for Health and Hope, Centennial, Colorado.