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Holy Trinity Episcopal Church
Raton, New Mexico
Our Clergy
The Rev. Gaye Brown, Holy Trinity Episcopal Church's newly ordained priest is a graduate of Salem College and Vanderbilt University Divinity School. Prior to her ordination in December, 2008, she also completed studies through the diocesan School for Ministry. She has extensive counseling and administrative experience, primarily in social service organizations, and served as the director of Episcopal Community Services in Arizona for ten years before moving to New Mexico. For the past eight years, she has worked as the Executive Director of The Mandala Center, an ecumenical retreat center in Des Moines, New Mexico
The Very Rev. Arthur D. Tripp was born in San Antonio, Texas, and grew up on a small ranch near Poteau, Oklahoma. He entered the United States Army in 1948 and served as a Platoon Master Sergeant during the Korean War. His military career covered thirty-three years in the US Army, the National Guard and the Reserves. He retired as a Major.
Fr. Art received a Bachelor of Science degree from Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, OK, and a Master of Divinity from the Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, TX. He was ordained in 1959. In 1977, Fr. Art married Nilah Richardson in her home town of Ft. Worth, Texas. This marriage was blessed by the Bishop of Nicaragua two weeks later when they arrived there as missionaries. After 6 years in Nicaragua and 9 years in Guatemala, they returned in 1992 to El Paso for 4 years and then to Ruidoso before coming to Raton.
Fr. Art served as the Dean of the Diocese of the Rio Grande School for Ministry for many years and Nilah served as its Administrator. He currently serves as Dean of the Northeastern Deanery, as a member of the Commission on Ministry, Deanery Representative to Diocesan Council, a member of the Ecclesiastical Court, and the Bishop Search Committee.
Mother Brown has served in a variety of roles in the Episcopal Church at the local, diocesan and national church levels, and has also been involved in a number of ecumenical and interfaith ministries. Gaye has one daughter, Christina Rose, who resides with her husband in Philadelphia.