Robyn Arnold
Robyn Elizabeth Arnold (born August 22, 1963 in Mt Vernon, Kentucky; died July 5, 2022 in Birmingham) was rector of Grace Episcopal Church in Woodlawn from 2012 to 2022.
Robyn was born on August 22, 1963, in Mt Vernon, Kentucky, to Jimmy and Hilda Bowling Arnold. She spent her childhood in Kentucky and participated in programs led by Appalachia-Science in the Public Interest (ASPI) in the Daniel Boone National Forest there. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Cumberland College in Williamsburg, Kentucky; a master's degree in physiology from Mississippi State University in Starkville in 1997, and a Ph.D. in physiology at UAB in 2002.
While at UAB Arnold attended St Andrew's Episcopal Church, and was baptized at the Easter Vigil on April 12, 1998. She discerned a call to the priesthood and attended the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, California while working at the University of California at Berkeley’s Children's Environmental Health Laboratory as a postdoctoral fellow. She graduated with a Master of Divinity in 2008 and was ordained by Bishop Henry Parsley of the Diocese of Alabama the same year.
Arnold served for several years at the Church of the Advent of Christ the King in San Francisco before returning to Birmingham in 2012 to become rector of Grace Episcopal Church. She kept the parish's tradition of High Church liturgy while also working with community leaders to advocate for poor, homeless, hungry and marginalized neighbors. The parish launched the GraceWorks summer camp ministry for children. She also established and chaired the first environmental commission for the Diocese.
Arnold was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease and died from complications in July 2022.
References
- Robyn Elizabeth Arnold obituary (July 2022) My Gather App