Sue King, a devoted Methodist Pastor with a profound love for science and the Lord, bid farewell to her last Sunday Service in Big Sandy this past Sunday. Her pastoral duties also extended to Havre and Chester, where she traveled each Sunday. Now, she embarks on a new journey, taking up a science teaching role at Chester, where she will be imparting her knowledge to junior high and senior high school students at CJI High School.
Sue said, "My Bachelor's was in chemistry, and then I have a doctorate in water chemistry, which is used in all kinds of environmental laws and water chemistry. I did a lot of research on natural systems, water treatments, lakes, rivers, wetlands, constructed wetlands, water treatment, and all that kind of stuff. I've done a lot of work in teaching. At Montana State University, I taught in the chemical and biological engineering program and was an adjunct for them and the civil and environmental engineering group. I did research in Yellowstone Park. I was a research professor. When I started researching at Montana State University, I had to learn molecular biology. I did a short stint for 10 months in Great Falls between teaching jobs and going to California for my husband's work. I was a general manager in a laboratory quality laboratory. I developed a laboratory at a microbrewery. So, for two weeks, I went away for training to learn all about pouring agar, testing for wild yeast and bacteria, and beer, as well as tasting beer. All kinds of things that were interesting. Talk about using your science in a practical application. "Not too many pastors have had that kind of background before in your life."
She will be taking a year of personal leave. She is not retiring from the ministry. She is open to being appointed again. "I just found that the geographical distances and doing all three churches every Sunday was not sustainable. For me, energy-wise, my husband lives in a fourth community, so I was going to see him, which added another 220 (miles) because of driving from Havre to Great Falls and back. So that was just part of it, and I just realized I couldn't do the kind of good work I wanted to do when I was driving all over the place. I feel we've done some good work together in all three communities, but I'd like to get a little rest.
Sue said, "I'll be going back into the sharing information and asking myself how do I share that effectively? I like getting kids excited about science by doing hands-on stuff and a lot of experiments. I like posing a question problem and saying, 'Okay, let's figure this out. ' How would you figure that out? So I'm looking forward to that.
I will have to make up my teaching plans.
Between now and then, "I'm going to be doing a lot of reading textbooks. decided my plan". She is also planning on visiting her parents. "That's one of the reasons I decided I needed a break. My parents are in their 80s, and I haven't seen them for a year. I need to be able to see my parents. They live in Wisconsin; my brothers and my sister and their families live in Wisconsin. My kids are now in North Carolina, Washington, DC, and Tennessee. So I need to see my family. And that's one of the things I will do before I start teaching.
She hopes to write. I'm going to start writing essays that relate to what's happening in the environment and share another form of teaching
