St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church priest to retire

The Rev. Karen Crawford will be retiring as a priest from St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Newton at the end of June.

Growing up in Kansas City, Crawford wanted to stay close to home when attending college. She went to Drake University and knew she wanted to become a priest but due to the societal differences of the time. Crawford went a different way.

“I wanted to become a priest ... At that time women priests were not accepted. So I chose to go into education,” Crawford said.

She eventually retired from teaching after spending her time teaching various subjects and grades throughout the years. After retiring from teaching, Crawford felt another call to the priesthood and attended seminary school in Austin, Texas.

“My journey to the priesthood started when I was in college and I felt called to be a priest and of course I could not be a priest so I went on to education,” she said.

In 2014, Crawford went back to West Des Moines where she began substituting as a priest at St. Timothy’s. She then was called to St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Newton to fill in for a priest who left. She began in 2014 and was installed as St. Stephen’s rector in 2016.

“(I) ended up being called to St. Stephen’s in Newton and I just ended up staying,” Crawford said through laughter.

Throughout her time with St. Stephen’s Crawford has enjoyed many factors of being a part of the Newton community. She has enjoyed watching people grow in the community over her time and working in the community as well and that will be something she misses once she retires.

“I will miss being with the people. I will miss being a priest,” Crawford said.

As far as what Crawford plans to do after she retires, she plans on moving away from Newton to where her children are in Seattle, Wash. With that, she plans on being a full time grandmother after moving at the end of July.

“It has just been the most wonderful, I think it’s six years, that I have had to be a priest ... I feel very blessed that I was able to come to Newton,” Crawford said.

Even though she plans on moving away from Iowa to be closer to her family, she does have hopes for St. Stephen’s and the community of Newton after she leaves. She hopes the community and church continue to grow especially during these difficult times.

“I think people right now are beginning to realize the importance of God in their life ... I hope once we get back into meeting again, God will become more of an integral part of their prayer life,” Crawford said.

Contact Dustin Teays at 641-792-3121 ext. 6533 or dteays@newtondailynews.com