TROUTVILLE BAPTIST PASTOR RETIRING
The Rev. Carol N. Johnston, pastor of Troutville Baptist Church for the past 18 years, will enter retirement on June 17. Johnston, 75, was one of the first Southern Baptist ordained women to be called to a congregation when she succeeded the Rev. Dr. Ray Frazier in 2000. The widow of Robert Johnston, she was chosen pastor of the Botetourt church following service on the staff of Grandin Court Baptist Church in Roanoke working with the late Rev. Robert Hamner. At the turn of the 21st Century, she was one of several ordained women serving in a number of denominations in Botetourt. At that time, however, only the Rev. Donna Hopkins Britt at Calvary Baptist in Roanoke was the lead pastor in a Baptist congregation nearby; Britt left Calvary several years ago, and that church now has a male pastor.
With her marriage to Johnston, a widower, Troutville’s pastor became part of a blended family with whom she said she hopes to spend more time.
-Submitted by correspondent Frances Stebbins
