Dr. Sara Little, author, Union Theological Seminary professor, dies

When Sara P. Little became the first female full professor at Union Theological Seminary in Richmond in 1973, she said her appointment was part of the increasing role women were playing in the Presbyterian Church.

In a Richmond Times-Dispatch interview at the time, she said the church only recently had begun to accept the idea of women in ministry, partly because women had not pursued Christian higher-education or ministerial positions. But in the previous month, two women had received doctor of ministry degrees from the seminary and 22 women were beginning studies in the program.

Dr. Little died Wednesday in her hometown of Charlotte, N.C. She was 89.

"She was a pioneer," said Louis B. Weeks, who retired as the seminary's president in 2007.

"Dr. Little was proof that theological education is centered in Christian education. She also taught theology, ethics, the Bible," Weeks said yesterday. "She should have been president of the ATS, the Association of Theological Schools. She would have been, but she was five years too early. Five years later, they did have a woman president."

Before her career as a seminary professor, Dr. Little taught high school in North Carolina. But she found herself doing more and more in church service, particularly teaching, so she came to Richmond and earned a master's degree in religious education at the Presbyterian School of Christian Education.

"My family is of strong Presbyterian tradition and involvement in the church," Dr. Little said in the 1973 interview.

She followed the master's degree with a doctorate in religion from Yale University and postgraduate work at Harvard University. She returned to PSCE as a professor and also became an adjunct professor at Union Theological Seminary. The two schools combined in 1997.

After retiring from PSCE in 1989, she taught at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, Calif., becoming interim vice president and dean in 1990.

She returned to Richmond and became director of PSCE's doctoral program and taught in the doctoral program at Union Theological Seminary.

She was named 1979 Educator of the Year by the Association of Presbyterian Church Educators. She was the first woman to be awarded the Distinguished Service Medal of the Association of Theological Schools in the U.S. and Canada.

A memorial service will be held today, Tuesday, at 2 p.m. at Sharon Presbyterian Church, 5201 Sharon Road in Charlotte.

There are no immediate survivors.