#  Graduate Profile: Martha Durkee-Neuman, MDiv '23  

 





May 15, 2023

 

 

     ![Martha Durkee-Neuman](/sites/g/files/omnuum5526/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/hds2/files/6x4_marthadurkeeneuman.png?itok=3T7lQNnQ) 

Martha Durkee-Neuman. Photo courtesty of Martha Durkee-Neuman.

 



 

 **How I've Changed**

 Being in community at HDS has helped me to realize that I am an embodiment of the theology I carry. My time here has helped to give me new language to articulate that theology and the values that are important to me and remind me that how I live and interact with others is a testament to those values.

 **Memorable Moment**

 My most memorable moment at HDS was the moment of getting to meet my classmates that I had connected with over Zoom in person for the first time! The first noon service of Fall of 2021 was a time I got to see some people who had come to mean a lot to me over Zoom in person for the first time and was really magical.

 **Favorite Class or Professor**

 I will take anything taught by the incomparable K. Healan Gaston. "The Liberationist Turn" was particularly excellent, "Witch Hunts" too. She is a brilliant facilitator, scholar, and educator and I learned so much from her and from our classroom communities.

 **Message of Thanks**

 I hold unending gratitude for the communities who have supported me and loved me in my journey here. My family, chosen family, and dear friends—you are the reason I am here and everything I do is for you. Thank you for creating home for me, I love you Margaret, Albert, Eliza, Leslie, Alice, Rhianna, Sam, Katie, Daphne, AnnElise, Abby, Rose, Shannon, Kalie, Sami, Sydney, and Yvette. Thank you to the spiritual communities which have held me and nourished me: to the Mid-Columbia Unitarian Universalist Fellowship; the Northeastern University Unitarian Universalists and Rev MaryHelen Gunn; the First Parish in Malden and Rev Otto O'Connor, Rev Aisha Ansano, and Soren Austenfeld; the Harvard Unitarian Universalist Ministry for Students and its members; and my community at the Sanctuary Boston. Thank you as well to the Unitarian Universalist Association Scholarship Committee for their generous support for my studies.

 **What I Hope to Be Remembered By**

 I hope to be remembered as someone who loved her people fiercely, spoke truth to power with courage, and treated all people with dignity and grace.

 **Future Plans**

 I have accepted a ministerial internship starting in September at the Edmonds Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Edmonds, Washington. I am so excited to be moving back to the Pacific Northwest, my home, to continue my journey toward ordained Unitarian Universalist ministry.



 

 

 



 

 See also:- [ Student Activities and Interviews ](/discover-stories-about/student-activities-and-interviews)
- [ Commencement ](/topic-tags/commencement)
- [ Commencement 2023 ](/topic-tags/commencement-2023)