| Meet Laurel Hallman |
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Early YearsLaurel Hallman was born in San Francisco and grew up just outside the city limits, a half mile from the Pacific Ocean. Her father was the foreman of the pressroom that produced all the telephone books for the West Coast and her mother was a school teacher. She grew up in a fundamentalist Baptist Church. Her maternal great-grandfather had been a ‘hardshell’ Baptist circuit riding minister who migrated from the Midwest to homestead in the Central Valley of California. As a child, Laurel spent many weekends on their farm, surrounded by her extended family. An important influence in her early years was an elderly family friend who had been a part of her family circle while she was growing up. He had grown up in Boston, graduated from Stanford in 1896, met her grandparents following the earthquake of 1906 and he died in 1957. It was not until Laurel entered the ministry that she found out he had been a Unitarian.Laurel graduated from San Jose State College earning her Elementary Teaching Certificate, with majors in Social Science and Music. She had wanted to be a high school English teacher, but her high school counselor had told her that because of her small size she would be better working with younger children. She believed him. Young Adult YearsAfter graduation from college, Laurel married her high school sweetheart and moved to St. Paul, Minnesota. They had met at her Baptist Church in San Francisco. However, by the time they married she had become a Quaker and he had become a Unitarian. They joined Unity Church Unitarian in St. Paul. Laurel taught 4th and 5th grades in North St. Paul. After two years in the classroom she was recruited to be a curriculum specialist with a Title III Innovative Education Project. This was an early venture into the computer/microfiche/keyword storage and retrieval of primary source material. In 1970 their son Peter was born.The Transition YearsWith Peter’s birth, Laurel became more involved at Unity Church Unitarian Sunday School programs and volunteered to help with the Religious Education curriculum writing project. Over four years the writing team developed 266 lessons in a comprehensive curriculum for grades 1 – 8 called Images for Our Lives. During this period she divorced. She raised her son Peter as a single parent. In 1972 Laurel became the Assistant to the Minister at Unity Church, continuing her work on the curriculum committee, overseeing the administration of the church and the religious education program. Without the formal titles, she served both as Church Administrator and Director of Religious Education. It was during this time she realized she “wanted to preach.” After her first sermon at Unity Church she preached in many churches and fellowships, often leading a workshop on the curriculum on Saturday and then preaching on Sunday.Theological SchoolLaurel received an MA in Divinity from the University of Chicago Divinity School in 1980, and a D.Min. from Meadville Lombard Theological School in 1981. Her D.Min. thesis was On the Uses of Religious Imagination in Sermons. Meadville Lombard honored her with an honorary doctorate in 1997, only sixteen years after she began her ministry. The MinistryShe was called to the Unitarian Universalist Church of Bloomington, Indiana, in August, 1981. During her six years there she began her work at Shalem Institute for Spiritual Leadership, beginning work in formation as a Spiritual Director. She also served on the Board of Planned Parenthood in Bloomington and the UUA Fellowship Committee. She became a member of Prairie Group, a UU Ministers’ study group she has attended for 26 years. In 1987 she was called to be the Senior Minister of the First Unitarian Church of Dallas. In the 20 years she has been in Dallas, the church has adopted policy governance, doubled in size to 1,100 members, implemented two Sunday services year-round and increased its annual budget to $1.9 million. Hallman has been President of the Southwest UUMA Chapter, a member of the UUA President’s Council, and is frequently sought by churches for consultation on Policy Governance. She had led spiritual retreats, taught spiritual leadership, Roots, and Living by Heart Classes among others. Continued Spiritual Growth
She and Harry Scholefield prepared a video, Living by Heart, in 1996 which is a conversation about Harry’s practice of memorizing poetry as a spiritual practice for religious liberals. She has led workshops for ministers’ chapters, in churches, on Living by Heart. In 2003, in Harry’s memory, she published a workbook to accompany the video. She has been a Mentor and Internship Supervisor to countless ministers, served on the Board of Trustees of Meadville Lombard Theological School, and been an active fundraiser for ministerial education. Laurel has been on pilgrimages to Plum Village in France to sit and walk with Thich Nhat Hanh, and to Transylvania to worship and talk with the Unitarians there. She has also journeyed to Japan twice to visit with our liberal religious friends at Rissho Kosei Kai and Tsubaki Grand Shrine, as well as see the temples and gardens. She maintains a regular spiritual practice. Laurel’s son teaches at UCLA in the Department of Linguistics. He and his wife have a three year old daughter. The Reverend Dr. Hallman currently resides in Dallas where she has served as Senior Minister for over twenty years at the First Unitarian Church of Dallas. |
