IN MEMORIAM – JUNE TOTIN

June Totin, PWP Fall Gathering 2008

June Totin, left. PW Churchwide Gathering 2006

Presbyterian Women, in First Presbyterian Church of Newton, NJ, in Newton Presbytery and in the Synod of the Northeast are mourning the loss of June Totin, who walked into her next life on February 5, 2020.

Many in Presbyterian Women fondly remember June – she was the one who taught us that women had a place in the church –  places of leadership, places of community, places of concern for others.

June invited many into Presbyterian Women – was instrumental in getting us involved in PW and in going to the Gatherings, either in the Synod or Nationally.   She was at every Gathering of PW since the beginning, and regaled us many times with the “Purdue” experience – so many women, so little air conditioning.

June also modeled for us the ability of women to be Bible Study leaders, lay leaders in our churches, organizers, and Elders.

“I consider June to be my mentor in PW” says Jane MacDonald.  “She encouraged, she gently gave direction, she spoke glowingly of PW as a place to “be all we can be.”  Every Presbyterian Woman in the Northeast can be grateful that June was among us.

At the end of her life, her daughter, Sarah, sat at June’s bedside singing hymns.  Singing was one of June’s favorite activities – to be ushered out of this world into the next on the wings of song was a great blessing.