The Rev. Betty Glover
St. Matthew’s welcomes our new rector!
For the Rev. Betty Glover, becoming the rector at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church is like coming home. Raised in an Army family, Glover moved to Delta Junction as a teenager and later resided in Fairbanks, Anchorage and Valdez.
When she left Alaska in 1987 for Texas, she always meant to return. In the meantime, she earned a bachelor’s degree in social work at Highlands University in Las Vegas, New Mexico, and a master’s degree in social work at the University of Kansas, Lawrence.
Glover was ordained as a deacon in Topeka, Kansas, where she was the executive director for the Child Death Review Board and was a hospital and police chaplain.
After graduating from the Virginia Theological Seminary in 2007, Glover returned to Kansas and was ordained to the priesthood in Topeka. Since her church there had burned down, she celebrated her first Eucharist at a nearby Jewish Temple.
In the following years, Glover was an Episcopal rector in South Central Kansas, then an interim rector in North Carolina and in Topeka.
Upon Mother Betty accepting the call to be Rector at St. Matthew’s, she said, “Finally the circle is complete. It’s good to get back home. St. Matthew’s is a lovely place and I’m excited to be here. My heart rests easiest here.”
Glover believes in mutual ministry. “My job now is to listen and find out what folks love to be engaged in,” she said. “I’m a collaborative leader. My role is to love and show God’s love and to listen well.”
She hopes to help her parishioners discover what dreams God may have for them. “I want to help their holy imaginations develop,” she said.
In her free time, Glover enjoys walking, quilting and reading mysteries. She is a volunteer chaplain for the Secret Service.
Jessica Ives - Parish Administrator
Jessica started working at St. Matthew's in November of 2015 as the Coordinator when Father Scott Fisher retired. Her job at the time was to coordinate all the services that St. Matthew's held on a regular and unregular basis, making sure there were Clergy covering all services. In March of 2016 the current Parish Administrator resigned, and Jessica was asked if she would like to move into that position as well. From then to March of 2018 when Mother Betty Glover started as the new full time Rector, Jessica did both Coordinator and Parish Administrator positions.
Jessica grew up attending St. Matthew's as a child and youth. Her knowledge and experience within the Church is invaluable.
In her free time Jessica loves to spend time with her Husband, Mike and their two daughters. Her destressor is arting, of any kind!
Rev. Bella Jean Savino
Deacon 2006, Ordained Priest 5-27-2012
As a deacon and a priest, I am a servant of God and I serve others. In my ministry of course I help with the worship service on Sunday, help with funeral services, and other services when I am able to assist. I do a lot of one-to-one counseling, or just listening to others and praying with them. Every other Sunday, with the help of my friend Bernice Aragon, I go to Denali Center (and sometimes to the Hospital) and give them Communion, which is a blissful ministry in itself. If anyone is interested in doing private home Eucharists, I would love to have you come along and learn about it.
I was selected as a delegate to the Interior Deanery meeting, which was held here at St. Matthew’s June 2-4, 2006; and was elected there as a Member-at-Large to the Deanery Council, representing the Tanana Valley Region (which includes Fairbanks).
Daughters of the King meet the 2nd Sunday of each month here at St. Matthew’s. We do a lot of praying for the family of St. Matthew’s, the community of Fairbanks, the Bishop and his family and staff. We pray for military troops and their families, and our country.
Rev. Bella Jean retired as an Active Assoicated Priest in November 2016.
