Virginia Episcopalian Magazine Spring 2012 Issue | Page 24

or whether I’m talking to a group of people or sitting with
a vestry, I’m interacting with people, and that’s what I love
the most.”
When LIN HUTTON came home one day and mentioned,
“I went down to join the Navy,” it was certainly a surprise
announcement for her parents. But it wasn’t a move that
was totally out of the box for Hutton. Her father, an active
naval officer, had introduced her to the concept when he
“dragged” her along to a happy hour at the officer’s club in
hopes of “finding a cute naval officer.” But what she found
instead was inspiration for a career. Fresh out of college,
Hutton was trying to figure out what to do with her life. The
administrative and communications duties of a naval officer
sounded like a good fit.

So, it was off to officer camp in Newport, R.I. for
Hutton. But, during her time at the camp, administrators
started looking for female naval aviators. Hutton signed
up. Flight school came next, and she earned her naval
aviator wings in March 1976 as the seventh female naval
aviator. “Assignments just opened up for me left and right,”
said Hutton, and in 1995, she became the first woman to
command a naval air station, at Key West, Fla.

It was during her time in Key West that Hutton really
began to think about the priesthood. “I’ve always been
very active in the church growing up,” said Hutton, who
was baptized in the Presbyterian Church and attended
congregations of different denominations on military bases
throughout childhood. When a priest at her congregation
in Key West asked if she had considered going into the
priesthood, it was “one of those moments when time
stops and everyone is frozen except for me,” explained
Hutton. “Someone had taken a mosaic, and they’re all
different colors but they get put together and they create a
picture that makes sense. And they threw the pieces in the
air and they’re falling in slow motion, but it made perfect
sense to me.” In other words, “I just knew what I was
supposed to do.”

But it was a scary prospect, even for someone who
could catapult off an aircraft carrier. “I had a very powerful
experience as a child with a Methodist friend,” explained
Hutton. The friend’s cousin had been hit by a car, and when
the minister came to see the family in the hospital, the family
heard him to say that if they prayed hard enough, she would
live. “The child died, so the implication was that they weren’t
good enough Christians,” explained Hutton. “They were so
offended that they never went back to church.”

That experience stuck with Hutton. “I was horrified to
think that I would say something or be misheard and that
I would turn people away from Christ,” she said. “It’s an
amazing pressure that’s on you all the time.

Later, Hutton was stationed at the Pentagon, attending
church and teaching Bible study at St. Alban’s, Annandale,
when she heard the Rt. Rev. Steve Miller – then rector and
now bishop of Milwaukee – preaching on Jesus calming the
storm. And she heard, “Look, you don’t need to be afraid,
just follow me, it will be OK, I will take care of this.”

“Once I made that decision ... the weight was off my
22

VIRGINIA EPISCOPALIAN / Spring 2012

shoulders,” said Hutton. She enrolled at the School of
Theology at Sewanee. “When you finally say, ‘Yes, Lord,” you
throw the burden off, you can leap for joy, you want to do
whatever the Lord says,” said Hutton.

In her second vocation, now as rector at St. Thomas’,
Orange – where she just changed from one uniform for
another, she jokes – she applies more than a few lessons
from her military background. “Good military leaders are
always looking for how they can maximize the experience of
their sailors or soldiers … so it makes them as promotable
as possible,” explained Hutton. “I see much of the same
thing in ministry. People will default to where they’re
comfortable. I like to find areas of ministries where they
might gain perspectives.”

Another rule of thumb from Hutton’s first vocation
that she applies to her second is to always listen to the most
junior, newest members. “I would always tell them when
they came in the squadron … ‘Believe it or not, you are the
most important person in the squadron. You have just come
out of boot camp and you have new eyes. You’re going to see
things and you’re going to say, ‘Why do they do it that way?’”

“I say the same thing to youth,” said Hutton. “They are
the ones, if we just listen to them, ask them, ‘What do you
think?’ They have amazing insights and eyes.” t

Enjoy Easter Brunch at Roslyn!
Sunday, April 8, 2012
11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Buffet items include:
• Lamb and Ham Carving Station
• Homemade Waffle Station
• Custom Omelet Station
• Fresh Baker’s Table
• Eggs Benedict
• Salad Bar
• Crab Bisque
• Assorted Sides
• Dessert Table
$30* per person
$10* per child 12 & under/infants free
*includes taxes and gratuity
Pre-paid reservations required.
Call 804-288-6045 or visit
www.roslyncenter.org for details.
Roslyn

A Retreat Center of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia
8727 River Road • Richmond, VA 23229