Alcena Boozer Oral History Interview (1 of 2)

Boozer discusses her family, especially how her mother and father met and her oldest brother, who was the first African American Pharmacist at OSU. She details her time at Portland State University, obtaining her Bachelors in Education and Graduate Certificate in Counseling, working at Grant High School as a teacher, counselor and vice principal, and leaving for Seminary at Church Divinity School of the Pacific. She explains her husband's occupation and her two sons Bentley and Clark. She shares her thoughts on the Church and her faith, how she came to the conclusion to become a Deacon, influential figures in her life. She concludes with her hobbies of activism, hiking and gardening.

Reverend Alcena Elaine Boozer (b.1938), was the Rector of the St. Philip the Deacon Parish for 17 years. Following the completion of her seminary training in the 1980s, she was one of the first women ordained in the Diocese of Oregon and one of only three African American women ordained in the Episcopal Church nationally.