Barbara Headley '77, the physical and the spiritual have always been connected. But she is also a physical therapist who practiced for several years before entering the ministry, supported herself through seminary by practicing in the evenings, and still finds time to see a few patients.
Patients are concerned about how they're going to live.
It's easy to move from how you're going to walk or get out of bed to concerns about life and death. But there's nothing remote or ethereal about that role. After graduating from Ithaca, Headley worked for five years as a physical therapist in the Bronx, then went to Union Theological Seminary in New York City. A trip to South Africa with fellow students and pastors during her last year of seminary bolstered her concern for community in the widest sense. She came home to get deeply involved in the divestment movement.