Date: October 1, 2024
ALEXANDRIA, Va., October 1, 2024 – Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS) has presented the Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans Award to Carol P. Myers for her lifelong passion for St. Nicholas and her commitment to social justice.
The award recognizes an Episcopal layperson who has given leadership and unique witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ within his or her congregation, community, diocese, and in the world, over a significant period. It was presented to Myers at Grace Episcopal Church, Holland, MI, on Sunday, September 29, 2024, by The Very Rev. Ian S. Markham, Ph.D., dean and president of VTS.
Myers has spent 22 years developing the St. Nicholas Center, a website which provides resources for families, churches, and schools to learn about St. Nicholas. It has been visited by millions of people from more than 154 countries. She also oversaw the creation of a St. Nicholas education exhibit at the VTS Welcome Center, which offers a profound teaching moment about the saint behind the secular Santa Claus, and his commitment to justice. Most recently, Myers founded the St. Nicholas Center for Faith and Justice at VTS, which will serve as a vibrant hub for faith and justice organization displays, programming, forum, lectures, conferences, and receptions for VTS seminarians and the wider community.
The Very Rev. Ian S. Markham, Ph.D., Dean and President of VTS, said: “The ministry of Carol Myers has had a significant impact. Hundreds of thousands of people know about the saint behind Santa Claus. This is a gift not simply to the Church but to the world. We are pleased to present this award to Carol.”
VTS established the Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans Award in 1998 to honor the life and ministry of Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans, who was a devoted member of The Episcopal Church and gave unselfishly to its activities. Born in 1872, Evans married Joseph Brown Whitehead, was one of the original bottlers of Coca-Cola. When her husband died in 1906, she assumed complete command of the family’s Coca-Cola interests, leading to her appointment to the board of the Coca-Cola Company in 1934.
During her lifetime, she contributed to more than 130 different charities and institutions, including VTS, with the intent of fostering religion and education and relieving and comforting the underprivileged and the afflicted. Evans was known for her concern for others and a genuine benevolent spirit. She died in 1953 after an extended illness.
Notes to editors:
For media enquiries, please contact Nicky Burridge, Vice President for Communications at VTS.
Tel: (703) 461-1782
Mobile: (703) 300-2876
Email: nburridge@vts.edu
Photo caption: The Very Rev. Ian S. Markham, Ph.D., presents the Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans Award to Carol P. Myers.
About Virginia Theological Seminary:
Virginia Theological Seminary was founded in 1823 and has a long tradition of shaping faithful women and men, lay and ordained, for leadership in The Episcopal Church and beyond. It is the strongest seminary in the Anglican Communion and provides more than 25 percent of the clergy of The Episcopal Church.