A Maine native, Margaret grew up in the Lewiston-Auburn area, graduating from Edward Little High School in Auburn and attending Bates College in Lewiston. While a graduate student in history at the University of Virginia, she began a research study on the social mobility of day laborers in Lewiston, Maine during the early decades of the city's industrialization and urban transformation 1850-1880.
This research led to the publication by the Maine Historical Society Quarterly of "The Irish in Lewiston: Social Mobility on the Urban Frontier" (Special, 1973). In 2004 she authored a chapter (The Irish Experience in Lewiston, Maine 1850-1880) in the book "They Change Their Sky: The Irish in Maine".
Following her graduate studies, Rev. Jay moved to Connecticut. In 1985, she returned to Yale University to complete a Master of Divinity degree in 1989. Rev. Jay was ordained in the United Church of Christ 1990 and has served in both local church and conference ministries in Connecticut.
In 1994 she came to First Congregational Church as the Interim Associate and in 1999 was called to serve as the Minister of Outreach and Program Development. Her responsibilities include educational ministry, confirmation, family ministry, worship and pastoral care, the encouragement and support of new ministry programs, as well as mission and outreach.
During the years of her ministry, she has helped to establish and support our prayer shawl ministry, Stephen Ministry, Books and Beyond discussion group, annual Family Life Golf Tournament, Lenten Series, and numerous women's retreats, Bible studies, and special programs.
She has been very active in outreach ministry in Wallingford, as a member of the Wallingford Clergy Association and the Wallingford Board for Youth. She is a former Moderator of the New Haven Association (UCC) and currently serves as the Chair of the Committee on Ministry (New Haven Association).
She is also the President of the Bawa Health Initiative, a non-profit that is working to improve health and transform lives in Bawa, Cameroon.
Email: margaret.jay@snet.net
First Congregational Church of Wallingford
23 South Main Street
Wallingford, CT 06492
(203) 265-1691
info@firstchurchwallingford.org
We are a vibrant church that is both steeped in history and on the move. We have been at the corner of Center Street and South Main Street since 1675 and yet, exciting new things are happening here.
