Key points:
- Some United Methodist bishops are mothers, too. The children of four episcopal leaders share what life is like when their mothers are the leaders of hundreds of churches.
- Mother’s Day is May 10. Some of the bishops’ children say the best gift for their moms might be the gift of time.
- As women of faith in the public eye, the bishops have had strong influences on their children’s vocations.
“She could fight a bear,” says Elizabeth Harvey, referring to her mother, a bishop in The United Methodist Church.
Ashley Malone Brown, whose mother is also a United Methodist bishop, says her mom always has a smile on her face. “I ask her, ‘How do you do that all the time? Are you actually happy or is that just a persona you put on?’” she says.
On May 10, maternal figures and their children will celebrate Mother’s Day. Among them will be mothers who also happen to oversee hundreds of local churches, and the offspring who knew and loved them before they were elected to represent the face of a denomination.
Elizabeth Harvey was not surprised when her mother, Bishop Cynthia Fierro Harvey, was elected bishop in 2012. Nor was Ashley Brown surprised when her mother, Bishop Tracy S. Malone, was elected in 2016.
Harvey felt “immensely proud” when her mother rose to high leadership in the church, including serving as the first Hispanic woman to be president of the United Methodist Council of Bishops from 2020 to 2022. As Bishop Harvey now leads both the Texas and Rio Texas conferences, her daughter doesn’t worry that the job is too stressful or demanding (bear-fighting aside). She knows her mother is a strong person.
“I think I am more protective of her when it comes to criticism and feedback that she receives from people,” Harvey says. “But I don’t worry about her at all when it comes to being able to take care of and handle herself out in the wild.”
Brown was just 15 years old when her mother was elected bishop in the North Central Jurisdiction. She has since learned that her mom — the current resident bishop of the Indiana Conference — smiles a lot because “she is genuinely a happy person” who “loves traveling, loves helping people and loves the church.”
“Sometimes I wonder how she does it, honestly,” Brown says. “Not everybody likes her, which is a surprise, sometimes. She has been in a lot of different situations where she gives everybody grace.”
Even before they were busy bishops, their mothers were busy pastors, say the daughters who agreed to share their stories for Mother’s Day.
Harvey remembers going to the church with her mom on Saturday nights to refashion the flower arrangements left over from funerals or weddings, “so they did not look like funeral or wedding arrangements on Sunday morning.”
Brown recalls that her mother “would ask for my sports schedules or event schedules beforehand, and she would make sure she was at every event.” It was common for Bishop Malone to fly in from a meeting in the morning and attend her daughter’s track meet or basketball game in the afternoon.
Leanndra Padgett Thompson is the daughter of Bishop Debra Wallace-Padgett, who oversees the Holston and West Virginia conferences. Thompson was a child when her mother was a district superintendent. She was in college when Wallace-Padgett was elected as the first female bishop from the Kentucky Conference in 2012.
“She never actively had the goal of being a bishop. Doors just kept opening, and God kept calling her from one place to the next,” Thompson remembers. “I was just so proud of her during the whole process and for being nominated.”
Thompson has observed how “tirelessly” her mother works. Not only does she serve two conferences, Wallace-Padgett also was elected president of the World Methodist Council in 2024. Wallace-Padgett has never let her packed schedule take away from her family, however.
“She’s very good at time management. She puts in a lot of hours and does a lot of juggling in order to prioritize the family,” Thompson says.
As women of faith in the public eye, the bishops have had strong influences on their children’s vocations. Meghan Plambeck is a public interest attorney in San Mateo, California. Her mother is Bishop Lanette Plambeck, leader of the Dakotas and Minnesota conferences, elected bishop in 2022. Meghan says she has watched her mother wrestle with decisions and care for people struggling on the margins her whole life.
“I can’t imagine that I would have the dedication to the public interest without having that growing up,” Meghan Plambeck says of her mother. “She is such a good leader. She really thinks hard about the consequences of decisions — really cares about where people are and really wants to abide by her beliefs in an honest way.”
Alexis Malone Woolery is the oldest daughter of Bishop Malone. She’s also a school psychologist in Columbus, Ohio, just days away from graduating with a doctoral degree in educational studies from Ohio State University. Woolery says her mother’s resiliency drives her research “to make sure Black girls and women know they can reach their full potential and achieve their wildest dreams.” (In 2024, Malone was elected the first Black female president of the United Methodist Council of Bishops.)
“My mother taught me all things are possible with God’s grace,” Woolery said. “She has always instilled in my sister and I that it is possible to be a successful career woman, enjoy life and be a present mother and wife.”
As a teacher in Lexington, Kentucky, Thompson says she never felt she had to choose family over career, either. Her mother showed her “if you work hard enough, you can do both.” Now the mother of a 4-year-old daughter and a 13-year-old stepdaughter, Thompson says she emulates her mom (Bishop Wallace-Padgett) especially in practices of faith and health.
“She really believes in the power of prayer. She really believes in fasting, the disciplines. She always modeled that and taught that to my brother and me,” Thompson says. “She’s a huge walker and walks every day for long distances. … She always helped us to put health and activity as priorities, so I try to use that with my kids as well.”
To celebrate Mother’s Day, the bishops’ children know the best gifts might be the gift of time. Meghan Plambeck recalls that celebrations were always hard to schedule because “Mother’s Day is on a Sunday, and Sunday is aways a workday for her.” This Mother’s Day, mother and daughter are likely to share one of their frequent chats and look forward to a weekend together soon.
For Bishop Wallace-Padgett, “quality time is one of her love languages, for sure,” says her daughter. On May 10, Thompson expects her mother will spend time with her own 90-year-old mother (“she’s the best daughter you’ve ever seen”) as well as her children and their families.
Bishop Malone’s daughters have something special planned this year on Mother’s Day, since the day coincides with Woolery’s graduation and Woolery is the mother of a 1-year-old son. They can’t say what the plans are because it’s a surprise. “It’s a surprise for everybody,” Brown says.
Because Bishop Harvey’s birthday is May 5 and Mother’s Day falls right after, the Harvey family traditionally calls this celebratory week “Cynthia de Mayo.” This year’s plan, says daughter Elizabeth, is taking her mom out to a nice dinner with gifts, maybe a new jacket, and then “force her to be still, which is really hard. We’re going to force the renewal she deserves.”
Elizabeth Harvey knows that people put bishops up on a pedestal, and she understands why. “Sometimes people are like, ‘Oh, Bishop Harvey, it must be so cool to have her as your mom.’ I’m like well, yeah. … At the end of the day, I’m proud of her for being a bishop but she’s just Mom to me.”
Spence is a freelance faith writer based in the Holston Conference in Knoxville, Tennessee.
News media contact: Julie Dwyer at (615) 742-5470 or [email protected]. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free UM News Digest
