Pastor Norman Tippens, Sr. Pastor
Norman G. Tippens Jr. has served as local pastor and then elder in the Virginia Conference of the United Methodist Church since 1986. He completed 10 years of service as pastor of Wallace Memorial UMC, a small church in Hampton, before coming to serve Trinity UMC in July, 2010. During his stay in Hampton, he was also a guest religion columnist for the Daily Press, the newspaper serving the Virginia Peninsula.
He and Nancy have been married 36 years. They are both from Roanoke Rapids, N.C. They have two children, Trey, age 30, and Mary, age 27.
Nancy worked for the City of Hampton for 13 years as a Family Support Worker with the Healthy Families Partnership. In her work, she visited in homes of families with children that were at risk of being abused and/or neglected. She taught parenting skills and performed developmental testing on the children. In her work, she dealt with problems in the family such as addiction, domestic violence, poverty, incarceration and abuse.
Their son, Norman “Trey” Tippens III, graduated from the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology on June, 2010, with a master’s degree. He is working on a doctoral degree at the school in Boston. Trey previously graduated from Virginia Wesleyan University after serving three years in the Army.
Mary is married to Hampton-native Cole Holtzclaw. She is attending Riverside School of Health Careers, studying radiologic technology. She will graduate in April 2011. Cole started a construction business after high school that he continues to run.
Rev. Tippens earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Lynchburg College before earning a Master’s of Divinity degree from Duke Divinity School. He served three years in the Army after high school and then returned home and was the sport writer for the Roanoke Rapids “Daily Herald” for five years before pursuing his call to ordained ministry. He has served appointments in Amherst County, Lunenburg County, the Town of Kenbridge, and Aldersgate UMC in Hampton, before serving Wallace Memorial. He celebrated his 60th birthday on March 7, 2010, while on a cruise with Nancy (who is younger!).
Note: On July 1, 2012, Sarah Payne became the new director of Trinity UMC’s Crossroads ministry to students at Washington & Lee University and Virginia Military Institute. We will be adding a photo and biography of Sarah soon.
