ENI — Claire Randall, a lay Presbyterian leader and the first woman to serve as general secretary of the US National Council of Churches, is being remembered for her leadership of the council during a turbulent era.
“Looking back on those days, it is especially obvious that her leadership skills and clear vision were those of a woman chosen by God 'for a time such as this,'” said Rev. Michael E. Livingston, the current president of the US council, after the announcement of Randall's death, at the age of 91, in September.
She served as the NCC's general secretary from 1974 to 1984. In her last years at the council, Randall faced a controversy involving a broadcast by the CBS news program 60 Minutes and later in The Reader's Digest over allegations that the NCC and the World Council of Churches were committed to leftist political agendas.
She was the fourth general secretary of the NCC.
