2000 - Reverend Ruth Patterson

Reverend Ruth Patterson was the first woman to be ordained a minister of the Presbyterian Church of Ireland.

Ruth Patterson graduated BA in Spanish and Politics in 1965 and with a Diploma in Social Work in 1966 from Queen's University, Belfast.

After graduating in 1968 with a Master's Degree in Social Work from the University of Toronto, Canada, she returned to Ireland to work as Assistant Presbyterian Chaplain at Queen's University.

In 1974 Ruth Patterson graduated BD in Ecclesiastical History with First Class Honours from the University of Edinburgh. Two years later she was the first woman to be ordained a minister of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.

In 1991 she became Director of the Restoration Ministries, a non-denominational charitable trust at the forefront of promoting peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland.