Order Commission and then its Commission on Regional and Local Ecumenism. Powers's local and global work drew attention, particularly within her denomination. In 1972, Powers became the first woman to be nominated for the office of a bishop in The United Methodist Church. She declined this honor in both 1972 and 1976, explaining in 1995 that she did not want to live "under a magnifying glass" as a not yet out lesbian woman. Powers's activism within the church included volunteering with The United Methodist Commission on the Status and Role of Women and the Reconciling Ministries Movement, a network of roughly 100 United Methodist churches that welcome openly gay and lesbian people. In 1995, the year prior to her retirement, Powers came out as a lesbian during a sermon she delivered at the national gathering of the Reconciling Ministries Movement, making her the highest-ranking out LGBTQ United Methodist official at the time. In her sermon, she argued that "the whole Christian church is vocationally called to be subversive." Given The United Methodist Church's non-affirming stance, controversy ensued. The board of directors of a conservative UMC group, Good News, called for disciplinary action to be taken by the UMC against Powers, arguing that her coming out sermon constituted a violation of the UMC's Book of Discipline. Upon discussion with UMC executives, Powers released a statement in 1996 indicating her intention to limit her public speaking on LGBTQ+ matters, due to the belief of her colleagues that "it is now difficult to separate my personal statements from those I may make as associate general secretary of the commission." Powers advocated for the election of Karen Oliveto, the first openly lesbian bishop in The United Methodist Church, who was elected as a bishop in 2016. Powers donated a founding gift to the Claremont School of Theology's Center for Sexuality, Gender, and Religion. Death Powers spent the last 15 years of her life as an activist resident of Pilgrim Place in Claremont, California. She died on September 29, 2017 at the age of 85 while traveling in Switzerland with friends. She was buried in her hometown of Makato, where her tombstone reads, "Subversive to the end." References 1932 births 2017 deaths American United Methodists People from Mankato, Minnesota