Pulkingham, Betty Jane

Composer

(neé Carr), b Burlington, N Carolina, USA 1928. Univ of N Carolina Women’s Coll (graduated BS in music) and the Eastman Sch of Music; she then taught music theory at the Univ of Texas. With husband Graham (Rector since the 1960s of the Ch of the Redeemer, Houston, Texas) and several of that congregation, she was in England 1972–85, initially in Coventry since their contact had been with its Bp Cuthbert Bardsley. As a team they became pioneers of charismatic church life in Britain as in the USA, with their musical expression including the Fisherfolk. The Community of Celebration Trust was set up in 1973. With Jeanne Harper, Betty co-edited Sound of Living Waters, Fresh Sounds and Cry Hosanna (1974, 1978, 1980), which include many of her songs and arrangements; her own music had a blend of liturgy, folk and newer charismatic elements. After many travels and now a widow, in 1993 she returned to her home town of Burlington, and remarried (to Herbert Wendell) in 1996. No.78*.