In front of a gathering of family, friends and colleagues, Mary Hughes Gaudreau, a consultant with the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), was honored as the PTS Outstanding Alumna at the Oklahoma United Methodist Church annual conference.

A 1998 graduate of PTS with a Master of Divinity, Gaudreau received the award at the PTS Alumni/ae luncheon during Annual Conference on Wednesday, June 2 at Boston Avenue United Methodist Church in downtown Tulsa.

As an ordained United Methodist Deacon and Licensed Professional Counselor based in Oklahoma, her ministry focus is primarily in the areas of disaster spiritual and emotional care and congregational crisis intervention.

Mary has worked with survivors and congregations affected by disasters in and beyond Oklahoma, including the 1995 Oklahoma City Murrah Building bombing, the 1999 and 2003 Oklahoma tornado outbreaks, Atlantic and Gulf Coast hurricanes and numerous other disasters.

A frequent presenter at conferences, events and trainings, Mary is the designer of a number of

disaster spiritual and emotional care trainings and travels, on average, to more than a dozen states every year. She is inspired by the testimony, faith and resilience of disaster survivors and others affected by great challenge.

Mary provides leadership in several state and national committees that determine best practices in offering spiritual and emotional care following disasters. As current chairperson of the Emotional and Spiritual Care Committee for National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (National VOAD), she provided leadership as this diverse organization established the Disaster Spiritual Care “Points of Consensus,” minimal standards and ethical principles by which all members of National VOAD agree to abide. She has served as planning committee chairperson for the 2008 and 2010 Church World Service Domestic Disaster Forums, in which national faith-based disaster response leaders gather to discuss challenges and solutions in a rapidly changing field.

Mary graduated magna cum laude from Oklahoma City University with a Bachelor of Arts in religion with emphasis in psychology and sociology. She graduated summa cum laude from PTS in 1998 and received the “United Methodist Award” for her graduating class.

Mary is the daughter of Audell and the late Rev. Clayton Hughes. She lives in Guthrie, Oklahoma, with Jeff, her husband of 28 years, co-parent of their three children. Daniel, 24, lives and works in Tulsa. Stephen, 22 and Lauren, 19, are students at Oklahoma State University. As an ordained deacon in the Oklahoma United Methodist Conference, she is appointed to a supervision board at First United Methodist Church in Guthrie.

Raised in a parsonage family and surrounded by compassionate people of faith, Mary began her professional ministry at the age of 19. Since that time she has worked in local churches, conference ministry and national agency settings. She’s served as a youth minister, hospice chaplain, Christian education director, associate minister, mental health therapist at United Methodist Counseling Services and a disaster response specialist for the Oklahoma United Methodist Conference and the UMCOR.