Role of Pastor's Wife has Changed Since Ruth Graham's Era
Ruth Graham saw wife's role as a calling
By Rachel Zoll
AP Religion Writer
Mon, Jun. 18 2007

When she agreed to marry Billy Graham, Ruth Bell Graham said she knew her life would "be lost in Bill's." For her generation, the pastor's wife was expected to work solely in service to her husband and his flock. There was no job title, no pay and enormous pressure to be perfect.

Today, ministers' wives are forging a different role, through their own careers or as very public, equal partners with their husbands.

Ruth Graham, whose memorial service is Saturday in Montreat, N.C., was too strong-willed and vibrant to disappear completely behind the world's best-known evangelist. Admirers noted after her death Thursday at age 87 that she became her husband's most trusted adviser. But she still abandoned many of her personal goals for the sake of his ministry.

As women have gained independence in society at large, awareness about what pastors' wives provide the church also has grown. Seminaries have started support and educational programs for the spouses. Web sites and chat rooms for such women have sprung up around the Internet.
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