BISHOP CAROLYN TYLER-GUIDRY biography

I will be doing a series of biographies on several women pastors as I continue to pick up interviews from other women clergy.

As the second female bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, Bishop Carolyn Tyler-Guidry was the first female appointed to be a presiding elder in the Fifth Episcopal District which includes California. She started Bible School in Los Angeles in 1977, followed by her pastor-ship of the First AME Church in Indio, California. After instituting some creative programs there, Tyler-Guidry moved on to pastor another church, Cain Memorial AME Church in Bakersfield, where she remained for five years.

Coming to Los Angeles in 1989, Tyler-Guidry was appointed to pastor the Walker Temple AME Church, a major metropolitan church with about 600 members. Her performance was so extraordinary that five years later, she became the first female appointed to presiding elder in the Fifth Episcopal District - a milestone.
Throughout the years that she pastored the above-mentioned churches, Tyler-Guidry used the skills she had acquired in Business and Secretarial Science at J.P. Campbell College in Jackson, Mississippi, her hometown, where she earned her AA degree and she later studied economics at Tougaloo College, a liberal arts institution also in Jackson, Mississippi. She had also worked for the NAACP and chaired the women's voter registration in Jackson. In addition, Tyler-Guidry's 12 years at Security Pacific Bank in California added to her wealth of experience that she used skillfully during her various stints as pastor.

Tyler-Guidry went on to become the second female bishop elected in the A.M.E. Church in July 2004 about the same time she received her master's of theology from Fuller Theological Seminary. With her election as a bishop, she is designated one of the AME's Episcopal district worldwide; her first district was the 16th Episcopal district which consisted of Cuba; the Dominican Republic; Haiti; Jamaica; London, England; Suriname, Guyana; the Virgin Islands; and the Windward Islands.
At the 48th Quadrennial Session of the AME General Conference in July 2008, Tyler-Guidry presided over the Business Session XIV. One of the items on the agenda during the sessions, held every four years, is the assignments of the bishops to the various AME districts worldwide. After the 16th district, the Right Reverend (her official title) Carolyn Tyler-Guidry was assigned as the presiding prelate of the 8th district. That district included Louisiana and Mississippi, her home state and she stated that she was pleased to extend greetings to all who visit this site and I must say that I am truly excited to have the opportunity to serve as the Presiding Prelate of the Eighth Episcopal District for this 2008- 2012 Quadrennial.

Despite the rigorous schedule her administrative and pastoral duties as a presiding prelate entailed, Tyler-Guidry always found the time to conduct invocations, served on numerous boards and other community activities outside of the church. And though her official duties often make her relocate to different districts within the AME church structure, Tyler-Guidry calls Southern California her home. She is the mother of six children and the grandmother of twelve.