Obituary

Rev. Dr. Jerrolyn S. Eulinberg was born July 26, 1959 in Cleveland, Ohio to Mary Vernita Eulinberg.  She spent her formative years in St. Paul, MN and came of age in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Jerrolyn was a bright light and a warm person with an inquisitive mind and a feisty spirit.  After graduating from Booker T. Washington High School in 1977, she obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Oklahoma State University in 1982.

Working in sales for TLC Insurance was her first job.  While working there she broke sales records which lead to her winning numerous awards and company trips.  Jerrolyn started a new career in the banking industry, where she became a personal banker.  Learning the business lead to her eventually becoming a Bank President at Bank of America.

As she continued her life’s journey, Jerrolyn discerned the call of the Lord on her life.  Accepting that call she matriculated at Brite Divinity School, Texas Christian University earning her Master of Divinity.  Uniting with Baker African Methodist Episcopal Church under the leadership of Rev. Walter McDonald, Jerrolyn became a licensed and ordained Elder.

In 2019, Jerrolyn fulfilled her dream of earning the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) concentrating in Theology, Ethics, and the Human Science—sociology of religion from Chicago Theological Seminary.  As a Womanist Scholar, a public theologian, and an ordained iterant elder in the African American Episcopal Church, Dr. Eulinberg served on the ministerial staff of Greater Institutional AME Church in Chicago, Illinois under the pastoral Leadership of Rev. Dr. Walter B. Johnson, Jr. During this time, she served the 4th Episcopal District Women in Ministry.

Dr. Eulinberg was the director of the MICAH Institute for the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference (SDPC) from 2018-2020. Thereafter, she published with Cascade Press a subsidiary of Wipf and Stock publishers A Lynched Black Wall Street: A Womanist Perspective on Terrorism, Religion, and Black Resilience of the 1921 Tulsa Massacre. This book is the first of its kind to link black resilience to womanist theology in the narration of black people’s struggle against this nation’s historical violence.

Dr. Eulinberg’s civic engagement includes membership in Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and the American Academy of Religion. She lectured in seminaries and universities across the nation. Her social justice advocacy includes administering a grant to aid marginalized families obtain over $1 million in C.A.R.E.S. Act funding to assist with mortgage, rent, and utility subsidies during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr. Eulinberg was preceded in death by her mother Vernita.

She leaves behind her daughter Meyon Ward (Tulsa, OK), granddaughter, Shatia Stephens (San Marcos, TX), sister, Wendy Fontenot (Euless, TX) nephew, Jadon Fontenot (Euless, TX), aunt and uncle Hester and Dr. Lowery Johnson (Minneapolis, MN) and a host of cousins, friends, colleagues and loved ones.