Helen Gray Crotwell, who decided to work in the church, obtained a master's degree at Emory University, was ordained by the Catholic Church, and landed a job in campus ministry at Winthrop College.
In 1973, Crotwell was ordained as a deacon in the United Methodist Church at a time when over ninety percent of the ministers in the North Carolina Conference were men. In 1994, Crotwell retired from the North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church. 
