Helen Gray Crotwell, who decided to work in the church, obtained a master's degree at Emory University, the second-oldest private institution of higher education in Georgia, and landed a job in campus ministry at Winthrop College.
After leaving Lisle, Crotwell decided to pursue work in the church. Because the Methodist churches did not ordain women at the time, Crotwell obtained a master's degree in religious education from the Candler School of Theology at Emory University. Emory is the second-oldest private institution of higher education in Georgia and among the 50 oldest private universities in the United States. Upon her graduation from Candler, Crotwell secured a job working in campus ministry in Rock Hill, South Carolina at Winthrop College, at the time a women's college and now the coeducational Winthrop University. 
