Revd M. Addie Aylestock, the first woman ever to be ordained by the British Methodist Episcopal Church (BME), was born in September 1909 in the village of Glen Allan, near Elmira, in Ontario, Canada. After leaving elementary school, she worked for some time as a domestic while attending Toronto’s Central Technical School in the evenings. She later enrolled at the Toronto Bible College, from which she graduated in 1945. Following many years of service as a deaconess in such cities as Halifax, Montreal and Toronto, she was ordained in 1951 and assigned to the BME Church in North Buxton. Aylestock devoted most of her life to community service throughout southern Ontario and became a most influential and effective religious administrator in that region. She has served as a wonderful source of inspiration to several generations of black Canadian women.
AYLESTOCK, Addie
