Bishop Aretha Morton will be Honored on Sunday, July 24 at 3:30 p.m. with a Ceremonial Street Renaming Event
Washington Street, between 5th and 6th Streets, will be renamed “Bishop Aretha E. Morton Way” to honor the Preacher, Pastor, Chaplain and Community Leader
Bishop Aretha E. Morton, the first female pastor of a Baptist church in Delaware, Wilmington’s first female and African-American Fire Department Chaplain and noted community leader will receive an extraordinary honor on Sunday. Wilmington Mayor Dennis P. Williams, City Council President Theo Gregory and Council Member At-Large Justen Wright will join a host of public officials and community members to honor Bishop Morton by ceremonially renaming a City street in her honor.
Sunday’s event will begin at 3:30 p.m. at the corner of 5th and Washington Streets in the City’s Quaker Hill community which is the location of the Tabernacle Full Gospel Baptist Cathedral where Bishop Morton has served as pastor for the past 33 years.
Mayor Williams, with the encouragement of Council President Gregory and Council Member Wright, signed an Executive Order in May directing that a block-long portion of Washington Street, between 5th and 6th Streets, be renamed “Bishop Aretha E. Morton Way.”
Bishop Morton, who has been preaching the Gospel for 57 years, is a nationally-recognized trailblazer for women in the ministry. She is widely respected in Wilmington and nationally and from whom generations of Wilmingtonians and others have sought spiritual guidance as well as her wisdom and counsel on a variety of important community issues. Bishop Morton currently serves on the College of Bishops as the Delaware State Bishop for the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship International, which consists of 2,500 churches and more than one million congregants.
(Photo of Bishop Aretha Morton and her son Reverend Donald Morton courtesy Kyle Grantham/The News Journal)For more information about this news release, contact:
Alexandra M. Coppadge
Communications Director
Office of Mayor Dennis P. Williams
Phone: (302) 576-2104
Mobile: (302) 740-0675
Email: amcoppadge@WilmingtonDE.gov
John Rago
Communications and Policy Development Director
Wilmington City Council
Phone: (302) 576-2149
Mobile: (302) 420-7928
Email: jrago@WilmingtonDE.gov