Rev. James Waugh ’71 and Carol Carpenter Waugh ’71 pose next to a poster-sized photograph of the couple, taken when they worked at Camp Otterbein as students.
When and reflect on their journeys, their stories may seem very different at first glance. Rev. James Waugh ’71 spent his career in ministry, offering support to families navigating difficult conversations around faith and identity. Carol Carpenter Waugh ’71 traveled across the world to Sierra Leone as a student teacher, shaping her views on education, culture, and community. But together, the Otterbein alumni couple share a deep commitment to people, inclusion, and living out their values.
James and Carol met at Otterbein when it was a school known for educating “teachers and preachers,” married shortly after graduation in June 1971, and raised two daughters. Perhaps just as important as finding each other, they both found their paths to servant leadership at Otterbein.
In 1971, Carol’s life journey took her across the world to Sierra Leone, where she and a group of education majors studied under Professor Chester Addington. She lived with local college students, taught third grade at an experimental school, and navigated cultural differences that left a lasting mark.
Carol stands with a group of fellow Otterbein students traveling to Sierra Leone in January 1971.
“That experience really opened my eyes to cultural awareness,” Carol said. “It made me more open to differences and more thoughtful about how I approached others.”
Her research project focused on the country’s reliance on high stakes testing, an approach she criticized at the time and now sees mirrored in American classrooms. “They taught the test, and it wasn’t really educating the children,” she explained. “Now, here we are in the U.S. doing the same thing.”
Students in the classroom where Carol taught in Sierra Leone, 1971.
Carol stands between two friends she made in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
James was called by God to serve as a United Methodist pastor. He served two student appointments in seminary and six appointments after graduation from United Theological Seminary in Dayton, OH.
Now a retired United Methodist pastor, James has dedicated his post-retirement years to supporting LGBTQ+ individuals and their families. After stepping away from the pulpit in 2013, he began offering sessions for parents and loved ones whose children had come out. Before the pandemic, those sessions happened in person across the Columbus area, often with just a handful of attendees.
“I always say that whoever shows up are the folks who need to be there,” James said. Since COVID, the meetings have moved online, continuing to provide a safe, listening space.
The couple agree that their faith has been a guide in their journeys. For Carol, it is about love, listening, and understanding differences. For James, it is about grace. “God’s grace is much broader and wider than most of us want to think,” James said. “We may think it is for people like us, but God loves us all. That is what Jesus came to show and live and that has informed my life and my work.”
Even as their careers took different directions — James in ministry and advocacy, Carol in education and public service — the Waugh’s have always found ways to stay connected to the community.
James wears a rainbow stole, which signifies his work with families of LGBTQ+ children in the When Kids Come Out group, as well as his support for LGBTQ+ residents and allies in the Otterbein SeniorLife Community in Lebanon.
For Carol, that meant lifelong friendships with their fellow Otterbein students. She and seven of her classmates began writing Round Robin letters after graduation in 1971. That tradition has evolved into biweekly Zoom calls. “It has been 54 years since graduation, and we still stay in touch,” she said.
Today, the Waugh’s call the Otterbein Lebanon Senior Life Community home, where James continues his advocacy and is forming a new LGBTQ+ support group.
Their shared story, one of faith, openness, and lasting relationships, is rooted in the values they first lived at Otterbein.
James and Carol pose for a recent photo.
