My name is Neil Alan Willard. I’ve been the Rector of Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church in Houston, Texas, since 2014. In the Episcopal Diocese of Texas, I’ve served twice as a member of the Board of the Episcopal Health Foundation. Previously, I was the Rector of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Edina, Minnesota, for seven years, and Associate Rector at Bruton Parish Church (Episcopal) in Williamsburg, Virginia, for over six years. Before that I lived in South Carolina, serving congregations on Hilton Head Island and in Surfside Beach. I’ve also worked as Bishop’s Clerk for the late Rt. Rev. Peter James Lee of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia in Richmond.

I received my Master of Divinity degree from Yale Divinity School and a Diploma in Anglican Studies from Berkeley Divinity School, both in New Haven, Connecticut. I received my Bachelor of Arts degree, magna cum laude, from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. At Wake Forest, I was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and received the Religion Department’s John Thomas Albritton Award for excellence in biblical studies.

A native of the Old North State, I was baptized and my Christian faith was nurtured in the Moravian Church. It was during my college years that the words of the Book of Common Prayer and a desire to “worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness” drew me into the sacramental life of the Episcopal Church. They continue to do so even now in my ordained ministry as a presbyter — elder, priest, or pastor — within this corner of Christ’s vineyard.

My wife and I live in West University Place. She’s my best friend and also a wonderful mother to our two teenagers in high school. We also have three rescue dogs and one black cat that showed up at the Rectory door at the beginning of the pandemic on Easter Monday.

Finally, a last bit of trivia: My father-in-law is an Episcopal priest here in Houston, my sister-in-law’s husband is an Episcopal priest in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and my brother-in-law is an Episcopal priest in San Diego, California (by way of Dallas, Texas, Kapolei, Hawaii, and Wasilla, Alaska). No kidding.