Adlyn White

Adlyn White (1929 – 24 January 2017) was a Jamaican educator and Christian minister who was the first woman to be ordained by the United Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. She was also the first woman to head the church, serving as its moderator of synod from 1991 to 1993.

Biography White held degrees from the University of the West Indies and St. John's University, New York, including a Ph.D. in educational administration. She originally worked as a schoolteacher, teaching English, Latin, and religious education at the Morris Knibb Preparatory School in Kingston. She later taught at Public School 118 in Queens, New York, for a brief period. White received her theological training at the United Theological College of the West Indies, and in 1959 became a deaconess in the Presbyterian Church in Jamaica; her denomination merged into the new United Church in 1965. In 1969, she became a lecturer at the Church Teachers' College in Mandeville. She served as the church's Director of Women's Work, and was eventually made vice-principal of the teachers' college. She was acting principal on two occasions (1987–1988 and 1990–1991), and retired in 1995.