A liberal religious voice in the Central
Valley since 1953.
Minister Rev. Grace H. Simons came to us from Los Alamos,
New Mexico in 2001. She holds both a B.A. and teaching credential
from UC Berkeley and a Master's of Divinity from Starr King School
for the Ministry. In 1967 she and her husband were Peace Corps
Volunteers in Nigeria. Rev. Grace has
her own section,
with a longer biography, monthly newsletter article and sermons.
E-mail:
DRE
Paul Martin is our Director of Religious Education. Paul has been a
member of the UUF of SC since 2001, and has been involved with
Children and Youth Religious Education since 2002. Paul grew up in
Stanislaus County, and is currently raising his family in Turlock. He
has an AS in Biology from Modesto Junior College, and a BS in
Environmental Science from Humboldt State University.
Paul’s experience with children has been as a naturalist at an outdoor
school, after school program leader, camp recreation leader, baseball
coach, soccer coach and swim instructor. He has taught numerous Religious
Education classes at our Fellowship. Paul has been a health inspector,
farmer and forester. He enjoys canoeing, hiking, swimming, bike riding,
the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and goofing around with his family.
He writes: "As Director of Religious Education, my goal is to teach
lessons that build confidence, independent thinking, respect for others,
and respect for the Earth."
E-mail:
Administrator
Tracy Cramer is our Church Administrator and Bookkeeper.
She in the office Monday through Thursday.
When she is not in the office, Tracy is an avid - and accomplished -
ballroom dancer. She joined the UUF of SC staff in January 2004. Although
she had an extensive background in Office Management, she wanted to
reduce her hours when her kids were young, to be more available during
their off school hours. She then became actively involved in the
elementary schools, working with at-risk children, and supervising the
Cafeteria and recesses. This led to adult leadership roles; 13 years
in Boy Scouts, youth bowling, baseball coaching, and PTA President.
Once the kids were grown and off on their own, back to work full time
wasn’t an option, as it would limit her trips to Oregon to visit her
daughter and grandkids. The UUF of SC job was perfect.
Presently Tracy shares her time with her husband, Bruce, three grown
children, three grandchildren, and her four-legged "babies".
E-mail:
Music Director
Bernadette Burns founded the choir in 1993. She has directed it since
then, with a break for a few years for family leave. She is an accomplished
vocalist and songwriter. Her compositions have been sung in several UU
congregations. In addition to conducting the choir, she occasionally leads
worship services using music, songs and chants to illustrate seasonal metaphors
and teach ancient stories from some of our ancestors. She views her work as a
music ministry and strives to deepen the congregation's experience of the
spiritual through music.
(That doesn't keep her from dressing up in period costumes every once in a while.)
E-mail:
Pianist
Elizabeth Coard has been with us since 2006. She has played since childhood
and graduated with honors in music.
She has held positions as a church pianist, organist, and Music Director
beginning in 1970. She also teaches piano and
her students are guest performers during the year.
She has played as accompanist for the Townsend Opera Players,
Modesto Performing Arts, the Modesto Symphony, and our choir. She is a
gourmet cook and loves horses.
E-mail:
Elizabeth's web site: www.modpiano.com
President
David Tucker has been a Unitarian (and, since the merger, a Unitarian Universalist) for
over 50 years. He has been a member of UUFSC since 2001. It's where he met his wife,
Linda Lagace. David has previously been a member
of UU Churches in San Mateo, Walnut Creek, and Grass Valley. At each of these churches
he served in financial administration. For the last several years, David has served as
co-chairman of UUFSC's annual pledge canvass drive.
Two years ago, David retired as the City Engineer of Merced,
but continues to work part time as the City's Project Engineer for Merced's
upgrade and expansion of the Gove Road Wastewater Treatment Plant. He has a Master's
Degree in Civil Engineering from Stanford University. He worked as an engineer for over
30 years in the private sector and over 20 years in the public sector.
David has served on the Stanislaus County Civil Grand Jury and is Treasurer of the Central
Valley Democratic Club. He's a member of the Stanislaus County Democratic Central Committee,
Stanislaus Skeptics and the Modesto Peace/Life Center.
E-mail:
Web Master
Ted Pack has plain but regular features and a rapier wit. He graduated
from UC Berlekey and spent two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer
in Sarawak, on the island of Borneo. The rest of his life was rather dull.
He has been a member of the UUF of SC since 1974. and web master since 1999.
He enjoys being the web master and chief pundit for a non-prophet organization.
(Sometimes after he answers a question it takes two or three seconds to realize
he's ... punned it.)
Once in a while he speaks on a Sunday. You can read about his
adventures as a UU Web Master
or see other talks he has written on our
Guest Sermons page.
E-mail:
Groups
These are people who coordinate specific interests.
Sharon Arpoika manages the e-mail distribution list for people
interested in UUA and PCD affairs. She forwards messages from the UUA and
PCD to everyone on the list.
E-mail:
Bob Santos manages information that will appear in the "In FocUUs"
Newsletter relevant to the task force on homelessness.
E-mail:
Members
To give you an idea of what we are like, we asked all of our members
to describe themselves in a few lines. We asked for things they had
done that they were proud of and reflected the teachings of our faith.
Not all of them answered.
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Stanislaus County
2172 Kiernan Avenue
Modesto, California
(209) 545-1837
We have no mail service on Kiernan;
please use:
PO Box 1000
Salida, CA 95368
Web
This Site
(Be sure to click the Site radio button to search our site.)
We are a liberal church and the only UU congregation in Stanislaus county.
We serve Ceres, Denair, Escalon, Hickman, Hughson, Keyes, Manteca, Modesto,
Oakdale, Patterson, Ripon, Riverbank, Salida, Turlock and Waterford.
We welcome people, be they Agnostic, Atheist, Buddhist, Christian, Deist, Free-thinker,
Humanist, Jew, Pagan, Theist, Wiccan, or those who seek their own spiritual
path. We welcome people without regard to race, physical ability, ethnicity or
sexual orientation.
Visits since 17 Apr 1999.
We updated this page 24 Jun 2010