Jeffrey grew up in Takoma Park and has lived there most of his life. His mother is Presbyterian and his father is Catholic. For most of his early years, his family attended Takoma Park Presbyterian Church for services and Sunday school. When the time for First Communion approached, his father wanted him and his siblings…
Ann Walk is not your typical UUCSS member. She lives in Michigan and has never lived in Maryland. An invitation from childhood friend Deborah Thornton to attend an online service led to a realization that we are her tribe. Since then, she has been a resolute attender and even helped with a church cleanup when…
Fred Teal grew up attending a Southern Presbyterian church in Washington DC. Beliefs were very rigid there as well as in his home. The church was not a source of comfort and acceptance. He graduated from the University of Maryland with a liberal arts degree and was drafted into the US Army in the fall…
Deborah Sorensen grew up in Texas and was highly involved in her local Methodist Church. It had a personable pastor with a fine sense of humor and a good youth group. That changed when the family moved to a rural location that did not have the same sense of home. After moving out of the family home she became more interested in…
Jan Kretz grew up French Catholic in Haverhill, Massachusetts surrounded by her 62 first cousins. She studied nursing at Fitchburg State College and was working at a local hospital when fate, in the form of an Army recruiter, came for her. He stopped by for her roommate, and he ended up with two recruits! Jan…
“I was born in Eastman, Georgia, a small Southern town south of Atlanta during the latter part of the Great Depression. FDR was President and the primary agenda of his New Deal was to lift the country out of poverty. Jim Crow was the law of the land. I was the eldest of three, and…
Kathryn Leete loved her childhood Presbyterian church. It was folding-chair small, friendly, and welcoming with a young hip minister. There was less impetus to attend church in college. Living on her own after college and looking for a church she tried the local Presbyterians and found them unwelcoming. A friend suggested UUism and it seemed…
Dina Raley never quite fit in the Catholic church of her upbringing. It had always seemed forced, superficial, and unwelcoming. Most other churches seemed no different and so there was no attraction to religion. What changed was a realization that a church could provide community and be an outlet for social justice activism. She then…
Teresa Meeks was brought up in a pretty conservative Protestant church in Falls Church. She stayed with it until a close friend was fired by the church for being gay. After that, she was only interested in communities that supported LGBT members and staff. Her journey began with Arlington UUC and then Paint Branch where she met her future husband Fred Teal.…
Margo Kelly grew up in an Irish Catholic family but the religious part did not quite fit. While she liked the rituals, she did not like the patriarchy or the church’s stance on many social issues. For a time, she found the folk services at National Cathedral filled some of the gaps, but found the…