Tricia Hanson grew up in Minnesota in a religious Catholic household. She describes Sunday church as a religion in itself and a Catholic grade school for two years. But as she came of age in the 1970s she began to explore other faiths after seeing how issues like prohibitions on contraception and the divorce of…
After seven years of traveling with the military, Lisa’s father entered civilian life with the Bureau of Land Management in Idaho. There were good things about Idaho, especially skiing every weekend during the winter. The school system was pretty good too, something that was brought home after a short sojourn in Nebraska at a school…
Deborah Bonsack grew up in upstate New York. Deborah’s father was an inveterate camper and her family and five or so other families would tent camp every weekend from last to first snowfall and for all vacations. There was no electricity but lots of singing around the campfire and her father would preach on Sundays. …
Initially Rachel Vanarsdall believed that her family didn’t attend church because her parents were English. It took a while to conclude there was simply no interest. An aunt in Bethesda who attended Cedar Lane UUC irregularly may have been the seed that set the Vanarsdalls on their UU journey. After college with a degree in…
Stephanie McConachie grew up in two different cultural worlds. The first was a close-knit Ukrainian community in Minneapolis. Her other community was her public school. She sang in the church choir, performed in a Ukrainian dance group and mandolin orchestra, was into school governance, and acted in most of the high school plays. She met…
The best thing about Sherry Sanborne’s childhood Episcopal Church was the pageantry. There was good ritual and lovely stained glass. Christmas was especially good that way with the addition of evergreens in the sanctuary. That feeling didn’t survive going off to college and for most of her twenties she didn’t attend church except when visiting…
If you talk to Karen McManus, you will hear a wealth of stories of many different lives. She grew up in Alaska and lived there until she was 27. She was a special ed teacher, a job that requires lots of heart and patience. Karen was a mother of five, three of her own and…
Ryan Smith grew up in the DC area and except for college at Purdue University and a six-month adventure finding himself in San Francisco he’s lived here since. Do ask Ryan about San Francisco and the return to Virginia you’ll enjoy the story as much as you’ll enjoy Ryan telling it. Enjoyment of life is…
Jo Dees grew up Roman Catholic; and while her parents are able to reconcile their liberal values with that strict doctrine, the more Jo learned, the less she could do so. After college, grad school, and working at an LBGT organization where she identified as an “ally,” she finally began to acknowledge she was attracted…
Jiwon Kim and her family came to the United States from South Korea when she was seventeen. In her own words, she was “bright eyed and bushy-tailed” and ready for an adventure. She studied Spanish literature in college and eventually found a job with the National Library of Medicine from which she recently retired. She…