We’ve been welcoming new members to our church community. The June, July and August newsletters will feature bios from our new members so our community can read and welcome these wonderful people to WUUC.
This newsletter will feature bios from Mark Rainey, Karen and John Somerville, and Becka Cormier. The June Newsletter featured bios from Alexis Green, Carol Zumbrunnen and Dave Tauscheck, Andy Rosen and Elizabeth Gray. The August Newseltter will feature bios from Ryn and Drew Romanyk (and Alina), Rae Shepherd, and Annette and Dale Lowey. If you don’t want to wait for future editions you can see everyones bio at this linked document.
Mark Rainey
Mark is a retiree and drum fanatic. He has been going through some big life changes, and when friendship and circumstances led him to WUUC, he decided having a spiritual community was a good idea. Mark especially appreciates the values of UU, which are very close to his personal values. Thank you for welcoming Mark into the community.
Karen and John Somerville
John and Karen moved to Woodinville in 2019 after 41 years in Connecticut. Growing up in a military family, John moved often until his family settled in the Hartford area when he was twelve. Karen was born and raised in Seattle. They met “over the phone” while both worked for a major insurance company. After raising their two daughters in Connecticut, one daughter moved to the Pacific Northwest and the other to North Carolina, so they decided it was time to return to Karen’s home region. In addition to their daughters and sons-in-laws they have two grandchildren nearby and three in North Carolina.
John likes sports and reading American history books influenced by where he has lived. Karen likes needlework and spending time with her grandkids. They had intended to find a church community when they moved to the area, but it was put on the back burner when COVID arrived. They are very happy to have found that community at WUUC.
Becka Cormier
Originally from Montana, Becka moved to Washington in 1999. She and her husband, Jake, moved to Woodinville in 2001. After raising and homeschooling her daughter, she is now working from her home studio as a figurative artist and sculptor.
Becka was a member of WUUC from 2000 until 2011. She helped build the church when she was pregnant with her daughter, Amelie.
Casually brought up in the Methodist church, after college Becka became a Wiccan. She was initially drawn to the UU church in search of other pagans. Once at WUUC, her beliefs slowly changed and she left Wicca behind. In 2011, she realized she was an atheist and left the church.
Even though she had just left the church, the community of WUUC helped her get through a brain surgery to remove a benign bone tumor between her left eye and her brain. She is forever grateful for their support.
Becka came back to check out WUUC at the request of her now-adult daughter in August of 2024. She participated in some small groups and the women’s retreat and realized she loves the community here. Still an atheist, she feels like she is at home once again at WUUC. She’s happy to be here.
We’ve been welcoming new members to our church community. The June, July and August newsletters will feature bios from our new members so our community can read and welcome these wonderful people to WUUC.
This newsletter will feature bios from Alexis Green, Carol Zumbrunnen and Dave Tauscheck, Andy Rosen and Elizabeth Gray. The July Newsletter will feature bios from Mark Rainey, Karen and John Somerville, and Becka Cormier. The August Newseltter will feature bios from Ryn and Drew Romanyk (and Alina), Rae Shepherd, and Annette and Dale Lowey. If you don’t want to wait for future editions you can see everyone bio at this linked document.
Alexis Green
Before moving to Washington in 2018, she lived in several different parts of the country, including upstate New York, Baltimore, Texas, and Portland. Music is what first drew me to this church, and you’ll often find her playing flute or singing in the choir. She works in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), enjoys the outdoors, and has two cats. She is so grateful to have found this wonderful community!
Carol Zumbrunnen and Dave Tauscheck
Carol and Dave both grew up in the Midwest, Dave in southern Minnesota, Carol in South Dakota and Minnesota. They have been Unitarians for over 35 years, and were married at Eastshore UU almost 35 years ago. They had left their Lutheran and Catholic upbringings years before.
Dave is a retired English and Social Studies teacher, Carol is a retired school counselor from the Renton School District. They enjoyed skiing or bicycling regularly when they were younger. Now they attend the Seattle Symphony regularly, walk, and participate in activities at their senior co-op in Bellevue. They have three adult children and seven grandchildren, all living in the area.
Andy Rosen
Andy’s witchy story keeps changing. When he moved to this neighborhood in 1996 with his Pagan high-priestess wife Marjorie, five‑year old son William, and his son’s aunt Shelley, Andy was pursuing a plan to inject Hollywood sensibilities into the Redmond software industry. Andy says if you want to hear the goddess laughing, you make a plan. Just eight years later, Marjorie had passed away, and all the household covens broke up.
Today Andy and Teri are a happy couple celebrating a multi-creed homestead that includes our friend Sonia Hoglander. Even though Sonia keeps her separate spaces and beliefs, the whole house appreciates the open‑minded and big‑hearted energy of the WUUC congregation that she introduced us to.
Elizabeth Gray
Elizabeth is a Seattle native who moved to Woodinville to live with her husband and wonderful stepsons. She is a lifelong bodyworker, has been a therapist, and has worked in hospice. Elizabeth loves to hike, sing well in the shower, and is refinding herself as a poet. She has been a Buddhist for 20 years; was raised Catholic, and practiced as a solo Wiccan growing up. Elizabeth was drawn to WUUC for the social justice opportunities, such as the Faith Action Network, and she has stayed for the warmth, community, wisdom, and friendship.
Your Grab & Go Kit can be a starter kit for home; add to it to be 2 weeks ready at home.
When a large disaster happens, it may take two weeks for resources to help us. You may be on your own! The following items are for your consideration and situation.
Food: If you have food allergies, plan ahead. The food distributed in emergencies is all prepacked.
Cooking: Camp stoves, barbeques, meals ready to eat ( MREs), dry and canned goods
Medications: Have an extra one month supply on hand
Water; I gallon per person per day (14 gallons) recommended. Water may be available early on.
Lighting: Flashlights and batteries, Camp lanterns, Light sticks, Solar lights
Pets: Pet food, medications
Sanitation: Plastic Bags, small buckets or trash cans, extra toilet paper
Shelter: Tent or waterproof tarp, sleeping bags/ blankets/pillows, Rain gear, Alternate shelter- van camper, RV
Food Safety; See this months church handout for details or choose the link at the bottom
Many of you had questions about next steps for emergencies and disaster following Michael Ervick’s sermon on Sunday, September 21.
We would like to suggest the following steps you can take.
Add your name to a signup list expressing interest in disaster training workshops. We will begin offering these hands on activities this fall.
Learn who your WUUC neighbors are. As a regular participant in WUUC activities you are in a “My People” group based on your address and geographic location. This information can be found in Realm, our church database. Log into e.onrealm.org, choose groups, then my groups, then My People…, chose the participants tab ( this will be list of who is in your group) and then map. You should see a google map with those WUUC members who live in your vicinity. If you don’t remember your password, realm will send a reset option. If you don’t know what email you provided us when you first attended or don’t have a realm account contact Marcia Sprang, msprang@wuuc.org, or talk with someone from membership and we will get you connected.
We welcomed multiple new members to our church recently. The May & June newsletter will both feature bios from our new members so our community can read and welcome these wonderful people to our community at WUUC.
Alison Sattler
Alison Sattler is a Seattle-area native who grew up in Queen Anne and Lake Forest Park. She currently resides in Lynnwood with her husband Andrew, whom she met through the Cascade Bike Club. She currently volunteers to help immigrants and refugees improve their English language skills–a longtime passion of hers. In addition, she works as a part-time nanny. She and Andrew love spending time with their intentional family (a mother and her two boys). Her other favorite activities include playing pickleball, hiking, biking, going for long walks, kayaking and playing board games. She enjoys being amongst kind-hearted people, which she’s found in this community!
Eli and Lily Taylor
Eli grew up nearby in Lynnwood, Washington. He now lives in Snohomish with his spouse, his daughter Lily, and their dog Betty. Eli and Lily first came to WUUC in the summer of 2024, looking for a safe and supportive spiritual community for Lily to grow up in. We were warmly welcomed, and Lily immediately asked if we could keep coming back. Eli keeps busy working as a data analyst, attending online courses for a doctorate in data science, and also working part-time as a registered nurse. He enjoys nature and gardening, reading, board games and video games, and anything science-fiction related. As a family we also enjoy learning taekwondo together.
