Doug Dunham, Senior Warden, term ends 2012
Doug Dunham is a native of the San Francisco Bay Area and has been attending ECA since 1990. He has served on both vestry and Joint Venture board in the past. Doug retired from IBM after working in its San Jose facility for 31 years, and is now enjoying retired life. He spends his time tinkering around the house, volunteering at St. Julie’s Food Pantry and the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and trying to keep up with his duties as Senior Warden. He hopes to help ECA be your choice as the place to worship and enjoy community.
Alex Dykes, Junior Warden, term ends 2012
Alex Dykes has been connected to ECA for more than 25 years. In fact he was baptized, confirmed, and married to Rob McClaine, all at ECA. His family, Veronica and Ed Dykes, and brother, Ross, found ECA in the early 1980’s via the yellow pages. After Ed and Veronica decided to retire to their cattle ranch in Texas, ECA seemed more and more like “home.” Alex currently is a Systems Administrator and IT Planning/Purchasing for Coit Services. He is also a part-time freelance auto journalist for TTAC.com. Alex enjoys gardening, cars and home improvement, spending time and money at Lowe’s and Home Depot on a regular basis. But then don’t most homeowners?! Many of you know Alex well as our Shape editor. Alex and Rob are both very active with the youth groups at ECA.
Inge Bond, Communications, Children & Youth, term ends 2012
A native of Minnesota, Inge moved to California at the ripe old age of 15 months and has lived in the San Jose area ever since. She was baptized at St. Andrew’s in Saratoga, and in her teens attended diocesan camps and youth group on the Peninsula. She and her husband Bryan were married at ECA and their three sons – Brad, Marc and Will – were all baptized here and have been active members of the youth groups. This is Inge’s second term on vestry.
Inge works in the field of education research and is a voracious reader, enthusiastic cook and soccer fan.
Donna Miller, Pastoral Care, Fellowship, term ends 2012
Donna Miller, married to Tim for almost 30 years, came to ECA after moving into their home in the Graystone area in September of 1996. Donna and Tim have two daughters, Jennifer, 27, and Danielle, 26. They also have had legal guardianship of their two grandsons, Mason and Tyler, since 2002. Donna keeps very busy with the boys, working at their school doing yard duty at lunch times and substituting as the nurse’s aide. She holds “Crop” classes at her home each week for people working on their scrap-booking. (Editorial note: Donna is a gifted artist with paints and crafts and has shared her talents with many a Cursillo Team.)
Betty Consorte, Worship, Fellowship, term ends 2013
Betty left Pennsylvania in a snowstorm and arrived in sunshine – with her husband, Dominic, their 2-year-old son, Chuck, and Betty, eight months pregnant. Since then Christopher arrived, and they have been at ECA since Easter Sunday 1971, where they have made many wonderful friends and grown to love this Church and Joint Venture. As a member of the vestry Betty hopes to serve the Church in whatever capacity she is called upon.
Amy Griffith, Fellowship, Spiritual Growth, term ends 2013
Amy grew up in Fresno and moved to San Jose in 1960. She taught high school in the Campbell Union High School District for 10 years. Amy married Earl Griffith in 1970 and lived in Almaden, where they raised their two children, Billy and Cindy, and have been active members of ECA for 38 years. Amy has been head of Altar Guild, Secretary of Joint Venture, taught Tuesday School, helped with the youth group, served on vestry and Joint Venture board. Amy is now in charge of Montgomery Meals. Amy’s children live in the Santa Barbara area and she has three grandchildren who are wonderful. Amy and Earl see them at least once a month and wish they were closer. Amy went back to teaching when Billy and Cindy were in college and retired again 12 years ago. Amy enjoys travel, bridge, reading, gardening, friends and family, water aerobics and almost everything.
Bonnie McPherson, Youth, term ends 2013
Bonnie has been a member of ECA for about 6 years. She has been married to Jim for 20 years, and has two children, Caitlin (18) and Tyler (15), along with her menagerie of pets, including a St Bernard, a Newfoundland, and 2 cats. Besides being busy with her crazy household, she is a full-time paramedic with the county, so don’t be surprised to find a ambulance parked at the church occasionally, or to see her running in late to a meeting in uniform. She was drawn to ECA by the sense of community that she and her family felt from their first visit, as this had been something she had been looking for in other churches for many years. Not one content to sit on the sidelines, she has been very active in the youth groups, leading the Jr High group for the last couple of years. She has also been a part of the most recent search committees, helping to bring in our current pastor Kate and our new Christian Ed leader Susie. This is her first stint as a Vestry member.
Jackie Whitlock, Outreach, Spiritual growth, term ends 2013
Jackie is a cradle Episcopalian, and served as a Sunday School teacher and in the Youth choir in Hanford as a teenager. Jackie taught 5th grade, 7th grade before children, and 7th grade in the late 1980′s. She joined ECA in 1971 shortly after her son, Matthew, was baptized.
Jackie has been on vestry, search committee (Nolan Redman) and Joint Venture. She has taught Sunday School and Tuesday School, and served on Altar Guild and with Montgomery Meals. Jackie attended Cursillo in 2002, and has been in a 4th day group ever since.
Daughter, Jennifer Natwick, and husband, Mark, and granddaughter Lauren live in Morgan Hill and attend St. John’s Episcopal Church, where Jenn is on the vestry as well as chair of the preschool board. Son, Matt, and wife, Gina, are in Seattle, where Matt is a professor at Seattle University teaching New Testament.
Todd Lukanc, Finance, Stewardship, term ends 2014
Todd’s work in the electronics industry brought him to San Jose in 1980. He and Ellen were married in 1984 and they found ECA in 1988 with the baptism of their oldest son, Greg. Now that Doug, their younger son, is off to college, Todd has time to devote to the vestry and give back to the ECA community. Todd’s other main activity is working as a simulation project manager at Globalfoundries (silicon manufacturing for the masses). Since Todd’s first tour on the vestry, he has been giving to the church through Boy Scout projects (Troop 294) throughout the church property and many other manual labor projects. Todd serves on the vestry in whatever capacities he can best fit, currently in stewardship and finance where he can enrich the endowment fund he helped set up many years ago.
Wendy Martin, Youth, term ends 2014
Wendy Martin is a native of Cupertino, CA, where she was a member of St. Jude’s Episcopal Church from the time she was baptized as an infant by Fr. Clancey and continuing through her childhood and teen years while Fr. John Buenz was Rector. She has many fond memories of Fr. Buenz’s sermons using Charlie Brown and Linus figurines. She was married there in 1992 and shortly thereafter moved to Reno, NV for four short years where she longed for connection with her church family. Once she returned to the Bay Area she returned to St. Judes’s and taught Sunday School for many years until she transitioned to ECA where she and her two children, Nicholas and Ashley, have been for about three years now. She has returned to teaching Sunday School and helps with the youth group where she can. This is her first term on vestry. During the day she works in a law firm in Palo Alto until she is able to make the big jump to teaching in the public schools. Through persistence and prayer she continues on her journey of faith and discovery as she lives just one day at a time.
George Romer, Stewardship, Finance, Communication, term ends 2014
ECA has been George’s religious home since the fall of 1970. He and his wife Nancy taught Sunday school for a couple of years at Trinity Episcopal Church after marrying and moving to San Jose. Fr. John Buenz roped them into being youth group advisors for several years after joining ECA. This is George’s fourth vestry term over the last 40 years. He has served as Jr. Warden/ JV Properties Manager, Stewardship Lead, Usher, Layreader, Cursillo Cook and on the Disaster Preparedness team. George worked for GE and Applied Materials for a combined 40 years but is now retired. He and Nancy enjoy hobbies, traveling and being grandparents. Their children, Mark and Holly, are married with two wonderful children each. George is passionate about taking and executing whatever responsibility and/or commitments he makes. He is excited about the growth opportunities our church has.
Mike Schmidt, Pastoral Care, term ends 2014
Having grown up in Santa Clara, Mike spent most of his adult life in Humboldt County (northern California), raising four children with his wife, Marianne, and attending a Baptist church in Arcata for many years. After the children were grown, Mike and Marianne eventually ended up in San Jose. Mike completed his elementary school teaching career in Gilroy and has been retired for two years, while Marianne is an elementary school principal in Fremont. Mike and Marianne first attended ECA in January 2010 and were increasingly drawn in by the friendliness of the congregation.