December 19, 2010

Anne and Brent Hoeft grew up in Port Washington. They moved back to Wisconsin and settled in Fitchburg in February 2009 after living in Cleveland, Ohio for 6 years while they both worked and attended graduate school. Their son, Evan, was born on Oct. 15. They also hold in their hearts their son, Collin, who was stillborn in September of 2009.

Anne earned her bachelor's degree from UW-La Crosse and then earned her master's in nursing from the Cleveland Clinic School of Nurse Anesthesia and Case Western Reserve University. She is a nurse anesthetist at UW Hospital. Brent earned his bachelor's degree from UW-Eau Claire. He graduated from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law at Cleveland State University and practiced business and real estate law in Cleveland for two-and-a-half years. He recently opened Hoeft Law, LLC, a virtual law office, providing business, real estate, and estate planning services to clients throughout Wisconsin. They enjoy photography, hiking, UW athletics, continuing to discover all that the Madison area has to offer, and the daily experience of being new parents.

October 10, 2010

George Gillis and Joanna Beilman-Dulin were married here in July and are now making Memorial their official church home. Joanna was born and raised on the west coast, and came to Madison in 2000 to attend college.  After majoring in political science and bassoon performance, Joanna worked in Wisconsin state politics for four years before starting law school at UW-Madison.  She is now in her final year. George grew up in northeast Wisconsin and graduated from Lawrence University.  Also a political staffer by trade, George has worked for several Wisconsin elected officials over the last seven years.  He is a huge fan of the Green Bay Packers. Their family recently expanded with the addition of an 8-month-old puppy named Rufus, so they can be found at the dog park on a regular basis.

 Jenny Fiore grew up in a copper-mining town and is a transplant from Arizona. She has a degree in English literature and has worked as an editor. She did work as an editor and then as publications director for the National Endowment for Democracy in D.C. Now she is a freelance writer and is co-authoring a book about the faith journey of a rocket scientist who bounced back from a catastrophic brain injury. She has been married to Blaine for 11 years and they have two children – two-year old Beckett and six-year old Elizabeth. Blaine served in the Army and now is in the National Guard. He works as a physicians assistant at the Madison VA Hospital. In addition to her family, Jenny loves backpacking, tent camping and reading.

Lynn Kepper is originally from Neenah, but has lived in the Madison area ever since attending UW in the 60's.  She taught third, fourth and fifth grade in the Oregon School system for 32 years and has been retired from teaching for nine years, but she still volunteers with the Schools of Hope project at Chavez Elementary School. She and her husband, Heinz, had one son, Andrew, who lives in Minneapolis with his wife and one year-old daughter. Heinz passed away in 2009. She works with visual arts -photography, watercolor painting, and drawing.  She also enjoys reading, knitting, gardening  and Scrabble, along with biking, hiking, skiing and travel.

Brett and Wendy MacArthur live in Oregon. They have been married for 5 years.  They have a daughter, Alison, who is 3 and a half.  Baby Kate is due on November 27. Brett is originally from Janesville, went to Arizona State University, spent some years in Georgia working as a chef and now works at Conney Safety in sales. Wendy is originally from Eau Claire, went to UW-Madison, and works part-time at Chico’s clothing store in Greenway Station. They both like reading, Brett likes biking, running and cooking. Wendy enjoys long walks and motherhood. Together, they love trying new restaurants or going back to old favorites on those rare date nights. They spend a week each summer at family cabin in Hayward. 
 

 
April 11, 2010

Adam Bessemer is freshman at Oregon High School. He is the son of Janine and Russ Bessemer. His passions include soccer and lots of other sports. He enjoys exploring science.
Phillip Bessemer is a sophomore at Oregon High School. He is the son of Janine and Russ Bessemer.  His passions include skateboarding and gaming. He has a deep concern about protecting the earthís environment.
Elliot Schad is a freshman at Verona High School. He is the son of Celia Keila and Jay Schad.  He loves golf, soccer and skiing. He has a lively interest in the law, in writing and in science.
Kirsten Scheller-Suitor is a sophomore at Oregon High School. She is the daughter of Mary Kay Scheller-Suitor and Doug Scheller. One of her main activities is dance. She also likes both Spanish and English in school and enjoys traveling.
Austin Young is a sophomore at West High in Madison. He is the son of Mary Young and Tony Young.  He earned his Eagle Scout badge this year. He is a talented artist and musician as well as an athlete who competes in football and track.
 

February 21, 2010

Sarah and Alexander Fritz moved to the Madison area from South Florida in 2005 because Alexander had a psychiatry residency here. He is now employed as an outpatient psychiatrist at the University of Wisconsin and is a clinical assistant professor in the med school. Sarah is a psychotherapist with Stoughton Family Counseling Services. Sarah went to Illinois Wesleyan as an undergrad and Alex went to the University of Tennessee.  It’s a good thing Wisconsin rarely plays Tennessee in football, otherwise Alexander would face major divided loyalties. They live in Fitchburg and last year they began joining us for worship.

They have two sons – Brandon, who is almost 6, and Evan, who is 2. Their hobbies include "highpointing," through which through which they hope to climb the highest point of every state. So far, they’ve done that in 38 of the 50 states.

Bob and Mary Holtshopple are joining us from Swiss UCC in New Glarus – the church where Mary was confirmed as a youth. Along the way, they also belonged to St. John’s UCC in Monroe and to Covenant Presbyterian in Madison. They build their home on Lake Waubesa 25 years ago. Now, as they think they are getting older, they thought they’d find a place closer to home and we’re happy to have them here with us.

Bob was born and raised in Monroe, served in the Korean conflict in the early 1950s and worked as a mechanical engineer for many years for Weiler, Strang, McMullin. He took early retirement in 1985 as head of the engineering department at what was then Madison General – now Meriter – and finally got around to his final retirement in 1992. He likes traveling, gardening, fishing and building projects.

Mary grew up near New Glarus as a first generation Swiss and has maintained ties with many relatives living in Switzerland. She graduated from the Madison General School of Nursing in 1950, got her bachelors’ degree in nursing in 1980 and retired as a registered nurse in 1989 after 39 years of working in clinical and hospital settings. She enjoys reading, travel, gardening, painting “funky chairs” and being a standardized patient at the UW Medical School.

Both Bob and Mary enjoyed mission trips to El Salvador and working for Habitat for Humanity in Florida and in Green County. They have a son and granddaughter who live in California and a grandson who is a student at UW-Madison. One son is deceased. They sponsor 3 school age children in El Salvador. One of them they first met when he was in grade school. He is now is student at the University in San Salvador.

Leah Lonsbury hardly needs an introduction today. Since she joined us as one of our pastors at the beginning of January, she has quickly distinguished herself as a wonderful presence in our midst. You already know a lot of her biography – grew up in the Kansas City area, taught high school for a few years, went to seminary in Atlanta, served for three years at First Baptist Church in Madison.

Justin Lonsbury may need a bit more of an introduction. For starters, he is Leah’s husband. Together, they are the parents of Aiden and Mara. He, too, grew up in the Kansas City area, went to the University of Kansas and remains a die-hard Jayhawk fan, and now is working on his doctorate in educational policy at UW-Madison. He is an avid reader, a great fan of music, pretty smart about computers and is becoming a brewmaster of homemade craft beers.