Abby Ramstad is beginning her second year as the director of the intergenerational choir. She also teaches general music at Jackson Elementary in Everett. Previously, Abby spent two years teaching choir in South Carolina before realizing that the Northwest is her true and chosen home.

Amanda was raised in Hawaii and has been in Seattle since 1993. She has a master's degree in chemical engineering and spent eight years doing research in the field of genetic engineering. She then jumped track and decided that working with adolescents is her calling in life. She has been the Youth Program Coordinator at UUC since 1997. She loves it. She also loves hiking and backpacking and leads wilderness trips for youth in the summers. As of December, 2006, she has also been busy being a mama to her gorgeous and sweet little baby girl. She totally loves it!

Anne Wood is the mezzo section leader and soloist for UUC's loft choir. She also teaches voice and violin.

Jennifer Bright joined the UUC staff in 2007, after nearly 20 years of working in the nonprofit sector as an executive director, manager, fundraiser, consultant, trainer, volunteer, and board member. She is thrilled to be working with the UUC community on the social justice issues that make us passionate, outraged, and hopeful. Jennifer is a native of Illinois and has lived in Seattle since 1992. She has a master's degree from the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington and a bachelor's degree in French from the University of Illinois. She lives in south Seattle with her husband and dogs, and loves traveling, reading, hiking, and writing.

The UUC Director of Music is Karen P. Thomas, who is also the Artistic Director of Seattle Pro Musica. She received two master of music degrees, in conducting and composition, from the University of Washington. Ms. Thomas has served on the faculties of Pacific Lutheran University, The Evergreen State College, Cornish College, and Edmonds Community College. Active as a conductor in the Seattle area since 1980, she is also a composer with an international reputation. Her compositions are performed throughout the United States and Europe, including numerous international music festivals. With Seattle Pro Musica, she has received the Margaret Hillis Award for Choral Excellence and the ASCAP-Chorus America Award for Adventuresome Programming of Contemporary Music.
For further information, please read her bio at the Seattle Pro Musica website.

Kathy Barlow is a native of Bradenton, Florida. She completed her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at the Curtis Institute of Music. Kathy has appeared a number of times as soloist with Northwest Chorale, notably in Requiems by Verdi and Mozart, Handel’s Messiah, The Creation by Haydn, and as a preview artist with the Seattle Opera Guild.

She has been on staff at UUC for ten years and also solos once a month at the First Church of Christ, Scientist, Redmond. A member of TeamUUC, she’s training for the annual Danskin Triathlon.

Kathy loves to teach and operates her private teaching studio, VOICES PLUS!, on a part-time basis. She resides in South Seattle with five kitties, one bird, a Bearded-Dragon lizard, and a kind and ever-patient boyfriend! Full-time job duties find her in Substation Administration with Puget Sound Energy.

Kathy Guidry is the administrative assistant for University Unitarian. She grew up in California but has lived in Washington for more than 25 years. Kathy is very happy to be here at UUC, and brings with her six years of administrative experience in a church office. 

Keri joined our staff in 2002. She has a bachelor’s degree in art history from Western Washington University and extensive administrative experience from her work at a Seattle law firm and a property management firm in Spain. Keri spends her free time painting and printmaking and has exhibited her work in the Northwest since 1991. She also enjoys traveling, skiing, and volunteering at her son's school.

LeAnne Laux-Bachand moved to Seattle in 2001 after receiving her BA in English literature from the University of Chicago. LeAnne became a Coming of Age mentor, and then an advisor in the high school room, in 2004. She started as Young Adult Program Coordinator in September of 2006 and this school year is also coordinating the high school room, assisting Amanda Ayling on an interim basis. LeAnne also works as a writing tutor at North Seattle Community College. Her other interests include writing poetry and fiction, volunteering at places like 826 Seattle and the ACLU, and being silly whenever suitable and possible. You can check out her business, Verb, at www.iamaverb.org.

Rick Scheyer was born in Swedish Hospital, Room 824, therefore qualifying as a Seattle native. He attended Washington State University, where he earned his bachelor of music degree. Foolishly leaving the Northwest, he attended The Hartt School of Music in Hartford, Connecticut, receiving an artist diploma in opera performance and a fine appreciation for Italian food. Returning to Seattle, Rick appeared with Northwest Opera in Schools, Etc. (NOISE), as both performer and van driver. However, Rick's finest accomplishment to date is his part in producing and raising his daughter, Vienna.

Samuel J L Rodarte has been the tenor soloist and section leader at UUC since 2002. His education began at the University of Texas at Austin and continued at Western Washington University, were he was the Outstanding Graduate in Music of his class. Samuel has performed at the Aspen Music Festival and School, the Victoria Bach Festival, and the New Texas Music Festival. Locally, he has performed with many ensembles including Seattle Pro Musica, the Seattle Opera Guild, the Whatcom Symphony Orchestra, and the Skagit Symphony. Samuel has also received many awards, including one from the Bellingham Music Club and another from the Ladies Musical Club of Seattle.

photo by David Hiller Stephanie Kallos spent twenty years in the theatre as an actress and teacher. Her short fiction has earned a Raymond Carver Award and a Pushcart Prize nomination. Broken for You, Stephanie's first novel, received the Washington State Book Award and was chosen by Sue Monk Kidd as the December 2004 book club selection for NBC's Today Show. Her second novel, Sing Them Home, will be published by Grove/Atlantic in 2008.

The UUC Director of Religious Education is Sue Williams. She is a teacher by profession, having graduated from Western Washington State College, with postgraduate studies in education and child development at Eastern Washington University. Sue has completed numerous professional development courses, including four modules in the Unitarian Universalist Association's Renaissance program. For two years, she was the Director of Religious Education at the Edmonds Unitarian church.

Tom Taggart joins UUC after five years as administrator of East Shore Unitarian Church in Bellevue, Washington. He enjoys the vibrancy of UUs, their search for meaning, desire for community, and commitment to social justice. He likes to bring people together and create systems to do all these things with energy and humor.

Tom has a BA from Whitworth College in Spokane and a Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary. (No, he doesn't make pastries.) Prior to being a steward of UU churches, Tom worked for more than 30 years in higher education. He spent 28+ of those at the University of Washington in student affairs, academic support, and educational reseach. Previous colleagues have described him as a "professional generalist," by which he hopes they mean that his curiosity is wide ranging as opposed to the "jack of all trades, master of none" epithet.

Tom's been married for closing on four decades. His wife, Marilyn, is a customer representative for Bensonwood Homes in Alstead, New Hampshire. They have two children. Their son Matt lives and works in Accra, Ghana for Ashesi University Foundation. Marta, their daughter, is an executive assistant for RealNetworks.