Member of UUC since 2009 with my husband Michael Linenberger, who is also an active member of our community.

Currently, I am a member of: UUC’s Stewardship Committee since 2021; Welcoming Team as a greeter and an usher, UUC’s Homelessness Ministries as both one of the coordinators of Lake City Partners Ending Homelessness lunch making and member of the Tent City 3 Team which has welcomed TC3 to our site both in 2023 and 2025 Memorial Team; Zen Group; 4th Principle Dialogue Group.

I have been a facilitator and member of Reflection Groups and participated in both Wellspring and Beloved Conversations as well as other groups in the congregation. I also was a member of the Care Team in the past.

I am a retired Family Doctor; I worked at Group Health for almost 30 years and in that capacity spent time as a team leader of my “pod” and developed expertise in wellness; prior to that I worked as a secondary school teacher.  Before retirement, Michael and I hosted homestays with Earth Corps volunteers as well as having my Mom live with us the last 7 years of her life. Since retirement, I have been involved in Common Power, voter registration/canvassing, keeping healthy, being one of my neighborhood’s leads in disaster preparedness and sharing Michael and my home with our grandnieces while they go to UW.

I am committed to  UUC as my “Beloved Community”;  I believe we have the potential to serve that purpose in our larger community and country — a spiritual community committed to each other and to creating an inclusive, loving, open, connected group that works in the world to ensure our principles  and values govern our behavior —including the principles of inherent worth and dignity of each of us and the use of  justice, equity, and compassion in our interactions as well as furthering our shared values of  equity, generosity, interdependence, justice, pluralism and transformation, centered around love.  Together, with this community, we are so much more likely to keep these centered in our lives.

I want to serve on the Ministerial Search Team because I believe I have the skills to listen carefully to the congregation, and then to translate their wishes and yearnings into a successful search for a candidate who can take us forward to whatever the future holds for UUC. I work well with uncertainty and complexity, and don’t bring a lot of ego when I work on teams. 

Professionally I’m an attorney, having spent 22 years working in law firms as a management side employment lawyer and commercial litigator, and 15 years in-house for a timber company and for Seattle Children’s Hospital. I currently have a part time law practice focused exclusively on conducting workplace investigations. 

I have been active in the community since moving to Seattle in 1986. For years I volunteered for Legal Voice (fka Northwest Women’s Law Center) handling civil rights litigation in Montana, Alaska, Idaho and Wahington. I spent more than a decade on the Board of Group Health Cooperative, including 2.5 years as Board President. I’ve been a leader in local, state and national bar associations, and on the PTO of the schools my daughters attended.

I served two terms on the UUC Board, where I led work to overhaul our governance structures including our Bylaws and Board Policies. I also served two terms as Moderator. I’ve participated in numerous activities and (I hope) am perceived as a person who will almost always say “yes” when there’s a task that needs many hands.

Throughout my life singing has been a solid source of joy, from strumming my guitar to performing in musicals to singing in choirs and a women’s close harmony group, to UUC’s AVC, and to my current emerging passion of singing in mixed gender barbershop choruses and quartets. I also love pushing myself physically on rowing shells, on bicycles and on various types of Nordic skis. I love to create in the garden, at the sewing machine, or in the kitchen. 

My daughters, Lee Iris Thomas and Emma Daszkiewicz, grew up in this church and are better humans because of it. Guy Thomas and I have been together since we met on the day I moved to Seattle in 1986, and were married in 1991. I have an extended clan who are a source of love and whom I am very proud of.

I joined UUC in 2021, shortly after moving to Seattle, and quickly found a spiritual home in this vibrant community. My primary involvement has been with Religious Education, serving as co-facilitator of Coming of Age for three years and now as a COA mentor. Beyond COA, I’ve enjoyed connecting with others at potlucks, committee meetings, and volunteer groups. This spring, participating in Wellspring has deepened both my spiritual journey and my sense of belonging at UUC.

I grew up Unitarian Universalist in New Jersey, and have been part of congregations in Brooklyn, Long Island, and Berlin. These experiences have shown me the diversity of UU congregations, as well as the core values that unite us across communities. 

Professionally, I serve as Manager of Strategic Initiatives and Special Projects in the College of Arts & Sciences at the University of Washington, where I lead organizational change efforts and advise on strategic direction. My background in philanthropy and public policy has shaped my commitment to service and collaboration.

In my free time, I enjoy adventures with friends, doting on my pets, and making ceramic art. Inspired by volunteering with Teen Feed through UUC, I recently formed a meal team with friends, and we look forward to cooking our first meal in a few months. I would be grateful for the opportunity to serve on the Ministerial Search Committee.

I’m honored to represent all the communities within UUC on the Ministerial Search Committee. Working collaboratively in a team-setting is my love language, and it’s how I’ve spent most of my life. I worked as an Environmental Engineer at the EPA for 30 years, leading teams to resolve complex water-quality problems, including contentious litigation, in Washington rivers and lakes. As a team-leader, I prioritized relationship-building, collaboration, clear communication, creative problem solving, laughter and pragmatism. 

At UUC, I’m a co-chair of the Care Team and a member of the Tent City 3 Team (2022-23 and 2025). I’m currently participating in Wellspring and recently co-lead a reflection group. You will sometimes see me usher on Sundays, and I’m helping to conduct research for the Faith Land Initiative team. Outside of UUC, I’m a mother, stepmom, spouse and auntie who loves to bicycle and read, and is slowly learning Japanese. I’m also working with Rex Hohlbein and Facing Homelessness on their new Circle program: building a circle of loving individuals supporting a formerly homeless person. 

The UUC community never ceases to inspire me to learn, love, think, create and act in bigger and more beautiful ways; and UUC has revealed a life-changing spiritual path for me. I have an unsinkable commitment to the future of our community of communities.

Roberta Ray is a long-time member of UUC. While perhaps most well-known for roles in social justice at UUC, she is also a past member of the Board of Trustees and served with the Nominating Committee, Membership Enrichment, and Equity Team. She has been a facilitator of Beloved Conversations and the Parent Anti-racism group and served on our Anti-racism Discernment Team. Abundant opportunities for the UUC congregation to experience spiritual well-being and faith deepening are very important to her; she is a past Wellspring participant and a member of the All-Voices Choir. She has been a co-presenter on workshops at the UUA’s General Assembly; topics were Wellspring, immigration justice, and creating an equity team in UU churches. 

She is an accredited facilitator with Kaleidoscope Institute, an organization that offers skills, resources, practices, and theology for communities to use in developing high impact sustainable ministries. She is a skilled leader in community organizing, with a strong understanding of, and experience working with, diverse groups working towards a shared goal. Her professional work has been as a statistical analyst for women’s health studies. 

Accompaniment and witness with immigrants and refugees have been her most transformational lived experiences. She lives with her partner in a bicultural household and has two multiracial adult children who grew up at UUC. Among her most treasured UUC relationships are those she has with young adults in our community. She believes in UUC’s capacity to imagine where we will grow and go over the next 10-20 years.

As a committed member of University Unitarian Church (UUC) and the broader Seattle community, I strive to live our shared values through service, reflection, and connection. 

At UUC, I co-facilitated four reflection groups, creating space for deep listening and mutual spiritual growth. I have also volunteered in the children’s suite, chaperoning field trips and Chalice Camp, supporting the belonging and development of our youngest congregants. 

My community involvement extends beyond the church. Through UUC, I volunteer with Lake City Partners, preparing lunches for our unhoused neighbors. I also volunteer at three Seattle public schools where my youngest children are enrolled, offering steady support to students and staff. 

At home, I center family, creativity, and grounding practices. I find joy in baking for loved ones and balance through journaling, meditation, and caring for five pets. I’m active at a local qi gong and tai chi center, where I continue learning how to move through the world with presence and care. I am grateful for the unique position I hold in my immediate family—parenting children ages 11 to 30 while also supporting the evolving needs of my elder parents. This role invites me to hold many lives in view with presence, empathy, and adaptability. 

The arts—especially music, opera, and ballet—offer inspiration, while ecstatic dance, both at UUC and beyond, connects me to others through movement and authentic expression. 

I seek to embody compassion, curiosity, and steady engagement, and would bring these values to the ministerial search process with integrity, presence and shared commitment.