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Meet the OUUC Staff and Board of Trustees

Staff

Minister Rev. Art Vaeni

The Reverend Arthur (Art) Vaeni began his service as Olympia's minister in August, 2001. He came from Plymouth, New Hampshire where he had served as minister to the Starr King UU Fellowship for fourteen years. Art earned his MDiv at Harvard Divinity School in 1987, a M.A. in telecommunications at Indiana University in 1980 and a B.S. at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1972.  His work life includes time in the army, with a telephone company, as a counselor at a mental health center and his personal favorite - a summer job while in divinity school that included driving a Zamboni at an ice rink. Art has two adult children who live on the East Coast. His wife, Sally Gove, teaches writing at Clover Park Technical College in Lakewood.

Interim Religious Education Administrator Kathleen Arledge

Kathleen Arledge is a social worker, an activist, and a mom. With over seven years of service in the non-profit sector, Kathleen brings management and administrative experience to the Religious Education program. Kathleen, her husband, and their daughter come to Oly UU from Kenai Alaska, where it is too cold to ever return.

Music Director Troy Arnold Fisher

Troy has his BS in Music Education from Chadron State College, in Chadron Nebraska.  He did his Masters study in Choral Conducting at Brigham Young University under Ronald Staheli.  Troy is also the staff music director at Olympia's Capital Playhouse; and he is the founding music director for Olympia's premier youth choir, Kids In Koncert.  Under his direction Kids in Koncert has toured to Japan, Washington D.C., and Disneyland.  During his time at OUUC, the OUUC choir has sung in several other congregations in the Puget Sound Region, Vancouver, Washington, as well as Corvallis, Oregon.  The OUUC choir also toured to Romania, Hungry and Austria, on a trip that united the choir with OUUC's sister congregation in Kissolymos.   In Olympia, Troy's musical and stage direction have also been seen on the stages of Harlequin Productions, The Abbey Players, Timberline Theatre Company, and Capital High School .  Around the country Troy worked for 12 years as the staff music director for Utah Musical Theatre in Ogden, Utah, six years as the staff music director for the Toledo Rep in Toledo, Ohio, and two years as the staff music director for the Fireside Dinner Theatre in Ft. Atkinson Wisconsin.  In addition Troy has also freelanced at the Lyceum Theatre in Columbus, Missouri, Music Arts Inc. in Atlanta, Georgia, The Black Hills Playhouse in Custer State Park, South Dakota, and The Post Playhouse in Ft. Robinson, Nebraska.

Administrator Darlene Sarkela

Darlene Sarkela (a native Minnesotan and 100% Finnish) discovered OUUC through a newspaper ad in 1989. She became the church administrator in 1991. Darlene’s background includes education in sociology and community counseling, Army service, and work with Head Start. She has one adult son and enjoys garage sales, looking up old friends on the internet, and cinnamon toast. “A new moon teaches gradualness and deliberation and how one gives birth to oneself slowly. Patience with small details makes perfect a large work, like the universe” - Rumi

 

Volunteer Coordinator Sarah Rocker

Sarah Rocker hails from Southeast Pennsylvania, though she has made a few stops in Germany, Iceland, and Colorado before finding her way to the Pacific Northwest and the OUUC this past autumn. She holds a B.A. from Messiah College and an M.A. from the University of Colorado. Her studies were in the fields of Germanic languages, philosophy and intercultural communication. She also has a background in volunteer coordinating, leadership development, teacher training and curriculum planning. She is currently training to be a mediator through the Dispute Resolution Center of Thurston County, where she is also a volunteer conciliator. Sarah hopes to never outgrow her Wanderlust - after many trips to Europe, and visits to over 38 States, she now has her eye on Mexico, Japan, and the deep south. She is also an avid crafter and gardener, striving to be more proficient in the art of homesteading. Sarah lives in an intentional community along with her partner Erik, and many, many chickens.

Associated Minister for Community Advocacy Rev. Bill Arensmeyer

William Allin Arensmeyer was born, (not hatched), on a large cattle ranch in central Montana on May 22, 1946 the second youngest of 13. His dad said that he was born arguing about the quality of the milk. Bill’s dad was a immigrant from Germany and his mother was a Quaker lady of pioneer stock. Bill didn’t graduate from high school but was able to enter the University of Montana the week after his 16th birthday. That was a real drag, He looked like he was 10, and everybody thought he was real smart. Shows what they knew. Bill continued in school for the next 13 years until his dad told him that Social Security didn’t consider going to school proper employment. That piece of enlightenment drove Bill to go to work. Bill came to Unitarianism after graduation from a Methodist Seminary. They taught him a lot. Bill spent a year as the minister of the Olympia UU Fellowship 1n 1978 with Gladys Burns directing his stay with her typical powers of persuasion. (What a year ). Bill has worked as a Minister, Teacher, Fire Fighter, Botanist and Wetland Biologist, Cowboy, School Administrator, and Farmer. Bill has been a member of OUUC since 1978 and established the UU Social Advocacy Program in 1994 which became Out of the Woods. Bill has helped direct the Out of the Woods Program for 12 years. In 2000 Bill was accepted as a Community Minister associated with OUUC. In 2006 Bill helped start the OUUC Buddhist Sangha.

Affiliated Minister, Community Minister Rev. Carol McKinley

The Reverend Carol McKinley, an Olympia resident since 1970, received her MDiv from Seattle University’s School of Theology and Ministry in 2004. She is a community minister endorsed by OUUC, and serves as co-coordinator of Washington UU Voices for Justice, a state legislative advocacy network. She received her BA in English literature and writing from the University of Washington. She has taught English in secondary schools and community colleges, owned an Olympia out-of-print bookstore, and was, in New Jersey, executive editor of the international magazine of the antiquarian book trade. Prior to attending seminary, she was the indexer in the Washington State Code Reviser’s Office. She has two grown daughters, two almost-grown grandsons, and lives with her partner, Barbara Gibson.

Affiliated Minister, Hospice Chaplain Rev. Eric Ness

The Reverend Eric Ness is a hospice chaplain for Providence Sound Home Care and Hospice.  Eric is a Seattle native, a graduate the University of Washington, Antioch University, and Starr King School for the Ministry.  Eric is married to Kathryn Ness.

 

Board of Trustees

President Melissa Denton

Melissa Denton is the president of OUUC's board.  She served as VP the last two years.  Melissa found OUUC and the Unitarian Universalist tradition by accident in 1995 and has been grateful ever since for the supportive community and reinforcement of ideals OUUC provides.  She is the wife of Simon and mother of Matt, who came to the world and to OUUC beginning in 2000.  Melissa is a family law attorney and exercises and reads many books for fun.

 

Vice President Mike Harbour

Mike Harbour is the Vice President of the OUUC Board. Mike has been a member of the OUUC since 1995.  He has taught Religious Education (K-1, 2-3, and Middle School) and the Middle School OWL program.  He has also recently been trained as a facilitator in the Adult OWL program.  He has served on the Ministerial Search Committee, the Committee on Ministry, the Space Planning Committee, and on the board since 2003.  Prior to coming to Olympia, Mike and his family lived in Savannah, Georgia.  Mike served as President of the Savannah  congregation and on the Thomas Jefferson District Board.  When not at church or work, Mike enjoys movies, reading, cooking, biking, hiking, riding the bus, and talking to his dawg, Amber.

Treasurer Harmon Eaton

Harmon was raised in the Washington, DC area, an active Presbyterian.  After graduating from college he fell away from mainstream Christianity on theological grounds, and shortly afterward began a totally unplanned 28-year career as an Army intelligence officer  He eventually retired from Fort Lewis, Washington.   In the late 1980’s, after a long hiatus from churchgoing, Harmon’s wife Lorrie reconnected with the Catholic church of her childhood.  Harmon followed, but both eventually realized that their spiritual development was blocked.  They eventually became completely at odds with the church on social issues, theology, and governance and found no choice but to drop out.    In 2004 they attended their first service at OUUC and, miraculously, discovered that they were Unitarians.  They had finally found their true church family.  Both Lorrie and Harmon continue to revel in the values and the marvelous, loving, interconnected community that OUUC represents.    As your church Treasurer, Harmon hopes you will find a way to forgive his errors in addition and subtraction, as mathematics was never his strong suit back when he was a student.

Secretary Ingrid Kail

Ingrid Kail has been affiliated with UU congregations since 1980 and served as Board President at Micheal Servetus Congregation in Vancouver WA before moving to Olympia in 1992.  For the last 24 years she has been the owner/administrator of a local behavioral health agency. She is a golfer, boater, doting grandmother of two beautiful girls and an avid Seahawks fan, having missed only three games in ten years.  She dabbles in political causes and identifies herself as a flaming liberal feminist who likes to fish, cook and entertain.  Even as a child she didn't like being told what to do or think so she was probably a UU from birth.

Board Member Mary Walton Cameron

Mary Walton Cameron has arrived at OUUC after wandering geographically from Michigan to California to Germany and back before finding her spiritual home in the northwest. She became a UU in San Diego in 1983 because it embodied the social values that are so important to her. She enjoyed a varied career in teaching, importing and administration before retiring. Now she keeps busy as board president of Out of the Woods, our congregation’s emergency shelter for homeless families with young children.

Board Member Shelley Ferer

Shelley has lived in Olympia for over 20 years and has been a member of OUUC for 5 years.  She has a wood working business, and in her spare time she enjoys reading, hiking,and other outdoor activities.

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Board Member Samantha Ritchie

Samantha Ritchie first came to OUUC on Christmas Eve, 1999. (She had found the name of the church in the phone book.)  She was impressed that the service was centered on the idea that “every night a child is born is a holy night…” Samantha is in her second year as a member of the board.  She has taught Our Whole Lives to Junior High age kids, and will be teaching adult OWL in the near future.   Samantha attends church with her daughter, Morgan.  (Her husband believes that the best way to get spiritual nourishment is through rapid mountain bike rides, particularly on early Sunday mornings.) She is a Family Physician in McCleary.

Board Member Jeff Goltz

Jeff and his wife Mary Welsh have been part of the OUUC community since 1992 or so (memories fade). During that time, he has led RE classes, coordinated or worked on various annual pledge drives, served on the Committee on Ministry, and coordinated (coach is too strong a word) the 2006 OUUC softball team. (The team lost its only game. However, because there were no injuries, the season was a tremendous success!) A native Minnesotan, he occasionally reveals remnants of his Lutheran heritage, which now is reinforced only through occasional trips back to see relatives and regular listening to A Prairie Home Companion. Mary and Jeff have three children, all of whom were active in the church in one way or another. All three are now in Oregon, two working and one attending college. When not working in the Washington Attorney General’s Office or dealing with OUUC Board matters, he enjoys hiking and traveling to new and different places with Mary, taking family trips to Ashland, struggling to learn how to play the piano, doing crossword puzzles, and watching reruns of Law and Order.

Board Member Melanie Ransom

Melanie has been a part of OUUC for about twelve years.  In that amount of time she’s worked on ten Yule plays, seven Secret Buddy events, six Stewardship drives, five All Church Retreats, one Pirate Ball, and is in her third year of advising the Middle School RE program.  Favorite events with the Middle School include biking the Chehalis Western Trail, watching Monty Python at the youth hostel in Portland, participating in the Procession of the Species, and making muffins while blindfolded at the B&G Annex. Melanie is originally from West Virginia, and is a coal miner’s granddaughter.  In 1985 She drove across county in a 1972 Volkswagen Pop-Top Camper and never looked back to her East Coast roots.  She is married to Tim Ransom (a former Board President) and they have two children, Cordy and Lucas.  In her spare time Melanie likes to sew, do yoga, and join her Unitarian chums in dancing with Samba Olywa.