Tree of Life Welcomes New Members

On March 12, 2017 Tree of Life Welcomed our 5 newest members during our service on taking a risk to strengthen our community. These folks took a risk to check us out. Now lets give them a warm welcome.

 

Barbara Sedgwick

Barbara and her husband, Jon, and fell in love with downtown Woodstock and relocated three years ago from Aurora. They met in Chicago and were married at First Unitarian in Hyde Park.

Barbara is a former member of Second Unitarian Church in Lakeview. They have two sons, Aaron and Alexander.

Last fall, Barbara joined the choir. It’s so much fun singing with talented musicians and having an outstanding director.

She decided to join Tree of Life in order to participate fully in the congregation.

Her interests include current affairs, swimming, yoga and gardening. She looks forward to getting to know all of you.

 

Dan and Liz Kuhl

Dan and Liz relocated to McHenry from Boston about a year-and-a-half ago.

Liz is a Midwest native, having grown up in northern Michigan; Dan is from Queens, New York.  Liz has two wonderful parents, and a younger sister with whom she is very close, all living in Michigan.

Dan’s mother and her husband still live on Long Island, as do his sister and brother, and Liz and Dan’s adorable niece and nephew.

Dan and Liz do not yet have children, although they hope to begin their family soon — they are currently in the process of adoption.

Liz was a teacher for nearly a decade, and loves spending time with kids.  She’s also an experienced seamstress, and spends a lot of time sewing.  In the summer months, the garden keeps her busy.

Dan and Liz are mostly vegetarian, and they grow as much of their own food as they can.

Dan is an engineer by trade, and loves to tinker.  He’s a big fan of power tools, and can build or repair just about anything.  He’s been kept busy on the 100-year-old farm house they purchased in McHenry.

Liz grew up sporadically attending a UU congregation, while Dan grew up in the New Apostolic church, similar to Lutheran Synod.  Dan and Liz discovered Tree of Life shortly after moving to McHenry in the autumn of 2015, and have loved getting to know the people here.  They are excited to become members of such a community grounded in openness and tolerance, as well as progressive activism.

They have felt truly welcomed here, there is a palpable warmth and intelligence to this group, and they look forward to experiencing the spiritual journey with the Tree of Life community.

Sandra Bartholmey & William Stone

Bill and Sandra have  lived in Crystal Lake for the past 20 years.  They have 2 children, one daughter and one son. Their son and his wife gave them  2 grand-daughters. Their daughter has their only grandson, all living in California. So they travel there a few times a year.

Sandra was raised Catholic but retired from the Church when she was 18 or so.  Bill was raised in the Methodist, then Congregational Church but it didn’t take.

They started attending Tree of Life last November when Terry Kappel invited them to a “Coffee with Questions” meeting that he was leading.  They stayed for the service and social time and have kept coming back since then and really enjoy the lay services, the people, the programs and the events.

Sandra was in the nutrition field for 20+ years working for Gerber Baby Foods and then for Quaker Oats.

Bill has been a sculptor most of his life and has a show coming up in Peoria in July and August this year.  His work is primarily in plaster, wood, and stone.  Ask to see his work, and he will invite you to his studio or to his house which has several of his pieces in the living room and dining room.

Bill had a stroke in December 2015 and has recovered in every way except with his speech, so be patient when he cannot find the words he wants.  And Sandra can’t see well, so if she doesn’t recognize you, please, don’t be offended because she doesn’t see faces well and can not read the badges.  Just say, “Hi, Sandra, it’s Sue or Mary or Patrick or whomever”.

Welcome Barbara, Liz, Dan, Bill and Sandra! We are so glad you have joined our community!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *