New members were officially welcomed at a ceremony during the Sunday service on October 13 by Rev. Jeremiah, Norm Richey and Gretchen Goetz from the Membership Committee, and Board Vice President Vilma Ortiz.
New members wrote bios that we shared at the ceremony:
Mirabai Auer is excited to join the UU community! She and her husband Trip have two children, Leo and Holly, who you may see running around outside after services. She helps nonprofits make really good use of their data so that they can evaluate programs, connect with the right audiences, and increase fundraising. In their free time, Mirabai’s family loves to go on hikes, eat lots of desserts, read books and explore the city. She is originally from Madison, Wisconsin which has a sizable UU congregation. She was married by a UU Minister — and it spurred her to check out UUs when they moved to Santa Monica.
Rebecca Avery lives in Santa Monica with her dog Ruby and cat Gus. She has a strong commitment to humanistic values and works as a consultant for media companies to enhance their operations and foster innovation, guided by people-first principles. A long-time Unitarian, she has been attending UUSM for less than a year. She is a dedicated introvert who enjoys learning all kinds of new things, walking her dog, and small get-togethers with friends.
Jacob Baxley is currently working on a PhD in physics at the University of North Texas. He was born in a small town in Kentucky. He loves music and games – and looks forward to being a part of this community.
Brian Kenyon is one of six brothers from Dubuque, Iowa. He is capable of turning cement leveling and take-offs into a lengthy conversation, and secretly longs to live alone in the wilderness.
Anne Bridgins is one of two sisters from Indianapolis, Indiana and (not so secretly) finds comfort and delight in being around other people. She prefers to talk about pretty much anything but cement, and enjoys solving visual problems.
Ian and Isabel, Anne’s adult children, live relatively near and this makes them all happy.
Sally Lewis moved to LA from the Boston suburbs where she had lived for 40+ years. She was longing to be closer to family, in a more urban environment and a warmer climate. She loves Santa Monica. She was a member of a UU church in Concord, MA for 10 years. She checked out UU Santa Monica before she moved and knew she could find a good home here. Sally is retired and is loving participating and all of the fabulous things to do in LA.
Carol Lim is a retired social worker, formerly at Kaiser Permanente. Her current household is a menagerie of 2 cats & 2 dogs, a petting zoo!
After a long hiatus, she is rejoining UUSM, because it seems to be a good place to belong to during these tumultuous times — politically and climate wise. She believes UUSM is a place that supports a broad, clear perspective and empowers positive responses from us as a community.
Wendy Northup was born in Detroit and spent her childhood moving around the country. Her family found a Unitarian Church every place they lived.
She has four children who were raised in the Unitarian church in Westport, CT where they did Neighboring Faiths and OWL. Recently her daughter Lisa Moran was a teacher in the youth group here.
Wendy is retired from a fulfilling career in the visual arts. Her final job brought her to Los Angeles in 2014. Living here has allowed her to sail year-round on her 36’ sailboat that she keeps in Marina del Rey. She is the former Commodore of the Women’s Sailing Association of Santa Monica Bay.
Wendy landed at this church nearly five years ago, but only officially joined this year. The very first sermon she attended here was delivered by a guest minister, the former associate minister at her Westport church. She felt like she was home.
Happily married for 40 years, Julia Poll first met her husband at 16. Their daughter lives in Paris. A lifelong creative writer, Julia recently retired from the WGA. A lover of Tai Chi and all styles of Meditation, Julia is an eclectic, non-conformist, autodidact, who just returned to college this semester at SMC. Julia’s father went unexplainably missing much of her childhood, but when asked directly, the CIA would “neither confirm or deny.” Julia is allergic to being pigeonholed. She is still, incidentally, celebrating her birthday, which began last week.
Tracey Schuster is a Los Angeles native, born and raised in the San Fernando Valley. She found her way to UUSM after her previous spiritual community moved from West LA to Torrance during the pandemic.
She has worked at the Getty Research Institute for over 40 years, as a Reference Librarian and manager of the photograph archive.
Tracey is committed to animal welfare at all levels and is proud to serve as Secretary of the newly revived UUSM Animal Ministry. She also loves classical music, hiking, and raising her beautiful, young, very large rescue cat, Nikolaos.
Jacinda Virgin is engaged to new member Jef Travis. They live near the Getty Center Museum with their dog and bunny. She is always busy working at Califia Farms full time, but pet-sits on the side (if you ever need anyone)!
Jacinda volunteers weekly as a crisis counselor on the TrevorProject.org for at-risk LGBTQ+ youth and monthly at Best Friends Animal Shelter. She’s been vegan for 16 years and is quite a vegan foodie, even though she has a lot of allergies.
Jef Travis, who wasn’t able to attend the ceremony, lives near the Getty Center Museum with his fiancée (Jacinda), their dog, and their bunny. He works in catering, security, and dabbles in acting. He’s also going to school to become a realtor and then a broker. Jef loves live music, eating healthy, watching series, listening to books on audio, and spending time at home with his little family.
Welcome to new members who were not able to be at the ceremony:
Kathleen Egozi
Thomas Eidson
Jef Travis
