Staff and Board
Rev.
Arthur Vaeni
Minister
The Reverend Arthur 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. Arthur 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. Arthur has two adult children. His wife, Sally Gove, teaches writing at Clover Park Technical College in Lakewood.
Sara
Lewis
Director of Religious Education
Sara is in her second year as Director of Religious Education, although she has been part of the OUUC community for seven years. She grew up in Seattle, and has been an Olympia resident for eight years. Her background includes being homeschooled, performing in every Gilbert and Sullivan opera at least twice, teaching dance, National Guard service, and running a home daycare. Sara has a Bachelors of Science and a Masters in Teaching from The Evergreen State College. She also has two young children and a few too many pets. In what spare time she can grab, she enjoys talking to her husband, reading a good book, sewing and crafting, gardening, and hiking.
Troy Arnold Fisher
Music Director
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, Hungary 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.
Darlene Sarkela
Administrator
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
Rev. Carol McKinley
Affiliated Minister, Community Minister
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.
Rev. Eric Ness
Affiliated Minister, Hospice Chaplain
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
Harmon Eaton
President
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.
Kelly Thompson
Vice-President
Kelly has been associated with Unitarian Churches since 1975, and a member of OUUC since 1991. The OUUC is the community that supported the Thompson family through medical crises, and helped raise 3 kids that are now all planetary citizens and gainfully employed. In addition to organizing Pirate parties, Middle school activities and discussions, and working with various committees, Kelly had the opportunity to work on the board when OUUC first moved into the current location. Wow was that fun!
Kelly and Mary Ann log quite a few miles on touring bicycles each year, and Kelly recently began doing his negotiating work from a houseboat/office on Budd Bay....its awsome.
Steve Tilley
Treasurer
Ann
Yeo
Secretary
Ann found Unitarian Universalism, and OUUC, in 2000 - after what she calls “30 years of spiritual wandering,” having drifted away from the Protestant Christianity of her childhood in small-town Virginia. She credits the Building Your Own Theology course, and almost 6 years’ service on the worship committee, with thoroughly grounding and immersing her in this liberal religious tradition.
Ann is a retired military nurse, also a nurse-midwife who no longer delivers babies but provides gynecologic care to women from their teens thru’ senescence.
She and her husband Ken - a New Zealander by birth, and a former Catholic who is increasingly drawn to Unitarian Universalism – settled in Olympia in 1991. She predicts that they will be here for the rest of their lives (unless they win the Lotto and can then afford to move back to the Hawaiian islands, where they met and wed in the 1970’s!)
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.
Neil Marsh
Neil joined the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Olympia in 1989. He and his wife, Mary Jean, were married at University Unitarian Church in Seattle (where she was a member at the time) in 1991. In 2000 he served as the registrar for the PNWD AGM. Neil is an active member of the South Sound chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and recently retired after 15 years from the Board of Directors for Cascade Mental Health Care in Lewis County. Working nights and weekends as a police officer precluded Neil’s participation in OUUC activities for many years, making him an “invisible member.” He has very much enjoyed being able to participate regularly since retiring from Law Enforcement late in 2006. Neil, Mary Jean, and their daughter, Rebecca, live in Chehalis.
Bonnie Shorin
Curtis Tanner
Curtis and his partner Wendy have been active at OUUC since 2001. Their relationship with the church began in 1998 when they chose the Sanctuary for their wedding. Since then, they have grown increasingly involved in the life of the church, and found a home in the community it provides.
Curtis is a five year veteran of the Fundraising Committee and twice chaired the Stewardship Drive. He has emerged as the unofficial church cook and stalwart supporter of the Annual Community Dinner. He joined the Board in 2008 and has recently begun serving as a Religious Education volunteer.
Curtis grew up in the Protestant tradition in Texas. He first came to know Unitarian Universalists during his six summers at the Isles of Shoals, Maine, home to both Shoals Marine Laboratory where he studied and worked, and Star Island Conference Center, summer retreat of UU’s.
Curtis works as a biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Puget Sound coastal habitat restoration. He and Wendy share a love of outdoor activities, sometimes missing Sunday service for time in “God’s Great Green Cathedral.”