Staff and Lay Leaders

Professional Staff

Rev. Dr. Mary Alice Mulligan

Minister

  • Rev. Mary Alice Mulligan began her ministry as Interim Minister with St. Andrew UCC in mid-June 2020. The typical activities to help a congregation get to know their new pastor were curtailed because of the pandemic, but we all worked together to try to find new ways of getting acquainted, even as we were developing new ways of being connected to each other as a whole church.

    In November 2021 the congregation chose Rev. Mary Alice to be our Settled Pastor with a long-term commitment to help our church live, serve and grow in an unsettled world.

    She is ordained in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), with whom the United Church of Christ is in partnership, and has served congregations in Illinois, Indiana, Tennessee, Alabama, and now Florida. She was drawn to St. Andrew because of our commitment to social justice, especially as a Just Peace and Open and Affirming congregation.

    During times away from church responsibilities, Rev. Mary Alice loves to travel. In the last few years, she has taken trips to Iceland, India, and Bhutan. She also loves local activities – touring art galleries, getting out into nature, attending concerts, opera, and ballet, and visiting Selby Gardens. Most mornings, you can find her exercising on her neighborhood walk. When it’s raining too hard to walk, you’ll find her on the lanai with a book.

    If you are interested in meeting with Rev. Mary Alice to talk about issues of faith or about membership at St. Andrew, please do not hesitate to call the church office to set up a mask to mask conversation, or a Zoom conversation. The pandemic has us doing church in some different ways, but our pastor is available and eager to get to know you better. If you are connected to St. Andrew in any way – because you worship with us online, join the Zoom coffee fellowship after worship, or you are in the book discussion group, or any other way you consider this your church home, then Rev. Mary Alice considers herself your pastor. Be in touch.

Position Open

  • Position Open

Kate Eichorst

Church Administrator

  • Born and raised in southern New Jersey, Kate lives happily in Sarasota with her wife, Cat, and the latest in a long line of rescued pups, Hank. She enjoys camping, travelling, photography, and dancing - especially to the Grateful Dead. 

    Kate is passionate about social justice, human rights, and animal rescue and protection. Kate admits she misses some things about where she grew up, like the boardwalk and the pizza. However, she does not miss the winters or the snow and has called Sarasota home since 1989. 

    You will find Kate in the St. Andrew office during the week, where she is always happy to welcome members, friends, and visitors to the church.text goes here

Craig Bray

Sexton

  • Craig spent his early years living in Scotland, so the St. Andrew cross holds a special place in his heart. Upon his return to this country he lived in Connecticut where he spent most of his adult life.

    He moved to Sarasota in 2017 and met his beautiful and amazing wife, Trish. Together they have six dogs, all rescues. Three of them have only one eye, one is blind and deaf, one a lab that doesn't like water, and a recent addition who makes the family complete.

    Craig and Trish love helping in the community and giving to others. Both have a love for Jesus and a strong faith.

    Besides the dogs, Craig has three sons, Stewart, Gordon and Henry. Craig and Trish think spending time with family is extremely important!

Volunteers

Tennie Capps

Moderator

Gary Remmen

Treasurer

Peggy Pancake

Financial Secretary

  • Tennie grew up in Eufaula, a small town in eastern Oklahoma; she graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a Masters degree.  After graduation, she began a teaching career in business at Mesa State College in Grand Junction, Colorado.   Prior to retiring she was appointed interim Department Chair of the Department of Fine and Performing Arts and was in that position for two years. 

    Most of her life, until moving to Sarasota, she was active in the Methodist Church and served on most every committee in the church, including serving as Chair of the Finance Committee, sang in the church choir and played in the bell choir.  Because of her interest in theology, at one point in her teaching career she took a leave of absence and studied theology at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University in Dallas, as well as taking summer courses and workshops through Iliff School of Theology in Denver.

    After living near the mountains in Colorado for most of her adult life, she decided she would like to explore the possibility of moving to Florida where she had once vacationed.  She met Alice Boucher on the internet and after several months of corresponding, Tennie visited Alice who lived in Sarasota.  After a few months, Tennie and Alice decided to share a home and were together since 1999.  In 2001, Tennie decided to embark on a new career in residential real estate and is still working.  On December 27, 2018, Tennie and Alice were married at St. Andrew with Rev. Paul presiding and a small group of friends attending. Alice died in 2022.

    Tennie and Alice had been members of another Sarasota Church for a number of years, but decided to look for another church.  One evening they attended a lecture by Michael Fox at St. Andrew – the sanctuary was so inviting with the globe and colorful streamers and the people so friendly that they decided to return the following Sunday.  They felt so at home and the people seemed so authentic, they decided that St. Andrew would be their new church home.  The core beliefs of St. Andrew UCC matched the core values that had been instilled in Tennie by her parents and that she has tried to practice during her life experiences.

    While living in Colorado, she enjoyed hiking with friends and skiing, except she spent more time falling down than skiing.  In Florida, two of her favorite past times, among other things, are gardening and feeding the birds. Description text goes here

  • Gary’s career was in the semiconductor/microchip business in the areas of planning, operations, finance, and management.  From a home base of Silicon Valley California, he lived in Cairo, Manila, and Kuala Lumpur.  After retirement he moved to Florida and has been part of the St. Andrew family for over 18 years. Gary is looking forward to this virus being over so he can get back to his basketball 3-pointer shooting at the gym.

  • Peggy has a long family history with St. Andrew, as her father, mother and aunt joined the church in the early seventies.  Her father was active on the finance committee, chair of the building committee for the present sanctuary and Moderator in 1984-85. They all sang in the choir and joined in the active social life of the church.  After moving to Florida from New York in 1996, Peggy worked at Venice Regional Bayfront Health for twenty years and attended St. Andrew with her mother and aunt, all still singing in the choir.  She served as Clerk from 2015 to 2018 and as Moderator from 2018-2020.

Calva Leonard

Moderator-Elect

  • Calva Leonard was born and raised in Shreveport, Louisiana and was a Southern Baptist until she married a Presbyterian PK (preacher’s kid). After moving to the Washington DC area in 1969 she joined the Church of the Pilgrims - a Presbyterian congregation where she was ordained as an elder. During her years in Washington she was an association executive, retiring in 2005 after twenty years as CEO of a technical society. 

    Calva came to St. Andrew in 2010 where she served as chair of the Finance Committee for several years. Most recently she has served as a Deacon. Other interests include walking at least five miles a day and enjoying the cultural offerings in Sarasota, including the symphony, ballet, jazz and theater. 

    Description text goes here

David Hauser

Co-Leader. Stewardship Team

  • David grew up in Lenox, a small town in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts. As a child, he began attending the local UCC church with his family. He remained involved in church, becoming a member of his church youth group in high school. As a leader in this group, he became actively involved in the Massachusetts United Church Youth Council (UCYC) leadership program, which regularly gathered youth from all over the state.

    After graduating from high school, David attended Wentworth University in Boston, studying building construction and architecture.  He was fortunate to start his work career as summer staff at Deering Conference Center in New Hampshire – an outdoor ministry and conference center owned and operated by the UCC Board for Homeland ministries – until its closure.  At that point, David began his own construction company, working in various construction settings in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, doing everything from building homes to erecting large scale metal buildings in Boston. 

    In the early nineteen nineties, David and his family moved to northwest Arkansas to be closer to family. He was hired as a Project Manager for a large architectural firm at which he ultimately became a partner. He traveled to almost every state in the US, gaining a strong background in commercial development. 

    After retiring from the architectural firm, David moved back to western Massachusetts. Having spent five years in early retirement, David decided to rejoin the working world as Director of Construction and Facilities for both Friendly’s and Johnny Rockets Restaurants. 

    David and his life-long friend from Deering church camp and UCYC days, Kyle, reconnected. They were married a few years later, moving to Sarasota and becoming active members of the St Andrew UCC community in 2016. They share 4 grown children and 6 grandchildren. They love to travel in their small RV, to enjoy family, friends and all the beauty this country has to offer. David also enjoys fishing, photography, and being outdoors. 

    Bringing a strong background in architecture, building construction, facility management, and business, David has served on the Board of Trustees for a few years. Now again retired, he is honored to have been entrusted with oversight of the St Andrew facilities as co-Chair of the Stewardship Team

Barbara Kervin

Board Member at Large

Ed Hooper

Leader, Pastor-Parish Relations Team

  • Ed is a Vietnam veteran, husband of Cindy Hooper, father of two children and two grandchildren, a quadriplegic as a result of an auto accident as a young man, founder of a wheelchair rugby league, a disability activist responsible for cut-outs at Sarasota intersections, co-author along with his alter ego Spokes Ableman of the autobiographical Don’t Push Me, and a gifted poet whose work can be enjoyed at https://www.poetryyes.com. At St Andrew he leads the Thursday morning book group and serves as leader of the Pastor-Parish relations team.

Dennis Titley

Clerk

  • Dennis is recently retired from Yale University where he spent his 35 year career in Research Financial Administration, Compliance and Auditing. He was raised mostly in Norwalk, Connecticut, with a four year stint living in French speaking Switzerland. Joining High School choir opened the door to singing both chorally and as a soloist. In New Haven, Connecticut, after graduating from college he sang with the Center Church on the Green choir and later became paid section leader and soloist at United Church on the Green. Dennis was also a member the Connecticut Choral Artists (a professional choir) for about seven years. Dennis and his wife Kathryn Thomas eventually joined United Church on the Green as members in 2011. Dennis has served on that organization’s Board of Stewards, the Members in Discernment Committee, serves as a Delegate to the UCC Southern New England conference, is on the United Church Board, and recently chaired the Annual Giving Campaign. 

    Dennis and Kathryn toured through Florida several times looking for a warmer place to spend retirement, visiting family, friends, and exploring Florida UCC churches. On one such tour they found St. Andrew UCC. After being given an extravagant welcome in the church office by departing Administrator, Linda Lee (pre-arranged by Rev. Paul Werner who was away)

    and being given a tour of the worship space with the spectacular grand piano and seeing the impressive hanging globe, Dennis and Kathryn were sure they were on to something good! After a few more visits they joined St. Andrew UCC as Associate Members in December 2021. Dennis and Kathryn in retirement spend their summers mostly at their cottage on Ripley Pond, Maine where the loons call out to them. Dennis loves traveling, reading, cooking, making improvements to their summer cottage, and of course being members of the St. Andrew book group where they have made many new friends.

Margaret McGladrey / Dorothy Donovan

Co-Leaders, Missions and Outreach Team

Joyce Michaels

Co-leader, Faith Building Team

Rev. Joelle Johns

Co-Leader Faith Building Team

  • I was born and raised in the small town of Cumberland, MD. After high school I attended Frostburg State University and graduated with a Masters degree in Education. I spent 38 years teaching 4th and 5th grades in Mineral County, West Virginia schools.  

    In 1978 I married my husband, Rich. I became the stepmother of his twin sons and we now have four grandchildren. We moved from Maryland to West Virginia in 1988. This is where we now spend our summers.

    After retirement we decided to spend some of the winter in Florida. We chose the Sarasota area because a friend told us about the great biking. What started with trying one month then three and now we are Florida residents staying about seven months a year. 

    I grew up being active in the Church of the Brethren. I wanted to find a church in Sarasota and discovered St.Andrew. I felt very welcomed from my first visit. Soon I made the decision to join and become more active. I enjoy singing in the choir and working with the Faith Building Team.on text goes here

Sharon Moorehead

Co-Leader, Stewardship Team

Our Ministry Teams

Faith Building Team

Encourages others to grow in their faith, in their love of God, and their commitment to Jesus Christ. We are focused on worship, teaching, caring, sharing and fellowship. Our work includes preparing the sanctuary for worship each week, providing welcomers to greet worshippers, and staffing a phone tree to stay in touch with those who are ill or homebound.

Stewardship Team

Manages the financial and physical resources of St. Andrew in order to preserve its future financial health, physical operation, ministry to the congregation, and outreach to the wider community. Recently, we oversaw the repair of our Sanctuary roof, and the installation of a new video system to stream our online worship service.

Mission and Outreach Team

Puts our faith into action by serving and supporting human needs within our congregation, our community, and our world. We oversee which local and greater UCC missions our church supports financially, such as All Faiths Food Bank, ALSO Youth and SURE. We also keep the congregation aware of social issues and service opportunities in our community.

Welcoming Team

Shares the Good News of Jesus Christ and the extravagant welcome of St Andrew UCC, encouraging others to become part of our family of faith. We work to create a culture that intentionally invites people to St Andrew, genuinely welcomes guests, and helps new friends integrate into the life and service of St Andrew.