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Board of Trustees

The Officers of the church are the President of the Congregation, the Vice-President for Program, the Vice-President for Finance, the Secretary, the Treasurer and the Assistant Secretary-Treasurer. The President and two Vice-Presidents are elected annually by the Board of Trustees from among its members; the Secretary, Treasurer and Assistant Secretary-Treasurer are elected by the congregation and are ex-officio members of the Board of Trustees. These six officers constitute the Executive Committee of the Board.

The Board of Trustees consists of the church officers and twelve additional members who are elected by the congregation for staggered two-year terms. Board members may be re-elected for a second term and, if elected to an office, may serve up to six consecutive years. The ministers of the church meet with the Board ex-officio, except when requested to be absent for executive sessions. From time to time, the Board may invite other staff members or chairs of program boards or committees to meet with it.

2009-2010 Board of Trustees: (click each name to jump to their Bio)

President - Jim Rusher
1st Vice President - Stacey Craig
2nd Vice President - Jim Perrault
Treasurer - Maurice Storm
Secretary - Laura Hailey-Butler
Assistant Secretary - Ruth Ferguson

Additional Members: (alphabetical)
Bill Ainsworth
Brenda Alred
Roger Blais
Steve Caldwell
Emily Duensing
John Greene
Nancy Harbaugh
Kathy Hinkle
Nancy McDonald
Sharon McElroy
Jim Walker
Barry Wilder

President, Jim Rusher

Jim and his wife Dianne joined All Souls in 1998 when the older of their two daughters began asking if they believed in God. Jim's interest in supporting his daughters' exploration of religion led him to teach a church school class for a year and then serve six years on the Children's Religious Education Board. While on the Board of Trustees, Jim has served on the Second Vice President and worked on the Board's auction as well as the stewardship campaign. Jim's law practice with Albright, Rusher & Hardcastle is primarily in commercial litigation; he also handles probates, estate planning, and some family law matters. Jim enjoys all sports. An avid runner, he has completed 21 marathons and plans to do more. Jim looks forward to working to ensure that All Souls continues to provide an open, caring, and tolerant environment for all members to pursue their own paths to spiritual growth as All Souls grows. Contact Jim by email jwrusher@arhlaw.com

1st Vice President, Stacey Craig is the one All Souls Board of Trustees member who has also served as an All Souls staff member– as Youth Director from 1996 to 2001. Stacey’s involvement with All Souls began in her childhood when she attended services with her parents. She joined a Presbyterian youth group when she was a teenager but that church didn't fit her beliefs, so she returned to All Souls. In addition to serving as Youth Director, Stacey has led ASK workshops, been a Youth advisor and served on the Youth Board as a member and as chair. She traveled extensively with the youth to regional conferences, on float and ski trips, and on the first and subsequent senior pilgrimages to Boston. She has also worked on Habitat for Humanity houses, co-chaired Mostly Unitarian Moms, and served on the Long Range Planning Committee. Stacey’s family is also intimately involved in All Souls. She and her husband Glenn were married here in 1998, and their twin six-year-olds participate in the Children’s Religious Education Program. They are glad that their daughters will have the opportunity to learn about religion without being indoctrinated into one way of thinking. The Craigs value the community of All Souls--part of the village that is helping to raise their children.

Stacey would like to see the church offer more family support through tutoring (at our adopted schools and within the congregation), hold family-friendly services, create intergenerational space and programming, and provide aid to families going through life-changing events like death or divorce. She also values All Souls’ leadership role in Tulsa. In her words, “I love that I always see members of our church at community events, from the theater to social action programs. It seems that any time there is a worthwhile cause All Souls members are there, more often than not in a leadership role.“ When not homeschooling her children Stacey enjoys playing cello, quilting, skiing, solving Sudoku and other puzzles and games. Email Stacey at SCraigOK@aol.com.

2nd Vice President, Jim Perrault is a native Tulsan. He and his wife Lisa were brought up in the Catholic Church and attended Catholic schools. Jim and Lisa sent their son and daughter to Catholic schools too, but when their son was reached high school he began to question the family's religious tradition and looked to All Souls for his own spiritual development. The family tried attending both churches for a period of time before determining All Souls was, "the best home for our questioning souls." The family officially joined the church in 2006. The Perraults have become active in the Children's Religious Education program. Jim has served on the Board of Trustees as a member, Treasurer and now 2nd Vice President. He hopes to discover more about the church and ways to use his talents to forward the mission of All Souls. He enjoys outdoor activities including fishing, camping, and skiing, as well as home repairs. Jim graduated from the University of Tulsa in mechanical engineering and is a licensed professional engineer. He is Director of Product Development and Marketing for McElroy Manufacturing, Inc. Call Jim at (918) 831-9290 or email jperrault@mcelroy.com)

Treasurer, Maurice Storm

Maurice Storm (or Storm as he prefers to be called) is originally from Southern California. He comes from a family that did not practice a religion or attend church. Storm began attending church on his own when he entered his teens and was actively involved in both Methodist and Baptist churches until he completed college. After completing graduate school Storm moved to Tulsa, but could not find a church that tolerated intellectual curiosity about religious and spiritual matters. Eventually, church and the religious experience faded again from his life. Eight years ago he started attending All Souls and was pleased to find a church that embraces individuality, freedom of thought, and freedom to search for answers to the spiritual questions that abound in the world. Storm is a geologist by training, with a Bachelor of Science with honors in geology. He lives near the church with his beautiful wife Leah, three wonderful children, and two well-behaved dogs.

Secretary, Laura Hailey-Butler has a 26 year history at All Souls. Her family joined when she was in the fifth grade. Laura participated in the Children’s Religious Education Program and choir. After ten years in Norman, Oklahoma Laura and her husband Edwin chose to return to Tulsa and All Souls in order that their two children could have, in her words, “a Ruby and a Rocky"…caring adults that would nurture their self-confidence and spiritual development as Ruby Buchner and Rocky Stegman had done for her and so many other children during their time at All Souls. While the move was intended primarily to benefit her children, Laura has found that her own involvement in the Children’s Religious Education program as a teacher, and as a member and president of the CRE Board, has profoundly affected her as well. Because of this she hopes for more involvement from the larger congregation in our Children's Religious Education and Youth Departments and that both groups will continue to be nationally recognized models for other Unitarian Universalist churches. Laura also sees advocacy in the Tulsa community as a strength of All Souls and hopes that we continue our leadership role in addressing social issues locally and beyond. Finally, Laura hopes for growth in our Endowment Fund to ensure a spectacular future. When not found in the west wing of All Souls, look for Laura on the golf course, or reading a good book. She is Vice President of Mission Advancement at the YMCA of Greater Tulsa. Contact Laura by e-mail at lhb@ymcatulsa.org, or call 269-0699.

Assistant Secretary, Ruth Ferguson

Through a television program around 1980 Ruth discovered All Souls, visited the next Sunday and has been here ever since. She is active in Day and Evening Alliances, the Prayer Shawl Ministry and the Meditation group. She holds an Ed.D. in Occupational and Adult Education (Human Resource Development) from Oklahoma State University and B.A. and M.A. degrees in Industrial Psychology from the University of Tulsa. Before retirement in 1989, she had a management consulting practice in the personnel, employee relations, and management development fields. Her civic responsibilities during that period included Chairman of the Civil Service Commission for the City of Tulsa, Chairman of the Career Education Task Force for the Chamber of Commerce and Leadership Tulsa (a graduate of Class III). Her current interest is the study of neuroplasticity and its potential in the fields of mental health, learning disabilities and the cognitive functions of the senior population. She and Paul have been Elderhostel and lifetime learning enthusiasts, having attended 16 such programs within the U.S. and abroad. She envisions All Souls developing premier programing in keeping with its largest congregation status and is interested in the creation of a dynamic set of programs for our seniors utilizing some of the many talents within our congregation and professional community. Ruth can be reached at 747-8582 or by e-mail at rcferguson@cox.net.

Bill Ainsworth grew up attending All Souls then moved away from Tulsa. He and his wife Carol moved back to Tulsa six years ago and he returned to All Souls with his family. The Ainsworths joined when they realized the important role of the Church in their own lives and their young son's. Bill has been active in a Branches group and he and Carol chaired a stewardship campaign. He hopes that ASUC's influential liberal voice will continue to shape our community. Bill owns Magneto Partnership, the agency he launched after twenty-years in advertising. He enjoys outdoor activities, especially hiking in the Rockies, and introspective pursuits like art and writing. Contact Bill by cell phone (918)-724-5715, work phone (918) 280-8200, or email bill@magnetopartnership.com.

Brenda Alred

Brenda is a Tulsa native who attended All Souls as a child. After living in Arizona and New England, she and her husband, Darin, returned to Tulsa in 1996 and once again began attending All Souls. In recent years Brenda has participated in the church by singing in the Adult Choir, serving as Chair of the Adult Choir Board and working on the survey task force. Brenda has worked as an audiologist for many years and recently earned her Doctorate in Audiology. Brenda and Darin have two sons who are both active in the church’s religious education programs. Darin serves on the Children’s Religious Education Board and is also a life-long All Souls Member.

Brenda’s main reason for returning to All Souls began with the desire to provide her children a broad religious education and a freethinking space to discover their own spiritual truths. She values the opportunity to serve in a church that is constantly striving to create diversity and social justice within the community, both locally and beyond. She enjoys skiing, singing, hiking, meditating and jewelry making. She may be contacted at brenda.alred@swpay.com

Roger Blais

Roger and Mary Blais were married in the All Souls Chapel in 1971. After living in Virginia for several years, they returned to Tulsa where Roger joined the physics faculty at TU. Mary has worked for Tulsa Public Schools for many years. Roger served on the Children’s Choir Board from 1986 to 2003, and from 1992-95 was chair. He grew up a Lutheran in Minnesota, attended college at the University of Minnesota and postgraduate school at OU. Since 1998 he has served as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at The University of Tulsa. He has been active in several community organizations including the boards of the Oklahoma Academy and Light Opera Oklahoma, as well as in professional societies in engineering, Boy Scouts and with Mary as co-president of the PTSA at Booker T. Washington (’97-99). He was a member of Leadership Oklahoma class XVI. Their son Christopher is a submarine officer in the US Navy, and their daughter is a law student at OU. Both were in Children’s and Youth Choir, and among the favorite family memories are the choir trips—especially to London in 1998 and Romania in 2002.

Steve Caldwell

Steve Caldwell and his wife Linda came to All Souls as an early step in a quest to find a community which embraced the ideals and ethics they desired to be taught and supported in the lives of their children. They were so moved by the covenant, the congregation and the messages in the sermons that they quickly joined All Souls in 2006. Service and active participation in a religious community are long running themes for this family as Steve grew up a “preacher’s kid” who was readily encouraged to involve himself in organizations and service groups. Steve believes that this community supplies a vital resource to Tulsa as a voice of reason and social leadership. Through his work as a Trustee he hopes create further growth and success through stewardship for All Souls. Steve has a B.S. in Psychology and a M.B.A. from Oklahoma State and is employed by a Fortune 1000 firm as a Director in the Human Resources department. A life-long athlete he enjoys sports and has recently discovered great joy by serving as a youth soccer coach. Steve can be reached by phone at (918) 688-4007 or by email at smc281@cox.net.

Emily Duensing

Emily Duensing has served on the All Souls Children's Religious Education and Youth Boards, as a youth advisor and volunteer for the Youth Department and Children and Youth Choirs, as a volunteer for numerous church causes and activities, and as a member of the Day Alliance. A Tulsa attorney since 1984, Emily has been a member of All Souls for nearly 20 years. She and her husband, Ted Bakamjian, have two children, Allison Bakamjian, currently a student at Tulane University, and Josh Parish, who, along with his wife, Taylor, are graduate students at the University of Washington in Seattle.

John Greene

John Greene is a veteran of the energy industry and is now part owner of a natural gas marketing company. He and wife, Allison, have two children. The Greenes joined All Souls 15 years ago. Although he was raised on the east coast as part of a large catholic family, after settling in the Midwest and exploring a few different religions, he found the openness of Unitarian Universalism to be the best fit. John serves as Chair of the Board of Trustees' Parking committee. As chair of that committee, John hopes to resolve the issues of parking and neighborhood accessibility. John is also on the Conservage Board and the Building and Maintenance committee. He enjoys sports such as cycling, and running, and outside work projects. To reach John phone (918) 629-3437.

Nancy Harbaugh

Nancy and her husband, Hank have been attending All Souls for eleven years. They have found it a good fit for questioning minds. Nancy attended Phillips Seminary for several years and it was a revelation of information! Their grandson, Mark, lives with them and Nancy had the opportunity to be involved in the children's R.E. finding it a refreshing way to teach children. Nancy is also involved in Labyrinth workshops and finds it a perfect metaphor for All Souls inclusive nature. She is also a certified Feldenkrais Practitioner and finds the variety of classes and interests of the members very refreshing. Nancy is new on the board and is looking forward to the upcoming year.

Kathryn Hinkle

While her husband, Bill, served in the Army and attended Law School, Kathy was a Junior High and High School Math Teacher in Tennessee and Virginia. They moved to Tulsa in 1974 when Bill started his law practice and Kathy became a "full-time" community volunteer for the next 20 years. She served as president of the Tulsa and State Leagues of Women Voters and it was through that organization that she met her first Unitarians! Later Kathy and Bill left the Presbyterian Church and joined All Souls in 1989 after finding Unitarian Universalism more compatible with their belief systems.

Since 1996 Kathy has worked at Saint Simeon's Episcopal Home wearing many hats from Safety to Continuing Education to Quality Improvement and Coordinator of the Root n' Shoots n' Critters Program - which includes (her favorite assignment) taking Simone, the Therapy Dog, home at night. At All Souls, Kathy has been active in the GBLT project, the Garden Committee, Branches, Long Range Planning Committee, chaired a stewardship campaign, member of the Generosity Committee, and served on the Executive Committee as First Vice-President/Programs, chairing the Adult Religious Education Board. In the community, she is active in Parents, Families, Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), Tulsa Partners (Emergency Peparedness) and is again Co-President with another All Souls member of the League of Women Voters.

Bill and Kathy are very proud of their two grown children and grandson (adopted by our son who inspired our involvement with PFLAG). If I could change one thing in my life, especially as it relates to our children, I wish that we had been here for them to "grow up" in this remarkable Church! Contact Kathy: KHinkle@SaintSimeons.org.

Nancy McDonald has led a life of service. In addition to a career in education, Nancy has pursued a career in volunteerism, which began in the Officer’s Wives Clubs of the Air Force. This led her to board appointments at, among others, Rogers State College, Thornton YMCA, Tulsa Living Arts, Hillcrest Hospital, Arts and Humanities Council, PFLAG, and the Special Olympics. Her vast and ongoing community activism has won her local, regional, and national honors. From 1971 until recently, Nancy and Joseph, her husband of 52 years (2009), were active members of Hope Unitarian Church where Nancy served for a time as the Children’s Religious Education Director. Nancy and Joseph joined Hope seeking a church that was open to questioning one's own faith and beliefs. They also wanted their four children to experience religious education that gave them the tools to develop their own faith. The McDonalds joined All Souls five years ago when the Church became a Welcoming Congregation. Currently Nancy serves as Chair of the Children’s Advocacy Team at All Souls. In her words, Nancy “hopes All Souls will continue to be a Church for those who seek an inclusive, understanding, and welcoming congregation; a voice for those persons who are on the fringes of our society and a role model for other congregations and individuals in regard to philanthropy, articulation of values, and service to each other and the larger community.” Nancy enjoys spending time with her family, including eight grandchildren, and reading, sailing, needlework, cooking, and RVing. Contact Nancy by phone at 918-742-8565, or email her at nancymcdo@aol.com.

Sharon McElroy

Sharon McElroy has been an active member of the church since 1986. She and her husband Chip were married in the church. Their three children have participated in the religious education program which brought Sharon to volunteer. Sharon has taught a number of RE classes through the years. In addition she served on the Religious Education Board for six years and was the RE Board Chair. She has worked on numerous UUSC dinners, church auctions and other churchwide events. Sharon enjoys volunteer work, boating and traveling. She is the Marketing Communications Manager for McElroy Manufacturing Company. Contact Sharon by email at smcelroy@mcelroy.com

Jim Walker

Jim was brought to All Souls by his wife Janis Updike Walker in 1977 who also let the church staff know that he had formerly been a choral director. Jim was approached by Doe Lockwood and agreed to direct a new adult choir "temporarily". The choir was off to a shaky start but grew and improved year after year and Jim continued as director for almost ten years. Jim and Janis raised their two kids in the church and worked on several boards and committees as well as jointly chairing the Stewardship Campaign in 2001.

Professionally, Jim served as Director of the University of Oklahoma National Resource center for Youth Services for 25 years. He became a nationally known leader and spokesman in the field of working with runaway, homeless and abused adolescents. After traveling back and forth across the country for all those years, Jim retired from the University in 2001 and became Director of Youth Services of Tulsa. Here he is having a great time working with a new generation of youth workers, creating programs and services to reach the most vulnerable youth populations in our community.

When not working or singing in the choir, Jim loves gardening, antiquing, visiting art galleries and spending time with his five incredible grandchildren who call him "Grumpy."

Barry Wilder

Barry Wilder and Nancy, his wife of 48 years, joined All Souls in 2001 after being active members in the Methodist church for most of their lives. During that time, he was elected to various church Boards in several churches in three states. The impetus to join All Souls resulted from a realization that beliefs and doctrines of the Methodist church no longer fully matched his personal beliefs and practice. An invitation by a friend to visit All Souls initiated the move to join. Since joining, Barry has served on the Newcomers Board, Care Team, including three years as Co-Chair, Tutoring at Gilcrese, Partners in Education and a Branches group. Election to the All Souls Board of Trustees will provide an opportunity to continue his history of church service throughout his adult life.

Barry has degrees in Chemical Engineering from Texas A&M and OU, and retired in 2002 after a 38 year career in the chemical and plastics manufacturing industries, serving as Plant Engineer and Plant Manager in manufacturing plants in Oklahoma, Texas and Tennessee. Highlights of that career included working in plants in the USA, Canada, Argentina, Japan, the United Kingdom and Scandinavia. Barry and Nancy have three children and four grandchildren, and enjoy frequent visits with all of them. Travel within the USA and around the world is an important pastime, and aerobic walking, hiking, camping, skiing and sailing are highly prized recreational activities. Barry can be reached by email at n.bwilder@cox.net

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