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Minister: The Rev. David McLean Jones Choir Director: Margery Heins Organist/Accompanist: Meg Reilly Sexton: Jeffrey Bailey Bookkeeper: Bing Waldsmith Office Administrator: Virginia Wiswell Church Officers Moderator: Nancy Marshall Clerk: Wendy Prée Treasurers: Ann Gibson & Marie Fuller About our minister: On Sunday, July 14, 2019, the congregation voted to call David McLean Jones to be our pastor. Rev. Jones was raised in rural Ontario, Canada, and has a Master of Divinity from the University of Toronto. Previously, he served at the Riverside United Church of Christ in Jacksonville, Florida, where his focus was community ministries. “Mainline Protestant churches have tremendous work to do in the coming years and decades,” Jones told our congregation. “The UCC is especially well positioned to accomplish this task given its progressive credentials, community focus, and history of thoughtful, effective ecumenism.” Reverend Jones was ordained on October 4, 2020. View his Service of Ordination on YouTube here. View his Service of Installation, September 25, 2022, on Zoom here. About our choir director: Margery Heins has served as Choir Director at First Congregational Church of Ashfield since Easter, 1997. She also directs the church's Youth Choir, which sings, usually together with the Adult Choir, at various times throughout the Choir season. Margery has also been the conductor of the Greenfield Community College Chorus since the fall of 2001, and she is known in the Pioneer Valley for her voice teaching and direction of the Recital Chorus. In the past, she led choirs at North Congregational Church, Amherst, and Second Congregational Church, Greenfield, and she also conducted the Greenfield Chamber Singers and children's choruses. She has been singing her whole life, and is active with the American Choral Directors Association. About our office administrator: Virginia Wiswell joined the team in March of 2023 after (finally) retiring from the position of Data Administrator for the local school districts. She has spent 45 years, mostly in IT, at such diverse organizations as the Valley Advocate, Valley Forge Military Academy (during the filming of "Taps"), a Wawa, Mount Holyoke College, The Wall Street Journal., and Kripalu. She is a devoted member of the church choir and sits on the Adult Education committee. As the Office Administrator, she updates the website and the Wayside Pulpit, distributes the digital and hard copy bulletins every Sunday, and is taking over the rentals of church facilities, among other duties. About our organist/accompanist:
Since mid-June, 2023, Meg Reilly has blessed our church with her musical talent. As our Music Director, Meg works with our minister, Rev. David Jones, and choir director, Margery Heins, to select piano and organ pieces for church services. Meg also accompanies choir practices on Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings. Born outside Washington, DC, Meg got her BA and MA in collaborative piano from UMass Amherst. She taught the chorus at Stoneleigh-Burnham for ten years before Covid, and now accompanies the Greenfield Community College chorus, also led by Margery Heins. She can sing either tenor, alto, or mezzo soprano, and she enjoys singing both musical theater tunes and classical choral pieces. |
Rev. David Jones with his wife Caity Mans and their son, Hugo
Choir Director Margery Heins
Office Administrator Virginia Wiswell. She has since embraced peace and non-violence.
Organist/Accompanist Meg Reilly. Happily, her feet now reach the pedals.
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