Vestry
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St. Thomas’ Officers and Vestry Members:
Senior Warden: Elizabeth Moran (2027)
Elizabeth Moran grew up in Camden and has been a parishioner of St. Thomas’ since 1964. She and her husband, Andrew, were summer parishioners until 1987 when they moved from Fairfax County, Virginia, to Northport, Maine. In Virginia, they were married in St. Alban’s Church in Washington, where Elizabeth taught church school. After moving to northern Virginia, they were members of Truro Episcopal Church in Fairfax, where Elizabeth was Directress of Altar Guild, and their daughters, Heather and Melissa, were acolytes.
After moving to Maine, Elizabeth and Andrew and their family have been active in St. Thomas’. Elizabeth has served on Altar Guild, the Archives Committee, the Memorial Gifts Committee, the Building Committee for the new Church School Wing, the Finance and Endowment Committees, the Personnel Committee, and the Grounds Committee. She has served as Senior Warden, Junior Warden, Treasurer, and on Vestry including Clerk of the Vestry. As “unofficial” church archivist, she compiled a History of the St. Thomas Needlepoint Kneelers.
Elizabeth has been active in the community as Director of the Camden Public Library for 20 years and as a volunteer on various community projects.
As an Episcopalian, Elizabeth respects the rich history of the church and its Anglican heritage as the foundation for the traditional liturgy and worship of today’s church while also adapting to the changes needed in the contemporary church to keep it vibrant and growing.
Junior Warden: Benjy Lowry (2029)
Benjy has been a member of St Thomas’ since moving to Maine in 2019. Most recently of New Orleans, Benjy received his undergraduate degree in medieval studies from Tulane University. His final course of studies focused on the Old English Gospels. After graduating he found little trade peddling knowledge of forgotten tongues and feudalism, so instead he took a position teaching high school English. After his one millionth time reading Lord of the Flies, Benjy chose to tack in a different direction and undertook medical studies, again at Tulane. Along the way, in microbiology if you can believe it, he met Shelly, and recognizing her as a much kinder, smarter, and lovelier person than himself, he quickly proposed. Shelly had always wanted to visit to Maine, so they moved to Portland where Benjy finished his training in emergency medicine. After this northern exposure, they returned to New Orleans and started a family. But as the children started to grow, Benjy and Shelly realized how much they missed the opportunities afforded in the mountains and seas of Maine. Hoping to share with the children the many joys of the midcoast, Benjy took a position at Pen Bay hospital and they began looking for a church. When the children saw the Godly Play room at St Thomas’ they fell in love, remembering fondly the youth ministry at their previous church Trinity in New Orleans. Since joining the St. Thomas’ Benjy has served as lector and Vestry member. He remains especially committed to fostering a spirit of inclusivity and community within the church, both locally and at large. If he’s not shuttling the children between activities or reading a book, Benjy can be found climbing mountains and skiing back down them. An amateur baker and even poorer theologian, Benjy likes to think that though man cannot live on bread alone, a little sourdough can’t hurt.
Treasurer: Terry Mello (2028)
Terry was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York – the 9th of 11 children. In 1984 she and Carlos were married. Terry and Carlos spent 27 years in Weston, Connecticut, raising three sons – Matt who lives in Geneva, Switzerland with his wife, Kat and children Allie and Theo; Nick who lives in Bronxville, NY with his wife, Amelia and daughters, Jordan and Caroline; Dan who lives in Broomfield, CO with his wife, Leah.
Terry and Carlos have been attending St. Thomas’ since 2011 – officially becoming members in 2012. She has been an active volunteer since 2014. Terry served on the Vestry from 2014-2017, has been Treasurer since 2015.
Terry is a self-employed tax preparer and bookkeeper. She enjoys her precious time with her family, long walks, reading and traveling.
Clerk of the Vestry – Anne Rogers-Popejoy
Anne is a member of the Vestry, serving until 2028, Her bio may be found below.
Vestry Members:
Class of 2027
Derek Reed
Derek joined St. Thomas in early 2024 along with his wife, Avery, and kids, Claire and Elliott. They moved to Camden in 2022 after fifteen years in New York City, where Derek served on the vestry of the parish of Calvary St. George’s. He works as the editorial director of Convergent Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House that publishes leading thinkers on faith and spirituality. At St. Thomas, he serves as a children’s chapel volunteer, a lay leader for Morning Prayer, and a eucharistic minister.
Cheryl Reif
Cheryl was raised outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and spent the majority of her adulthood on the North Shore of Boston. She began vacationing in Midcoast Maine and in 2014, after retiring from a career in Graduate Medical Education at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, retired full time to her home in New Harbor.
An Episcopalian since college, while in Massachusetts, she attended Christ Church Hamilton/Wenham, where she was a member of the vestry, co-warden of the vestry, discernment committee, endowment committee, altar guild, and eucharistic ministry. At St. Thomas’, she is on the altar guild, ushers, participated in last summer’s fair, and joined the January 2023 Wayfinders group.
In her spare time, she is an avid tennis player, attempts gardening, quilts, and knits. She is a docent at the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland and a member of the Coastal Rivers Conservancy in Damariscotta.
Ron Zdrojeski
Ron lives part time in Lincolnville with his wife Christine. They are the parents of four adult children -Kate, Boomer, Max and George. When not in Mid-Coast, Ron and Christine both work as attorneys. Ron works as a trial lawyer and Christine works at The Hartford Insurance Company. Ron and Christine have been members of the St. Thomas community since 2020.
Class of 2028
Bill Freeman
Born and raised in Lunenburg, Massachusetts, graduated from Syracuse University, entered the U.S. Army, served in the 4th Infantry Division as a Tank Company Commander.
Retired after 35 years with Armstrong World Industries as Marketing Manager in the Flooring Division. While living in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Susan and I joined 9 other families to establish a new church in our area, St. Edwards Episcopal Church. There I served on the vestry and chaired the committee that constructed the new church building.
Became a year-round resident of Rockport, Maine in 2000 and have served on four town committees. I have continued working for the past 22 years as a Technical and Regulatory Consultant for the Resilient Floor Covering Institute.
Have been attending St. Thomas for 36 years, beginning as a summer resident. Since then, I have served on the Vestry, chaired the Finance Committee, served on the Buildings and Grounds Committee, represented St. Thomas on the board of The Camden Area Christian Food Pantry as well as being an usher, reader etc. for the Sunday services.
I am committed to St. Thomas Church; it’s members and it’s future.
Kelli McGuire
Kelli McGuire was born in Oklahoma and went to college at Oklahoma State University, earning a degree in Journalism. It was while she was at college that she met her future husband in the parking lot of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, where she sang in the choir and was an active member of the youth group.
Kelli and David were married at St. Andrew’s and joined the Foreign Service after college. Their first tour was in the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, where Kelli did contract work for DEA, as assistant to the head of the intelligence analysts.
Their next tour was down under, in Melbourne, Australia. While pregnant with her first child, Kelli did volunteer work and was solicited to make a television commercial. Kelli and David left their two-year tour in Melbourne with two baby boys and continued on to their next posting in Bamako, Mali. In Bamako, Kelli worked in the Consular Section of the U.S. Embassy, issuing visas to foreign nationals and making passports for U.S. citizens. While Kelli and David’s older son Sam was attending a French pre-school, their younger son, Sebastian, spoke his first words in Bambara — the local language that their gardener and housekeeper spoke with one another.
Next was Managua, Nicaragua where Kelli worked as the Community Liaison Officer, planning Congressional Delegations, serving on embassy committees and devising ways to boost morale among embassy employees and their families. Kelli and David spent the next 3 years in the mountains and beaches of Costa Rica before moving to Buenos Aires, Argentina where Kelli again took the position of Community Liaison Officer — this time, in the United States second-largest embassy.
After 4 years in Argentina, Kelli accompanied her boys home to Virginia to get one packed off to college and the other one enrolled in Fairfax H.S. As often happens, things change and Kelli began looking for a house in Maine — a place she had always loved visiting as a child. She did find the house of her dreams and the first thing she did upon arrival was to start attending St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church. She has participated in the Flower Guild, Outreach Committee and the choir and considers her St. Thomas’ family to be an integral part of her new life here in Maine.
Kelli’s favorite pastime is DANCING… followed by traveling, hiking, reading and singing.
Anne Rogers-Popejoy
Anne Rogers-Popejoy is entering her second year as a vestry member and third as clerk. During 15 years in the Diocese of South Dakota, Black Hills Deanery, she served as a vestry member, senior warden, clerk, Diocesan Council member, election delegate, and cantor. She has worked with young adults living in intentional community in the Episcopal Church, with Thunderhead Episcopal Center, and is the secretary of the board for Earth & Altar, a publication for and by catholic and reformed Christians of all denominations who see an expansively conceived credal orthodoxy as fully compatible with LGBTQ inclusion, gender equality, and racial justice. Anne became an Episcopalian while attending Kenyon College and was raised in the United Church of Christ in Connecticut. Her professional career has been dedicated to working with and for non-profit organizations in small communities, delving into education, administration, and development. An ardent supporter of the arts and education, Anne worked with the Historic Homestake Opera House, Boys & Girls Clubs, and Northern Hills Alliance for Children in advocacy and fundraising. She is now the executive director of the Strand Theatre in Rockland. Anne, Jamie, and Ronan (7) relocated to Maine in the fall of 2021 and began attending St. Thomas. They can be found exploring outdoors, enjoying the arts, or cozy at home with their dog and cat.
Class of 2029
Becca Berry
Becca Berry is honored to be nominated for the Vestry of St. Thomas. She has been an active member of the parish since 2022/2023 and values St. Thomas’ commitment to worship, community, and service.
Becca currently serves on the Board of Directors for Children’s House Montessori School, where she brings experience in leadership, stewardship, communications, and community engagement. Most recently she has served on the Board of Directors for the Junior League of San Francisco, and Sutro Stewards amongst others. She looks forward to offering her skills in support of the Vestry and the continued growth and vitality of St. Thomas.
Becca lives in Camden with her husband, Coburn (Skip) and their two young children, Coburn and Harriet. She is grateful for the opportunity to serve the St. Thomas parish and the greater community.
Sam Cotton
Sam was born in southern Connecticut and has fond memories of growing up in a Congregational church attending services with his three older sisters and parents every week.
Spending summers in Maine as a child Sam fell in love with the coast and the great outdoors. He is very grateful to now live on the mid-coast with his wife Sarah and daughter Frieda.
Between receiving a Bachelor degree in sculpture at Colorado College and a Master degree in industrial design at Pratt Institute Sam studied furniture making at the College of the Redwoods Fine Woodworking program (currently known as The Krenov School) in Northern California. Sam is a cabinet maker who practices woodworking professionally for a local cabinet shop in his town of Hope, as well as a hobbyist in his shop at home, and he is happy to enjoy his work.
Haunani Wallace
Haunani was born in Hawaii, and lived on the west coast of British Columbia with her family where she met and married Doc. They moved to the east coast in 1983 and were very active in St. James Episcopal Church in Farmington, Connecticut, where she and Doc served as a team – Haunani served as treasurer for several years while Doc served as Senior Warden. After a career teaching middle school in Connecticut and New York, she and Doc retired to Vermont, where they enjoyed travelling, skiing and gardening. In 2010 they moved to Sarasota, Florida to care for her mother, Ada who was suffering from dementia.
Like many others in the mid-coast, Haunani and Doc began vacationing in Maine in the 1980s. And, like many others, they looked forward to moving to Maine when life allowed. They purchased a condo in Rockport in 2013 to escape summers in Florida. In 2017, they moved to Rockport, and three years ago moved to Camden where she is only a few blocks from church.
Haunani serves as co-chair of the altar guild and as a reader. She continues to embrace the new spirit that is spreading throughout the St. Thomas community as it grows in numbers. She looks forward to continuing her service on the vestry.
Haunani enjoys knitting, gardening, reading, kayaking, skiing and all that the mid-coast has to offer.