Board meetings are usually held on the fourth Tuesday of every month, 7 – 8:30 p.m. Board meetings are open to members of the congregation.
To find out how to attend a board meeting, contact the UUFR office.
To find agendas and minutes of upcoming or past board meetings, click here.
(To find out more about a board member, click on their picture.)
I grew up in Madison, Wisconsin. As an adult, I lived in Los Angeles, where I was a teacher with Teach for America, and New York City, where I went to law school. After moving to Raleigh in 2003, I worked as an employment lawyer with a focus on sexual misconduct. I retired from active practice in 2018 in order to spend more time at home with my children. My husband Steve and I have a beautiful blended family of six kids, including our host daughter from Afghanistan who joined us in 2022. Being a full-time parent is the most challenging job I have ever held, and I feel grateful (usually, haha) to have a diverse crew of insightful young people in my life.
As a college student, I broke with the conservative evangelical faith of my upbringing and took a long break from religion. In my 30s, I found my way to a liberal Episcopal church. It was a loving community with progressive ideals, but I did not like having to tune out so much of the liturgical content. I wanted to be able to say the words of the hymns and prayers and actually believe them. After visiting UUFR on and off for the better part of a decade, I began attending in earnest in 2019. Since that time, the fellowship has become an important part of my life. I feel delighted to have a spiritual home where I connect with so many caring, engaged people. I love that we are part of something that began before us and will hopefully continue long after us. Many hands have blessed these walls.
I have served on the boards of Equality NC, a statewide LGBT rights organization, and The Monti, a Triangle non-profit which creates community through live storytelling events. I currently serve on the board of Ascend, an international organization which works in the Middle East to empower young women through athletics and leadership training. At UUFR, I enjoy serving as a Worship associate and on the Care Team. I have also been involved with Social Hour and like thinking about how we can promote connections and make everyone feel welcome. I feel deeply humbled to have been elected to UUFR’s board and honored to serve alongside the other board members. My door is always open to questions, concerns, and suggestions!
I served for 8-or-so years on the Candidacy Committee of the NC Synod of the ELCA. I liked very much getting to know seminary students who were preparing to become ELCA pastors. Their new insights, perspectives, and ideas were encouraging. Dislike was when meetings were not organized, therefore allowing the meetings to sometimes sway greatly from the intended purpose of the particular meeting. Also when there are not clear goals for the group, I am not particularly pleased.
Raised a Baptist, married a Lutheran and became one myself. After years of Sunday School, bible study, spiritual enrichment through Via de Cristo, and exploring the mystic branch of Christianity, my wife Judy and I arrived at a spiritual place that didn’t seem to fit what we had followed. Throughout our journey, social justice, equality, and advocacy called to us and seemed to guide us to Unitarian Universalism. Here, we have found a spiritual home, among like-minded service/action-oriented believers seeking a liberal religious home, working for the common good of all.
My interests, besides social justice, equality, and advocacy include music (hand drumming and singing), NCSU Wolfpack football and basketball, and even Carolina Panthers football. I enjoy flying different aircraft on MS Flight Simulator, traveling to interesting sights and historic sites with Judy, my wonderful wife of 42 years. In retirement from restaurants (cooking and management), radio commercial production, and computer customer support, I have become an audiobook narrator credited with over 25 titles I’ve narrated. Taking advantage of a white beard and a portly appearance, I have portrayed Santa Claus (Santa Keyes) for the past ten years and have enjoyed that immensely, bringing smiles of glee and joy to kids, parents, and grandparents.
I have active listening skills, have had sales experience, customer support and customer support management experience. I have served on several boards and committees in other churches.
I was born in Washington, DC, and grew up in the Maryland suburbs, where I lived for my first 40 years. In 2000, my husband and I moved to Raleigh, where we lived until we moved to the Outer Banks of NC in 2016 after he retired. He passed away in 2021 and I stayed at the beach for 2.5 more years until I moved to Cary in October of 2023. While living at the beach, my husband and I became members of the UU Congregation of the Outer Banks, where I served as Secretary and then Treasurer before moving to Cary. I joined UUFR in February of 2024 and was elected Treasurer at the June 2024 Annual Congregational Meeting.
I have an undergraduate degree from Towson State University and a master’s degree from UNC-Chapel Hill. My work life was spent primarily in managing non-profit professional associations. I have been retired since November of 2021. I like to read, travel, watch TV, and spend time with friends. I have a stepson, Adam, who lives on the west coast. My constant companion is my dog, Ollie.
I have knowledge and experience with budgets, spreadsheets, data analysis, financial policies, and Board and Committee structures and operations. My professional experiences include being the office manager supporting the Session (Board) and minister at a Presbyterian church, including secretarial and financial duties (4 years) and serving as Executive Director of two statewide professional associations (6 years).
I joined UUFR after moving to Raleigh in 2019, looking for community and an avenue to find spiritual connection. Those years since have been some of the most transformative years of my life – moving, settling down, a global pandemic, starting a family. I am so grateful for the roots and support we have here, and to have a home where we can pour our talents into things that matter. We have two young girls and I am also excited for them to age into and experience the family ministry programs in the next few years. During the day I currently work for a startup building spacecraft where I lead the design and development of their manufacturing and supply chain systems. I love tinkering with technology, building apps, and solving the complex problems that come with that role. At home, I enjoy all the time I can with my family and have discovered joy in quiet time spent crocheting and gardening. I am excited about the opportunity to serve on the board and offer a new perspective and set of skills!
I was born in small-town North Carolina and grew up attending Christian churches and vacation bible school as a child. While I never felt a religious connection through those experiences I very much enjoyed the community aspect. I didn’t discover religion again until I was 27 and planning my wedding ceremony, looking for scripts and readings, and found the only ones that resonated with me came from UU sources. In 2019, when Chris and I moved back to NC, the first thing we did when we settled in Raleigh was look for a UU church. Our first service was Rev. James’ first service in 2019 and we’ve been hooked ever since. I’ve been involved in various aspects – the young adult group, chalice circles, and Care Team and have enjoyed all of the connections made along the way.
While I have only been a UU for a few years, I feel like those years have been some of the most transformative years – moving, settling down, a global pandemic, starting a family. I am so grateful for the roots and support we have here, and to have a home where we can pour our talents into things that matter. We have two young girls and I am also excited for them to age into and experience the family ministry programs in the next few years. During the day I currently work for a startup working on launching a rocket where I lead the design and development of their manufacturing and supply chain systems. I love tinkering with technology, building apps, and solving the complex problems that come with that role. At home, I enjoy all the time I can with my family and have discovered joy in quiet time spent crocheting and gardening. I am excited about the opportunity to serve on the board and offer a new perspective and set of skills!
My relevant involvement at UUFR – young adult group member (since 2019, less active now but still attend some events) – young adult chalice circle (2 seasons) – parents of young children chalice circle facilitator (1 season) – care core team (1.5 yrs). I have enjoyed all of the connections made in these groups, especially the intergenerational ones. Only dislike is that trying to get something done can be like herding cats. It can be tough to rally interest and involvement when leading something.
I grew up in Raleigh in a family of 6, with parents who were committed leaders in their small Methodist congregation. Joe and Betsy Cox, key figures in UUFR history, lived a few houses away and Betsy was the leader of the junior garden club I belonged to. All I knew about their faith was that they belonged to some weird church. Joel and I met on a blind date when we were in college, and married in December of my senior year at George Peabody College for Teachers in Nashville, TN. I had become very interested in early childhood special education, autism, and language intervention research through my college experience, which led to us moving to Boston where I got an EdD in a new applied psycholinguistics program.
We moved back to NC in 1978 while I was still writing my dissertation. One of our first “projects” was to find our own church and thereby avoid pressure from both sets of parents to attend one of their Methodist churches. We found UUFR, and I discovered what weird church the Coxes had beIonged to for all those years. I graduated, got pregnant, and we became parents to Dana in 1980. From 1981-1988 I was associated with TEACCH Division, the statewide program in NC for autistic individuals and their families, taking a leave of absence in 1983 when our son Zack was born. Then I made a slight career course revision by going back to school to get a Master’s degree and clinical certification as a speech-language pathologist, and in 1990, I joined the faculty in Speech and Hearing Sciences at UNC-CH, which was my professional home until 2023. For the first decade or so, I primarily provided clinical services and clinical supervision for Master’s students in speech-language pathology. Then I made a transition to a primarily research-focused career, working with colleagues in speech-language pathology, occupational therapy and occupational sciences, special education, and developmental and clinical psychology to conduct research on early signs of autism in infants, the early development of autistic children, and coaching programs for parents of infants showing early symptoms of autism as well as a preschool classroom intervention program for autistic children. Although I am fully retired now in terms of being no longer paid, I continue to work with colleagues on some of this research. Along the way, our children grew up and became middle-aged, we experienced the joys and challenges of loving and living and losing people we loved, and we became grandparents to Cora June, now age 9, and Turner, now age 6. Dana and her husband Mark live in Durham and for the past two years, Zack, his ex-wife Kelly, and our two grandchildren have lived in Raleigh, allowing us to enjoy more time with all of them. My hobbies include singing (started taking voice lessons at age 72!), reading, native plant gardening, sewing, and crocheting. Last fall, I added canvassing for candidates for the NCGA to my list of activities, not because I want that to become another hobby, but because I felt compelled to do something to try to change our political situation in NC. For the last several years, Joel and I also have been simultaneously having an “accessory dwelling unit” built in our backyard, doing a DIY renovation of the main room at our beach cottage, and overseeing renovations of our primary home to make it more likely we will be able to age in place two blocks away from UUFR. Maybe all of those projects will come to a conclusion soon??? We would like to have a stoplight installed at the intersection of Dogwood and Wade.
UUFR has become my community. I enjoy the services and participating in the choir. Because of my involvement in the choir I have made good friends. I enjoy many hobbies and activities, i.e., sewing, knitting, pickleball, walking and traveling. I also enjoy cooking and dining. I retired last year in July, and I am looking forward to learning new things and traveling to new destinations. I enjoy visiting with my grandchildren when I can, but because they live some distance from me, I don’t get to see them as often as I would like. I have been a HR professional and a professional in a Director role in the hospitality industry. Both positions required that I know how to relate to and lead people, organize, manage operations, and recruit,
My name is Rachel Upadhyay, and I am honored to be considered for the Board of Directors at UUFR. Becoming a member of UUFR last year has been an enriching experience that has brought incredible joy to my life and renewed my sense of spiritual purpose. My religious journey has been wonderfully diverse and deeply formative. Raised in the Mormon Church, my family made the transition to a Unitarian Universalist congregation in Brooklyn, Pennsylvania, when I was 11 years old. While the church in our small farm town had its own unique flavor—more “Methodist Lite,” with traditional hymns about Jesus—we were also introduced to broader perspectives, including Sunday school classes on Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism.
It was through this congregation that I met a visiting Hindu monk from India, whose teachings profoundly shaped my spirituality. In the years that followed, my spiritual journey became even more dynamic. My father explored several faiths—returning to Mormonism and delving into the Hare Krishna movement—while I continued to nurture my connection to Hindu practices. I married my husband, who is from Nepal, further enriching my spiritual life through his cultural and religious heritage. Ultimately, I discovered my deepest fulfillment in the beautiful overlap between Unitarian Universalist values and Hindu teachings, a harmony that continues to inspire me. Outside of my spiritual journey, my life is rooted in my family. I am a proud mother of two children, ages 11 and 17, and I am actively involved in caring for my elderly parents and in-laws. Balancing these responsibilities has deepened my sense of compassion, resilience, and dedication to community—a perspective that I bring into every aspect of my life. In my personal time, I enjoy hobbies that allow me to express my creativity and curiosity. These include reading, learning new skills, crochet, drawing, and jewelry making. These pursuits not only bring me comfort and allow me to express myself creatively, but also reflect my belief in the importance of lifelong learning and self-expression. As someone who values interfaith understanding, inclusivity, and community building, I feel uniquely equipped to contribute to committee work at UUFR. I would be humbled to serve and support UUFR’s vibrant congregation in this meaningful role.
I was raised in the Protestant Christian tradition and our family were members of a large Methodist congregation in Cary, attending regularly for over thirty years. Over the years however, we all found the messages and focus there resonated with us less and less. When our oldest daughter and future son-in-law were to be married in Winston-Salem in 2015, they insisted that the officiant be someone who married same sex couples. Within the religious community there, that ruled out all denominations except Unitarian Universalist. The minister from the UU Fellowship of Winston-Salem, Rev. Lisa Romantum-Shwartz, put together an amazingly inclusive and loving ceremony that made a deep impression on us. On the way back to Cary, my wife and I agreed that we needed to explore Unitarian Universalism.
It took us a couple of years, but we joined UUFR in 2019, having found our spiritual home and beloved community. I’m honored to have the opportunity to serve on the UUFR Board. I have a science background, and I became aware of the specter of climate change in the 1980’s. I believe that this is the greatest existential threat to humanity and one of the greatest causes of social injustice in our world. Since retirement, I have become involved in the climate crisis fight. At UUFR, I have been facilitating the Environmental Justice Ministry Team virtually since we joined the fellowship. I’ve been gratified by the dedication of EJMT members and the support of Rev. James and the Board to take meaningful actions to reduce our carbon footprint and provide environmental leadership within the Triangle faith community. I also am a charter member of Interfaith Creation Care of the Triangle, serving on their Board and leading the Advocacy Team for several years. Professionally, I was trained as a synthetic organic chemist at the University of Cincinnati with post-doctoral work at Georgia Tech. I came to the Triangle in 1981 to work as a research chemist in the Life Sciences sector, eventually helping found a small biotech company. I’m a numbers guy – I love putting together spreadsheets to analyze information, including calculating the utility carbon footprint of UUFR. My wife Lynn and I have been married for almost forty-nine years. We have two grown married daughters and two grandsons, who are our greatest joys. I’m an avid racquetball player, music lover and amateur guitar player. Lastly, I have an irrational, one might say fanatical, devotion to the Cincinnati Bengals.
To give feedback to the board about any matter, please use the feedback form.
