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Unitarian Universalist Meeting House of Chatham
819 Main Street Chatham, MA
Sunday Services at 10:30 AM - in the Sanctuary and on Zoom
Danielle Jeanloz, President
Danielle Jeanloz lived in the Northeast, Europe, and Canada and was originally from Newton. She had the opportunity to travel throughout the world while enjoying a 25-year career at American Airlines in Sales and Marketing.
Danielle and her husband, Bob Zaremba, finally settled down in Chatham full-time in 2004. Danielle and Bob purchased, Maps of Antiquity and moved it to Chatham, and started Chatham Guest Rooms. She joined UUMH in 2011 because it was a welcoming congregation that allowed her to explore and share her thoughts on community, the environment, and social justice. Having never joined a church until then, Danielle was unaware that she could become a part of a religious community open to accepting many different beliefs and religions including atheism and agnosticism. She has found her spiritual home in our Meeting House.
Evan Howard, Vice President
Having been raised the eldest of three sons in a very liberal and open-minded UU family and having received an outstanding progressive liberal arts education in theoretical math and physics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, my joining the UUMH Chatham was seemingly inevitable.
Throughout my early and latter life, I was adamantly opposed to formal and conventional religions and attempted to lead a life of spirituality most closely related to the Native Americans. Peace and love similar to Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Nelson Mandela were my guiding influences. Despite my loving parents, Robert and Marie Howard, having been original founding UUMH Chatham Fellowship members, I was quite reluctant to formally join the UUMH Chatham and had it not been for my loving and perceptive wife, Pamela Ebeling, I might not have joined. She saw my internal struggle in becoming a member and encouraged me to join knowing it was a path to family
closure.
Now having been a member for nearly two years and embraced not only the UUMH Chatham “spirit”, but also the wonderfully loving, kind, and supportive congregation, I now more fully understand and appreciate the past efforts of my parents in contributing to the beginnings of the UUMH Chatham!
Dave Van Wye
Dave and his wife Liz, are long time UU’s, starting in 1973 with the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania UU Church and have been members of UUMH since 2003. Most recently Dave served as Chair of the UUMH Endowment Board, and served on other committees and work groups at UUMH, including Membership, Minister Search, the CUSP project, Thrift Shop and others.
After graduating from Lehigh University in 1969 he served in the U.S. Army as an Infantry Officer and later earned a master’s degree from The Pennsylvania State University. He is also the author of two novels on the Vietnam War, Saving Ben Tre and Vietnam Blues.
Dave and Liz enjoy family get togethers with their son and daughter and their spouses and with their four granddaughters.
Beth Avery, Secretary
2023 Fleck Award for Outstanding Service: Beth Avery
For her many contributions to UUMH, Beth Avery was named this year's recipient of the Fleck Award at the congregation's Annual Meeting. The award is named after Peter Fleck, the first minister of the UU Fellowship in Chatham. Outgoing Board President Ed Mangiafico noted that Beth joined UUMH in 2011 and has been actively involved ever since. She has served as Chair of the Outreach Committee and the Nominating Committee as well as the President of the Board. In addition, Ed called her UUMH's Photographer Extraordinaire. "I couldn't imagine anyone deserving this award more!" he added.
About Beth: During childhood, Beth lived in parsonages at five different Congregational churches between Chelsea, VT, and Long Island, NY. (Her father was a minister who moved his family often!)
She graduated from Douglass College of Rutgers University and immediately joined the Peace Corps to serve as a teacher in Sierra Leone, West Africa. She describes the experience as being empowering - for her and her students.
Upon returning to the USA, Beth was attracted to the Boston YWCA because it was dedicated to supporting local women with "safe" urban housing and better career options. She worked as a desk clerk at the new Berkeley Residence YWCA, a beautiful 7-story building offering a room/dining/gathering place in downtown Boston. For the next thirty-two years, she learned her way through Program, Business, and Building management positions to become Manager.
When she retired to Cape Cod in 2010, a friend introduced her to the UUMH. She immediately felt at home. (The hymn tunes were familiar, but thankfully, the words had been changed!) This community was focused on creating a more loving world and was not limited by creed. She happily joined and continues to be grateful for the journey together.
Jon Nye, Past President
Jon is originally from Buffalo, NY, and spent his formative years in suburban Washington, D.C. He eventually settled near Albany, NY, where he and Kathy raised three sons. Although he and Kathy still spend time there, increasingly Chatham is home.
In his twenties Jon experimented with a number of higher educational institutions, eventually receiving an undergraduate degree from American University and a law degree from Penn. At various times he has worked as a dishwasher, house sitter, legislative researcher, and for over thirty years as a partner in a large law firm. From 1969 to 1972, he was in the U.S. Navy.
Jon has been, in one sense or another, a Unitarian Universalist since youth, although he didn’t realize it until he was first introduced to the Meeting House. He feels fortunate to have had many diverse life experiences. Not all of them were fulfilling, but all helped him to appreciate and value UUMH and the people who make it what it is.
Jeffrey S. Dykens, Moderator
Jeffrey S. Dykens, CPA, grew up outside Boston in Sherborn, Massachusetts, and attended Lawrence Academy in Groton, Massachusetts, and Amherst College. He has lived in Chatham since 1976, where he first worked as a commercial fisherman and seafood wholesaler from 1976-1988. In 1986 he married Julie Eldredge and attended Northeastern University from 1988-1990, where he earned an M.A. in accounting. His first accounting job was with Deloitte and Touche Ross accountants in Boston, where he became a CPA.
In 1999, Jeff earned an MBA from Northeastern University and a Certificate in Public Health from Harvard. He currently works at Duffy Health in Hyannis. Jeff and Julie have three children: Andrew, Abigail, and Joshua, and one grandchild. Jeff is active in the Chatham and Monomoy Regional schools and currently serves on the Selectboard for the Town of Chatham.
Joe Zahka, Acting Treasurer
Endowment Board Chair
Joe Zahka
Nominating Committee
Sue Bauer
Robin Hubbard
Jennie Makihara
Ed Mangiafico
Debbie Zahka
Please see Committees Page for Committee Chairs' Names
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