You are welcome at St. John's! Join us this Sunday at 10:00 a.m.

Patty Hansen
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I was born, the youngest of five kids, into an Irish Catholic family in Minnesota. Our home was a hub of activity and a second home – sometimes a haven – to many kids and young adults who gravitated to my mom’s warm welcome and listening ear. I’m not sure there is anything quite as profound as a warm welcome and a listening ear.
Perhaps that’s what drew Kevin and me to St. John’s when we moved to Kirkland in 1999. We, with our two young kids – Parker and Margaret – were warmly and genuinely welcomed into the community from the first day. Soon our son Sam was born, and while I led Sunday School and planned activities at St. John’s, a lot of it is a blur, for obvious reasons. In 2008 we adopted our daughter Haimanot (then 9) from Ethiopia and shortly after started attending a church in Seattle.
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While much of my adult life has been spent raising our kids, welcoming their friends and a few other live-ins, and volunteering in the schools, over the years I have also worked in campus ministry; taught ESOL and citizenship to adult immigrants and refugees; owned my own business as a writing tutor; written for children; and taught at a small college. My formal education includes a BA in History, an MA in Theology with an emphasis on faith and literature from Regent College in Vancouver BC, and a graduate level TESOL certification.
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A couple of years ago, Kevin and I returned to St. John’s and immediately felt we were back home – home to the liturgy, the familiar and welcoming faces, and home to our local church that offers welcome – however humbly and imperfectly – in our Kirkland community.
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Loneliness and isolation are epidemic in our society. How can we as a parish respond to this? There are certainly plenty of slick ideas and programs to try to draw people to the church, but I’m convinced that there is nothing more powerful, more profoundly Christlike than a warm welcome and a listening ear. I wonder what “welcome” and “listening” looks like in our church, in our neighborhood; what it means for us to grow in our ability to welcome; what inconveniences and discomforts might challenge us. I’m eager to see what God does with us as we seek to follow him.
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Susan Isaac
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I’m from Bangalore, India – a city that I called home for over 20 years. My parents are both doctors, and I have a younger brother Mathew, who lives in Chicago. After high school, I followed my passion and got a Bachelor’s and a Master of Engineering in Computer Science. Following this, I worked at SAP as a Software Developer for 6 years. I wanted to also learn how to run a business, so I moved to Charlottesville, VA in July 2017 to pursue my MBA from Darden School of Business, UVA. This is where I met my husband, Arnav Verma, and we got married in October 2021. I currently lead a product management team at Censis Technologies, where we create software for surgical asset management in hospitals.
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I was raised in the Indian Orthodox church. We were a regular church-going family, and my brother and I attended Sunday School every week. I had a crisis of faith in my 20s, stopped going to church regularly and being involved in the church community. When I moved to Charlottesville, I rediscovered my faith by being a part of Darden Christian Fellowship. I began searching for a church that I could connect with and discovered St. Paul’s Memorial Church. The familiarity of the service with the Creed and the hymns resonated with me, and I became a regular. I have been part of 2 other Episcopal parishes since then: one in Greensboro for 9 months and another in Redmond for 2 years.
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My husband Arnav and I moved to Kirkland in February 2023, and I have been a member of St. John’s since then. I am honored by the opportunity to serve on the Vestry, and excited to contribute to this wonderful community.
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Grace Vogelzang
Grace Vogelzang grew up in the Baptist church in Texas and has found a church home in almost every city she has lived throughout her life. Whether Baptist, Catholic, Presbyterian, or Episcopalian, she has always chosen a church home that revolves around the tenants of inclusion, love and generosity, both of sprit and acts of compassion in the community. She gathers her strength and finds her true north every Sunday which refills her heart from week to week.
Grace earned two master’s degrees: an MA in Education at New York University and MFA in Theater from University of Houston. Her undergraduate degree was a BFA in Journalism from Southern Methodist University.
She was an actor and model from the age of about six, a singer for almost 40 years, (theater, film television, and commercials), starting her career as a child in Texas, then moving to New York at 18, and Los Angeles at 26. Grace moved back to Texas again 14 years later when both her parents became ill in order to care for them. There, she managed a voice-over business, dealing with clients such as NBC, CNN, MTV, UPN (before it became The CW), and Fox Television, juggling deal negotiations, client procurement, and copy writing, as well as marketing development and implementation.
After a while, she found her true calling as a teacher at the university level, teaching Fine Arts, Shakespearean Acting, Acting, British Literature, and World Literature. She continued teaching at the university level for 20 years after that.
Grace also happened to meet her husband, Leon, while she was back in Texas. He had moved to the United States from the Netherlands for a temporary assignment with his firm and liked it so much he decided to stay.
After getting married, Grace and Leon moved to Paris where they lived for a year and a half, then onto Mumbai for another year, and London for three years — finally settling here in Kirkland — a city that brings her much joy. They love being “Citizens of the World.” To this day, their guest room is often occupied by friends and family from all over the globe.
Currently, Grace is the media director for a public relations firm that specializes in financial advisory firms. She is also a writer and has penned several children’s books as well as articles based on her travel adventures.
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Mark Wilterding
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Mark and Sue became Saint John’s Parish members in 2022. His Episcopalian faith began in the mid-1970s at Saint John’s, Washington DC. After moving to Wilton, CT in 1968, he and his family became members of Saint Matthew’s parish where he served on Vestry. He joined Saint John’s Kirkland in 2022 and is currently the Vestry Clerk.
Mark has two graduate degrees in architecture from the University of Minnesota and Harvard GSD and was a licensed architect and partner of a Boston architectural firm for 10 years. He joined IBM in 1980 and retired in 2009. During his career, he held several management positions to help launch and grow its global Engineering Solutions, Consulting Services, and Product Life Cycle lines of business.