Leadership and team/committee involvement at UUFoM
I served as Board Secretary in 2021, President in 2015 and 2019-2020, and President-Elect in 2014 and 2019. I’ve represented our Fellowship at the UUA General Assembly as attendee and delegate a number of times. I was a 2012 Midwest Leadership School attendee, and have acted as a Leadership Development Workshop facilitator. I am trained in OWL for Middle/High School, and taught numerous OWL classes. I’ve been Worship Team chair and member, often acted as Worship Associate, and sometimes as Worship Leader. I’ve also been chair and member of the Engagement Team. I am currently a member of the Communications Committee and sing in the choir.

Why I chose to be a UU and join UUFoM
After attending a UU church under duress (my sister made me do it) in Meadville, PA, and ultimately feeling very impressed with the whole worship service, I was shocked to find out there was a UU congregation in Midland. The first Sunday I walked into UUFoM I heard an announcement about OWL classes and a brief explanation of what it is. Any religion that is actively working to teach healthy, respectful, age-appropriate sexuality training is something that I could immediately get behind. Not to mention, I was initially greeted by Dot. Need I say more? 

Bio
I was born and grew up in Redford, MI, a suburb just West of Detroit. I’m the surprise baby of parents born in the late 1920s, and have two brothers and a sister. Simon Cook and I have lived together for six years and have been married for five years. Simon works for Dow Chemical and originated in England. My thirteen-year-old kiddo, Alex Sonoras, attends Jefferson Middle School and lives with us every other week. Our family is rounded out by our friendly, brilliant black cat, Geordi (yes, as in LaForge.)

I’m a UU nerd. I believe in and love Unitarian Universalism. Joining UUFoM twenty-one years ago sent me down a path I couldn’t have imagined. I am a passionate, brave, silly, extrovert whose favorite thing to eat is popcorn and today I’m wearing my “PROBABLY LATE FOR SOMETHING” t-shirt. I love to drive and ride motorcycles, talk, play board and yard games and hand-build pottery. And these days, a lot of my focus is on making my dream come true of living into my purpose and my passion; I’m in my first semester of divinity school.

Dreams for the Future
I dream of overflowing worship services, so many RE volunteers that people resort to rock, paper, scissors tournaments to determine who gets to teach our next generation of UUs, a vibrant adult RE schedule that’s wait-listed so we end up adding even more classes, a committed Board of Directors that manages all the spinning plates well and hands off the reins including all the institutional knowledge they’ve gleaned during their terms, a minister who is living into their calling, and air-conditioning.