2020 Vestry Slate

Vestry Slate 2020 Serving on a vestry is a unique opportunity to live and grow as a leader in a community of faith.

The members of a vestry serve for 3-year terms providing oversight and responsibility for the temporal and financial aspects of our common life. In addition to being good stewards of our finances and property they join me in the holy task of dreaming with God to discern who and how we are called to be today and in the future.

I am so grateful to all who discerned this leadership position and today we present to you a full slate of members who have engaged the process of discernment and are ready to commit to this important responsibility. This year we have a total of 5 candidates; 2 willing to fill 1 year unexpired terms and 3 ready to begin full 3-year terms. Each of these members have been interviewed; have reviewed the roles and responsibilities and are ready to work for our greater good together. Your vestry has affirmed this slate of nominees and commends them to you for affirmation. Please join me in thanking them in advance for the work they will do on our behalf during their tenure.

Thanks be to God, Lisa Jane Bueche (1-year unexpired term): I am blessed to have been a member of Trinity for the past 62 years. I’m married to Reuben, mom to Beth and Ben and grandma to Lexi, Bailey and Derick. I have also served Trinity as the Parish Accountant for 30 years, retiring this year.

My journey at Trinity has been one of service as a Sunday School teacher, Altar Guild member, Lay Eucharistic leader, usher, greeter and member of the Finance Commission. I’m also very happy whenever I am cooking Sunday breakfast!

I’ve accepted the call to Vestry because I’m passionate about our future while remembering all those who’ve gifted and guided us so generously in the past. We share a deep bond on Sundays with wonderful preaching by Lisa and music by Nate stirring our souls to share what’s been given to us with those we encounter each day outside of our Trinity home. May we continue to make a difference to all that we meet on the journey.

Fritz Hany (1-year unexpired term): I have been attending Trinity for the past 2 years and love being a part of this warm, welcoming and meaningful congregation and spiritual experience. Before Trinity I had attended St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Port Clinton where I previously served as a member of the Vestry. My wife, Susan, and I reside in Oak Harbor where she has been a teacher for 34 years.

Living in the rural Toledo area and having 28 years of public service have provided me many opportunities to be involved with several of our community’s organizations, including: past membership on United Way’s First Call for Help Committee, Magruder Hospital’s Board of Trustees and the Ottawa County Mental Health Board’s Committee on Human Rights. I have also been instrumental in establishing mental health, chemical dependency and domestic abuse programs targeting a portion of our community’s need to address these most important issues.

Susan and I were pleased to be a part of this year’s Annual Giving Campaign at Trinity. We met many of you and enjoyed hearing the stories and experiences which lead you to Trinity. I would like to continue hearing from you and am honored to serve in this leadership role for a season.

Jeffrey Albright (3-year term): I have been a parishioner at Trinity since moving back from New York City in 2003. I was elected to Vestry in 2005 and served two full terms. In 2019, I was elected to fill a 1-year unexpired term and am enthusiastic about standing for a full 3-year term.

Prior to returning to Toledo, I was an active member at St. Michael's Episcopal Church, NYC. I have been active in outreach activities and 2 rector search committees.

I lead the Greeters Guild and am also a reader on Sunday mornings. My other passion is promoting the performing arts at Trinity and am a founding member and current Board President of Actors Collaborative Toledo (ACT). One of my proudest—and humbling—moments at Trinity was volunteering in 2018 for the Music & Tap Dance Camp for local refugee children. That was CHURCH! This is an exciting time at Trinity with new and focused leadership poised to help us discern what is next as a parish and a downtown presence. The current Vision Process will be an amazing catalyst creating positive change at Trinity and in downtown Toledo.

Jamie Paul (3-year term): I have been a member of Trinity since 2007. For the past two years I have served as Trinity’s Assistant Treasurer. This is an appointed position and not necessarily filled by a member of the vestry. As a non-vestry member, I have attended meetings for the past two years offering support and education around the finances and during that time have been privy to the work and responsibility of serving as a vestry member. This past Spring, after a position of the vestry became open, I was elected to the Vestry to fill that empty position. Now I am looking forward to serving for a full 3year term.

Being active at Trinity is an important part of my life; I joined the Altar Guild in 2015, have served on the Finance Commission since 2008, and have been a member of the audit committee for the past 7 annual audits. I also attend and assist at the weekly Wednesday Eucharist. I have seen wonderful growth at Trinity over these past couple of years and many positive changes. I am excited to be a leader at this time and a part of Trinity’s future.

Leah Reed (3-year term): My journey at Trinity began in 2018 when I moved to Toledo to pursue my MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at the University of Toledo. Growing up Episcopalian many parts of Trinity felt familiar, but I quickly fell in love with Lisa's leadership and the community at Trinity. I am humbled and grateful to now put myself forward to answer this call to leadership at Trinity. I find myself enthusiastic, uncertain, and full of thoughts and ideas about how we go about the business of loving God and neighbor.

Will and I will be married at Trinity on February 2, 2020. We live in West Toledo with our cat, Oliver Joy Dailey. My nature is to feel anxious about any new venture, but I will leave you all with my favorite verse in hopes you may find comfort there as well: "Can any of you add one moment to his life-span by worrying? And why do you worry about clothes? Observe how the wildflowers of the field grow: They do not labor or spin thread. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these. If that's how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won't he do much more for you?" (Matt. 6: 27-30)