Luke Garvey
Luke has been a member of TUCW since 2000, and was first appointed to the Board of Trustees in May 2019. His many connections to the church include: serving three terms on the nominating committee; founding the Men’s Group/A Better Man in 2017, where he continues to participate in leadership and facilitation; founding member of the Pastoral Care Associates; and ten years participation in Small Group Ministry. After a long and successful career in healthcare information systems at the executive level, he returned to school to pursue a career in psychotherapy, which he has practiced for more than 7 years. He is married with two adult children who were raised in the RE program here.
Bob Trefry
After a long career as a hospital administrator, Bob retired as the President/CEO of Bridgeport Hospital in 2010. He is now an executive and career coach.
Steve Grathwohl
Steve joined the congregation in 2010, at a time when he was searching for a new community and a new support system.
He found both - and many, many new friends – at TUCW. Since joining TUCW, Steve has been active in Religious Education, the Finance Committee, and the Board of Trustees.
Steve lives in Fairfield, and has been involved in local affordable housing efforts for over 20 years, in both Fairfield and Bridgeport. Steve works in commercial real estate, is the proud father of two adult sons, and loves to spend his free time running with his best friends, Alice and Cowboy.
Stapley Emberling
Stapley joined the congregation in 1996, with her husband, David, and their two children, then in pre-school, Ryan and Rachel. She spent 10 years teaching downstairs on Sundays in what was then the RE program. She was chair of the Membership Committee for 4 years, while it was a lay-led committee, and has been active in Small Group Ministry, the Non-Violent Communications practice group, the Addictions Recovery Ministry (ARM), the #MeToo Taskforce and the Gender Equity Team (GET), Ushering, the Camp Jewell Committee, and has been a Pastoral Care Chaplain since the program was first implemented, among other church activities.
Stapley has worked in publishing and as a paralegal for a large art auction house, and now works full-time as a freelance editor and writer and is the copy editor for an academic journal on economics and public policy.
Beth Cliff
Beth came to the church in the fall of 2018 after moving from MA that summer, and became a member in April 2019. She is a visiting steward, serves on the Leadership Development Team, is on the Beardsley School Committee, and since August 2019 volunteers as head of communications for the church. She is an active member of the Shawl Ministry, and a founding coordinator of the Caring Network and social email group. She loves to sing in the church choirs. When in MA, Beth was a member of the First Parish in Wayland (UU) for 11 years. There she was a dedicated choir member and ran Stewardship multiple times. Beth has always been active in church communities; she is an ordained Elder and Deacon in the Presbyterian church, and grew up in the UCC. She and her husband Gordon live in Easton; their two adult daughters are nearby. In 2017 she retired after a rewarding career at various global corporations, universities and consulting firms.
Andy Gundell
Andy and his wife Carolyn began attending TUCW in 2000; Andy became a member in 2001. Andy has honored his great covenant with the Church primarily through music.. He composed the song, “The Question,” a UU anthem, and performed “The Question” at the Church shortly after joining. Since then and through the years, he has played and sung original and UU-themed material at services, Christmas concerts, fundraising events and cabarets, Voices Café, and much more. He participated in the launch and early days of Voices Café. Through the years, Andy has worked closely with Rev Ed Thompson, in particular on the formation of our Church-based acoustic quartet, Exit 43.
Andy is a full-time musician, recipient of 13 Emmy Awards, and the owner of One-Stop Music Shop, Inc in Wilton.
Wendy Levy
Wendy began attending TUCW and teaching RE when her boys were young in the late 1990s. She sings with the Special Projects and Chamber Choirs; has been part of a small group ministry; served on the Intern Committee; and currently chairs the Safer Congregations Committee. She helped develop the Immigration Community Support Network (ICSN), and is active in it. Born and raised in Brazil, she works as a clinical and forensic psychologist in Westport, and is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine.
Catherine Onyemelukwe
Catherine has been a member of the Unitarian Church since 1993. She started with a class on understanding Unitarians in 1994, and soon became involved with the Endowment Committee where she served as chair for a number of years. Catherine then moved over to Social Justice programming and then to managing a Racism workshop for several years. Catherine has been active in 3 choirs - Special Projects, Chamber, and Women's Choir. She has served on the board for four years, and was the chair of the Finance Committee until stepping down in June 2020.
Ravi Sankar
Ravi grew up in India in a Hindu household that held fairly secular views, and was exposed to multiple religious faiths in India. He became a member of TUCW in 1994, and has been an active member since then: he spent over 6 years running RE classes; is a certified instructor of OWL; spent 20+ years leading classes on Hinduism; has been an active participant in social justice programs, and a member of the Finance, Immigration and Membership Committees. Ravi has been a Pastoral Chaplain since its inception. Professionally, Ravi has over 30 years in Operations, Consulting and Technology working on domestic and international projects. and is currently employed as the Director of Digital Transformation at Wipro. He is married to Sudha Sankar, with two adult daughters, Amrita and Shrutika, who grew up in the church.