Staff
Pastor - Rev. Mary H. Lee-Clark
Mary has been pastor at Second Congregational Church since 1995. Prior to that she served churches in central and northern New York. She graduated from Harvard Divinity School in 1978 and Middlebury College in 1974. Mary and her husband Bruce have two children, Meredith and Alex.
Secretary – Pepper Morrison
Pepper served as church secretary from April 29, 1974 through September 30, 2009. We are thankful for all her years of service and we are grateful that Pepper is willing to pitch in and help as the new office administrator, Michelle Marchetti (see below), gets up to speed with all the duties Pepper performed. Her previous secretarial experience included work in the Engineering School of the University of Toronto. Living in Hamilton, Ontario, she also participated in theatre with the Sterling Players until leaving Canada in 1967 when her husband John's work relocated the family to South Dartmouth, MA. The Morrisons came to Bennington in 1969 and joined Second Congregational in 1975. Pepper's son Dane lives in Toronto, daughter Cindy lives in Concord NH, Jill in Seattle, and Andrea in Olympia WA. Nine years ago Ming-Wah came into the Morrison household from Second Chance and for the past three years has added her dog ministry to the church office during Pepper's working hours.
Pastor Emeritus - Rev. Thomas D. Steffen
Tom was our Pastor for 29 years. He retired in 1994. The congregation voted Tom "Pastor Emeritus". Tom remains a very active member of our congregation, with work on the church grounds, raking autumn leaves, shovelling snow, helping to prepare for the Snoball bazaar in December, making coffee on Sunday morning, and occasionally reading scripture during the worship service.
Choir Director – Linda Johnson
Linda has been the Choir Director for 30 years. She started conducting the Choir until the Church found someone who wanted the job on a perminent basis. 30 years later Linda is still here and doing a fantastic job! For a short time Linda also conducted the Youth Choir. For 2 years Linda conducted the Choir at the annual VT Conference. Linda also teach 3 days a week at Pownal Elementary. Linda has 3 children: Leslie, Kyle, & Evan, also in the music field. Linda's husband passed away in Sept. 2003.
Organist and Handbell Director – Cindy Riddle
Cindy is Organist, Handbell Director, and also accompanies the Adult Choir. She has officially held her present position since 2001, following several months as interim. Cindy was also organist/accompanist at Second Congregational Church for four years in the early 1980's.
C.E. Superintendants – Rachel Payne and Emily Umphlett
Their responsibilities include oversight of church school for children pre-k-1st grade, 2nd-3rd grade and 4th - 5th grade.
Emily Umphlett has a BFA in art education from VCU, (Virginia Commonwealth University) she is a VT Certified art educator who has taught in the BSD for 10 years and has been a church school teacher for the past 5 years at Second Congregational Church. Emily has been a member of Second Congregational Church for ten years and is dedicated to the Lord and educating youth!
Rachel Payne grew up in Bennington, received an undergraduate degree in Spanish and Political Science from Villanova University. She received a Masters in Intercultural Management from the School for International Training in Brattleboro, VT. then spent two summers at the Middlebury College Language Program for Spanish and Russian. Rachel is currently a stay at home mom caring for Noah, Maggie, Finn and husband Tim. She has been a member of Second Congo for seven years and has taught Sunday School for six years.
Custodian – Henry Pinsonneault Henry has been our custodian for 30 years and is our building "angel"
Nursery Supervisor - Sue McIntosh
The rest of the week, Sue works at the Department of Employment and Training with adults, but with experience and a degree in Early Childhood Development and her daughter now grown, she decided she missed working with children!
Office Administrator – Michelle Marchetti Michelle started as office administrator on October 1, 2009 combining the previous office secretary and financial secretary positions as Pepper retired and Gay Burke moved to New York. Michelle moved to Bennington with her husband Michael and son Mickey in 2000 and became a member of the church in 2005. Her professional background is a Certified Public Accountant. She has been a full time mom since just before Mickey was born in 2000, then a part-time accountant and tax preparer since Mickey started pre-school in 2003.
