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At our Annual Parish Meeting on Sunday, January 15, our congregation will be asked to vote for the following slate of three parishioners to join St. Gregory the Great’s Vestry for a term 2023-2026. Before the election please review the information below that the candidates have provided for us.
Kate Avinger
I got some Presbyterian and Methodist “churching” up to age 8. I learned the basics of Christmas and Easter but never felt like a part of a church community. I was culturally Christian, but basically agnostic in my teens and 20’s. It was my wife, Gina Defalco, who started gently encouraging me to consider the Episcopal church when we got together in 2003. It took a while to turn me into a church-goer! I have many reasons to love the Episcopal church, but what really stole my heart was the openness and warmth of the St. Gregory’s community. The watershed moment for Gina and me was the 2013 commitment ceremony of Alice Mohor and her dearly departed Nancy Hobart. When Gina attended and brought me back news of the standing-room-only enthusiasm of the church, we knew we had found our church home. Since then, I’ve helped out as a shepherd for the kids’ Sunday School and Children’s Church, been a stage mom for several of the Christmas pageants, and generated content for online church for both children and adults (with the help of my wife and kids). Most recently, I gave
my October 2nd speech on why I pledge to St. Greg’s, expressing my gratitude to the people of St. Greg’s for showing me what it is to be an integral part of a church community. (Check it out on YouTube, if you haven’t seen it already. It starts after the peace, at 59:29).
In my secular life, I’ve been a licensed psychologist with Positive Outcomes, working with children, adolescents, families, and the occasional adult, for over 15 years. I specialize in work with trauma survivors and LGBTQ folks. When I meet an LGBTQ teen client with religious trauma, I am pleased to tell them about St. Gregory’s and that Christianity is not necessarily synonymous with rejection and oppression. I am blessed to be the wife of Gina, who has pointed me in the direction of truth and growth so many times, and who nominated me to the vestry. She’s served as co-leader of youth group and on the discernment committee of the recently ordained Will Drosos. I am the proud mom of Gavin (13), who acolytes, and Vanessa (11), who recently edited the Christmas pageant script to eliminate confusing language. This is truly my family’s church home. I am so proud to be an active part of our church community. St Gregory the Great is where my children and I were baptized, and where I was confirmed. St. Greg’s is where I learned that I am God’s hands. I’m excited to start my next adventure in service as a member of the vestry!
John Barrett
After retirement, Linda and I moved to Athens (actually Oconee County) in 2016 to, of course, be closer to grandchildren in Madison and Tucker. We landed at St. Gregory about a year later. We love to travel, and we have a cabin in Tennessee, so we haven’t had a stellar involvement record since we joined our fellow parishioners here at St. Gregory. It really feels like it is time to change that.
Prior to moving here, we lived in Jonesboro, Georgia, attended Church of the Nativity in Fayetteville, and were both employed by the Federal Government (I was with the FAA, and Linda was with EPA). We were confirmed into the Episcopal Church at Church of the Nativity in 2003. I served on the Vestry and a
Rector Search Committee. Linda and I were co-chairs of the Stewardship Committee. I sang in
the choir for many years, and I served as an acolyte when there was a particular need. I also
completed Education for Ministry, graduating in 2012.
We were United Methodists before our coming home to the Episcopal Church. I served in a
variety of ways, Lay Leader, Staff/Parish Committee, choir, and youth and adult Sunday School
teacher.
I grew up in Atlanta, attended a large Baptist Church (still processing some of that), graduated
from Sylvan Hills High School, joined the Navy, and got hooked on seeing the world. I attended
several universities (including UGA), finally negotiating a degree from Georgia State University.
Our daughter, Stacy, and her husband, Carl, live in Tucker. Their son, David, is a freshman at
North Georgia Technical College in Clarksville. Our son, Lee, lives in Athens, and his daughters,
Elle and Carson, attend Morgan County High School.
Shelby Welch
I am a lifelong Georgian, having been born in Toccoa and living in several areas around the state. I was an English teacher and School Counselor for 33 years before retiring to care for my elderly parents in their last years. I met my husband, Jeff, at our first teaching job, and we have three amazing children and four delightful grandchildren. All of us “bleed red and black,” since both Jeff and I and all of our children are UGA graduates!
While I grew up in the Baptist faith, I felt as though I had “come home” when I started attending the Episcopal church with Jeff while we were dating. We attended Emmanuel in Athens when we first married, but we shortly moved to Social Circle, and we attended Church of the Good Shepherd in Covington. Our whole family was very active there, including serving on the Vestry, teaching Sunday School, singing in the choir, acolyting, and lay reading. Later, we moved to Fitzgerald in south Georgia, where once again we enjoyed a very active church life in tiny St. Matthews Episcopal Church. Our family of four (Nathaniel was in college) learned to do every- thing for the church, since we normally had only 10-12 people at a Sunday service. On a normal Sunday, Toni took care of the altar, Amelia was the acolyte, I was the organist, and Jeff was lay reader, Eucharistic Minister, and Senior Warden.
We’ve been here at St. Gregory’s since 2003. I have led children’s music, taught Sunday School, sung in the choir, and been active in Parish Life. It is such a joy to have our youngest daughter, Amelia, son-in-law, Caley, and grandchildren, Jeffery and Kitty, become active in St. Gregory’s too! Jeff and I live in Lexington and enjoy retirement by growing fruits and veggies, keeping up our seventeen acres, making jams and jellies, and hosting family gatherings.
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