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We welcome Trish Kemper and Tom Ludlow to Grace!
Trish and Tom, whose roots are from the Northeast, met and married in Raleigh, NC where they raised their family before moving to Garnet Valley PA in 2006. They retired in 2021 and moved to Rock Hill to be close to their son’s family in Pineville. Once in Rock Hill, a visit to the Grace website prompted them to visit our church, and we are glad they chose to become members of our Grace family!
Tom grew up in Bridgewater, New Jersey, and attended Virginia Tech then UNC Greensboro where he graduated (’85) with a degree in accounting. He began his Public Accounting career at Touche Ross (later Deloitte) working in offices in Winston-Salem, Greensboro, Raleigh, and London (UK). He then worked for Powerware Corporation in Raleigh as an International Finance Director. He spent the last twenty years working in various Vice-President of Finance roles for the Thomson Corporation (now Thomson Reuters).
Trish grew up in Delaware and attended Penn State University where she graduated (’84) with a BS in Computer Science and went to work for IBM in the Research Triangle Park, where, as a Senior Programmer she worked on tele-communications technology that helped lay the foundation for what later became the internet. Trish then became a full-time mother to their four children and actively supported the community as a Girl Scout Leader, Vacation Bible School and Sunday School Teacher, and Master Gardener. Trish later obtained a Master’s Degree in Landscape Architecture with a concentration in Ecological Restoration from Temple University in 2015 and worked at Morris Arboretum as an Urban Forestry Consultant in Chestnut Hill, PA.
Tom and Trish have four grown children, Kaitlin and her husband Josh, and their 4-year-old son (Rock Hill); Jack and his wife Kaylee, and their three daughters, all under the age of 4; (Pineville NC) and Kemper (who attends Cornell) and their partner, Linny (Ithaca NY); and Maggie and her boyfriend, Chris (Severn MD).
In their free time, they enjoy spending time with family and friends, gardening, traveling, hiking, camping, cooking, and rooting for the Carolina Hurricanes. At their home, they have six acres (mainly fields) on which they raise chickens and have a small fruit orchard and a vegetable garden. They agree that their favorite meal is “anything we can make with the fruits and vegetables we grow.”
When asked to share a fun fact that others may not know about them, Tom reveals that he can say, “Two beers please” in seven languages. Trish, on the other hand, loves to identify native plants and is working with Nation Ford Land Trust to restore a piedmont prairie.
Prior to joining Grace, Trish and Tom were very active in their Catholic parishes in ministries such as Family religious education, Finance Committee, school auction committee, Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, Lector, and Eucharistic Minister. When they visited Grace, they were “moved by the warmth of the parishioners and Pastors, and the inclusive message that welcomes us all to love as Jesus did.” They look forward to becoming involved at Grace, particularly in ministries supporting inclusion, racial and social justice.
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