Join us in the Sanctuary on Sunday, February 2 at 9 a.m. for the annual election for new Vestry members. All members are welcome to participate, and childcare will be available. This year’s vestry candidates are Bert Nelson, John Nolan, Tara Pettit, and Della Rucker.
We will also be asking for delegates to go to Convention the second weekend of November. The delegates from 2019 were Della Rucker, Mev Hammond, and Deb Ramsey. They all enjoyed the speakers and breakout sessions. Please ask them if you'd like to know more!
Bert Nelson
Bert Nelson was born and raised in West Hartford, CT. He was baptized and raised in the Episcopal Church. Sang in the church choir and learned to play the organ.
In 1972, he joined the United States Air Force, and retired from the Air Force Reserves in 2007. Bert recently retired from a 25-year flying career at Southwest Airlines.
Bert has been married to Nancy Andersen for 31 Years. They have two adult children, Taylor and Lizzy, living in New York City.
Bert and Nancy have been attending St. Barnabas for about the last 22 years. They came to St. Barnabas looking for a new church. They received a warm welcome from several church members, met the music director, and heard the great music. Here is where they stayed.
Bert has been and remains involved with the music program and helps out with the Termites. He is active with adult choir, youth choir, and sometimes plays the organ for church services. He also plays with the services at Twin Lakes on the 3rd Tuesday of the month.
John Nolan
My wife, Nancy, and I arrived at St. Barnabas in 1993 with our redhead son, Max. He was baptized at age 2 in August of that year. (Max would go on to serve as an acolyte and occasionally played music for the congregation.)
We gradually got more involved. This will be my third turn on the Vestry.
My first stint spanned the late 1990s and early 2000s. I finished as senior warden, as St. Barnabas built the Great Hall and arranged the visit from England of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. and Right Honourable George Carey, to celebrate the 125th anniversary of our Diocese of Southern Ohio. I later served one year of another person's unfinished Vestry term.
More recently, I was on the Ministry Council overseeing the church's outreach ministries. I remain a member of the outreach committee and serve as our liaison to Habitat for Humanity.
Nancy has also served on the Vestry. She is now on the Ministry Council, overseeing strategic planning and organization development.
I retired from journalism in 2012, after a combined 38 years with The Associated Press and two daily newspapers. Since then, I've stayed busy as a volunteer.
Max is in Chicago these days, with a job in marketing. His siblings are Tiffany and Christopher. Tiffany manages a Whole Foods store in suburban Columbus. Chris lives in suburban Cincinnati, and provides trucking services to help companies move their goods.
Tara Pettit
Tara has attended St. Barnabas since 2018. She was looking for a church that would offer a sense of community in addition to worship. She was welcomed at St. Barnabas from the moment she walked in the door and loved the 10:00 am service. She met other parishioners over coffee and knew she had found her church home. She continues to be impressed by the many community and social programs offered at the church.
Tara leads the Women’s Fellowship group, is a member of the Hand Bell Choir, and is a regular attendee at Book Club. She also traveled to Israel with St. Barnabas in 2018.
Tara is a Cincinnati native. She is a graduate of Ursuline Academy and the University of Michigan. She has worked as a Project/Program Manager for most of her career, and currently works in the Enterprise Data Office at Fifth Third Bank.
Della Rucker
Della has been a member of St. Barnabas for about 2 years. She, her husband Dave and son Jonathan joined St. Barnabas after searching for a denomination and a community that was more in line with their values and convictions. Jonathan is a senior at St. Xavier High School, and their older son, James, is a pre-junior at the University of Cincinnati.
Della sings in the choir, reads on occasion, and is a member of the Becoming Beloved Community committee.
Although new to church leadership, Della has been an officer or board member for about a dozen organizations, and she is currently Vice Chair of the Greater Cincinnati Microenterprise Initiative, which serves low to moderate income people and small businesses. A community revitalization specialist by profession, Della works with communities and organizations nationwide to develop innovative strategies for building stronger local economies.