Ministerial Search Committee 2022-2023

Elizabeth Burner

Elizabeth Burner was born and raised in Oklahoma City, OK. She was raised in evangelical Christianity, but over time, she began to feel an increasing conflict between what she was taught and what she truly believed. In early adulthood she didn’t have a religious community until she stumbled onto Unitarian Universalism and was surprised to find that there was a faith community that really does endorse an individual “free and responsible search for truth and meaning.” She began attending First Unitarian Church of Oklahoma City in 2019 and never looked back. When she moved to Winston-Salem in late 2020, one of the first things she did was look up UUFWS. She officially joined in July 2021.

Elizabeth has been a physician assistant for 12 years working in primary care, then veteran health. She now travels around the Winston-Salem area doing in-home Medicare exams, helping address the nonclinical factors that affect health (mobility, access to care, safe environment, mental health support, etc). She is also working on completing a Masters of Public Health from Johns Hopkins University.

Elizabeth lives in the Ardmore area of Winston-Salem with her 8-year-old Labrador, Bennett, who is a forever-puppy at heart. She enjoys reading, travel, cooking and theater. She is looking forward to becoming an aunt for the first time in April 2022!

Elizabeth is honored to be trusted to help with the vital task of selecting a new minister to lead the Fellowship in the coming years. She hopes that her newness to UUFWS can provide a helpful perspective, and she is looking forward to working with the rest of the committee.

Truman Dunn

Truman Dunn grew up in central Pennsylvania. Looking back to his childhood, Truman can see how the arc of his life led to finally finding a home at UUFWS. Growing up in a church-related orphanage, the two most important values taught to him were to be “saved” by the blood of Jesus and to work hard on the orphanage farm. Yet, even as a child, Truman could not reconcile the “doctrine” he was being given with what his heart saw and felt.

After graduation from college, Truman was drafted to be sent to Vietnam. However, two weeks before he was to report, he was approved as a conscientious objector and assigned to work at a county home for the indigent for two years of alternate service. There he met Moravian Theological Seminary students who were visiting the residents as part of their training. They convinced Truman that the way to make a difference in people’s lives was through leading a congregation. Light one candle for peace and justice, they said. So, despite his belief struggles, Truman enrolled at Moravian Seminary to become a Christian minister and “change the world.” Eventually, he transferred to Duke University to finish his training and that’s how he got to North Carolina and never left.

After a few years of teaching and school administration in Charlotte and High Point, Truman became a Moravian minister for the last 28 years of his career. Upon retirement in 2013, Truman helped found Interfaith Winston-Salem and Compassionate Winston-Salem, both working to build bridges across differences. Truman is also a moderator for Braver Angels, a national organization building bridges between “red” and “blue” America. Truman is also a member of the Ministers Conference of Winston-Salem and its Social Justice Committee.

Truman has been at the Fellowship since 2013 and joined in 2018. He presently serves on the Committee on Ministry. He is honored to be asked to serve on the MSC, hoping that his experience as a minister will add to all the many gifts the other members of the MSC bring as we seek our new minister.

Terri LeGrand

Terri LeGrand has been a member of the Fellowship for almost 20 years. She is a lawyer, an administrator at Wake Forest University and community advocate who lives in Winston-Salem. Terri spent many years volunteering in RE, at Merry Making and serving on the RE Committee. She has also chaired the Social Action Committee and served on the UUFWS board. Terri has two daughters who grew up in the Fellowship. When not working, she loves to spend time with her daughters cooking, baking and watching movies. She also loves to travel, hike and enjoy the great outdoors.

A passionate community advocate, Terri is the co-founder, past-president and former executive director of Piedmont Environmental Alliance. Terri also co-founded and chaired for six years the Piedmont Earth Day Fair, the region’s largest Earth Day event. She served on the Paisley IB Magnet School PTSA for four years, serving two terms as president. Terri is also board chair of the New North Carolina Project Foundation, which is committed to making politics represent the needs of North Carolinians by investing in communities of color, expanding the engaged electorate, and creating voters forever.

In 2018, Terri ran for the NC House in a heavily gerrymandered district because she recognized that the regressive policies of the North Carolina legislature were hurting our community. Terri’s campaign, in a district that had never been competitive, forced a dialogue on the issues important to the people of Winston-Salem. In 2020, Terri ran for the NC Senate in a district that comprised eastern Forsyth County, parts of Winston-Salem and all of Davie county, the bellwether state senate district in the 2020 election. She came up short in the most expensive state legislative race in NC history to date.

Terri is honored to have been asked to serve on the MSC for the Fellowship. After two years in COVID-19 seclusion, she looks forward to reconnecting with members of the Fellowship through this important work. Terri knows how critically important a successful search is for the future of the Fellowship and looks forward to contributing analytical, organizational and systems thinking skills to the committee.

Kathy Orms

Kathy Orms grew up in St. Louis, MO. She received degrees in education, specializing in working with children from the inner city and early childhood special education. She worked in a variety of educational settings for over 10 years.

Always interested in adoption, Kathy adopted children from Vietnam, Colombia and Korea. Adding to the mix of countries, in 2001, she married Mike Hobby, who was born and raised in England. She was happy to welcome her Irish step-daughter, and Belgian grandchildren and son-in-law. In addition, she is delighted to share Mike’s family in Wales and South Africa.

Finding the educational field difficult with three children, Kathy changed careers from working with children to adults. This began with work in mental health, school consulting and community development, and later expanded to being a director of organizational development at Rush, Loyola and Wake Forest Baptist medical centers. She retired in 2014, but continued to provide organizational development consulting, course development and training. She currently volunteers with The Women’s Fund, participates in helping political campaigns, and serves on the board of Children of Vietnam. At the Fellowship, she chaired the Personnel and Leadership Development committees, helped initiate the Women’s Retreat and served on the UUFWS board. She is currently co-chair of the Committee on Ministry and EcoSolutions. She is looking forward to finding a wonderful candidate to be the Fellowship’s settled minister.

Julie Palm (MSC secretary)

Julie Palm grew up in Nebraska, went to college at Texas Christian University, and then lived in Texas for a decade before moving to North Carolina in 1996 in search of four seasons, mountains and a place where they could put down roots. She and her late husband, Russ Hutchison, were looking for a progressive community with a focus on social justice and were thrilled to find UUFWS.

Julie currently is a member of the UUFWS board (stepping down in June 2022), the Care Committee, the Building Improvement Task Force and the Gathering Guidance Advisory Task Force. Over the years, she’s also served as co-editor of the newsletter and as a member of a long-range planning task force, the Committee on Ministry and an interim ministry advisory team.

Julie has been a writer and editor for nearly three decades and has her own business, Palm Ink LLC. She lives in a 109-year-old bungalow in the historic Washington Park neighborhood of Winston-Salem with her dog Max and cat Ozzie. Prior to COVID-19, she regularly volunteered at farm animal rescues and an equine therapy center, and she hopes to return to those pursuits soon. When she has time, she likes to bake, garden and read, and does her best to keep the USPS and greeting card companies in business by sending notes to family and friends.

Julie is honored to serve on the MSC because, since joining UUFWS, the building has become a second home to her and the congregation like a family. The MSC is a chance for Julie to give back to the congregation and an opportunity to play a part in securing the congregation’s future with the next settled minister.

Herman Schmid

Born in Chicago with Wisconsin roots, Herman Schmid ended up at age 5 in Winston-Salem with a Midwestern accent. Fortunately, he grew up in both his and the UUFWS’s formative years. He played lots of sports and chess adequately, loved caving and excelled at springboard diving, which he did while attending Wake Forest University. After teaching math for three years, he began a 32-year career with the IT department of Forsyth County, working with punch cards, mainframes, COBOL, PCs, networking, webpages and phone systems. He managed a staff for a few decades, as well.

He bumped into his wife, Cindy Naylor, a current UUFWS board member, playing volleyball. They married, raising two sons in the Fellowship during the 1990s and 2000s. Herman’s been on many committees, set out a lot of tables and chairs, did the grounds for many years, has been on the UUFWS board, installed the first network and Wi-Fi, and has been on a couple search committees. He admittedly revels in the work of his mother, Donna Schmid, and his late father, Ernie Schmid, who both served as UUFWS board presidents, and started many committees and programs. They went to so many events. They loved so many people. They have inspired Herman and Cindy every step of their way through life, both at UUFWS and in general.

Herman retired in 2012 to help open and manage Cindy’s neuropsychological services business testing and treating patients. He thrives on friends, ideas, hard work, immersive relaxation and every new thing that comes along.

He believes our Fellowship does many essential things. It serves a community of people, influences local thinking and policy, contributes to the social good and social justice, and makes the world a cleaner and better place. A lot of time, treasure, talent, and now, technology, is required to make this happen. Working with this intrepid MSC team, Herman would like to find a new ministerial leader to build on all those Ts. To grow the UUFWS. To change the world. It is an honor.

Mitch Termotto

Though Mitch Termotto was born in Buffalo, NY, and has moved around the country, his family settled in the Winston-Salem area when he was about to enter high school. This is the place he calls home. Shortly after graduating from Appalachian State University, he started his own printing business in downtown Winston-Salem. After 32 years of hard work and dealing with ups and down in the market, he retired in June 2021. This has given him time to focus on other important things in his life and he is grateful for the opportunity. His current hobbies are fitness, travel and cooking.

Mitch started attending UUFWS in January 2006 with his partner, Scott. He did not have a religious upbringing and most of his life had shied away from organized religion, stepping into a church or synagogue only for the occasional wedding or funeral. Mitch’s mom, who is a UUFWS member, tried to get them to come, but they were reluctant. Finally, they gave in and one cold January morning checked the place out. Mitch said they were pleasantly surprised on their first visit. They were impressed with the architecture of the building and secluded, wooded setting. The people were friendly, the service was inspirational and the music was beautiful. Mitch and Scott started to come regularly and, by July, they joined. In December 2015, they were officially married at the Fellowship, surrounded by family, friends and other UUs.

Over the years, Mitch has been very involved, helping behind the scenes when a volunteer was needed. He currently serves on the Committee on Ministry and the Worship Committee. He is very involved with the Sunday worship services each week  — and because of this, it is both a privilege and honor to serve on the MSC. Being so involved with weekly services, he takes the responsibility of working with a team to find a new settled minister very seriously.

Angie Vincoli (MSC Treasurer)

Angie Vincoli joined the Fellowship in 2017 when she made UUFWS part of her spiritual journey. Her parents had long encouraged her to find a religious community, and she took their advice to heart after their deaths. The Fellowship reminds her of the caring community she experienced growing up Southern Baptist in Concord, NC. It allows an even more authentic search than she experienced as an adult Episcopalian. Angie credits Small Group Ministry and EcoSolutions for welcoming her to the Fellowship.

She will complete a term as secretary to the UUFWS board in June 2022. Angie and her husband, Joe Vincoli, have been married since 1981 and live in Clemmons with their spirited Australian shepherd, Cheyenne. She is a graduate of UNC Chapel Hill. Angie has telecommuted for work since 2006, providing marketing, communications and sales support services for a national energy efficiency and sustainability company. She and Joe have one son and soon-to-be daughter-in-law in Burbank, CA, and one son and daughter-in-law in Greenville, SC. She is energized about the MSC because it takes so much more than memes, avatars and digital networks to create real community.

Geraldine Zurek (MSC chair)

Geraldine Zurek is a native Michigander who moved to North Carolina in 1980. She was raised Catholic, but left the church when she realized she no longer believed in any of the articles of faith expressed in the creed as recited during Mass. She found the UUFWS in 1986 and joined in August of that year. During her time as a member, she has served as director of RE, chair of the Worship Committee, Fellowship Coordinating Council, Kitchen Elves, Committee on Ministry and what was then called the Annual Canvass. She’s also been UUFWS board president (twice!). She’s worked on the annual auction and organized many yard sales. Currently, she is part of the Care Committee and sings in the choir.

For Geraldine, the Fellowship is a source of inspiration, education and, at times, exasperation. It both comforts and challenges her. It is where her soul is nourished and where her need for companionship on her spiritual journey is met.

She retired from her position as a project manager in clinical research at Wake Forest Baptist Health in 2018. She’s done a little traveling (pre-COVID-19) and currently volunteers as a reading tutor in Winston-Salem/Forsyth County schools. The pandemic lockdown gave her the impetus to finally turn her spare room into a sewing room, and YouTube videos gave her the courage to take up quilting, which is now her passion. But all of that takes second place to her first love, Detroit Tigers baseball.