First Unitarian Universalist Church of Milford

I grew up in the beautiful city of Savannah, Georgia. This melting-pot port-city presented me with many and varied ethnicities and unique coastal experiences. As a child, I attended the Methodist and Baptist churches, then in college I became a Lutheran. After college I went to Japan to teach English as an Educational Missionary with the Lutheran Church in America (LCA). After three years in Kumamoto, I spent two months traveling in Russia and Europe. I then returned to the states to enter theological school.

After two years of seminary, I joined the work force and stayed with the same company for twenty-plus years. I was the Area Manager for twenty-three Olan Mills Portrait Studios in three southeastern states, with over 350 employees and ten supervisors working under my direction. During this time I joined the Episcopal Church and was active as a lay leader for over twenty years.

My life-long dream of becoming a minister returned to me soon after I became a Unitarian Universalist in the early 90's. I retired early from my career position and entered the Meadville/Lombard Theological School. After my studies and an internship at the First Unitarian Church in Dallas, Texas, I graduated with honors in 1998 with a Master of Divinity degree.

In 1999, after a one-year interim position in Provincetown, Massachusetts, I was called to become the Lead Minister at The First Parish in Portland, Maine, Unitarian Universalist. In Portland, I was on the board of the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Program and served on Portland's World AIDS Day Committee. I also initiated a prison ministry for immigrants at the Cumberland County Jail. I was on the Executive Committee of our District UU Minister's Association, serving as Treasurer. In 2006, I accepted the call to become the minister of the UU Church in Birmingham, Alabama where I served for two years. In September 2008, I began my parish ministry here at The First Unitarian Universalist Church of Milford.

I am married to Steve Gilbert. We are a same-gender couple celebrating thirty-six wonderful years of being together. Steve is an insurance agent with AFLAC. Our life is shared with our Italian Greyhound, Timothy Zanipolo, who is five months old. Our home is in Milford, Massachusetts.

If you have any questions concerning our religious society, please don't hesitate to reach me at the church office at (508) 473-3589, or at fuuminister@conversent.net.

Professional Milestones

B. A., Newberry College, Newberry, SC, 1968

School of Missions, Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago, Summer, 1968

English Teacher, Kyushu Gakuin High School, Kumamoto, Japan, 1968-1971

Tokyo School of the Japanese Language, Tokyo, Japan, Summer, 1969

Master of Arts in Religion, Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, 1975

Area Manager for Olan Mills, Inc., 1975-1995 (and 1973-74)

Master of Divinity, Meadville/Lombard Theological School at the University of Chicago, 1998

Ordained, 1998, at Clayton Memorial Unitarian Universalist Church, Newberry, SC

UU Ministerial Fellowship, 1998

Interim Minister, The Universalist Meeting House, Provincetown, MA, 1998-1999

Lead Minister, The First Parish in Portland, Maine, Unitarian Universalist, 1999-2006

Parish minister of The Unitarian Universalist Church of Birmingham, AL., 2006-2008

Parish minister of The First UU church of Milford, Mass., called on May 25, 2008.

Member, Board of Directors for the Clara Barton District of the Unitarian Universalist Association

of Milford, Massachusetts