Our Clergy & Staff

Annette hails from Ionia, Michigan, a small-town half-way between Grand Rapids and Lansing, known for its 5 state prisons and the oldest County Free Fair in Michigan. She is a ‘jill’ of many trades and pretty good at a wide variety of tasks from cotton candy making, switchboard operating, custom framing, professional storytelling, creating, facilitating, and leading church ministries to teaching high school English.
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She was ordained as a vocational deacon for the Episcopal Church on December 14, 2019; yep, just three short months before COVID changed the way she had prepared to do church! Although her clergy life didn’t begin quite as she thought it would, it did give her a deep appreciation and love of her diaconal role of setting the table and holding a space there for ALL God’s people to share in the Eucharist, together as one holy and beloved community.

Annette relocated to Chicago in May 2022 to be closer to her two oldest children and was blessed to be offered the position of director for the Center for Life and Learning at Fourth Presbyterian Church. She continues her work there planning and teaching classes, as well as giving presentations about healthy aging, spirituality of aging, and storytelling throughout Chicago. She is the proud mother of four children, and ecstatic grandmother of one.