Our Staff

The Reverend Sue Poulin

Rector

My ministry began at The Episcopal Church of St. John the Baptist on January 28, 2007. It is with much joy and excitement that I joined this thriving community of faith.

The Episcopal Diocese of Maine had been my home. I most recently served St. David’s Episcopal Church in Kennebunk. Being Assistant Clergy there for 3 years allowed me the opportunity to strengthen my liturgical experience, thrive in a parish that values great preaching, and grow in my pastoral ministry. Christian Formation is central to my call to ministry. I cherish the opportunity to help people continue to grow into our Baptismal Covenant. The Episcopal Church is a wonderful place to grow and deepen our relationship with God and Jesus Christ. Jesus also calls us out into the world, to live and move as he taught us. This tension is what I believe is what it means to be Episcopalian.

When the time came, and with such a great foundation, God called me to New Hampshire. I am so excited and blessed to be in a parish that is so full of life, enthusiasm and faith. The Episcopal Church of St. John the Baptist is a place where we laugh together, play together, work together, and, when we need to, hold each other as we weep together. We are also a place that is there for the church family, the community and the world at large.

Please come and join us as we celebrate the Holy Eucharist on Sunday and any of our other activities so that you can come to know our church family.

God is good and Grace Happens!!!

Music staff at the Episcopal Church of Saint John the Baptist

Judy Gray

Organist

I moved to NH from my life long home in CT in the summer of 2001. Two years later, after just one Sunday at St. John’s, I knew I was home. After 3 months of sitting in the back pew, I moved to the front of the church and have been sitting on the organ bench ever since.

My love of church music began in the church of my childhood, a large Congregational and UCC church in New Haven with a magnificent pipe organ played by a succession of organists from the Yale School of Music. I can remember being thrilled by the beauty and power of church music at a very young age and I only wish that I had known then that the organ was an instrument that could be learned just the same as the piano. As a young child, it seemed that the organist magically appeared on the organ bench each Sunday, never to be approached, and only listened to in awe.

In my 30’s, as I experienced a “bumpy patch” in my life, the minister of my church asked if there was “anything I’d always wanted to do.” My answer came from nowhere it seemed…. “I want to learn to play the pipe organ.” I was fortunate to live close to Connecticut College and was able to complete the requirements for my self designed major, “Music and Worship in the Christian Church” in 1982. Subsequently I have served as organist and choir director in UCC, American Baptist and Episcopal churches where I have learned to appreciate and love a wide variety of musical styles. In music there truly is no “One Size Fits All.”

My life is filled with the goodness of a life partner of almost 25 years, a daughter and son-in-law, and our two Irish Wolfhounds and one cat. I love photography, and my new life in NH, with its pastoral beauty and peacefulness, is the subject of many of my photographs. The fulfillment I find in the community of St. John’s provides just the right finishing touch.

Jeremy Burke

Cantor

Originally from Mt. Vernon, Illinois, Jeremy Burke came to New England in 1998 with his wife, Andrea, a New Hampshire native. He and Andrea have been parishioners at St. John’s since 1999, and Jeremy has been active in the choir since shortly after starting to attend and has been the cantor since the spring of 2002.

Jeremy has an extensive music background and holds a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in Music from Truman State University (Kirksville, MO) and is currently a candidate (ABD) for the Doctor of Music in Saxophone Performance at Indiana University-Bloomington. His principle teachers include Randall Smith and world-renowned teacher and performer Eugene Rousseau. He has additionally studied saxophone under Kenneth Seino and Jean-Yves Formeau, clarinet with Richard Weerts, flute with Juliana Moore, and conducting with David Nichols and Daniel Peterson.

Jeremy has received numerous honors as both a soloist and a chamber performer. As a soloist, he received Honorable Mention in both the Missouri Music Teachers Association State Honors Woodwind Auditions and MTNA-Wurlitzer Collegiate Artists Competition and was named Winner of the First Annual Gold Medal Concerto/Aria Competition at Truman State University.

As a chamber performer, he has been a member of groups which were named Winners of the Missouri Music Teachers Association State Honors Woodwind Chamber Auditions and, as a member of the Indiana University Saxophone Quartet, was named a Semi-Finalist in the prestigious Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and has performed throughout the Midwest as a soloist and with the Indiana University Saxophone Quartet, including invited performances at Truman State University, the Ars Nova series at Joliet Community College and the Brian Minor Concert Series at Ball State University.

Jeremy is additionally the proud father of Eliana, Makenna, and Zane and he and Andrea are expecting their fourth child in December of 2007. When not spending time with his family, Jeremy is an avid woodworker and has been slowly rehabbing his house, which was originally the parsonage for the former Milton Mills Congregational Church.

Penny Pierce-Mearns

Secretary

Penny was born and lived in upstate New York for most of her life, She and her husband Jim moved to East Wakefield after Jim retired from Eastman Kodak. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, traveling, playing golf, working in stained glass, and spending time with her grand daughter. She has a son, a daughter, and two stepdaughters, all grown and married, seven grand daughters, two cats and a golden retriever.

With a degree in advertising, she spent almost 25 years in ad agencies and corporate America as an art director and marketing communications manager. In 1993, she began her own home-based marketing communications business, which is still active today. She starting attending services at St. John’s in 2003 and became parish secretary in 2004.

She thrives on learning and implementing new ideas. Her inspiration comes from the need to problem solve and realize goals that she sets for herself. She loves a challenging work environment, enjoys working with people, and being part of the St. John’s community...