Meet the 2012 Congregation Council

Jeff Cieslik has been a member  of First English for 35 years and spends most of his time at the Downtown Site, but has been visiting the North Site recently. Jeff and his wife, Cindy, have  two children: Benjamin, 30, who is a pastor at Bethlehem Lutheran in Minneapolis, and Meghan, 26, who is currently living in Chicago.  Jeff works in procurement for Presto Products Company. He has served on congregational council twice (once as president.)  Jeff has also volunteered for six National Youth Gathering trips as a chaperone.  Jeff likes to play golf…a  lot.  Jeff says the older he gets, the more appealing fishing in a boat gets.

Aaron Douglas and his family joined First English two years ago, shortly after moving to town. They attend worship at both sites, but predominately, the North Site.  The Douglases moved to Appleton in 2008, when Aaron, a family physician, joined Primary Care Associates. Alyssa, a nurse by training, has found full-time work as a loving mother of two children, Clara (3) and Levi (1). Serving on the recent call committee that called Pastor Tengesdal was a fun and rewarding experience for Aaron. He has also enjoyed being a part of various medical committees in the area, along with involvement with the Lawrence University athletic program. When he’s not playing with his kids at home, Aaron enjoys several outdoor activities like running, cycling, cross-county skiing, and camping, and he always keeps a good book on his nightstand.

Cheri Dworak has been a member of First English since 2001 and worships primarily at the Downtown Site. She has been married to Mic for almost 25 years. They have two daughters, Alex, a sophomore at UW-Madison, and Sarah, a junior at Appleton West. Cheri has worked in the financial services industry with Northwestern Mutual for over 30 years. She serves at the Downtown Site as worship assistant, communion set-up and server, and reader. She has served as Sunday School teacher to four year-olds, was an arts and crafts Sunday School team-teacher for grades one through three, volunteered several years for Vacation Bible School, and created long-lasting, faith-based relationships by serving as a confirmation small group guide. She is currently the Downtown Site 7^th grade Sunday School teacher. She recently served on the Constitution and Bylaws Task Force, volunteers at Echoes on Saturday mornings, and has facilitated the book studies Discover Your Call and Unbinding the Gospel. Cheri enjoys traveling, power walking, and reading non-fiction books.

Kay Eggert  has been a member of FELC since 1991 and worships primarily at the Downtown Site. Kay and her husband, David, have four children, Charlie, Emily, Peter and Elizabeth. The older three have graduated from college; all worked as FELC summer interns and are continuing their educations in the medical field. The youngest is a first year student at St. Olaf College. Kay worked as a dentist prior to raising children. Her current part-time “job” is serving on the Board of Education for the Appleton Area School District. At FELC Kay volunteers as a welcome host, communion server, coffee hour host and with various special events such as the Progressive Dinner.  She recently served on the Financial Task Force. Her current community service includes the Appleton Area School District Board of Education and the Appleton YMCA Board of Directors. Kay enjoys spending time with family and friends, golfing, cross country skiing, knitting and reading.

Dean Haas and his wife, Edith, joined First English in 2002 after moving to Appleton from Minnesota.  They have two adult children, Angela who lives in Montana and Steven & wife Missy who live in Denver.  Dean has served on the Support Minnistry Team, Timber Rattlers baseball committee and the Self-Study Task Force at FELC.  He enjoys volunteeringhis time as a welcome host, reader, greeter and communion assistant.  Dean and Edith particpate in Tables of Eight, serving for coffee hour and trips to the Gulf Coast on Mission Trips.  Dean is a Senior Financial Services Officer and is very active in the Lions service organization.

Tom Kent and his family have been members of First English since 1999 when they moved to Appleton from Fort Worth, TX.  For the most part the Kents have attended worship at the Downtown Site. Recently, however, the Kent boys have been participating in the Praise Band at the North Site so they now split their time between the two sites.  Tom is married to Valerie and has three sons, Alex (19), Travis (16), and Jack (14).  Alex proudly served as a First English intern last summer.  Tom is employed by Kimberly-Clark as a Director in their Global Procurement team.  He has worked for K-C for almost 20 years. Since becoming a member of First English, Tom has volunteered in a number of ways including reading, greeting, bell ringing, and boxcar loading. Most significantly, Tom served as a teacher of the Downtown Site kindergarten class for 10 years. Outside of First English, Tom is a soccer coach and player, although he retired from playing once body parts started breaking! Tom enjoys listening to the musical talents of his boys, boating, and spending vacation time in the North Woods.

Don Kirby has been a member of First English since relocating to Freedom, from West Bend, WI, during the winter of 2004. He and his wife, Kathy, and their two children, Blake (14) and Brooke (5), primarily worship at the North Site, although Don still likes to visit Downtown, where the organ and architecture remind him of the Lutheran churches of his youth. Don has served on the Support Ministry Team for the past year, as well as assisting with usher/greeter, lay reader, and communion serving duties, sometimes with his son, who is in his second year as a confirmation student.  After many years of building the retail brand of Gander Mountain stores, his new role as the Executive Director of the non-profit Wisconsin Waterfowl Association for the last three years has allowed him more time for family, and an opportunity to serve the church. Other volunteer activities include serving on the Parent Committee, and as the “Popcorn Kernal”, for Boy Scout Troop #105 - Freedom, and helping coach his kid’s teams in the Freedom Athletic Association. An avid outdoorsman, he and his whole family spend a lot of time together enjoying nature, while hunting, fishing, hiking and camping - along with their new yellow lab pup, Jake.

Jim Mariano has been a member of First English for 18 years.  He and his wife Sonya most often attend the 9:15 a.m. service at the Downtown Site.  On occasion they have enjoyed worship with friends at the North Site which is closer to their home but because of their long association with the Downtown Site and their children’s connection with friends there, they have predominantly been “Downtowners.” Jim and Sonya are both physicians working in Appleton.  They have two children David, 15 and Sophie, 13. Jim grew up in the Philippines but moved to Minnesota after high school to attend college where he and Pastor Mary were classmates.  He met Sonya at the University of Iowa where they both completed their medical studies and moved to Appleton soon thereafter. Time demands of establishing a medical practice and raising a family made it difficult for Jim to participate in church activities in the past.  The time demands have lessened somewhat and wanting to become more involved in the church led him to the decision to put his name on the ballot for church council. At the risk of embarrassing his children, Jim will say his hobbies include reading about American history, solving crossword puzzles, and playing competitive chess all of which they consider “uncool.”  Road bicycling had also been a great passion but an unfortunate fall during a recent ride has caused him to take up stationary bicycling instead.

Terry Maves  has been a member at First English for 63 years.  He and his wife, Mary, have each been life long members of the church and have five children: Tyler, J.R. (Grawe), Gus, Peter and Suzy.  Terry is the Pharmacy Director for United Healthcare-Wisconsin, a pharmacist for Shopko Pharmacies and president-elect of the Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin.  Volunteer activities include being a board member of the Fox Cities Community Health Center and the Wisconsin Health Information Exchange.  At First English Terry has served 3 terms on the Church Council, was a member of the constitution rewriting committee, the Human Resource team, and the committee to call Pastor Mary Bauer.  Over the years he taught Sunday School, sang in the choir, ushered, and played on the church softball team.

Kristi Picken has been a member of First English since moving to Appleton from Minneapolis, Minnesota in the spring of 2003. She, her husband, Jeff, and their two children, Lucas and Marisa, worship at the North Site. Kristi has been a Sunday School teacher for a number of years, served on the Worship and Music Ministry Team from 2004-06 and is currently serving on the Intern Enrichment Ministry Team. Outside of First English, Kristi has served as treasurer for the Christian Cooperative Preschool board and for the Huntley Elementary PTO. Kristi has volunteered to shop for an LSS group home, help in her children’s classrooms and work with Feed My Starving Children and the Women’s Fund. When not volunteering, Kristi likes to spend time reading, exercising, and being outside. She had a garden for the first time this past spring and actually grew some vegetables. She is looking forward to improving her gardening skills during the next growing season.

Milly Rugland, formerly Milly Bubolz, was baptized and confirmed at First English, leaving for Connecticut after her marriage to Walter Rugland, and returning in 1998. She worships predominantly at the Downtown Site, and also enjoys attending the North Site where her daughter’s family worships.  Milly is an attorney, now retired. Her husband Walter is an actuary retired from Thrivent. She and Walter have two daughters, Amy    Ponomarev who lives in Houston Texas, and Zay Lenaburg who lives in Appleton with her husband Keith and children Henry, Marta, and Amelia. At First English Milly has served on the Worship Ministry Team, North Site building design committee, and on the board of The Arthur Krempin School of Music & Art.  She has served on numerous boards in the community including the Northeast Wisconsin Land Trust, Appleton Public Library Foundation, and Fox Valley Symphony. Her primary hobbies are painting, sculpture and preserving natural lands.

Rick Sather and his wife, Kris, son Andrew (18) and daughter Megan (15) have been members of First English for 12 years.  Rick has served as a member of the Learning Ministry Team, Life and Growth Ministry Team, and is currently a member of the Stewardship Committee. Rick chaired the Life and Growth Ministry team when the team recommended the creation of two separate committees that are now the Congregational Life and Congregational Growth Ministry Teams.  This was also when the welcome host role was established.  Rick has previously served one term on the Church Council and has also been actively involved in adult learning activities including adult, Lenten and small group study groups.

Sara Van Beek  has been a member of FELC since 1997 and has been worshipping primarily at the North Site since 2006. She has been married to Mark for 18 years.  They have two sons:  Cory is in 7th grade at Magellan Middle School, and Kent is in 5th grade at Odyssey Elementary School. Sara was an electrical engineer at Kimberly-Clark until 1999 when she decided to be a stay-at-home mom. Sara has been an active volunteer at her kids’ schools.  She has also been a Cub Scout den leader, popcorn “kernel,” and unofficial assistant cubmaster while her husband was the cubmaster.  At FELC, Sara has been a Sunday School teacher, member of the North Site Task Force and the Worship & Music Ministry Team, and media builder for the North Site.  Recently, she served as the chair of the Call Committee which called Pastor Jeff Tengesdal. Sara enjoys canoeing, camping, reading, woodworking, crafts of all types, watching her sons’ baseball and basketball games, and collecting cookbooks.  She’s excited about what the future holds for FELC.

Kathy Van Maren has been a member of FELC for 21 years.  She worships downtown at the 8 a.m. service. Kathy has been married to her husband Scott, for 30 years. They have two sons, Alex, 25, who is currently in law school at NIU and Ross, 22, who is finishing his senior year at UW Madison. Kathy works as a floral designer and manages the Memorial Florist on Northland Avenue. She has served FELC as a Sunday School teacher and is a member of the Congregational Life Ministry Team.  Kathy also volunteers her time to create the altar flowers for church each Sunday.  She is currently in training to become a Stephen Minister.  Kathy has also volunteered time at The Salvation Army, The Emergency Shelter and served on the board of Appleton Newcomers. Being the proud mom of two Eagle Scouts, Kathy has happily volunteered many years of service to the Boy Scouts of America. Her hobbies include walking, biking, gardening and traveling.     

Pete Vandenberg has been a member of First English for 24 years and since there has been a presence on the north side of Appleton (1998) has been worshiping at the North Site. He has been married to his wife Mary for 40 years. Mary is retired from Thrivent. Their son Phil, age 29, and his wife Fay live in England. Their son Eric, age 27, and his wife Meredith live and work in the Fox Valley. For 26 years Pete has worked in the automotive service industry primarily at Cloud Buick. For the last 13 years he has worked at Ace Hardware in Appleton. In the past Pete has served on the church council at FELC, the North Site Building Committee, Building and Grounds Committee and is presently on the Worship Ministry Team.  He co-taught sixth grade Sunday School for several years and has facilitated adult education programs at FELC. Pete has helped on several Habitat Builds and traveled to Biloxi, MS, to help after hurricane Katrina. Pete enjoys traveling - to Florida, especially in the winter, to England to see their son and daughter-in-law, and anywhere else the car or a plane will take them.