Meet our newest members of our UUCUC congregation!

Natalie Lloyd

Walter O’Maley

Jordan James

Vyt Gureckas

Rita Dagys

Robert Prevost

Lindsey Sharpe & Nick Cragoe

Lindsey was raised in several small towns in the Peoria area and has lived in Illinois her whole life. She earned her Masters Degree in Social work from UIUC in 2011 and has worked in the field of online education for the University of Illinois since 2012. She loves painting, gardening, and anything involving spreadsheets. She has been part of the Shared Offering Committee for the past two years.

Nick hails from Minneapolis, Minnesota and earned his PhD in Sociology from UIUC in 2017. He currently works for the Beckman Institute studying infant neurodevelopment. He is also a working artist specializing in traditional Celtic and Norse knotwork and paintings and you will often find him at local art fairs. He’s been an REE teacher for two years, currently teaching the teen classroom.

The couple was married in 2022 and  lives in Champaign with their three children. They enjoy camping and hiking, gaming, and exploring the National Parks together. 

Christine Hatfield

Christine has lived in Champaign-Urbana since 2022, when she moved to the area for a job at UIUC after a few years bouncing around the Midwest... and now she can't imagine living anywhere else! She started attending UUCUC in the summer of 2024 at the encouragement of church members Alice and dust, and she liked what she saw enough to stick around. She's an avid fan of board games, video games and manga.

Mary Kay Smith

Mary Kay moved to Champaign for college and never left.  Now mostly retired after 23 years with Parkland College, volunteering is her passion.  She manages the Champaign Library Friends Bookstore, is active in CU Sunrise Rotary and looking forward to getting more involved with UUCUC. Once a year she manages to convince her husband to travel so is always looking for that next place to visit.

Jeanice Wiard

Jeanice has lived in Illinois since 2010, moving to Mahomet, IL in 2013. She grew up in Northern New York on her family's dairy farm. She shares a home with her husband, Joe, two sons, Evan and Logan, and her cat, Pippin, and dog, Blast. She is a passionate advocate of mental health within the veterinary field. She has worked as a veterinary receptionist, certified veterinary technician, and veterinary practice manager throughout her 19-year veterinary career. She enjoys landscaping/gardening, hiking, listening to music, reading, and conversing about life and its mysteries. She thinks of herself as a helper and is very grateful to have found this community that can direct her in finding positive and impactful ways to help others. She has felt uncomfortably unsupported through many of life's challenges. She is looking forward to giving to the community and receiving support from the community in turn.

Jessica Habibi-Pasdar 

Jessica lives in Urbana with her husband Ali, 13 year old kiddo Laila and 2 dogs (Ziba and Crimson).  She moved to Urbana last fall from Lawrence, Kansas.  Jessica is new to UUCUC and religion in general.  She loves travelling and hiking and is excited to be in Urbana and be a part of UUCUC.

Kate McDowell

Kate is a longtime Urbana resident, avid reader, and her favorite animal is the otter. She teaches information science at the University of Illinois with a focus on libraries & is often traveling to help others defend public and academic libraries-one of the only ubiquitous places in our society that you can walk in and not have to believe anything or buy anything. She is married to Ben Grosser, art, professor and new media artist known for his work on removing the metrics from social media.