Robert (Bob) Felch, after many years of summering, in 2002 became a full time 'Sconset resident. Bob and his late wife Marianne, have been attendees at St. Paul's since the 1970s. Most recently, Bob served as co-chair of the Discernment Committeethat in October 2020, recommended the calling pf Father Max Wolf as our Rector. He now serves as Co-Chair of the Mission Committee.
Bob is active in the Nantucket community. He has served on the Board of the Community Foundation of Nantucket, as its First Vice President since it was founded in 2005. He is on the Board of the 'Sconset Chapel and served as President of the 'Sconset Trust from 2004-2009 where, among other things, he oversaw the relocation of Sankaty Head Lighthouse. In addition, he serves on the Advisory Council at Nantucket Cottage Hospital. Off island, he was the Senior Warden of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church (Chatham, NJ) in the 1990’s and President of the Chatham Township (NJ) Historical Society. Bob’s business career spanned 40 years with Chubb Insurance and several other businesses including 12 years running a specialty travel business Icelandic tourism. Bob has two grown children and three grandchildren.
Even as a visitor to the island, St. Paul’s has always been a welcoming and loving community to me. So when I made a decision to fulfill a bucket list aspiration to live here for a year, my sister Randy Wight said," welcome to your new spiritual home, you will love getting plugged into us”. She was right about that. Prior to my island move, I was a member of St. Paul's church in Riverside, CT, a place where passion for service and dedication to healthy growth of the parish family were evident. Prior to that affiliation, my husband and I were members of the All Saints Episcopal Church of Brookline MA. He was a member of the Vestry there, and head of the search committee for a new rector. Joel Ives was their choice!
Libby was born and raised in St. Louis, Mo., graduated from Washington University, and after her children were born, began a long period of nursing education, the focus of which was oncology. She received her Nurse Practitioner degree in Oncology from Yale University. Her doctoral dissertation researched nursing compassion. In 2014 Libby finished the academic requirements for a master's degree entitled "Theology in Healthcare" which she began at Boston College, and while she has many clinical hours for degree completion, there is a space on the bucket list! She has 3 sons and a daughter named Randall, and seven grandchildren. Libby is the Clinical leader of the Oncology Program at Nantucket Cottage Hospital as well as the Case Manger for the MGH-ACK program called Integrated Care Management. She begins her third year on the island next summer. She is honored to become a new member of the St. Paul’s Vestry, and welcomes the opportunity to serve.
Martin and his wife, Toni, moved to Nantucket in 2007, after summering here since 1966. He concluded his 36-year career in the financial services industry in 2006, when he retired from Neuberger Berman, where he served as a Managing Director. In addition to serving on the St. Paul’s Church Vestry, Martin was also Board Chair of Bloomfield College (New Jersey) and President of Nantucket Community Sailing. He is on the executive committee of the Nantucket Shellfish Association and a Governor of the Nantucket Yacht Club. He earned a Bachelor of Arts at Kenyon College and a Master of Business Administration at Columbia University.
The McKerrows have been married for over 50 years. They have two sons and five wonderful grandchildren. He is an enthusiastic amateur photographer and, together, Toni and Martin enjoy traveling, gardening, golf, and water activities.
A descendant of Nantucket Whaling Captain Edmund Gardner, Peter has lived on Nantucket since 1991 and is blessed to be married to Stacey Whittier Stuart. A graduate of Quinnipiac University, he has been the Artists Association’s Cecelia Joyce & Seward Johnson gallery manager for the past decade, where he is responsible for the sales and public relations of the gallery. A cradle Episcopalian, Peter was the first student representative on the Vestry of his childhood church, Church of our Redeemer in Lexington, MA.
Taught by his parents the importance of giving back, he has been an active member of St. Paul’s church for over twenty-five years, having served two terms on earlier Vestry’s - some as clerk - and was honored to attend St. Paul’s first mission trip to Guatemala. He has been a board member on a number of the island’s cultural organizations, and for nine years was a member of the Nantucket Golf Club Scholarship Review committee. Peter is the Chaplain of the local Masonic Lodge, and looks forward to joining the Vestry and working more closely with everyone at St. Paul’s.
When not working, he enjoys visiting his family cottage “in America”, the natural beauty & history of the island, working in his Polpis Harbor Arbor Gardens, and entertaining friends and family with his wife.
Kirk Baker “retired” from his career in the wine industry in Florida to move to Nantucket in 2012 with his now wife Jenny Benzie. Together, they founded and have successfully operated Épernay Wine & Spirits, a boutique wine store in the Brant Point neighborhood.
Kirk was raised in and attended the Episcopal Church in spite of many the many family moves caused by his father’s career with Maytag. He attended DeSmet Jesuit High School in St. Louis, MO, Central College in Pella, IA, and Drake University in Des Moines, IA. He started his career traveling the world while working for Holland America Cruise Line as an Assistant Cruise Director. He then moved to Florida to follow his passion for the hospitality business. There he worked as a Wine Sales Consultant with the Fine Wine Division of Southern Wine & Spirits, and became the Florida Regional Manager of Fine Wines with the wine importer Frederick Wildman & Sons.
Since moving to Nantucket, Kirk has been seeking to become more involved in this community and became an active member of St. Paul’s in 2019. As time allows, Kirk enjoys time with his wife and dog Cooper, along with playing golf and fishing Nantucket waters. He and Jenny enjoy down time and traveling in the off-season.
Peter Barnes recently moved full-time to Nantucket with his wife, Cheryl, after a 40-year career in business journalism. Lifelong Episcopalians, they were married at St. Paul’s in 1990 and were summer residents and parishioners here. In his church life at their previous home in Virginia, Peter was an usher, lay minister, vestry member, annual stewardship campaign co-chair and senior warden at Grace Episcopal Church in Alexandria, VA. Peter earned a bachelor’s degree from Penn State and and an MBA from The Wharton School of Business. He worked at multiple news organizations, including The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Fox Business Network and Bloomberg News before retiring last year. Peter and Cheryl are authors of numerous children’s books, including an island favorite, Nat, Nat, the Nantucket Cat. They have two daughters and four grandchildren, who love Nantucket as much as they do.
Susan and her husband Toby moved year-round to Nantucket from Manchester by the Sea, Massachusetts in 2018. As long-time residents of Boston’s North Shore, they were active members of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Beverly Farms where Susan served as both a Vestry Member and Warden.
Susan was born and raised in Lawrence, New York on the south shore of Long Island. She attended Emerson College in Boston where she met Toby and married in 1982. They have two grown children who reside in the Boston area. Susan has worked as a Development Professional for over 30 years, managing multiple capital campaigns and fundraising initiatives. Toby has recently retired from his career in the finance world.
They are delighted to join the St. Paul’s community and look forward to getting to know more about the Island outreach programs. They enjoy reading and spending time with family and friends.
A cradle Episcopalian, Beverly has been involved with St. Paul’s since arriving on Nantucket in 1965. She served on the Vestry under Joel Ives, Andrew Foster and the late Gene McDowell. Her New York City spiritual home was the Cathedral of St. John the Divine where she was the photographer-in- residence for over fifteen years.
In 1998 she began a journey that had been contemplated for years by entering the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, MA. In 2002 she received her Master’s in Divinity with a major in pastoral studies. Previous to that her education consisted of a degree in English and Art History from Columbia University and a Masters from Johns Hopkins.
Beverly has been a resident of Madaket since 1965, when she created and established the CHILDREN’S GALLERY on Old South wharf. In 1972, she transitioned into BEVERLY HALL PHOTOGRAPHY with a specialty in family portraits. Beginning in 2016, she has expanded her repertoire to include becoming Hanna Monaghan at Greater Light. “Through all these experiences, I have felt the guiding presence of the Spirit in my life choices,” Beverly said.
In 2013 she married David Billings and together they have established a welcoming home for friends and guests as well as creating an Asian Art Museum surrounded by a magical garden and three fish ponds.
Robert was born in Edenton North Carolina and raised on a family farm. He grew up as an Episcopalian. Robert took his high school education at a Quaker boarding school in greater Philadelphia and came back to North Carolina to give engineering school a short try. He subsequently worked for about five years each in agriculture, commercial fishing, and construction. In 1989 he married Alison Golding on Nantucket and moved to the island full time in 1991. With the move to Nantucket, he took up a new field of work at the Surfside Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP). Robert held a variety of senior positions at the Town’s Surfside and ‘Sconset WWTPs. He retired in mid-2019. During employment with the Town of Nantucket he completed a bit more education with a Certificate in Public Administration. Robert serves as lay reader and member of the Building and Grounds Committee at St. Paul’s. Robert and Alison have two adult children who live on the Massachusetts mainland: Maya in Cotuit and Ashleigh in Dorchester.
Jan is a lifelong educator who has been a summer resident on Nantucket since 1973. He attended Kent School and Stanford University, and his wonderful experience at boarding school led him to become a teacher and school administrator. He has taught at three schools, and for twenty-seven years he was Head of Middle School at St. Louis Country Day School. Jan moved to St. Louis in 1982 where he met his wife Ginger Newton shortly after arriving. They were married in 1986 and have three children.
Jan has served on the vestry at The Church of St. Michael and St. George in Clayton for ten of the last eleven years. He teaches at the St. Michael School, the church’s elementary school. Jan developed an interest in Abraham Lincoln when he moved to St. Louis, and in 2018, he published a young adult novel, Young Lincoln, which won a Best of Illinois History Award and a Nautilus Award. Jan and Ginger spend the summers in their house on the Wauwinet/Pocomo border. They love attending St. Paul’s in the summer and faithfully sit in the pew next to the picture of Fred Rogers. They love the warm and welcoming atmosphere at St. Paul’s. Jan and Ginger are members of Sankaty Head Golf Club and the Nantucket Yacht Club.
Sandy has been on the St. Paul’s Vestry beginning in 2016 and a member of St. Paul’s since 1990 when she and her husband Marshall decided that Nantucket would be their physical home and St. Pauls Church would be their spiritual home. She has a bachelor's degree from Douglass College of Rutgers University, a master's degree from Vanderbilt University and an MBA from Harvard. Her experience before going to Harvard Business School included writing for educational television, college development, and public relations. After Harvard, Sandy had a rewarding career as a fund manager for pension funds and high net worth individuals, first as a Vice President at Gardner and Preston Moss in Boston, and then as President and CEO of an investment management company with substantial clients in the UK and the US. She and Marshall have two grown children and two grandchildren. While they consider Nantucket home, they also spend a good deal of time with family in the Boston area and in Richmond, Virginia.
Lucy has lived year-round on Nantucket since 1979 and was married to the late Cap’n Tobey Leske for 35 years. An executive recruiter for higher education and non-profit executives since 1992, she is currently a Senior Partner for Witt/Kieffer, an international executive search firm based in Chicago. She has been a weekly columnist on gardening and naturalist issues for the Inquirer & Mirror for over 30 years, served one term as a member of the Nantucket Conservation Commission, and was a co-founder of the Invasive Plant Species Committee of the Nantucket Biodiversity Initiative. She served on the Board of Trustees of Mitchell College in New London, Connecticut, for ten years. She first attended St. Paul’s Church in the company of her late grandmother, Mary Louise Apthorp, a Nantucket summer resident and member of St. Paul’s for many decades. Lucy’s volunteer service at St. Paul’s Church includes serving as a member of St. Paul’s choir, chaperone and volunteer on the Hurricane Katrina youth group mission to Bayou La Batre, Alabama, and member of the 2008 rector search committee. An alumna of Mt. Holyoke College, she has many interests including sailing, gardening, hiking, outrigger canoe paddling, cooking, writing, and spending time with her two adult sons Colin of Encinitas, CA, and Wyatt of Plymouth, MA.
Jay Riggs grew up in Baltimore and has lived on Nantucket since 1982. Jay has been a long- time member of St. Paul’s and recalls serving on the Vestry in the past, and is honored by the opportunity to serve again. Jay also serves on the Altar Guild and recently was a member of a Rector Search Committee. Jay loves spending time with her three children and five grandchildren, all of whom enjoy visiting Jay and Nantucket. Jay also serves on the Sherburne Commons Board and the Advisory Boards of the Nantucket Cottage Hospital and the Nantucket Conservation Foundation. When she is not busy with family and board work, Jay enjoys playing bridge and working in her garden.
Phil Smith and his wife, Ann, have been long time summer residents of Nantucket and parishioners at St. Paul’s since 2000. Phil has been active in the Episcopal Church for many years serving as a vestry member and the treasurer of the Church of the Heavenly Rest in New York City. After moving to lower Manhattan, he and Ann joined The Church of the Ascension where he is also on the vestry.
Phil attended Tabor Academy and then Stevens Institute of Technology where he received a degree in Mechanical Engineering. His business career began at The Bank of New York, where he worked for over 15 years. Since then, he has worked in investment banking and is currently with a boutique firm specializing in mergers and acquisitions and capital raising for middle market firms in the healthcare information technology sector.
In May 2017, Phil was elected Trustee Emeritus after stepping down from the board of Tabor Academy after 30 years where he had served as its treasurer and chairman of its Finance and Trusteeship Committees. He currently is on the board of the Nantucket Shellfish Association and is a member of the Nantucket Yacht Club.
Phil and Ann have three children, their residence is now in Nantucket with a pied-à-terre in Manhattan, and they split their time between these two islands. Phil is an enthusiastic sailor and late in the day can often be found on the waters of Nantucket Harbor. He is also a golfer and enjoys a game of pool. Ann serves as president of Postpartum Support International and has worked for Planned Parenthood for many years.
Although not born on Nantucket, Yvette St. Jean has lived on island since the age of three and has been a regular member of St. Paul’s except for the years she lived in Illinois. Since her return in 1999, she has been a regular attendee, mostly at the eight o’clock service. She has been a reader, usher and has been able to indulge in one of her passions, baking, by helping provide goodies at coffee hours, the summer fair and the Christmas market.
In her spare time, Yvette enjoys crafting, reading, traveling and hanging out with her four-kids.
Patsy moved to Nantucket from New York in 1983. She was married at St. Paul’s in 1985 to Livingston (Link) Wright. Her daughter, Margaret, was an acolyte at St. Paul’s during high school and college. Her son Adam sang in the choir. Both children were confirmed at St. Paul’s.
The Wright’s are avid sailors. The family has spent many summers cruising the northeast Atlantic coast on their beloved Wendigo, a wooden Geiger sloop. In the summer of 1995 Adam was a sailing instructor at Nantucket Community Sailing during its inaugural year. Passionate scallopers, it is not unusual to see Patsy and Margaret, wading in the harbor, on a January day, foraging for dinner.
Commuting to New York from Nantucket for 25 years, Patsy held various corporate marketing and communications positions in the wine and spirits industry. In 2014 she was Knighted by the Confraria do Vinho do Porto (Porto Wine Brotherhood). She also worked in Development for the Nantucket Conservation Foundation. Raised in Wellesley, MA she subsequently moved to New York to study theater arts at the prestigious American Academy of Dramatic Arts.
While Nantucket is her primary residence, Patsy enjoys spending time at her pied-à-terre in Cambridge.
To reach a vestry member, please contact the Church Office.