Jon Nye, President
Jon is originally from Buffalo, NY, and spent his formative years in suburban Washington, D.C. He eventually settled near Albany, NY, where he and Kathy raised three sons. Although he and Kathy still spend time there, increasingly Chatham is home.
In his twenties Jon experimented with a number of higher educational institutions, eventually receiving an undergraduate degree from American University and a law degree from Penn. At various times he has worked as a dishwasher, house sitter, legislative researcher, and for over thirty years as a partner in a large law firm. From 1969 to 1972, he was in the U.S. Navy.
Jon has been, in one sense or another, a Unitarian Universalist since youth, although he didn’t realize it until he was first introduced to the Meeting House. He feels fortunate to have had many diverse life experiences. Not all of them were fulfilling, but all helped him to appreciate and value UUMH and the people who make it what it is.
Danielle Jeanloz, Vice President
Danielle Jeanloz lived in the Northeast, Europe, and Canada and was originally from Newton. She had the opportunity to travel throughout the world while enjoying a 25-year career at American Airlines in Sales and Marketing.
Danielle and her husband, Bob Zaremba, finally settled down in Chatham full-time in 2004. Danielle and Bob purchased, Maps of Antiquity and moved it to Chatham, and started Chatham Guest Rooms. She joined UUMH in 2011 because it was a welcoming congregation that allowed her to explore and share her thoughts on community, the environment, and social justice. Having never joined a church until then, Danielle was unaware that she could become a part of a religious community open to accepting many different beliefs and religions including atheism and agnosticism. She has found her spiritual home in our Meeting House.
Joe Zahka, Treasurer
Joe Zahka has been a UU for over forty years. Early in their marriage, Joe and Debbie searched for a religion that was consistent with their values of peace and social justice. Joe appreciates that Unitarian Universalism is both logical and compassionate. As an added benefit, all of the UU churches he has attended are fairly old buildings and require a lot of maintenance, something he has enjoyed doing since he was a kid.
Joan Caputo, Secretary
I spent my childhood in suburban New Jersey outside of Newark. Through college at Upsala in East Orange, NJ, I worked summers in Girl Scout positions where I experienced leadership growth and developed skills that served me well later in life.
After graduating, I was a social studies teacher for a few years, but the energy of the sixties pulled me to Newark where I joined CORE and a job in the Essex County Probation Department. I retired as an Ass't Chief Probation Officer. During these years I earned a Master's Degree in Social Justice at the New School in New York City. I married Joe Caputo and acquired two daughters and wonderful Italian culture and family.
Church was always a part of my life. In 1964, I joined the UU Society of Essex County soon after. During the next thirty years, I chaired a search committee, taught youth education, and served as a Board of Trustees member and Chair.
When Joe and I moved to Cape Cod, I did all the kinds of activities I had longed to be part of for years. Habitat, Chatham Ecumenical Council for the Homeless, and others. I was just in time to join the Chatham UU Fellowship, renewing my friendship with Rev Peter Fleck, also from New Jersey, as they acquired their first minister and moved into our building on the hill. The congregation offered friendship and the opportunity to put my values into action.
Beth Avery, Member-at-Large
2023 Fleck Award for Outstanding Service: Beth Avery
For her many contributions to UUMH, Beth Avery was named this year's recipient of the Fleck Award at the congregation's Annual Meeting. The award is named after Peter Fleck, the first minister of the UU Fellowship in Chatham. Outgoing Board President Ed Mangiafico noted that Beth joined UUMH in 2011 and has been actively involved ever since. She has served as Chair of the Outreach Committee and the Nominating Committee as well as the President of the Board. In addition, Ed called her UUMH's Photographer Extraordinaire. "I couldn't imagine anyone deserving this award more!" he added.
About Beth: During childhood, Beth lived in parsonages at five different Congregational churches between Chelsea, VT, and Long Island, NY. (Her father was a minister who moved his family often!)
She graduated from Douglass College of Rutgers University and immediately joined the Peace Corps to serve as a teacher in Sierra Leone, West Africa. She describes the experience as being empowering - for her and her students.
Upon returning to the USA, Beth was attracted to the Boston YWCA because it was dedicated to supporting local women with "safe" urban housing and better career options. She worked as a desk clerk at the new Berkeley Residence YWCA, a beautiful 7-story building offering a room/dining/gathering place in downtown Boston. For the next thirty-two years, she learned her way through Program, Business, and Building management positions to become Manager.
When she retired to Cape Cod in 2010, a friend introduced her to the UUMH. She immediately felt at home. (The hymn tunes were familiar, but thankfully, the words had been changed!) This community was focused on creating a more loving world and was not limited by creed. She happily joined and continues to be grateful for the journey together.
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Naomi Turner, Member-at-Large
Originally from Provincetown, Naomi has spent most of her life in the northeast and much of that on Cape Cod. Following graduation from Penn Hall in Chambersburg, PA, she returned to Chatham to take over her Mother’s business, the Chatham Candy Manor, a seasonal business that opened in 1955. She recently passed the long-established year-round business along to a young local family of former employees. Naomi has also taught dance and choreographed for over 50 years and has now turned over the direction of her non-profit dance organization to international dance champion, Adam Spencer.
Familiar with the non-profit world, she dreamed of returning the old Chatham Movie Theater to Main Street and with a strong group of hard-working board members founded the Chatham Orpheum Theater which opened in 2013 as a state-of-the-art non-profit movie house restored to its early 20th Century glory. In recognition of her work, she was acknowledged by the MA House of Representatives, Lower Cape Business and Professional Women, Arts Foundation of Cape Cod, and the U.S. House of Representatives.
She has been a dedicated UU since the 1980s, married at First Parish Brewster to her husband, David Veach, and a member of UUMH since 1996. She is inspired by all the opportunities she envisions for UUMH.
Liz Van Wye, Member-at-Large
Liz Van Wye has been a Unitarian Universalist for nearly 50 years. Liz and Dave first joined the Unitarian Church of Harrisburg, PA, after searching for a welcoming community based on justice, peace and love to raise their family. After they retired and moved to Chatham, they joined UUMH in 2003. She currently co-chairs the Membership Committee and serves on Outreach as well as volunteering in the Thrift Shop.
Edgar (Ed) Mangiafico, Past President
Ed was born in Lynchburg, VA (1932) of parents who were Sicilian immigrants. Ed graduated from Emory University (Atlanta, GA) and had military experience as an infantry officer (Korea). Jean and Ed have been married 68 years have two children, four grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
Ed spent 45 years in the department store business and retired as chairman of May Company California. He later spent time in the watch business. As an Italian, Ed grew up Catholic then Episcopalian. With his interest in philosophy, he made efforts to understand the attachment to other orthodoxies by being involved in many.
Ed became a Unitarian (before the merger) in Atlanta in 1958 after hearing Henry Steele Commager preach (Commager had written Ed's American history textbooks). Ed became a member or friend of UU congregations wherever he lived: GA, CT, DC, CA, NY, MA. Ed is an existentialist/humanist. His UU and humanist mentor from 1961 was Eugene Pickett. He joined UUMH shortly after the move to the new building and he looks forward to being a part of its continued growth as an inclusive community.
