Staff
Born September 20, 1952 in Titusville, PA
Graduated from Titusville High School 1970
Graduated from Penn State with a BS in Medical Technology in 1974
Worked as a laboratory technician at Central Blood Bank in Pittsburgh, PA 1974-5
Served in US Army (Military Intelligence) 1975-9 Trained as a Russian linguist in Monterey, CA then stationed in Augsburg, Germany
Attended seminary at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities in Minneapolis, MN 1980-1983 on the GI Bill
Ordained a Deacon in the United Methodist Church in MN in 1982
Pastored three small churches Lamberton/Sanborn/Germantown in rural MN from 1983-8
Ordained an Elder in the UMC in 1985
Moved to a large church in the lake country of northern MN at Park Rapids 1988-1995
Moved to a mid-sized suburban church in Hopkins just west of Minneapolis 1995-2002
Relocated back East as his father was dying of cancer coming to serve at the Wolcott UMC in the North Central New York Annual Conference 2002-3
Called to go serve as the pastor for the Rome First UMC to help the congregation build a new addition onto the church 2003-7
Sent to the Auburn, First UMC to help turn the church around and merge with another local UMC 2007-8
A new opportunity for ministry arose in 2008 with the appointment to serve the Grand Island Trinity UMC with a goal of providing leadership in growing the congregation and strengthening the connection between the conferences of Western and North Central New York
Rev. Childs is married to the Rev. Robin Blair who is also a seminary graduate of UTS in Minneapolis. She has served as the pastor or associate pastor of churches in the North Central New York Annual Conference of the UMC. She has developed a web based ministry for and with children called the “Children’s Center for the Common Good.” You may find out more about her music and ministry at her website:
www.robinblair.com and her children and families web based internet radio ministry at:
www.live365.com/cgi-bin/mini.cgi?membername=pastorrobin&tm=8230 In June, 2008 she was ordained a Deacon and appointed to serve as the Pastor of Children and Families at the Liverpool UMC. They have four daughters and two sons-in-law. Two have graduated and are working while the other four remain in graduate schools in Boston, Atlanta, Minneapolis and South Bend, IN.
Rev. James Lange - Pastor Emeritus
Pastor Paul Robinson - Retired Pastor
Rev. Sue Kaiser - Retired Pastor
Robert Eldred - Retired Pastor
Linda McGuire - Office Manager
Born in Buffalo in 1945, moved to Grand Island in 1953, and began attending Trinity Evangelical United Brethren Church, as it was called back then, until moving away from the area. Lived in Rochester, NY; Ontario, Canada; and Silicon Valley, CA.
BA SUNY Binghamton, MS SUNY Brockport, MBA San Jose State (CA), 2-year certificate Managment of Technical Documentation, Multiple Microsoft Certifications, Multiple certificates for psychology of learning, technical course design and development, website design and development, technical documentation design and development, Current NYS Teacher Initial Certification Biology and Chemistry, grades 9-12, with an extension for general science grades 6-8.
Chemistry lab technician (Eastman Kodak), blood bank technician (Strong Memorial Hospital), Computer industry (Tandem Computers Incorporated, Compaq Computer Corporation, Hewlett Packard Corporation, multiple startups): customer account support, field support, technical and customer course design, development, and instruction, QA, end user software and hardware documentation, engineering software and hardware documentation, including corporate management white papers, project management, group manager.
Currently , Trinity Office Manager full-time and Target cashier part-time.
Chris Sipson - Office Assistant
I guess you could call me a tried and true Grand Islander. I grew up here, and have attended Trinity Church all my life, enjoying Youth fellowship and going to Church camp for many summers as a teenager, and singing in the choir, playing in the band, and participating in the many church activities as an adult.
When the Grand Island Middle School opened in 1968, I was a new 6th grade teacher. It was there that I met my husband Paul, also a new teacher. He liked the island as much as I, so we settled here and raised our two children, Todd and Jennifer.
I was lucky enough to be a stay-at-home mom until my kids were in school. For the next 15 years or so, I was a substitute teacher, helped run a pizza restaurant, and worked in the preschool at Buffalo Hearing and Speech Center.
Just as I began thinking of semi-retiring, the Trinity Church office began looking for a part time assistant office manager. Perfect timing! I began working here in 2000, and have enjoyed it ever since. What could be better – a job I enjoy, working with people I know and love, and doing God’s work!
Hello!!
It is such a pleasure to be a part of the Trinity family. I attended your youth group in high school, went to camp Koinonia, and my Father and Mother-in-law attend Trinity. My husband, Jon, and I were married here!! We have three children. Joel & Emily attend Liberty University in Lynchburg Va., which seems very far away!! Julie is a sophomore at Grand Island High School.
Young Life was the ministry that introduced me to a personal relationship with Jesus. It has been a huge influence in our family as each of us has developed healthy friendships and been discipled through their ministry. We continued our spiritual journey at our colleges. I attended Grove City College and Jon graduated from Bethel University.
After graduating from Grove City College I began working the field of family and early childhood counseling. I was a stay home mom for a number of years while my children were home. After teaching at a Christian school for two years, I accepted a position in Children’s Ministry at the Tabernacle in Orchard Park. I have served as the Christian Education Director and as the Assistant Director since 2000. My husband has served on the pastoral staff at the Tabernacle since 1999. He is currently beginning a ministry to the University of Buffalo Campus.
My hope is to create environments and events that lead us closer to God; whether we are 7 or 70. For children that means relevant music, drama, media, and color!!! We want to develop relationships that build a bridge to communicate the Gospel to all we come in contact with.
The members of Trinity are an amazing group of people with a commitment to serve. Let’s keep moving forward --–relevant tools for a timeless message!!
In Christ,
Yolande Hasselbeck
Hi, my name is Marisa LaCasse and I am the Student Ministries Coordinator here at Trinity UMC. I came to Trinity in September of 2008 from a Methodist church in KY, where I had been working as a youth pastor since graduating from University of Louisville in May of 2007. God called me into youth ministry when I was 17 and I cannot imagine myself doing anything else. I am so excited to see what God has in store for the youth of Western NY.
We offer a wide variety of activities for youth here at Trinity. Including Sunday School, High School Wednesday night group, monthly Middle School activities, retreats, lock-ins, community service opportunities, summer mission trips, and much more. I encourage anyone that is interested to check out what we have to offer as we continue to help youth grow in their faith.
If you have any questions about what we do or want to know how to get involved feel free to contact me any time. I am in the office on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:00-4:30 and that number is 773-3322 or you can reach me at home at 774-8150. My e-mail is
marisalacasse@live.com. Thanks for checking out my bio and don’t forget to look at the youth link for upcoming activities and events.
Office Hours (in the Education Office):
Tuesday and Thursday from 9:00 am to 4:30 pm.
As the Senior Adult Ministry Coordinator here at Trinity for the past 14 years, my job (part-time) focuses primarily on coordinating and offering training to a group of volunteers, each of whom is paired with an older person from the congregation. The goal of each visitor is to be an accepting friend to the person he or she visits. Those being visited are older and are confronting loneliness, illness, being widowed, isolation, adapting to institutional living, etc. Like the miracle of the loaves and fishes, we have been able to meet these needs of our congregation. No one need fall between the cracks at this caring church. Increasingly, I am coordinating programs of particular interest to seniors, such as an upcoming speaker who will demystify the tangle of some of the facets of medicare coverage during the enrollment period. I am available to help with grief counseling, to assist with nursing home placements and to find resources to help families and individuals if I am not able.
I was born on Long Island, married while in college and graduated in 1968 from Syracuse University. Our two children, Adriane and Mark, joined my husband and me on the corporate trail for his job, and we lived in Ohio, New Jersey, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, before coming to Grand Island in 1992. I have a social work background which is invaluable in my work, as well as great affection and admiration for the people of Trinity.
Michele Schwartzmeyer - Childcare
Jim Welch - Music Director
Dennis Overholt - Church Organist
Gloria Brown - Prayer Chain Coordinator
