Leadership and Staff
Pastor
Rev. Dee Ledger – pastor@bethesdaucc.org
Originally from Maryland, Rev. Dee has been at Bethesda UCC since 2013. She has an MDiv. from Harvard Divinity School and a B.A. from Western Maryland College (now McDaniel College). Formerly, a high school English teacher, she is also a proud graduate of Frederick Community College. Ordained to the ministry in 2003, she has served as a Hospice Chaplain in FL, as well as churches in MA and FL. Issues of social justice are dear to her heart and she describes her call as wanting to unite her love of people with her love of God. Rev. Dee is the single parent of two active twin sons and a shy cat named, “Molly.” When not working, she enjoys reading, writing, poetry, thrift stores, and those paint classes that promise, “You, too, can paint!” She resides in Gaithersburg, MD.
Office Manager
Colleen Thompson admin@bethesdaucc.org
Director of Music and Choir
Kay Krekow krekowk@aol.com
Kay Krekow has been Music Director at BUCC since Christmas 2019. In addition, she is an internationally acclaimed interpreter of the operatic heroines of Giacomo Puccini. Described as “one of the finest Puccini sopranos of her generation”, she has sung world premieres and standard operatic and oratorio repertoire at The Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, Strathmore, and The National Cathedral, as well as in Germany, Italy, and the Czech Republic. She has murdered villains; thrown herself from tall buildings; stabbed herself to end it all; died of consumption, thirst, grief, and mysterious opera death (MOD); become a vengeful dancing zombie bride; had tragic love affairs; poisoned herself; run a saloon; and also ridden off on a million-dollar stallion into the sunset to live happily ever after….all in the name of opera! She is co-founder of the American Center for Puccini Studies and the Arcadia Vocal Academy.
Ms. Krekow is a specialist in the vocal music of women composers and presents concerts featuring the poetry and music of women troubadours, songs of the women of the Italian Renaissance, the works of 19th Century opera divas, and is a frequent recitalist presenting her original program, She is Music: a thousand years of vocal music by women composers (SheIsMusic.com).
Raised on a 400-acre farm in Iowa, she can drive a tractor, plow a field, ride a horse, milk a cow, slop a hog, hang a shelf, bake a blue-ribbon peach pie, and then sit down and play and sing the score of an opera. She is a graduate of historic Stephens College, the second-oldest female educational establishment that is still a women’s college in the United States. She moved to the East Coast to continue studies with renowned singer, pedagogue, and cultural icon, Todd Duncan, the original Porgy for Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess in 1935. That said, she is most beloved for her cooking skills and Sunday afternoon croquet parties.
She was recently inducted into the Hall of Fame of her hometown, Marcus, Iowa, for her lifetime of musical, educational, and charitable achievements. Through her work with The American Center for Puccini Studies, she continues the values instilled in her by community and church and is in proud partnership with the Montgomery County (MD) Coalition for the Homeless to continue to feed and shelter our neighbors.
Custodian
Doris Rios
Sunday School Coordinator
Emily Liddel
Church Council for 2020
Moderator Jo-Ann Linseisen
Moderator Elect Mike Miller
Clerk Carla Evans
Treasurer Shannon Ross
Assistant Treasurer Jeff Davis
Trustees Jeanne Anderegg, Dan Driver, Amy Harbaugh, Michael Liddel, Mike Neufeld, Michael Toman,
Additionally, our Church Council is composed of members from our Education Team, Pastoral Care Team, Sharing Team, Welcoming Team, and Worship Team.