Beth Carsley
Beth is a high school social science teacher. She has lived in the Champaign Urbana area since 2004, through undergrad, her career, and grad school. She was raised Unitarian Universalist and is excited to pass down the principles to her small human, 6 year old Charlotte, and the other classmates in PreK-Kindergarten REE.
Elissa Blake
Elissa is an Urbana-Champaign native, and after several forays forth into the wider world, finds herself ready to take root among the prairie grasses. She earns her living as a librarian-cataloger at the U of I’s Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
As a person with a chronic health disability–and an introvert to boot–she has never been much of a “joiner,” preferring solitary activities (chiefly reading, stitching, and walking in nature) and intimate one-on-one or small group conversations, rather than the draining hustle and bustle of larger gatherings. It is in search of deep connection she has come to the UU community, bringing with her the accumulated wisdom of her first quarter-century of life (such as it is) and seeking a context in which to articulate and cultivate what she has learned so far (and to continue learning and growing in nutrient-rich soil).
Elissa’s experiences of living in a disabled body have turned her decisively inward, obliged her to pare away superfluities of habit, and laid the foundation for an idiosyncratic and perpetually evolving spiritual practice rooted in radical attention to the exigencies of the body–this body. She has adopted earth-centered symbolism inasmuch as it centers the body and its variable experiences of weather patterns, the changing seasons, and the cycle of the moon. She is probably a witch, but her symbol systems are too fluid to be taken literally. All is poetry.
Sarah B.
Sarah attended UIUC for undergrad, then moved to Chicago and then on to Los Angeles where she lived for a decade before moving back to CU two years ago. She works as a clinical informaticist. She enjoys gardening, reading, crocheting, painting and playing the flute.
Charles & Kaitland Walworth
Charles and Kaitland started attending UUCUC regularly in spring of 2023. They’ve visited in the past and even had their late guinea pigs blessed here years ago! They made a commitment to come more regularly when we bought a house close to Urbana. They’ve been married for three years and together for seven years. Charles is a Champaign local and Kaitland is originally from Chicago but moved after college to be with Charles. They have a passion for gardening, pet parenthood, road trips, and building community. They’re looking forward to getting more connected to the folks and happenings at UUCUC!
Millan Bell Family
Alyson Bell and Christian Millan Hernandez met while getting their masters (Library Science & Entomology, respectively) at UIUC in 2016. Alyson is originally from Southern Illinois and Christian is from Puerto Rico. They became foster parents in 2020 and over the past three years have been lucky enough to share their home with three children. They also have two dogs, Cosmo and Maite, and a cat, Lupita. Alyson works at the University Library and Christian teaches at the University Laboratory High School. In their free time they enjoy reading (Alyson), gardening (Christian), hiking, and traveling. They’re happy to be new members of the UUCUC community and look forward to getting to know everyone!
Tracy Popp
Like many others in the community, Tracy found her way to Champaign-Urbana through graduate studies. She has lived in Champaign since 2006 aside from a brief post-grad detour to Texas Tech University in 2011. She currently works for the University Library where she endeavors to preserve digital collections for long-term access. She enjoys cooking, hiking through and volunteering in stewardship of our local natural areas, live music and art exploration. Tracy is excited to continue to learn about, grow with, and serve the UUCUC community.
Cate Calac
Cate is a native San Diegan who missed that left turn at Albuquerque and ended up in the Midwest. She enjoys arguing theology and/or history, comic con, oceanography, cinema, dressing up as a viking and throwing axes that have been set on fire, writing and photography.
Cate lives in Urbana in the Historic Buena Vista Court with her daughter, two dogs (one dog called the nice dog and the other is called the bad dog by the children next door) and a severely inbred barn cat who, despite his issues, believes he is better than everyone else.
Charlotte Fleming
Charlotte moved to CU last year from central Kentucky, where she attended UU off and on in Lexington for several years. After moving to Urbana with her husband Aaron and their two offspring Alice (11) and Gwen (7), Charlotte was feeling somewhat isolated in this new area and began looking for community with like minded souls, which led her back to UU.
Both Charlotte and her husband work remotely, she as a data researcher for a nonprofit, and he as a network architect for a multinational company. They moved to this area to raise their kids in a more progressive and protective area for LGBTQ rights.
Charlotte holds a Master’s degree in Library and Information Science and loves reading, learning new crafts, and experimenting in the kitchen. Her husband and kids love video games and anime. They all enjoy spending time together outdoors, and playing with their 4 cats and 2 dogs.
Bobbie Ruby
Martin Stock-Ward
Bonnie Jurkowski