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Rev. Todd C. Vetter
The Reverend Todd Vetter, Senior Pastor
Todd was called to the Pilgrim Church of Duxbury in August 2008. He graduated from Heidelberg College with degrees in History and English Literature and received his Master's of Divinity from Yale Divinity School in 2003. He was ordained in 2005 by the New Haven Association of the United Church of Christ. Prior to seminary, Todd served as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Kingdom of Lesotho from 1995-1998, where he taught high school English and math at a very small village school at the end of a very long dirt road in southern Africa. After returning to the states, Todd spent one year as an intern with the UCC's Office for Church in Society, in Washington, DC, researching the African AIDS pandemic and other issues related to international development.
Todd is married to Sarah Hare Vetter, a Methodist Pastor. They have two children, Matthew and Holly, and share custody of Millie, their dog, and Isabelle, their cat.
Todd's sense of ministry has always been informed by a call to advance Christ's ministry of love, peace and justice in the world. He has been active in Habitat for Humanity for several years, organized church mission trips to the Gulf Coast in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and worked to advance a deepening sense of fellowship and hospitality in the churches he has served. Todd can be reached at Pilgrim Church or via email at tcvetter@gmail.com.
Michelle Manganaro, M Ed., Director of Pilgrim Child Care and Preschool
Dawn Kerivan, Bookkeeper
Rev. Eloise Parks
Rev. Eloise Parks, Associate Pastor
Associate Pastor of Pilgrim Church since March of 2009, Eloise first joined the staff as Minister of Christian Education in April of 2003. Eloise was born in Indonesia and lived in several states before moving here from Texas. Eloise has served as a Chaplain at various hospitals and been on staff at several churches.
Rev. Parks holds degrees from Southwestern Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas (Master of Divinity in Pastoral Care and Counseling) and Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas, (Bachelor of Arts). She completed her Clinical Pastoral Education training at Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, Texas. In addition, she served as teaching fellow in the Pastoral Care department of Southwestern Theological Seminary, concentrating on Counseling and Grief Ministry, as well as conflict resolution and crisis intervention.
Eloise loves to read, take walks on the beach, make jewelry, learn useless trivial facts and watch stormy skies. She especially loves Manis, her tiny toy poodle (and unofficial Church mascot).
Beth MacLeod Largent
Beth MacLeod Largent, Chancel Choir Director
Beth is a multifaceted mezzo-soprano and a successful and highly regarded singer, director, teacher and opera producer. She has sung with numerous opera companies both here and in Europe including the Des Moines Metro Opera, the Santa Fe Opera, the Glimmerglass Opera Company, Cape Cod Opera and the Pittsburgh Opera company.A most remarkable engagement included her performing Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera over 970 times in Hamburg, Germany. She has also performed in productions of Carmen, Hansel and Gretel, Cosi fan tutte, Die Fledermaus and numerous Gilbert and Sullivan productions. Equally at home on the concert stage, she has performed with the Masterworks chorale (Durafle’s Requiem and Mendelssohn’s concert opera Son and Stranger ) and the Plymouth Philharmonic (Mozart’s Requiem and Tres Cansiones spirituales) as well as numerous concerts with Opera by the Bay, Cape Cod Opera and other local companies, including a recent engagement as alto soloist in Haydn’s “Mass in time of War” with the Falmouth chorale. Mrs. MacLeod Largent is currently Director of Performance at South Shore Conservatory, where she also has a thriving voice studio. She is so proud of her many students that have continued on to the best music schools in the world including New England Conservatory, The Hartt School of Music, Westminster choir college, and The Boston Conservatory. Beth holds a Bachelor of Vocal performance from the New England Conservatory, a Masters of Opera Performance from the Curtis Institute of Music, and a diploma from the Opera Center of the Juilliard School of Music.
Originally the Junior choir director and then Soprano soloist at The Pilgrim church of Duxbury, Beth is so happy to be leading the Chancel Choir. A talented group of committed singers of all levels, they perform music of many genres with a special focus on classics that bring the joy of music to every Sunday worship service. Rehearsals are currently held on Wednesday evenings where we pray together, learn new music, perfect our craft and hone our skills all while keeping our primary goal in mind: to strengthen the Music Ministry thru making a “joyful noise” to the Lord!
Carol Cybulska
Carol Cybulska, Junior Choir Director
After spending many years in Europe studying at conservatories in Germany and Swizerland and performing in numerous vocal ensembles, Carol has dedicated her life to teaching voice. She teaches in her private studio in Kingston as well as in an after-school music program at Pembroke High School. She is co-director of the Orpheus Vocal Performance Laboratory, which has been holding summer vocal workshops for young singers on the South Shore for the past 10 years.
Carol is committed to helping young people discover their own voices and increase their self-confidence. At Pilgrim Church Junior Choir, she helps to accomplish this by encouraging members to sing solo lines and make announcements to the congregation.A lot of inspiration for presentation of songs comes from the children themselves, which helps to make them feel responsible for the creative process.
Debby Jewell
Debby Jewell, GodSound Choir Director
Debby graduated from Westminster College with a Music Education degree and began performing opera immediately after college, under the direction of Joan Brainerd Noland at Del Phi Opera. Debby continued post graduate vocal study at Yale University, Boston University and the University of Tulsa. She has spent 25 years directing children's choirs, teaching voice and performing in various Opera companies around the country. The Jewell’s moved to Duxbury in 2000, back to Debby's favorite hometown! Her first musical dream for Duxbury was to create a local opera company to engage local singers and ignite local interest for the art of the Opera. Thus in 2000, Opera by the Bay was born and is now a performing branch of the South Shore Conservatory.
As a private vocal coach for high school and middle school students, Debby's passion has always been to educate young people, and to create a musical passion in them.This has proved to be a source of joy, comfort and spiritual strength in her life.
Debby directed the Teen choir and a Contemporary Worship team (SAT5) at Pilgrim Church and in the summer of 2009, the two groups decided to combine, creating GodSound, an intergenerational choral group that offers worship music ranging from contemporary Christian music with instrumentals, to small group ensembles, solos and duets. With this variety, GodSound maintains the unique sound of the Teen Choir, tight harmonies of the women's ensemble, as well as featuring Pilgrim's talented young musicians. Their mission is threefold: fellowship and to minister to each other through music that speaks and rehearsals that nurture; to offer an outlet for teenagers to stay engaged in our church, to be connected with adult mentors, and to encouarage and celebrate sharing their talents.Some of our young people have gone on to study music in college, and their first performance experiences began and were fostered here at Pilgrim Church; and third, to sing and play with JOY and as a result, spread JOY to our congregation –and beyond!
Emily Kellar
Emily J. Kellar
Emily is from Atlanta, Georgia and graduated from Salem College in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.There she met her future husband, David, a native of Duxbury.After some time in both North and South Carolina, Emily, David and their three children decided to move to Duxbury, where they had spent many summers visiting David’s family, and where they could begin a new adventure.Their daughter Emma is a student in Civil Engineering at Virginia Tech and their two sons, Edward and Ross are students at Duxbury High School. Emily has much experience to call upon in her position here as Church School Superintendent.For 19 years, Emily worked for Young Life, a ministry for high school kids, as well as teaching high school French in NC, and has also worked in the special education department at Alden School for several years.She has also completed some seminary courses and would one day love to complete a Masters of Divinity.
Emily enjoys playing tennis, needlepoint and gardening but even more she truly adores children and loves teaching, and is thrilled to be a part of the spiritual development of our children at Pilgrim Church.
