Staff and Board

About the Board

The UUCM Board of Trustees is the governing body of this community. It governs primarily by discerning the Mission, planning for the future, and providing oversight of compliance with the Articles of Incorporation, UUCM bylaws, UUCM policies, and all legal requirements. The Board monitors and safeguards human and material resources of the Community and governs through written policies. The Board maintains final oversight of the operations of the church.

The Board oversees and creates committees to assist it in its work.

Wondering what individual Board members do? Read the Job Descriptions for President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Member At Large.

Board Meetings

The trustees meet monthly, on the 3rd Wednesday of the month at 1:30 PM.

A meeting notice is listed in the weekly e-chalice prior to Board meetings. UUCM members are welcome to attend. Please contact the Board President for meeting details.

Taylor generously agreed to finish the term of previous president, René Wiley.

Look for his bio coming soon!

My husband, Gary, and I moved from Southern California to Auburn after our retirement in 2015. We chose Auburn because it was close to our daughter’s family and we love being in the mountains. We now live at Lake of the Pines and are enjoying the pleasures of retirement in this beautiful area.

We joined UUCM at the beginning of 2020, and I have since served as the Vice President and President of the Board of Trustees. My career was in education, having worked as the administrator of a large university child development and education program, and as a faculty member teaching courses in early childhood education and administrative leadership at Cal State Los Angeles. I also served for several years on the executive boards of both State and National education organizations. These experiences have given me an appreciation for the important role boards serve in organizations.

Being a UUCM board member has given me the opportunity to put into use the variety of skills that developed over the course of my career. I love working with my fellow board members and feel honored to be a part of this wonderful community.

What does Unitarian Universalism mean to you?

For me Unitarian Universalism provides an open, loving and welcoming place for people with shared values to explore spirituality and put into practice actions that improve our world.

Briefly describe your current role at UUCM.

As UUCM Board President I am responsible for guiding the board’s work in the best interest of our community. This includes listening to others, identifying priorities, making decisions, setting policies, hiring employees and establishing committees that help us manage the infrastructure of UUCM.

When did you begin your current role?

I began as Board Vice President in 2020 and became President in 2021

What do you love best about fulfilling your role?

I love the connections I have made with fellow board members and with members of the UUCM community. Connections that I might not have had to opportunity to form had I not been on the board.

What do you find most challenging about fulfilling your role?

The work itself! There seems to be more to do all of the time. I am sure that I am failing retirement on certain days that are filled with the work of the board.

Is there anything else you want people to know about your role?

Though I may at times grumble about the work, I do love being on the board. The work is challenging and good for my brain! I get to use the many skills that I developed throughout my work life. And the board members are fun, dedicated and loving people who I delight in knowing and working with.

Tell us about your family (pets, people, etc.)

I have been married to my husband, Gary, for 50 lovely years. We have 3 adult children, their 3 spouses, and 4 grandchildren. Our family is very close and we delight in each other’s company. We often all vacation together and seem to enjoy these gatherings more and more as time goes by. I feel blessed by my family and know that our joy in each other is a rare gift. One thing we do particularly well together is laugh. The other is argue politics!

If you could choose anyone as a mentor, who would you choose and why?

Rev. Kevin. (The why is obvious to anyone who knows him.)

What top three traits define you?

Honest, straight forward and a good sense of humor.

What is the one thing you cannot resist?

My son-in-law’s 300 foot water slide. He builds it every summer. It runs down a steep hillside and lands in a great muddy pool. I can’t wait to slide down, the faster the better. We use liquid soap on our backsides to get the fastest ride! My children all think it is a bad idea to let me go, but I don’t listen. 🙂

Where is your favorite place to be? (only non church answers allowed!!)

My back yard on a sunny (but not too hot) day, watching the many birds and animals that enjoy our lake. Maybe reading a good book at the same time. Always a novel – pure escapism – nothing that is designed to make me a “better person”!

What’s something about you (a fun fact) that not many people know?

I became a potter in my retirement years. I have a studio with a potter’s wheel, kiln and glazes. I love the chemistry and the making of useful and artistic items. I also love that I don’t have to communicate verbally or supervise anyone while I am making pots!

Vice President, Pam Kisor is filling this role while we look for a secretary to fill the 2024-2026 term.

I was first introduced to the Unitarian Church in Ann Arbor Michigan in 1960, by my soon-to-be husband, Robert, and have attended UU churches ever since. Attendance was fairly casual during my years working as a corporate lawyer, but once I approached retirement, I became more involved. We attended churches in Canoga Park, California; in Bethesda, Maryland; Oakton, Virginia; Charleston, South Carolina; Oakland, California; and now Grass Valley. In Charleston, I was President of the Vestry, as the governing board was known, and lead the church into a capital campaign to preserve our 227-year-old building. We promptly moved to Berkeley, California, where I became Treasurer of the Unitarian Church of Oakland, and Treasurer of the Board, Chair of the Building Committee, and Treasurer of the campaign that allowed us to do a major earthquake retrofit of our building.

Robert and I along with our son, Brian, and son-in-law, Jack, bought a house in Cascade Shores in 2009, as our family’s second home. I love swimming in Scotts Flat Lake, and summer in Berkeley was just too cold. During those years, we attended UUCM occasionally. We all moved up here in 2018, permanently. I live in a house at Eskaton. I started attending UUCM weekly in November 2019 and became a member in February 2020, just in time to participate in a few events and get involved with the Finance and Governance Committees before everything shut down.

I’m looking forward to deepening my involvement through working on your Board, and lending my time and talents as I am able.

I grew up in Palo Alto during the 1950-60s, attended Antioch College, UC Berkeley, and Yale Architectural School, and first discovered Nevada County in 1970. Following my studies and apprenticeship, in 1975 I returned to Nevada City for residency and to begin practicing architecture. During the latter part of my career I worked with the UUCD (Davis) and UUSS (Sacramento) congregations, and became familiar with UU values and practices. After a 40-year career, I retired in 2015. My wife, Carol Nimick, and I recently joined UUCM to pursue interests in community engagement and spiritual practice. We also enjoy traveling and hiking.

Joined July 2023

Charlene Dugan has been a UU for more than 35 years. She enjoyed a long career as a speech-language pathologist and coordinator of the preschool diagnostic team for a school district in San Jose. She and her husband Alec MacLean retired to Grass Valley three years ago. Since joining UUCM she has been a Soul Matters facilitator, a Circle Supper host, and has helped with Hospitality. She is grateful for the opportunity to become more deeply involved in the workings of the congregation and to serve this church community as a Member-at-Large of the Board.

Joined July 2024

Chuck Champlin has been a congregant at UUCM for eight years, with his wife Lesley.  Previously they were members of the Unitarian Society of Santa Barbara, and very active in the church choir there.   They live in Yuba City now.  A former communications executive at the Walt Disney Company, Chuck is retired and works to promote his two books, (“Think Like a Molecule,” about analogies from the micro world to inspire thinking, and a non-fiction novel, “Wand,” about the power of a pen to change the world.  Chuck loves UUCM for its openness to the variety of religious traditions, and to science.

Joined July 2023