It’s hard to believe that we’re coming on a year together. There has been so much goodness and many things accomplished. A new ministry is full of changes. It’s a time of transition, which has its challenges.
We are on the brink of one of the biggest changes of all – our beloved Becky Burnham will be retiring in a month. She has been the beating heart of this congregation for more than a decade. She knows every nook and cranny in the church. She knows where things go, where to find things when they’re not where they’re supposed to be. She keeps track of stacks of numbers. It sometimes feels like she gets tasks done five minutes before I even ask.
Becky is a bright spirit who brings much humor and even playfulness to the world. Though I grumble about it sometimes, she almost always has something sweet to offer – a bowl of candy at her desk, a clear Christmas ornament filled with candy. I treasure the sea glass necklaces she makes, and find myself trolling the beaches for tempest-tossed glass to keep her supplies fully stocked.
By the time you are reading this we will have a new person hired and Becky will be training her or him. This is simply the kind of dedication and thoroughness she has always brought to her work at UUCV. I wish there were a way to download her institutional memory directly into the mind of our new administrator.
We will miss her greatly, and we’ll even feel a bit lost at first. We will find our way, in part because Becky has set up clear and efficient processes and procedures.
As we will be welcoming two new staff people – our new administrator on July 1 and our new DRE on August 1 – we have some big thank you’s to express. So be sure to come to church on June 4 when we will formally thank and acknowledge Becky and Acting DRE Joyce Faber for their service to the church. Neither of them wants any particular fuss made – of course – but I’ve explained that we need to fuss over them at least a bit. We need to offer them our heart-felt thanks as much (or more) than they need to be thanked.
It will truly be a new era in the history of the church. Both of their memories and their gifts will be a part of any success we have going forward. I wouldn’t have made it through my first year here in Ventura without Becky’s and Joyce’s hard work and unwavering support.
So much love to you both,
Rev. Dana
805-644-3898
administrator@uuventura.org
