On December 1, 2024, six new members officially joined the ranks of Heritage Universalist Unitarian Church by signing the membership book. The new members include Austin and Karley Bauritcher (pictured in this article’s feature image with their children), Gloria Walker, Molly McTighe and John Colebrook, followed by the picture of their children, and Kelly Vienot (not pictured.) Some of these congregants are fairly new to our space, others have been involved with us for quite some time. Please welcome these new and maybe not so new faces and learn more about them in the descriptions below.
Austin and Karley Baurichter started coming to Heritage this fall, seeking a safe spiritual home in which to raise their children – Elinor (who is six) and Everett (who is three).
Austin is a recent graduate of law school who says he is blessed to have found a line of work where he can combine a love of reading and writing with an opportunity to affect change and do good in the world. Considered something of a homebody, he is happiest when spending time with Karley and the kids – but he’s also really enjoying the community he is finding here at Heritage.
Spiritually speaking, Austin has, at various times, been a Catholic schoolboy, a hardheaded atheist with a penchant for quoting Humphrey Bogart characters, and, he adds, “truthfully, someone who was just not sure which way to walk.” Thankfully, Austin has come to the conclusion that what really matters is simply listening to oneself, and being with others whose hearts and minds are open – which is why he is so happy to have found Heritage.
Karley says that for as long as she can remember, she’s been “seeking answers.” She sought them from her parents; she sought them from the Catholic Church in which she was raised, from her teachers, and in the books she read. This singular focus led to a Bachelor’s degree in English from U.C., where, alongside her core classes, she took electives ranging from Buddhism to a class called Demons of the Bible.
Feeling incomplete in her search, Karley continued her education at the University of Louisville, where she earned a Masters in English and served as a composition instructor. She found great satisfaction teaching students how to look for answers, and how to communicate their ideas.
To date, she says the only thing that has come close to an “answer” for her is being there as her children (whom she now home-schools) ask questions themselves. To quote Kahlil Gibran, “Your children are not your children / They are the sons and daughters of life’s longing for itself.” Karley says, “I am so deeply glad to have found this community, where people don’t claim to have the answers, and where my children feel safe.”
Molly McTighe and John Colebrook have been coming to Heritage for a few years now, and are active, respectively, in our religious education and security teams. They are the proud parents of Jane, age 10, and Simon, age 7.
Born in Lexington, as a child, John enjoyed life on thoroughbred horse farms as his family moved around Kentucky and Ohio for his father’s job as a farm manager and trainer. They eventually settled here in Cincinnati. John went to college at Bucknell in Pennsylvania, where he studied chemical engineering. He then landed an environmental consulting job at Trinity Consultants, where he still works.
John says he was drawn to UUism because of his skepticism of dogma, and desire to find a community of compassionate and caring people.
Molly grew up here in Cincinnati with three older sisters. Molly and John have been together since high school, though they briefly went in different directions for college – Molly first to UNC-Asheville, and later to Xavier for a masters in clinical mental health counseling. She’s also an artist and owner of a small business doing pet portraits and murals.
Lately, Molly has also become invested in local politics, and is energized to continue supporting her friends in the Ohio state house and on the Forest Hills School Board.
Molly and John were both raised Catholic, but found the values of Unitarian Universalism more aligned with the ideals they hold for their children and their community.
At home, the McTighe-Colebrook crew enjoys seeking out new adventures in the realms of:
1) outdoor activities,
2) cooking – including finding cool new places to participate in the arts, culinary, and brewery scenes, and
3) identifying ever more distant and exotic travel destinations for the family’s next big vacation.
Gloria Walker has been coming to Heritage for years, and is very active in our choir. She’s on a continuing journey of spiritual discovery that began as a child, when she was the youngest of five children of the minister of a Predestinarian Baptist Church.
With a father who was a preacher, she says religion was very much a part of her upbringing, from the beginning. But Gloria eventually went off to college and later medical school, and she stopped going to church (except for a Baptist Church where she went to hear gospel singing!)
She practiced her specialty, family medicine, in Greater Cincinnati for a number of years, but currently describes herself as “semi-retired, except for doing telehealth.” She has four adult children and one grandson. Her hobbies include reading, writing, piano, singing, and walking.
Gloria describes her spiritual journey as “very complicated,” with explorations of yoga, Spiritualism, Buddhism, metaphysics, and mysticism. Once, at a Transcendentalist Meditation retreat, she met Mary Pat Genz – who told her about Heritage Church – and when Mary Pat found out that Gloria was a singer, she recruited her for our Choir, assuring her that she didn’t have to join the church in order to sing in our Choir. “I thought that was quite interesting,” said Gloria, “So I started coming. I enjoy this community very much.”
Kelly Vienot is a native of Cincinnati who recently moved back to town from Fayetteville, N.C., where she attended a Unitarian Universalist church as well. She is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati’s School of Social Work, and previously worked for the United States Marine Corps’ Wounded Warrior Battalion. Kelly and her son Remi, age 5, are very excited to become part of the Heritage Church community.
Featured Image caption: clockwise from left corner – The Baurichter family: Austin, Karley, Elinor, and Everett / Gloria Walker / Molly McTighe and John Colebrook / Molly and John’s children Jan and Simon / not pictured – Kelly Vienot.
Image source: created by B.L. Barnes from photos supplied by the new members