Our Pastor and Staff:

Pastor Eileen Freeman

In July of 2007, we welcomed Pastor Eileen Freeman as our Senior Pastor. She was born in Brooklyn, NY, raised in Levittown on Long Island, and lived in Monroe, NY, prior to attending seminary. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Hofstra University in 1972 and graduated magna cum laude. While at Hofstra she majored in French with minors in Russian and Secondary Education. She received her Master of Divinity degree from the Theological School of Drew University in 1983 graduating summa cum laude.

Soon after graduating from Drew University, Pastor Eileen’s first appointment was to the Cairo Parish, NY, in 1983. In that parish she served as pastor for churches in Cairo, South Cairo, and Round Top. In 1987 she was appointed to be pastor at the First United Methodist Church of Port Jefferson, NY. In 1996 she became pastor of the UMC of Clinton, CT. Pastor Eileen then served as pastor of the UMC of Port Washington, NY, in 2002, followed by her most recent appointment to the UMC of Danbury in 2004.

Pastor Eileen has one son, who lives in Brooklyn. She has two Siamese cats, Gemma and Remmy. Her parents live in Acra, NY (between Windham and Catskill), and she has two younger sisters: Kathleen (Big Fork, MT) and Noreen (Germantown, NY). She has interest in opera, reading, travel, languages, Broadway theatre, choral singing, music, history, and her favorite food: Chocolate!

Rev. Arlene R. Wilhelm, Minister of Pastoral Care

In July of 2006, we welcomed Rev. Arlene as our Minister of Pastoral Care. She has been calling on shut-ins, hospitalized members, or those who just need to see a friendly face.  Previously the Assistant Pastor at New Paltz Reformed Church and Pastor of the Reformed Church of Port Ewen with over 20 years experience, she will also recruit and train members of the congregation to minister to each other.

Joe Marrine, Youth Coordinator and Director of Christian Education
Joe has worked at IBM since 1986 and has lived in Hyde Park his entire life.  He has been an active Youth Group leader for the past 4 years at the Poughkeepsie United Methodist Church and looks forward to interacting with the youth in our church.  Joe is married to Barbara and they have four children; Lauren Marrine, David Marrine, Paul Maxwell, and Amy Maxwell.

Youth Group Meetings will be alternating every Sunday between the Jr. High and the Sr. High and will be held in our Youth Room, from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM.  Joe's goal is to combine service work, devotions, and everyday teenage topics with lots of fun.  Joe would like to get the kids wanting to come to youth group because they view the meetings as informational, spiritually uplifting, and last but not least...fun!

Grace Haack, Organist and Director of Music
Grace has served at our church since 1984. Her educational background includes organ study at Vassar College, vocal studies at Westminster Choir College and a BA in music from SUNY New Paltz. She and her husband have 5 grown children and 8 grandchildren (with one more on the way.) They both enjoy puttering in and outside their home and spending time with their family. "There is always a party to plan for one occasion or another," she writes. About her work she says "I very much enjoy working with the fine members who make up our choir. We work hard but we also have a lot of fun! Who says work has to be drudgery?

Cornell Dawson, Treasurer
Cornell began as our Church treasurer in 1996. He works here on evenings and weekends, and you may find him at the church at just about any hour of the day or night, though Thursdays the night he is always here to pay bills and prepare the payroll. He writes checks for about $300,000 a year, and also is kept very busy with tax payments and reports, attending meetings, reports to the Annual Conference, etc. It is a very full part-time job.

Cornell's full time job is as a consultant at IBM, writing manuals for the computers produced there. He has done a lot of volunteer work in our community, including a term on the school board. Cornell and his wife Alice are members of our church. They have 4 adult children: Michael, Patricia, Joanna and Mark.