Dear St. Mark’s,
I’m so excited to be joining your community! Apparently, St. Mark is my guy: I did my seminary Field Ed at St. Mark’s in Berkeley, and then I served as a priest at St. Mark’s Cathedral in Seattle, and now… I’m here!
I look forward to meeting everyone and getting to share our stories. I’m actually a New Yorker who was lured to the California coast by the ocean and eucalyptus two decades ago. My previous career was Communications Director for nonprofit organizations like the Red Cross and the New York Botanical Garden, and in the Bay, at California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco and the Pacific Institute (think tank on the world’s water and climate change and justice) in Oakland. I have a B.A. in Journalism/Mass Communications and an MFA in Music, which led me to the Episcopal Church, and eventually to the seminary.
I have spent lots of time in Palo Alto, and did a year of hospital chaplain residency at Stanford after I graduated with my MDiv from CDSP in Berkeley in 2014. We moved to Seattle and I worked as the staff chaplain for a senior living community and as a hospital chaplain as my first ministry. Then, by serendipitous and oh-so-gracious gift of the Spirit, I was called to serve as priest and Canon for Cathedral Relations at Saint Mark’s Cathedral in Seattle. I LOVED it there for six years. But after COVID lockdown, my husband Jim and I prioritized being near family and returned to California in 2021, and I have been working full time as a hospice chaplain and as pastor to Trinity Cathedral’s satellite community at The Villages in San Jose.
I’m a spiritual seeker, a good singer, a terrible piano and trombone player, a writer, a taker of nature walks. My husband Jim and I have been married forever – since we met doing “Pippin” at Saint Bonaventure University back in the day – and our greatest joy is being parents of aerospace engineer Kelsey Herrmann and the late tattoo and cartoon artist Pat Hetic. (Ask me about my Stupid Ugly Baby tattoo.)
I am grateful for the opportunity to come to St. Mark’s and get to know you, and to worship, and work – and have joy! – together.
Peace and blessings,
Nancy
More from me and my faith journey: