Meet A Member
meet more members
Mary Ester
Mary Ester (on the right in photo) was born in Pocatello, Idaho but lived in Michigan, Iowa until her family moved to Appleton, WI when she was in sixth grade. Mary was brought up in the Unitarian church until moving to Appleton, when her family started going to the First Memorial Presbyterian church. Mary’s family ended up at First Memorial because they immediately felt welcomed by an older couple in the congregation.
Mary graduated with a B.A. in Russian language from Grinnell College in Iowa. Her Russian studies took her through the Soviet Union and Eastern bloc countries in a V.W. van with college students for three and a half months in 1981, shortly after President Reagan made his “evil empire” speech. Mary remembers traveling through the Soviet Union, and Russians kept coming up to their group, clasping their hands saying “Druzhba,” which means friendship. Mary’s group assured them that most Americans didn’t wish them harm!
After college, Mary was a radio reporter for local NPR stations in Denver, Orlando, and Iowa City. Mary came to Washington, DC in 1989 because she thought there would be something that she could do with her Russian language major. As it turns out, Mary started temping at the Kennedy Center in the development department and actually liked figuring out how to get people to give to causes in which they believe. Mary’s motto: Giving away one’s money is good for one’s soul. It was also at the Kennedy Center that Mary met her partner of now 18 years, Liesel Wolff (on the left in photo).
Mary started coming to Church of the Pilgrims shortly after that with a woman from her apartment building named Betty Wright. People noticed Mary and Betty, specifically a long time Pilgrim member, Penny Sandora – and the rest is history. It wasn’t too long when folks started asking Mary to participate in church life. Mary believes that was what she needed at the time---people to need and have confidence in her abilities and talents.
Currently, Mary is in a 18 month massage training school; a challenge for a linear thinking, goal-oriented person like herself. But why not step out of a comfort zone? Mary started this program because it is a different way to communicate with people and who doesn’t like having people relax and feel better.
Mary states that she has really enjoyed the journey here at Pilgrims. “We certainly don’t rush into things, but we are willing to change. For example, refocusing Session away from rigid reporting from committee work to taking on one or two more important issues of the life of the church during our monthly meetings. Another example is the redesign of the Sanctuary. We recognized people are worshipping differently now and we tried to respond to those changes.”
Diana Bruce
"The values that drew me to Pilgrims when my husband and I were searching for a church in which to raise my children are the values that I hold personally. . . It’s about human rights, freedom from discrimination, the government not legislating on private matters, and the freedom to love who you want to love . . . The Church of the Pilgrims is a member of the mainstream Presbyterian Church-USA and is more than half straight, but we made a commitment several years back that we would not only tolerate but accept openly and warmly LGBT individuals and their families. . .
“At Pilgrims, we have a growing LGBT membership, many who were always there and others that we intentionally reached out to through Pride; we have gay elders, we are honored to march in Pride each year – not as beautiful as the drag queens – but a very important part of the parade, and we hang a rainbow flag from our church tower whenever we feel like it, but especially in June."
Diana is the Director of Policy and Government Affairs for the AIDS Alliance in Washington, DC – national non-profit membership organization established in 1994 to give voice to the needs of women, children, youth, and families living with and affected by HIV and AIDS. At AIDS Alliance, Diana advocates for public policies that benefit women, youth, children, and families affected by HIV and AIDS while preventing new HIV infections and searching for a real cure.
Diana and her husband, Bart Oosterveld, met while attending Columbia University in New York. They and their two children, Emma and Sebastian (both baptized at Pilgrims), live on Capitol Hill.
