The following members are serving as our 2023-2024 Board of Directors. You can reach them through their contact information listed in the Church Directory or by emailing UUFH Office.

Peggy Law, President

My husband and I began planning our second chapter when we purchased our home in Hendersonville in 2006.  In 2008 we moved here permanently from Scottsdale, Az. and in 2009 I said goodbye to the financial services industry where I had invested 25 years of my life.  It was finally our time to do the things we love and to give back as best we could.  I have volunteered for Four Seasons Elizabeth House, Blue Ridge Humane Society, Organizing for America, the Henderson County Democratic Party and Feed The Kids.  I currently volunteering at the Cancer Center at Pardee Hospital.

I found UUFH in 2011 and became a member in April of 2012. I knew immediately that I had found my tribe.  I have served on the Board as an at-large member, the Pledge Committee, the Memorial Service Committee, the Personnel Committee, the Worship Committee, Vice President of the Board of Directors and now as President of the Board of Directors.  It is an honor to support our amazing community and I’m so happy to be a part of the future of UUFH.

Bill Elder, Vice President

I was born in the midwest (Kansas) but spent most of my life in Maryland, attending Sidwell Friends School, Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School and the University of Maryland. In college I majored in Psychology and Business Management, and later undertook advanced level work at Antioch University’s Columbia Visual Arts College pursuing a fine arts master’s degree. I also engaged in non-degree study at the Johns Hopkins University’s Peabody Conservatory. 

I moved to the mountains in 2003 and first visited UUFH in 2006, becoming a member in 2007. Prior to 2006 I was largely un-churched since leaving college, finding that creed based faith organizations required adherence to rules and dogma that I couldn’t wholly support.

Since that time, in addition to become an ardent UU, I have served the congregation in a number of capacities including UUFH board positions as Vice President, President, and Past President. During 2011-2013 I led the Sanctuary Renovation team. I have served in positions on the Worship Team, co-chaired the 2014-2015 Pledge Drive, served on the Strategic Planning team and the Committee on Ministries and founded/led the Concert Committee through six musical seasons at UUFH. I am a lifelong music lover and served as the President of the Hendersonville Symphony League for several years. After the League was absorbed into the Symphony board, I served as Vice President, two terms as President and am currently the Secretary of the Board of Directors of the Hendersonville Symphony.

During a varied business career, I reached executive and officer level positions in several companies and retired from the corporate world in the late 1990’s to pursue my passion of photography. I was self-employed with my own company, Expressions! Photography LLC until retiring in 2011. During that time, I operated a portrait studio in Flat Rock as well as wide-ranging sports photography businesses in North and South Carolina.

Liz Diehl, Secretary

My husband Pat and I moved to Henderson County two years ago having previously spent four years in southern Georgia and many years  in northern Virginia. One of the first things we did after moving here  was to join UUFH. We wanted to meet people who felt like we did – people who wanted to grow spiritually in a liberal religious community. 

We have two sons and three grandsons living in Nashville and Nova  Scotia. I retired as a teacher in Fairfax County, VA in 2013. 

We were just starting to feel a part of the UUFH family when COVID  sent us into quarantine, but we have met many friendly people over  zoom through our Stones of Compassion services and our Wonderful  Wednesday group. I joined the Membership committee a year ago and  now I will be joining the Board as secretary. I look forward to working  with the Board as we develop a vision of the future for UUFH.

Michael Burrell, Treasurer

My wife, Honey, and I have been visiting the Hendersonville area for over forty years.  She used to come as a child and stay at the Waverly Inn in downtown.  We continued this yearly tradition once we moved back to Summerville, SC from Atlanta in 1976.  We both have dearly loved the mountains our entire lives and purchased our home in Zirconia on Pinnacle Mountain in 2002.  We were both working at the time but we visited our home several times each year.  We have been full time residents since 2016.

My background has been in education where I began my career teaching special needs children.  From there I entered administration serving as a principal and then Federal Coordinator for our school district in Summerville, SC.  Upon retirement I became an acting director of Tidelands Bank in Charleston where I continued until it sold in 2016.  In Hendersonville I have been active on several boards and other things that fit my interests.  Currently I am a board member of Smart Start for Children and our local HOA.  I am also past Treasurer of the Civitan Club and a member of the Apple Country Woodcrafters where I help make toys for the underprivileged and teach classes.

I have had no association of any kind with the Unitarian Universalist Church until I joined UUFH five years ago.  We were looking for churches and never quite found one that seemed to foster our beliefs until visiting UUFH when Reverend Jim McKinney was minister.  After attending several services we knew that we had found a spiritual home.  Currently in addition to serving as treasurer I am also a member of the Pastoral team and the Endowment Committee.

Jerry Medeiros, Finance Committee Chair

My wife Charlotte and I joined our Fellowship just prior to the pandemic.  We were introduced to UU in Rockville, Maryland and ultimately married in a Bethlehem, PA UU church in which we both served as board members.

Having found Hendersonville while visiting the Biltmore on an RV road trip from Florida, we summered in Hendersonville for 10 years before becoming full time residence in 2016.

While in Florida, I did extensive volunteer work with Hospice and the local Hospital. With hospice, I served as a respite worker and also worked in a program to assist children who had lost their siblings and/or parents. For the local hospital, I served as an assistant chaplain visiting patients.  

I currently serve on the Endowment committee and look forward to contribute additionally as Finance Chair and Board Member.

Liz Curtis, At Large Member

Birthplace Springfield, Illinois; BA French & German from Indiana University with a stint at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland; 40 years as a computer programmer/analyst in Boston, MA, then Dallas TX, then WNC.  My husband, Jim, and I both brought our jobs with us to Flat Rock, NC in 1998 and telecommuted to clients scattered here and there.  We were married 46 years and both retired in 2006. The plan was to grow even older together.  My sweet Jim died in 2021.  A UU since 2007, I’ve served on Committee on Ministries, Landscape, Endowment, Nominating, Stewardship, the Board and was recently the volunteer bookkeeper.  It’s a good community we have here in the mountains for gardening, reading, and volunteering.        

Claudia Boozer-Short, At Large Member

 My husband, Mike, and I moved to Hendersonville in 2017 as snowbirds, living our summer and fall in Belgrade Lakes, ME. We moved from New Hampshire, where I had a 28-year career as Extension Educator in Family and Consumer Resources for the UNH Cooperative Extension. I had also been active for 30 years in the UU Church of Manchester, NH, so being part of a new UU community was very important to me. I immediately started attending UUFH and became a member in 2018. UUFH has felt even more like a home to me, since my parents were active members in the 1990’s. 

  As Co-chair of the Membership Team for many years, I have enjoyed welcoming newcomers and new members and working with my team members. I was also part of the Transition Team when Rev. Don Rollins was our Interim Minister. 

  Sadly, my dear Mike passed away from a massive heart attack on November 3, 2022. This community of UUFH friends has been a tremendous support and I am deeply grateful.

   I will continue to live in the summer cottage by the lake in Maine, which Mike and I enjoyed together for so many years. His two sons and their families will come for vacations, and I’ll welcome the visits from other family and friends too. Because of the Zoom technology, I’m still able to participate in Membership Teams Meetings and now Board of Director Meetings. And I watch the virtual services most Sundays. I look forward to returning to Hendersonville each Fall to greet my UUFH friends in-person! 

Bill Reese, At Large Member

I am originally from Johnstown, PA coming from a long Methodist tradition.   Eventually I moved up to the Southern Tier of New York and north eastern PA working mostly in accounting and corporate finance.   

Along the way I found Unitarian Universalism and I have belonged to congregations in both Pittsburgh, PA and Jamestown, NY.  I met my partner, Randy, in Jamestown, and has been with him for over 23 years.

Having originally discovered the area while my daughter was attending Warren Wilson College in Asheville, Randy and I retired to the Hendersonville area two years ago.    Both of us are small town, mountain folks, and Hendersonville was an ideal choice to escape from an average snow fall of over 250 inches a year.  

In addition to work and family, I have been involved as a volunteer in various social pursuits.

Steve Weisberg, At Large Member

Originally from NY, Steve lived in South Florida for 33years.  He was director of a Meals on Wheels Program for 20 years, and Executive Director of the Alliance for Aging for 5 years.  He retired in 2006 and lived in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico,  for over 12 years.  He and his wife Lynn moved to Hendersonville  in 2018 and joined UUFH in 2019.  Steve is currently a member of Membership Committee as well as Men’s Discussion Group and men’s Lunch group.