At their September 30, 2021 meeting, the Governance Circle officially approved three new members.

Johnna Woodruff is a familiar face to many of us.  When she moved to Spokane in 2008, she joined a Small Group Ministry at UUCS and soon became a member. For many years, she was co-chair of the Membership Team. Her first experience with UU’s was at Highland Unitarians in Kettle Falls some three years earlier. She received a Horticultural Degree from SCC in 2010, and since then has worked taking care of people’s plants, trimming and weeding along with spring and fall cleanup. Her love for trees keeps her inspired and planting trees wherever she lives. She recently had a fall and is at home nursing a very sore knee! At INUUC, she especially appreciates the wide variety of music and sermons that Soul Weavers provides.

Rich Brainerd and his wife Judy Westlake moved to Spokane from Corvallis in May of this year. This puts them close to two of their daughters and grandchildren Kennedy (7) and Evelyn (5). They’ve been busy with their house on W. Old Fort Drive, finishing out the full basement. Rich grew up in Boston, raised Unitarian since age 5, and moved to Corvallis in 1983. It was a time of change, and like many folks he looked for a church – and joined the UU Fellowship at Corvallis in 1984. And it was there that he and Judy met. Before retiring in 2012, he worked as a handyman for apartments. Rich likes to hike, cook, and run rivers in canoes and or rafts, and would like to meet a few fellow enthusiasts.

Judy Westlake grew up on a farm outside of Corvallis and moved to town when she was five. She remembers going to the UU Fellowship at Corvallis since she was a child, when they met in various locations in town. After WWII, the Fellowship bought land and added several buildings from a nearby base, which they remodeled and later expanded.  Judy was active in the Fellowship, most recently in organizing service auctions, rummage sales and other fundraising activities Judy was a primary school librarian, trained to present both sides!. Both Judy and Rich are enthusiastic gardeners. Judy is a reader, and an artist, currently enjoying painting and sketching. She’s a co-leader of one of the Small Group Ministries.