Welcoming our New Members!
2021-22 HPC New Member Cohort
Sue Lyons
Sue grew up in Gettysburg, Pa, and moved to Yardley in 1988. I have girl/boy twins, age 35, and a son, 31. I’m a born and raised Presbyterian, and raised my children Presbyterian as well.
As a child, I always wanted to be a nurse, and have been since 1979. I presently work part time at St Mary Medical Center, in the Same Day Surgery department. Most of my free time is spent outdoors.
HPC feels like a fit for me because I literally had a tingling sensation come over me the first time I entered the church. Prior to walking through those doors that day, I asked for a sign to let me know if this was a right decision to come to HPC. Thank you all for making me feel welcome.
My favorite bible verse would be from Ecclesiastes 9:11, The race is not given to the swift, nor the battle to the strong… but to the one who endured to the end.
Frank Devine & Kate Heavers (Éamonn)
Frank Devine grew up in Staten Island and Kate Heavers grew up in Rhode Island. We have spent the first decade of our marriage raising up Nathan (18) and Éamonn (5) in East Brunswick, NJ before moving here to Hopewell Borough in June 2021. Frank spends his weekdays at the bank and Kate spends her waking hours teaching in a science classroom.
We were each baptized and raised Roman Catholic. Our separate journeys (we met around age 40) took us away from Catholicism and to the United Church of Christ and finally here to our resting place in Presbyterianism. The denomination and the place, the people and the living Pastor - all these have caused us to gravitate here and want to settle in and settle down with this loving community of faith-filled and welcoming believers.
Katie’s favorite story is the one of the Samaritan woman from whom Jesus asks a drink. He knows EACH of us, eternally, as He knows her. And this is the fact that touches me most deeply. We feel loved when we feel SEEN and KNOWN.
Charlie & Kathy Schramm
Charlie was born in Philadelphia and grew up in Bensalem PA. Regularly attended Fox Chase Presbyterian Church. Attended Drexel University and met Kathy there. Married after graduation and both attended Northwestern University north of Chicago. Returned to the east coast in 1979 and settled in Hillsborough. Charlie worked at Colgate Palmolive research center in Piscataway for 36 years and retired in 2017. Charlie enjoys gardening, small home repairs, and reading. My favorite bible verse would be the Beatitudes.
Kathy was born in Corpus Christi, TX and since her dad was in the Navy, grew up in a few places.
But Jacksonville, FL and Blackwood, NJ were where her family lived the longest. Kathy worked at Union Carbide Research Center in Bound Brook for 16 years and left to be home with their sons, then worked part-time at the Carbide corporate library as a consultant for patentability and infringement. Since 2007, she has been a home instructor for HS math and science in the Montgomery Twpschool system and a substitute teacher for Montgomery Twp high school as well as Princeton Day school. Kathy was raised in the Catholic faith, attending Catholic schools through 9th grade,when the family moved from Florida to NJ. She became a Presbyterian when she married Charlie,
finding the emphasis on diversity, acceptance and forgiveness to be a positive feature. Kathy and Charlie were members of the Hillsborough Presbyterian church from 1979 until Oct 2021, when the church closed it’s doors. Kathy enjoys sewing, crafts, gardening, reading and spending time with her family especially the grand kids.
Kathy’s favorite Bible story from Luke 12:22-30 about God caring for the birds and lilies of the field who do not sow or reap, toil or spin. How much more He loves us and will care for us.
Jimena Hajek
I grew up in Chile, and I lived there until I was 30 years old. In Chile I ran a restaurant, but because of some life transitions I moved to the United States. Here I met and married Mikl, and together we worked and ran a family business. Then together we decided to open a restaurant here in Hopewell called Paint the Roses Tea Room and Cafe. For a time, we moved the business to North Jersey and now we are back here-– running Catalina Empanadas out of the HPC kitchen.
I grew up Catholic and my faith was always important to me and always believed in God. In these last years, I realized that I didn’t need to be Catholic to follow God. I felt more like family with the people here at Hopewell Presbyterian than any other church before. Everyone is so nice!
My favorite Bible story (and Bible movie) is that of Moses and him receiving the 10 commandments.
Jenn Skillman (Anna & Lauren)
I grew up right up the street from HPC. I went to college in upstate New York and stayed there for three years after graduating but moved back to NJ to be closer to my family and because my future husband was here. We have been married now for 14 years and have two daughters, Anna is 6 and Lauren is almost 10 months. We have two dogs, Sophia and Dory (Sophia is the mom and Dory is the daughter), we adopted them from SAVE right before the pandemic. We love to go hiking as a family and explore nature. We are looking forward to our vacation to the Poconos this summer for Lauren’s first birthday and to explore lots of trails and waterfalls! I work at Rider University as a senior business systems analyst and EJ is in charge of the West Amwell Police Department in Hunterdon County. We are also huge Disney fans and Anna is usually humming or singing a song from a Disney soundtrack.
I have always had faith, though, at times I am sure I have had questions but in my heart my belief never left. My faith is particularly important to me because I know I am not alone and when the stress of the world is hard to handle, I know Jesus is there. The hope that I have knowing I will be with Him one day helps to lessen all the worries. I grew up going to church at a local Presbyterian church and was baptized Presbyterian. When my husband and I were first married we lived in Ewing and I began attending a Lutheran church because it was close to us. My daughter, Anna, was baptized there. We moved to Hopewell Township right before the pandemic hit and everything closed. Once things started opening up a bit, I reached out to a few local churches and asked about their children’s programs. I was put in contact with Miss Katie and loved all that HPC offered to children. From the first day that we attended, Anna loved it, which was what really made me feel like we had found the church I wanted to join. Being new isn’t always easy and I understand people have a set way of doing things and core groups that stick together but as I had hoped that has not happened for me here. I felt like people here wanted to talk to me and have me be a part of them. It was a nice feeling and because of that and seeing how connected Anna is here, I know HPC is the perfect fit. We look forward to having Lauren baptized her on June 19! One of my favorite Bible verses is Mark 10:27
Gary Van Emburgh
I grew up in Vernon, Sussex County NJ. I spend most of my time working as the Director of Innovation and Transformation at Educational Testing Services in Princeton. Remaining time is spent with family/domestic duties and occasionally friends the church and God. Enjoy exercising, golf, traveling, cooking and eating. I have had loose ties to the Catholic church but did not invest much time as my family growing up. My faith is important because it has helped provide perspective and answers to some of life's most fundamental questions: Origin, meaning/purpose, morality, destiny. My faith also reinforces for me my value and the importance of self-love and love for others. My community is Hopewell and I want to be a beneficial presence for the people of my community. My favorite verse is Romans 3:23.
Cat Fulmer-Hogan (Chloe)
I am a lifelong resident of Hopewell Valley. The mother of 4 amazing humans and stepmother to 2 others. My husband, 3 youngest and I currently live in Hopewell Township.
I have moved through several faith traditions. The 2 most significant were Dutch Reformed and Baptist. I was baptized, and confirmed in the Dutch Reformed tradition. In my adult life, I was baptized, my children were dedicated and my husband and I jumped the broom in the Baptist tradition. The latter is where I have worshiped for the last 27 plus years.
I was connected to handful of folks at HPC. I came to hear a good word from Pastor Melissa and to heal and fortify myself and my family, understanding that HPC was making moves very much in line with my values. Appointing Deborah stands out as one of the boldest of them. Michele Immordino’s testimony finally sealed the deal for me. That Sunday I was struck with the realization that despite my deep connection to the Baptist church and worshiping in a culturally Black space, I could choose this path for us and that connection to my blackness was not somehow diminished in the process. I could share that with this new group of folks who would become family. The folks at HPC were my people too. We were tethered together for completely different reasons that spoke to my eternal fight for justice and desire for my family to be seen, just as we are.
Chloe who has been deeply committed to this process in ways I had never imagined, and is flourishing. Miss Katie sealed the deal for Chloe. Chloe is also excited to be baptized this summer!
My favorite bible verse is Micah 6:8 “He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?” This is my life verse. I believe it at the core of my being and I do my utmost to move in it and find folks who will move with me.
Chelsea Hall (Isaiah & Amos)
My name is Chelsea Hall: cradle-Christian, ~12 year Presbyterian, and born and raised Arizona gal. My passion is for all people to recognize their God-breathed worth and dignity, and I am honored whenever I get a front row seat for this process in my roles as a mom and as a therapist. It is certainly also a process by which God continues to surprise me in my own life. I find it both mysterious and amusing that God uses the same folks that I am meant to be "helping" to in fact instruct and challenge me just as often. I learn so much about God's character from this fact about the Church: that at various moments we are each one another's teachers, servants, guests, parents, leaders, students, etcetera. I am curious to see how the Hopewell manifestation of God's body will be used to bless me, and how it will embolden me to be a gift to all.