Bridget Morrison-Langehough, Office Manager
Bio coming soon.
Kelli Tylenda, Communications Coordinator
Kelli officially joined the Ascension staff at the beginning of September, 2014, though she's been a fixture around the office and website in various capacities for some time now. She joined Ascension as a member in 2003 by "marrying into the family," but grew up attending church and school at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Fort Worth, TX. She left the retail world a few years ago and now what time isn't spent wrangling four children is spent telecommuting to her office in California as a Mod for The Modsquad or working on her skills as a hobbyist photographer. She loves using the knowledge she's picked up through the years in personal endeavors and as a Mod to help keep communications flowing smoothly at Ascension and to keep the website and social media accounts in tip-top shape!
Ann Gnagey, Organist
Ann grew up on a farm established in the 1850s by her great-great grandfather, a German immigrant. Because their faith was important, he founded a German Reformed church which was built a mile away and constructed with bricks made on his farm. Music was an essential part of worship, so the family bought a pipe organ that arrived by horse-drawn cart over the Allegheny mountains. The instrument was played by her great-aunts and father and eventually Ann contributed as a young girl to the music, first by playing for Sunday School and later for choir and main services.
Ann left the farm as a teenager, lived with relatives in a small city where she had more musical opportunities (professional orchestra, etc.) and finished high school. However, love for the farm, strong community ties, and reverence for the land remained a strong influence.
She majored in music but changed to biology, later completing Ph.D. and post-doctoral work in molecular biology. After 30 years of research and teaching in various places (Kenya, Australia, Case Western Reserve, UVM, Vermont Technical College), she is semi-retired and largely focused on living sustainably with her husband near Jericho Center where they have maintained a home since 1990 after moving from Australia with three young sons. She also teaches music privately to violin and piano students ranging in age from 5 to adult. The family concentrates on methods to grow and provide food year-round and to harvest wood sustainably for fuel and building materials, while maintaining biodiversity on their 65-acre wooded farm. They also run a small maple syrup operation and recently began collaboration with UVM faculty to host environmental students interested in learning current techniques for living more harmoniously with God’s creation.
