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About Our Staff
Pastor
The Reverend Phyllis Ann
(Thorne) Heffner
is from New Jersey, where she received a bachelor of arts degree from
Drew University with a major in English literature and a master of
divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary with honors in
homiletics. After ordination in 1980 by the Presbytery of Elizabeth
(NJ), she came to Columbus where she met and married her late husband,
Robert W. Heffner.
Rev. Heffner has preached in
dozens of churches in New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. For
five years she co-hosted a local cable television program, Interface, a
joint venture with the Catholic Diocese of Columbus. She was a writer
and interviewer for City Pres, then writer and editor of The Presbytery
News, both publications of the Presbytery of Scioto Valley. Mrs.
Heffner served on the presbytery’s Worship Committee, on the
three-person liturgy-writing team for the 214th General Assembly
(2002), has written poetry, dramatic monologues, and several children’s
stories, and teaches worship and liturgy in the presbytery’s
Commissioned Lay Pastors program. She has been the pastor at St. Andrew
since July, 1994.
Phyllis Heffner lives in
Upper
Arlington with her pug Maddie.
Director of Music
Garry A. Cornell is
well
known throughout the U.S. as a composer of music for church choirs.
Over the 40+ year span of his professional career he has written
hundreds of musical compositions, including hymns, anthems, works for
musical theater, and symphonic ensembles. His musical setting of the
Lutheran Holy Communion, published by the Evangelical Lutheran Church
in America (ELCA), is in widespread use throughout the church.
A lifelong resident of Columbus,
Mr. Cornell’s professional training was at the Capital University
Conservatory of Music, Columbus, where he was the recipient of several
awards in composition. At the present time, in addition to his writing
and directing activities, he is the owner and director of publications
of Celebrations Unlimited, a Columbus music publishing company.
As a composer-member of the
American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), he has
received special ASCAP awards each year since 1978 “in recognition of
his ongoing contribution to American music.” He has been active in
various legal and legislative issues which affect creative artists and
is a contributing editor to several music-related periodicals. Mr.
Cornell is a frequent guest conductor for various musical events.
Garry Cornell has been the
music
director at St. Andrew since November, 2001. He and his wife Donna live
in Gahanna; they have two adult children and five grandchildren.
Organist
Laura Silva started
formal musical training at age 6, studying the organ with Sandra
Soderlund and David Dahl. She has served as organist and choir director
for congregations in California, Washington, and Ohio, and has served
as Dean of the Columbus, OH and the Columbia Basin Chapter, WA,
chapters of the American Guild of Organists (AGO).
Laura holds the AGO Colleague and
Professional Engineer (ChE) certifications, as well as a B.S./M.S. in
Chemical Engineering from Washington State University. During
regular business hours, she develops and commercializes new fuel and
chemical production methods as Director of Intellectual Property and
Licensing for Velocys, Inc. (Plain City) and Oxford Catalysts Group PLC
(UK).
Laura is an inventor on 17 U.S.
granted patents. She is married with two children and lives in
Dublin.
Parish Nurse
Jane Vaughan, R.N.,
graduated from Duke University’s School of Nursing. After moving to
Ohio, she worked in OSU and Riverside Hospitals before joining the
staff at Harding Hospital to work with adolescents. After eleven years
at Harding, she became a certified case manager for John Alden
Insurance Company.
Upon completing a continuing
education course on parish nursing at Otterbein, Jane proposed to the
session that St. Andrew begin such a program. Named parish nurse in
2000, Jane has taken presbytery- and synod-sponsored workshops. She has
formed care teams, arranged for St. Andrew to be covenanted with The
Riverside Grant Church Partnerships, and provides for educational
programs and personal assistance to members of the congregation based
upon principles of wellness of mind, body, and spirit.
Jane and her husband Fred
live in
Powell; they have two adult children and four grandchildren.
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