Style Guide Monklets

Bill Speed has been the Director of Music Ministries at First Church since 2008. Bill has led a dual life as a church musician for Episcopalian, Lutheran, Presbyterian, and UCC churches and as a research geneticist at Princeton and Yale. Bill loves congregational song in every form and with a team of beloved volunteer singers and instrumentalists continues to widen the repertoire of music at First Church. When his partner Mike isn't busy running the Scranton Seahorse Inn in Madison Bill and Mike enjoy Patriots football and BoSox baseball.

Penelope has served at First Church since 2003 and worked with many clergy and staff in those years.  She has a B.S. in Administration from the University of New Hampshire and a Master of Divinity from Duke University, and her work life has been in college and church settings.  Her husband Peter invited her to First Church on their first date, and she has been here ever since.  Penelope’s “basics” also include walking, yoga, reading (especially Jane Austen), movies (currently Ken Burns Baseball), and Face-Timing with their daughter Meg who lives in Brooklyn. 

Annemarie Alexa comes to us from many years of experience working in the corporate world for AT&T and others here in Connecticut. She lives in Old Saybrook with her husband and spends a lot of time with grandchildren in the area. She is an avid sewer and is happy to be working with us at First Church. 

Originally from North Carolina, Deb has lived in Guilford for 38 years. Deb began her career as an elementary school teacher in North Carolina after earning her bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has a graduate certificate in biblical studies from Columbia International University and is pursuing a master’s degree in Inter-Religious Studies at Hartford International University for Religion and Peace (formerly Hartford Seminary). 

Deb is currently associate executive director at SARAH Tuxis, where she has worked for the past 21 years. During her ten-year membership at First Church, Deb has taught Bible studies, been a deaconess, and served on the pastoral search committee. She raised her three daughters in Guilford, all of whom are now grown and married. Married to Amanda Patrick, a deacon at First Church, Deb loves reading, being with friends, and watching her grandchildren play sports.