Minister & Staff

Reverend Eliza C. Galaher

Minister
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Rev. Eliza Galaher has been serving Wildflower Church since August 2007, when she was called to be the congregation's first fulltime minister. Before that, Eliza was in seminary at Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago, Illinois. She graduated from Meadville on June 3, 2007, and was ordained a week later at Third Unitarian Church of Chicago. Originally from Portland, Oregon, Eliza lived in New York, New Mexico, and western Massachusetts before going into seminary. She has degrees in English/Creative Writing and English Education, in addition to her M.Div. degree from Meadville Lombard. Currently she lives with her chocolate lab and her two cats in south Austin. 

Penny Burnette

Director of Religious Education
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Penny has been a member of Wildflower Church since 2001, when she joined the Children’s Religious Education Committee and served as a teacher. Since that time she has served as the chair of the Fun & Fellowship and the Childcare committees. In 2003, she became a co-chair and then chair of the Children's Religious Education committee. She began working as the Director of Religious Education in June, 2005. She is a member of the Liberal Religious Educator’s Association (LREDA) and has attended five modules of the Renaissance Program for professional religious educators and attended two LREDA conferences. She is married to David Burnette and has three children-- Aaron, Jacob and Nathan.

 

Elke Baitis

Choir Director and Pianist
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Elke has been playing piano for Wildflower services since 2002 and, in addition, became our Choir Director in 2007. Elke was born in Arizona, where her father was in the air force, and lived in Germany and Nevada before the family moved to Austin. She graduated from UT with a degree in German, joined the military, and became a freelance pianist, accompanying many musicians in recitals and contests. She is now a graduate student and research assistant in UT's Geology School. Elke and her dog, Lily, live near the UT campus.

 

Dotti Sizer

Office Administrator
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Dotti has been an office manager for the last 15 years or so, most recently at First UU here in Austin. She believes she was destined to work in a church, being the daughter of a Presbyterian minister, and the niece of two more Presbyterian ministers! She even met her husband, Jim, when they were teenagers at Mo Ranch. They have three handsome grandsons and two beautiful granddaughters, one grandcat and four granddogs. When she's not basking in the glow of being "Grammi", she enjoys knitting, crocheting and watching football.

Dotti will be working on Tuesdays and Fridays. She routinely enters all of the membership data, copies the Order of Service, calendar and other inserts, picks up mail at the post office, and prepares the mail deposit. Additionally, she compiles and sends the weekly news email announcements and monthly newsletters.

Childcare Workers

Lisa Blecher

Liz Ramos

Amber Jacobs