Debra Engelke, Diaconal Minister Two thousand and seven was a milestone year for Debra Engelke who celebrated twenty years of professional ministry in our church - ten years as a diaconal minister and ten years as an ordained deacon. Debra grew up taking piano lessons. Her mother refused to let her quit until she learned to play hymns. Debra received her BA in Social Work from Washburn University. Debra, though, still felt called to the work of the church, just not to the pulpit. A prompt by an atheist sociology professor to explore more widely, including the field of education, led Debra to meet a local UM Director of Christian Education who was a diaconal minister. This led Debra to attend seminary at Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University. There she completed the Master of Theological Studies degree, with a focus in pastoral counseling in 1984. Debra enrolled at the University of Kansas and obtained her Master of Social Work degree, with a health care emphasis, in June 1985. This lead to her first position as staff social worker at Burlington Medical Center and the family moved to the Burlington area and joined our church. Our own Rachel Ireland, through a cross-conference agreement, provided required supervision and spiritual guidance for Debra’s continued work toward diaconal ministry. Debra was consecrated as a diaconal minister at Baker University during the Kansas East Annual Conference in June 1987. She was then assigned to serve our church as a volunteer Diaconal Minister. Debra transferred her conference membership to the Iowa Annual Conference in 1988. The 1996 General Conference of the United Methodist Church reordered ordained ministry. Debra, along with many others, transitioned from diaconal minister to ordained deacon in full connection during the 1997 Iowa Annual Conference. Debra now serves as Director of Social Work at Great River Medical Center. She has two children, Alicia, a student at Simpson College, and Paul, a high school junior. Melanie Lyon, Office Manager Melanie graduated from Libertyville (Illinois) High School in and attended Iowa Wesleyan Collage in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa for one year and Kendell Junior College in Evanston, Illinois for one semester before coming to Burlington to work for the National Research Bureau as a radio commercial copy writer. Melanie also attended and graduated from the Burlington Beauty Academy while working part-time at NRB. Melanie is the mother of Timothy Dale, born in 1973, Jennifer Sue, born in 1977 and Jeffrey Dean born in 1978. She was a stay at home mother (working from home on occasion for NRB) until she continued her education at SCC and graduated in the spring of 1985 with an AA degree. That same year, she accepted a full-time position as Office Manager at First United Methodist Church. She is the mother of three children, Timothy, now deceased, Jennifer, an RN in Cedar Rapids, and Jeffrey, a member of the West Des Moines Police Department. She enjoys being a grandmother to her four grandchildren. Melanie became engaged to Joseph Sullivan in December of 2006. A wedding will follow her retirement in 2010.
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Roxy Riessen, Organist and Roxy began taking piano lessons at age seven and early in high school started playing the organ in her home church. While a college student, she played at Augustana Lutheran Church in Sioux City. She has a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Morningside College and a Master of Music degree from the University of Nebraska. Roxy taught elementary music in the Boone Community Schools and music classes and/or piano at Des Moines Area Community College, Westmar College and Dordt College. She has also given piano lessons and directed the church choir. After moving to the Burlington area, Roxy taught middle school and high school music in West Burlington. In March of 1983, she was hired as the organist at First United Methodist Church. The very next month the church needed a bell choir director and she took that job also. In 1983, after using computers in her music classroom, Roxy decided to pursue more education in a different field. She took graduate classes in computer science at Western Illinois University and then accepted a position as Data Processing Manager and Customer Service Supervisor at National Research Bureau. Two years later, she was hired as an information technology instructor at Southeastern Community College. She taught in that program for 20 years until taking early retirement. Roxy is married to John and has two daughters, Carrie, who does church member visitation and works as a certified nurse aid, and Jane, an attorney. Tim Ahern, Choir Director Tim attended a one-room school through the fifth grade, and completed his formative education at Knox County High School in Edina, MO. He earned his bachelors and masters degrees from Northeast Missouri State University (now Truman State) in Kirksville. In 1996 he completed a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Missouri Kansas City – Conservatory of Music. He taught 3 years in Missouri K-12 schools and for the past 19 years has taught in the community college setting; first at Allen County Community College in Iola, KS, and then Southeastern Community College in West Burlington. He has served as Director of Choral Activities at both institutions, and since 2000 has served as Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences and Executive Dean of the Keokuk Campus. Sandwiched into all this, he spent 5 years with OSCO Drug as an assistant manager. Tim and his wife Becky raised four musically talented daughters; Julie, Jennifer, Betsy and Katie. He has six grandchildren.
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