Nancy Tiedeman

“It is a whole different way to relate to children when you just get to focus on them without worrying about all the other things that have to be done. It is delightful.” Nancy is a new grandma and really enjoys spending her Mondays and Tuesdays in Northampton babysitting. Relationships are important to her, especially those with her children (Laura and Eric), husband (Walter), and close friends. It is also what she likes best about serving on the altar guild. “We work in teams of two, so you really start to get to know each other as you talk through preparing and setting up for service.” While she knows the people on the altar guild, she laments that she doesn’t know more people in the congregation on a deeper level. Her favorite hymn is “Beautiful Savior” and she savors each time St. Paul chooses to sing the doxology during worship. “Blessings can be so personal - it seems like it is directed right towards you.” She found her way to St. Paul about eighteen years ago in an effort to find a place which more fully embraced women and her line of thinking, after her daughter questioned why none of her nighttime prayers included leaders that were women. Nancy is calm, grounded, slow to anger, loving, private in her faith, volunteer-extraordinaire, consumer of PBS, NPR, and thought-provoking movies, Peabody Essex Museum and BSO subscriber, reader of good fiction, eater of crockpot Moroccan chicken and traveler at heart. After spending five years in publishing in NYC, she decided to head in a different direction - across the world to South Korea as part of the Peace Corps. Her two years teaching English and then a subsequent year traveling the world exploring as she made her way back home were completely transformative for her. Next time you see Nancy, be sure to ask her about her upcoming trip to France to celebrate her 35th wedding anniversary.