Alice Cobb

My name is Alice Cobb, and I am a cradle Episcopalian. I grew up going to Holy Comforter Episcopal Church, in Richmond, and Jim and I were married there. I have been a member of St. James the Less around 38 years. Our sons, Jamie and Phillip were confirmed at St. James the Less, and Phillip and Erin were married here. Over the years I have taught Bible School and Sunday School, and I have been on various committees: the Rector Search Committee, Parish Life, Christian Education, and on the Parish Life Nominating Committee. St. James the Less feels like home and family to me, and it would be…

Bob Hughes

Born in California, I grew up in Rapid City, South Dakota, gateway to the beautiful Black Hills. I was raised in the Episcopal Church, and from an early age grew to love its music, ritual and tradition. I became a member of St. James the Less around 2000, when my wife Tracy and I moved to the area. Since then, I have been active in the parish in a variety of ways, including one previous 3-year term on the vestry (during which I served as the Register of the parish), serving on a rector search committee, teaching Sunday School, serving as usher and lector (reader), and singing in the choir…

Harry Hassell

Harry moved from Virginia Beach to Ashland in 1995 when McKinney & Company hired him as their Senior Site Superintendent for commercial and industrial projects. In 2004, Harry began to attend St. James the Less and in 2006 was received into the Episcopal Church. Harry volunteered time on a number of projects for facilities over the years including the railings at the altar and several crosses among other items. In 2013, Harry began serving on the Vestry for an extended four-year term ending in 2017. 

In the community, he has served a term on the Board of Directors for the…

Ana Bajcsi

I am honored to be nominated to the Vestry and to have the opportunity to serve my St. James the Less Family. My husband Brett and I have been members of St. James the Less since 2010,  soon after we moved to Ashland from Richmond, VA. We were married here that year when Fr. Ed Tracy was the rector. We were also blessed to have Fr. David Anderson baptize our twin boys, Cameron and James, in 2013. I immediately knew that St. James the Less was going to be our church home the first day I attended service with my husband. I fondly recall how welcoming and warm the parishioners were to us. I…

Ian Sutton

Val and I came to Ashland seven years ago from Houston, Texas. The folks at St. James the Less immediately gave us a warm welcome — since then the church has become like a second a home. (I am writing this during the COVID-19 pandemic. Even though we cannot visit one another, the church is still a home, even if we have to communicate remotely. Indeed, we can support each other more than we do in normal times.)

I am a chemical engineer who has worked in the process industries throughout my career: chemical plants, refineries and offshore platforms, so Ashland is a very different…

Karen Davies

My husband Paul and I joined St. James the Less soon after we moved to Ashland in 2014. We previously lived in Lynchburg, and before that Durham, NC, where we raised our three (now grown) children. During our children’s formative years I served as a Girl Scout leader for six years and then on a regional GSA board. I also worked as a preschool teacher, and as a reading tutor at their elementary school. I am a cradle Episcopalian and pulled my Presbyterian husband into the fold shortly after we married in 1985. Prior to becoming empty nesters, we were active in Sunday School, VBS, Coffee…

Kimette Cannady

Kim and her husband, Steve, found SJTL when they first moved to Ashland. They reaffirmed their faith, joined the Episcopal Church, and stayed here until 1997. They then moved to Colonial Beach, VA, where she attended St. Mary's Episcopal Church. She served on the Vestry there. They came back to Ashland in 2017 and has been here ever since, in the town and SJTL. Steve passed away in 2017 and her SJTL community surrounded her with love. She leads the Prayer Shawl ministry here at SJTL. Kim feels called to the Vestry, after much prayer, because as someone with years of life experience, she…

Jenny Bruce

Don and I met in the SJTL choir and were married here in 2001. We have four grown sons and four grandchildren. I’m retired from Randolph-Macon College, where I taught and assisted students with special learning needs. I have served on the vestry in the past as well as being an active choir member, eucharistic minister, lector and member of various committees. I am honored to have been asked to stand for the vestry. I feel called to step back into a more active role at this time of hope. As we emerge from the pandemic, reopen our doors to worshiping together, listen to the music of our new…

Liz Pace Chambers

I am a cradle Episcopalian and long time member of St. James the Less, growing up here and attending SJtL in the 1970's, 80's and early 90's, and now as an adult member since 2013. After a 10 year or so hiatus from organized religion, I found my way back to the Episcopal Church and began attending one of our fellow diocesan churches, All Souls in Mechanicsville, in 2004. I eventually returned to St. James the Less to support it's free clinic ministry, worship with its welcoming parishioners, raise my children in the same church where I was raised and enjoy the lovely music that only comes…

Kathy Marshall

When my husband, Randy, and I moved to Virginia in 1992 we had no home church. Randy was raised in a devout Catholic home and I was raised Lutheran, so we were basically on rival teams, and didn’t k now how to make it work. We did not want to attend separate churches, so we stopped attending church as we pursued our respective careers.   I hadn’t realized how much I had missed going to church until Randy and I were invited by friends to go to St Andrew’s Episcopal church in Oregon Hill. It immediately clicked for us and was the compromise we needed to find a church we could attend together…

Bill Harrison

I moved to Ashland with Beth in October of 2015. On Sunday, October 11, we attended Sunday school and Holy Communion at Saint James the Less and suspected at once that we had found our church home. A sweet and practiced children’s choir, an accomplished organist and full choir, Charles Joy’s moving sermon and profound theology—followed by Dick Shirey and others making a fuss over our arrival. Wow. And in the years that have followed, we have found and continue to find dear friends here. My roles so far have been supper club and grief group participant, choir member, stewardship chair,…