Karen and Warren Roquermore

Family brought Karen and Warren Roquemore to Florida and it was a family feeling that helped them find All Saints.

The couple moved to Florida in late November 2025 from Marion, N.C., to be near her brother, who had lived in the area for 10 years.

"I don't like the cold and he loves to golf, he and my brother love golf," Karen says with a smile. They found a place near New Port Richey, between Trinity and Odessa. They immediately began looking for a church home.

"When we moved here, we Googled Episcopal Church," she explains. "The first church we visited, it was on Christmas Eve, and no one spoke to us at all." Then they found All Saints. "This was the second one we visited, and we just looked at each other and said this is where we want to worship," she recalls. "I don't think we need to look any longer."

What struck the couple especially about All Saints were the people and the friendly atmosphere. "It just felt like home," she said. "Everyone was so friendly." In fact, partly because of the warm welcome they received when visiting the church, the couple say they hope to become Greeters themselves eventually.

Karen grew up in Chicopee, Mass. She went to college there, and graduated from Elms College, with a degree in nursing. She is a registered nurse. Karen works from home as the training coordinator for the state of North Carolina Division of Health Services Regulation. She is planning to retire in October.

Warren was born in Charleston, S.C., and grew up all over the state of South Carolina. His father was a school administrator and the family moved around with his jobs.

Warren graduated from College of Charleston with a degree in English literature. He spent more than 30 years in financial services and for the last 10 years he's been a case manager at a homeless shelter. He is thinking about retirement, but has not made any final plans yet. "I'm having too much fun to retire," he jokes.

The couple have two grown daughters. The older daughter lives in Vermont, and the younger daughter still lives in North Carolina.

Both enjoy being active and say they hope to get more involved at All Saints. He loves his golfing and she is an avid swimmer at the local YMCA. She swims a mile at the Y on the weekends and exercises daily. "I do love my Y," she exclaims.

Karen says she probably will join Daughters of the King. They both played handbells at St. John's Episcopal in Marion, N.C., where they attended church for 26 years. They would like to join the handbell choir here at All Saints when they have time to attend practices. They also know about the active outreach programs here, like Pack a Sack, the Peanut Butter and Jelly team and the Cold Weather Shelter volunteer work. "Im looking forward to getting more involved when we do retire," Warren says.

Kristi Strzyzewski

Kristi Strzyzewski and her husband Mike moved to the Tampa Bay area in 2021, but she took her time finding a new church home.

"We wanted to be certain we'd be staying here," she says. She's attended All Saints, off and on, since 2023, but decided to move her membership here recently from her former church: Emmanuel Church in Geneva, Switzerland.

The Columbus, Ohio, native and her family had lived in Switzerland for 18 years, until both she and her husband retired from their jobs and decided to move back to the United States. They moved back to Winston-Salem in 2015, "but (Mike) got tired of shoveling snow," Kristi says, smiling. They came to Florida for the weather and to the Tampa area because of the airport. Her mother was still living in Columbus, Ohio, and they found out that there were direct flights from Tampa to Columbus, making it easier for her to spend time with her mother in her later years. They settled in Heritage Springs.

Kristi went to the Original Miami University of Ohio. It was founded in 1809 and was named after the Miami Indians, Kristi explains about the emphasis on "Original Miami." She got her degree in education and teaching certificate in health education for kindergarten-12th

grades. She and Mike married in 1978. They lived in Columbus before moving to Winston-Salem. They have a son and a daughter. Mike worked for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, which was how the family moved to Switzerland in 1997. Their children, who were in high school at the time, attended international school in Geneva. Their son and his fiance live in New Orleans, Their daughter now lives with her husband and her son in the Washington, D.C., area.

Kristi worked at Emmanuel Church from 1999-2014 as children's ministry coordinator. She also was very active in the church, seving on the Altar Guild and the Hospitality Committee. She was United Thank Offering coordinator for Emmanuel Church and served as UTO coordinator of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe (like a diocese) from 2004-2014. She is interested in working with All Saints on becoming more involved with the United Thank Offering here.

Kristi, who attends the 10 a.m. service, says she really enjoys attending All Saints. "It reminds me of the church we left in Geneva," she says. The buildings are similar in architecture, and the services are similar. "I also really like the people."