ALL SAINTS EPISCOPAL CHURCH
Susan and Bill Sperry
Bill and Susan started coming to All Saints just 13 months ago, but they already are actively involved in many areas of our church. They will be teaching in the Sunday School classes this fall. And they are the co-chairs of this year's Stewardship Committee. "We got recruited by Bruce Greenlees," says Bill, chuckling.
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The couple also help out with Pack a Sack and Peanut Butter and Jelly. Bill is a part of the All Saints Golf Team, who make the sandwiches for Peanut Butter and Jelly on the third Thursday of the month. They say it was easy to get involved here. As Susan says, "It's a warm, welcoming church."
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The couple grew up in the South. Susan grew up in Corinth, Miss., and graduated from University of Mississippi, with a bachelor of science in education. She taught kindergarten-first grade and preschool. Bill grew up in Albany, Ala., and graduated from Auburn University with a degree in civil engineering. He was working on the Tennessee Tom Bigbee Waterway when they met at a church softball tournament in Mississippi. They were married six months later, and have been married 43 years.
​"We've always been in the South, mostly in Virginia, Georgia and Florida," says Bill. They raised their three sons in Virginia. Susan taught preschool in Virginia when the boys were young, then later taught kindergarten-first grade in North Carolina and Florida. When the economy tanked, they came to Florida and Bill took a job as principal engineer in the city of Cape Coral utilities department.
"We were both Methodists all our lives until we moved to Florida," says Susan. When they couldn't find a church that fit their needs, they asked the Methodist pastor who had married them for a recommendation. "He recommended an Episcopal Church," says Susan with a smile. "We found an Episcopal Church in Cape Coral."
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When Bill retired last year after 10 years working in Cape Coral, they decided to move closer to three of their four grandchildren. Their oldest son and wife, who have a son and a daughter, live in Tampa. Their middle son and his wife have a daughter and live in Jacksonville. Their youngest son lives in Austin, Texas, and is getting out of the Army soon and is finishing his master’s in business at the University of Texas. He and his wife have a daughter.
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The Sperrys live in New Port Richey. They found All Saints while Susan was housesitting for their son in Tampa before they moved here. "We started googling churches," she says. "This was the only one we visited."
She explains, "It was such a serene place, so peaceful here. With our busy lives, we loved to worship here quietly in this little church."
They also like that Rev. Janet includes the children in the services. Their oldest granddaughter has gone up to help at the altar when she came with them to church. And another granddaughter likely will be helping out at the altar in the future.
Besides their church activities, the Sperrys enjoy walks. He likes golf, fishing, hunting and gardening. Susan is a volunteer with Guardian Ad Litem, a child advocacy group with the courts for children in foster care. It was Jane McGrady at All Saints who got her started working with the group.
Jeanne Richard
Jeanne Richard has only been attending All Saints for a few months, but she has wholeheartedly jumped in to the many activities and outreach efforts here.
"My philosophy is if you are going to belong to a church you get involved," she says with a smile. "I'm not a pew sitter only!"
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She has become a part of the Peanut Butter & Jelly team, attends the weekly Wednesday Bible study sessions, will be teaching in Sunday School this fall and is going to be a eucharistic minister. She is active in Cursillo, having gone to her weekend at DaySpring in the 1990s. She hopes to become active in Cursillo at All Saints.
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Jeanne grew up in Ashland, Wis., "way up North on Lake Superior, near the head of Chequamegon Bay.” She joined the Air Force as a nurse after graduation from St. Luke's School of Nursing in Duluth, Minn. She served a total of 22 years, 11 years of active duty and 11 years in the reserves. Jeanne met her former husband, who was also in the Air Force, in Alaska, and stepped away from active duty for a few years when she had her two sons. They moved with their military assignments until finally settling in Michigan, where the boys were raised. She worked at Marquette General Hospital as a nurse educator and did her monthly duty in the reserves. She came to Florida when the military started closing bases in Michigan and McDill Air Force Base accepted her as a reservist. She was offered a civilian position at the Moffett Cancer Center Tampa, in the education department. She is now retired.
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​Both of her sons also are nurses. The older son, who served in the Marines for four years, has two daughters and lives in Wesley Chapel. Her younger son, who was in the Air Force for 10 years, lives in North Carolina and has a dog. She laughingly says she has “two sons, two granddaughters and a four-legged child, a German shepherd.”
Jeanne was raised in the Lutheran Church, but became an Episcopalian in 1979 at Fairchild AFB, Wash. When she moved to Florida in 1993, she attended St. Catherine's in Temple Terrace and then gravitated to St. Clement's in Forest Hills, where she was very active until earlier this year. She was a subdeacon at St. Clement's, and also sang in the choir and taught Sunday School.
Jeanne had visited other churches in this area earlier before coming to All Saints. She had noticed the little church on the hill as she traveled into Tarpon Springs from time to time.
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She felt a connection with the church immediately. She loved its size and spirit.
"You go into the big churches and they are so impersonal," she says. "But you go into the church here, it was so calm and quiet. It offers the opportunity to get in touch. Everybody is so embracing. People greet each other. "
Jeanne, who lives in Lutz, says the drive isn't that far for what she gets out of being a part of All Saints. She started attending services here around Easter and became an official member this summer.
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Besides her church activities, Jeanne is active in the Military Officers Association of America, and is a mentor in the 13th Judicial Circuit Veterans Treatment Court, working with veterans who find themselves in trouble with the law. She volunteers with Operation Helping Hand and at the Land O' Lakes and New River libraries, teaching monthly classes in Kumihimo, a Japanese braiding technique.
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