Bryan
Jessup
Minister
 Bryan
Jessup is a true “Son of the San Joaquin!”
Born in 1947 in Tulare County to an orange-growing,
small business family, Bryan went to Strathmore schools.
He was a Boy Scout, high school student body president,
football player.
He graduated from Stanford University with a BA in
English in 1969. He declared himself a Conscientious
Objector to war and as an alternate service, he taught
English in Portuguese Macau with Volunteers in Asia.
After Macau, he returned home to Porterville, CA where
he taught elementary school for 10 years. He married and
he and his wife had two daughters, Amy and Kate. He was
active in community theater. He was the program chair
for the UU Fellowship in Porterville.
In the Fall of 1980 Bryan went to Starr King. He and his
first wife divorced. He met Edie. She and her son
Josh moved up to Berkeley and Bryan and she became
the sexton “team” at the UU Church in Berkeley from 1981 through 84. They married in June of 1984.
Out of seminary, Bryan served U.U. churches in Delaware
for 2 ½ years and in Maine for 11. His church in Maine
collaborated with the local homeless shelter to provide
a free meals kitchen at noon three days a week in the
church. This continued after he left. Edie worked for
the shelter and helped establish a free medical clinic.
Bryan been the minister at the UU Church of Fresno since
August 1998. Edie works for Metro Ministry where she
advocates for access to food for all people. Bryan has
been one of the co-chairs of the Interfaith Alliance in
Fresno for six years and is one of the founders of the
Fresno area TV program “Forum for a Better
Understanding.”
He and Edie are grandparents now! Daughter Amy and her
husband Ofer have two girls, Zohar and Livneh. And
step-son Josh and his wife, Michelle, have Avery
Catherine. Meanwhile, daughter Kate is a writer for
Diablo Magazine in Walnut Creek.
Aubree Smith
Director of Religious Education
 Aubree
Smith, our Director of Religious Education, was raised
in Utah in a Mormon family. She became a Unitarian Universalist over ten years ago when she sought a more
progressive faith for her young daughter. She has been a
member of three UU congregations, Syracuse, NY, Visalia,
CA, and now the Unitarian Universalist Church of Fresno,
CA.
She has worked full time as Director of Religious
Education for UUCF since 2003 developing innovative
programs for children and youth. She is committed to the
church’s mission of creating a “haven for spiritual and
intellectual growth for all ages”.
Aubree has authored several successful summer camp
programs for elementary age children, one of which was
featured in Newsweek magazine in July of 2006. She leads
a dynamic team of volunteer teachers and coordinators
who strive to build the beloved community. Religious
education at UUCF is a cooperative effort where each
voice is heard and each person valued.
Leslee Weaver
Church Administrator
 Church
Administrator Leslee Weaver hails from Ogden, Utah,
where she completed a B.A. and teaching certificate at
Weber State University. Later, when the wanderlust
struck, Leslee moved to Memphis, Tennessee, earned an
M.A., taught fulltime at the University of Memphis, and
joined the UU Church of the River. She later attended
All Souls Church in Manhattan while working on a second
master’s degree, this time at New York University. After
completing that degree, Leslee moved to Fresno to be
near family. She has served as UUCF’s administrator
since December 2004.
Lorenzo Bassman
Music Director
 Music Director Lorenzo Bassman received his A.B. Degree in music
from Duke University, graduating Magna Cum Laude, after
which he attended the Juilliard School, receiving a
Diploma and Master of Music degree in French horn. He has performed chamber music
with many of today’s leading musicians. He also received his Doctor of Chiropractic
degree from New York Chiropractic College, after which
he practiced chiropractic in New York, Pennsylvania and
finally in Fresno.
Lorenzo, his wife Lynette, and their son Jonah moved to
Fresno in 1997, and joined the Unitarian Universalist Church of
Fresno in 2000. Lorenzo
quickly became active in the church’s music program, and
in 2006 assumed the Music Director position. He has
brought many innovations to the program, broadening its
scope to include music of many genres including pop,
folk, jazz, rock, reggae, gospel, and the traditional
musics of native and immigrant cultures. He has arranged
music for adult, youth and intergenerational
instrumental and vocal ensembles, has established a
regularly performing and versatile church band, Stolen
Thunder, and has taken the church’s music program to the
larger Fresno community, with performances at numerous
peace community events.
Tito Hinojosa
Financial Manager
 Tito Hinojosa has been our churches Financial Manager since 2004. Tito has done a wonderful job of reorganizing our bookkeeping system and continues to make
innovations
in our accounting department.
Judi Kralevich
Office Assistant
 Judi Kralevich, Office Assistant, comes to UU Church of Fresno after spending five years working for a local Methodist Church.
In 1998, she signed up and started attending Heald College, pursuing a degree in Computer Technology. At that time, females were not so involved in computers, especially the repair and networking side. She was one of two females in her class, older than the other students and even the teachers, but she graduated with honors. After completing that course, she attended and again graduated with honors from Heald's Computer Networking class.
She is the mother of two grown children, three grand children, two grand dogs, two grand cats, one grand lizard.
David Firth
Sexton
 David Firth has been the sexton of our church for 24 years. It is David's job to prepare the church for the many events that take place through out the year, plus he oversees the housekeeping and maintenance of our physical campus. David also assists with the sound system and taping of our Sunday sermons for our web site.
Betty Pingel
Minister Emerita
 Betty Pringle, Minister Emerita, served for eleven years and worked with the congregation to build a more spiritually contemplative style of Sunday Service. She introduced more singing and a meditation time. She included children in the service with a story for all ages. Together, Rev. Pingel and the congregation built a more solid organizational structure , After retirement Betty moved to Colorado to be with her family and was succeeded by our present Minister, Bryan D. Jessup.
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