Meet the Board of Trustees

Beth began attending UUCSR in 2017 while searching for a youth program for her sons. She quickly immersed herself in the community, volunteering in various roles—including teaching OWL classes and helping as a dishwasher at the Saturday breakfasts. After several years of active participation, she formally became a congregational member in 2023.

Beth has been deeply engaged in the life of the congregation, serving on the Dismantling White Supremacy Culture (DWSC) committee and, most recently, as a member of the Ministerial Search Team. She brings a strong commitment to community service, social justice, and financial stewardship. Professionally, Beth is an independent marketing and graphic design consultant, primarily serving local non-profits.

RICHARD J. SENGHAS has been a member of UUCSR since the late 1990s. He’s served on the Nominating Committee and has been a member of the Worship Associates since 2018. He joined UUCSR when he moved to Sonoma County to join the Department of Anthropology at Sonoma State University as a linguistic anthropologist. He currently serves as chair of that department. At SSU, he’s been active in faculty governance, including as Chair of the Faculty. Richard’s field research centers around the emergence of a new sign language in Nicaragua, exploring processes of community formation and language change. Before his academic career, he worked in Silicon Valley in various R&D startups. Richard is also a founding member of FrogSong Cohousing in Cotati, where he and his family have lived since 2003.

When circumstances made it possible, in 2011, for me to plan retirement in Santa Rosa, one of the first things I did was check to see if there was a UU congregation nearby. I was thrilled to see that there was one just blocks from the condo I was buying. I had attended First Unitarian Church of Dallas when I could, and I knew I wanted to find another such place. Since retiring and moving here from Texas in June 2015 I have been an active member, seeking and finding like-minded people who share my commitment to social justice and spiritual exploration free of dogma. I had been affiliated with no formal religious group since the age of 20, when I left the brand of Christianity I had grown up in, over its racism and anti-Catholicism and dodgy theology. Theater became my religion. I’ve been gratified to find that it’s not incompatible with UU’s eight principles.

A military brat, I moved often, attending twelve schools in five states and two countries. I got my first degree in New Jersey and the other two in California, then spent forty years teaching literature at the same small liberal arts college in a small town in Texas, just north of Dallas. But wanderlust, both intellectual and physical, had me. Through leaves and sabbaticals, I spent two years in Japan and about six in England—and those two countries are more alike than either wants to admit. Austin College allowed me the freedom to pursue and develop new interests and competencies. And if you say you are a literature specialist, it gives you an excuse to study and teach anything. That’s not unlike being UU. There are basic principles of integrity and humanity within which you can grow and change and learn. I did a lot of team teaching with the aim of showing students the value of differing perspectives within a clearly defined framework. I see a similar landscape at UUCSR—not without its bumps and the need to sometimes shift the framework a bit, but still, a landscape. A home, in fact.

I am happy to serve this Congregation in whatever way I can.

I grew up in a church-centered family and even went to a church-sponsored college for my first two years. Fortunately, it wasn't all that strict and I wasn't even required to take religion courses--which I didn't.

I drifted away from the church, but without hard feelings, as some people have when they reject their religious upbringing. Still, I was  missing some aspects of church-going --fellowship, dealing with existential questions, etc.--when we learned of a brand new UU congregation forming in Harrisonburg, Virginia where we were living at the time.

So, here we are, about 40 years later. We joined UUCSR in the mid-90s, but moved to Michigan for a job, then retuned to Santa Rosa in 2009. It's been "interesting times" since then, hasn't it?

Charles Robin Marrs comes to the UUCSR Board as a long-retired state civil servant with a background in administration.  A resident of California and of Santa Rosa for many years, his heritage lies in the Ozarks of northwest Arkansas.  His father and his grandfathers all served as Presbyterian ministers mostly in Missouri and Arkansas.  Robin and his wife Elizabeth met and married in France where Robin served in the US Army and studied European history.  After returning to the United States, they lived in Missouri and Kansas before settling in California where Elizabeth grew up.  They have two children who live nearby.  They live in a senior community in Santa Rosa, both participating in the retirement community’s activities as well as in the work of UUCSR.

Louise Bettner has been involved with Unitarian Universalist congregations for a long time.  She was originally drawn to the Davis, CA congregation out of a desire for community and a wish to practice spirituality according to her own very liberal beliefs and values.  Louise is currently involved in Soul Matters groups here at UUCSR.  In addition, she frequently shares her talents as a pianist during services.  Louise believes that music provides unique opportunities for spiritual practice.  She greatly appreciates the richness of the music program here at UUCSR.  Louise is a retired Clinical Psychologist who taught graduate psychology and had a practice in the East Bay for many decades.  Since retiring, she conducts support groups for the Alzheimers Association and spends time learning to play jazz piano.  Louise has decided to join the Board of UUCSR because she strongly believes in the values and principles endorsed by Unitarian Universalism....a beacon of light in our uncertain, highly divided world.  May we remain strong!

I was born and raised in England, where I met my wife Barbara Kezur, who is from Ohio, and in 1980 we moved to Connecticut where we raised our three daughters.  I became a naturalized US citizen in 1991.  I worked for 28 years in New York City as a marketing director at Scholastic Books, publisher of Harry Potter and The Hunger Games.

For fifteen years Barb and I were members of the UU Congregation in Westport, Connecticut, where I served on the Board, on the stewardship committee, and in various other roles.  In 2016 we retired and moved to Santa Rosa to be closer to our three daughters and eight grandchildren, and became members of UUCSR.  Here I joined the stewardship team, set up the neighborhood groups, served on the Board for four years, and on the Bylaws Team for two years.  We’ve enjoyed the many connections we’ve made at UUCSR.  I’m happy to serve again on the Board and do what I can to help our congregation grow and flourish.

Mike has been a member of UU Congregation, Santa Rosa since 1986, when it met at the corner of Stony Point and Todd roads. As a child, he attended Religious Education at First Unitarian in Chicago’s Hyde Park. As a teen, he was active in LRY (Liberal Religious Youth), the predecessor of YRUU, at the UU church in Evanston, Illinois.

Mike helped organize the first Welcoming Congregation effort at UUCSR. Later, he co-taught the Junior High OWL program. During the 1990s, he was regularly a delegate to General Assembly, while a board member of Interweave, the queer UUA affiliate. In 1996 at GA in Indianapolis, he had the privilege of introducing the resolution of immediate witness in support of same sex marriage, an exciting moment for him.

Outside UUCSR, Mike served for 10 years as chair of the founding board of VIDAS, a local nonprofit which provides immigration law services. This board service was very much informed by his earlier experience at our UU congregation.

Mike looks forward to serving UUCSR at this time of transition and potential growth.