VESTRY OF THE CHURCH
POLLY OGDEN
Senior Warden
Aside from her time in college and a 7 year stint in Tennessee/Connecticut, Polly Ogden has spent most of her life at Emmanuel, where she was baptized, confirmed, and married. She was born and raised on Mercer Island. Polly sings in the choir and is also active in Altar Guild and Flower Guild. She has previously served on Vestry, various search committees, Rectory design committee, and children’s programs. Polly has recently retired from a long career in healthcare IT and project/program management. She is married to Alan Reed and lives in Kennydale. She enjoys fostering puppies, making music, gardening, hiking, and creative activities.
JON FEDELE
Junior Warden
BOB BAXTER
Vestry Member
Bob Baxter grew up in Idaho and Washington, the son of an Episcopal vicar. After attending several colleges He graduated from Western Washington College where he met Pat at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. For his Air Force service we were based in Nebraska and Washington. Computers were central in his life. He majored in Math because that is where the computer was located. In the early 60’s he started writing computer code - Basic, Fortran, Cobol, and Assembler Language - mainly on IBM Mainframes. Pat and he joined Emmanuel in 2010 because it is friendly and inviting. His primary role at Emmanuel is organizing the ushers.
Jon Fedele met his wife Kaylee at St. Paul's in Bellingham, where both were in undergrad. There he served on the Vestry beginning in 2015, and later served as Clerk of the Vestry. Jon and Kaylee began to attend Emmanuel in late 2021 after moving south. The two were married by Rev. Elizabeth in April 2022 and each became involved in Emmanuel's ministries-- Jon in choir and Kaylee in Godly Play and ushering. Jon works as a substitute teacher. He knows the value and spiritual enrichment found in Emmanuel's worship and community, and he looks forward to finding ways to share that with others to help the church continue to grow, thrive, and help others.
JANET BELL
Vestry Member
As Janet Bell considered the opportunity to be a part of the Vestry, she considered many of the priorities of our Emmanuel church and the work that will be needed to continue serving the needs of our congregation and community. She looks forward to being proactive on the major issues to support the strength of the church, develop new ideas and to encourage our current parish to be involved, active and open to future development and needed growth to our congregation. She has been a long time Emmanuel parishioner, starting in 1st grade, and married at Emmanuel. Her 2 children David and Ginny Steinbach were active in the parish through high school. She moved throughout her professional career (Alaska, San Francisco and Chicago) but always have come back to Emmanuel. Currently back here as a Realtor with Windermere on Mercer Island. For her, EmmanuelI is a place of peace and prayer and grace that touches her life. She lives in Issaquah now, but continues to work, serve and pray at Emmanuel. She feels strongly that ALL of us are able to provide value to our church. We are blessed to have this opportunity to work together to build our parish and community.
NICK BOHLINGER
Vestry Member
Nick Bohlinger moved to Mercer Island with his wife, Kami, and three children (Dylan, Luke, and Peyton) in 2007. He began attending Emmanuel around 2009 and shortly after served his first stint on the Vestry at Emmanuel, which culminated in his (thankfully) uneventful post as Senior Warden under Rev. Hunt Priest. Rev. Elizabeth Riley graciously performed the marriage ceremony of their son Dylan and new daughter Jane in 2020. He's been content to make tiny contributions to the Emmanuel community (primarily on the property) but is honored to make another run at the Vestry.
CHRISTINE KENYON
Vestry Member
Christine Kenyon has been attending Emmanuel since 2006 with her son Jackson Barker. She grew up in the Episcopal Church in Saratoga, California, attending St. Luke’s in Los Gatos. Christine is a special education teacher at Mercer Island High School and lives on Mercer Island with Jackson and her foster son Mohamad
JEFF ZANTEK
Vestry Member
Jeff Zantek grew up in northwest Washington, and moved to Bellevue in 2021 after serving in the US Coast Guard from the Columbia River to the Equator, New York Harbor to the Great Lakes. Through it all, he’s found a sense of home and community in Anglican identity and the deep heritage of Episcopal churches across the country. Soon after returning to the Seattle area, he discovered our rector’s social media presence and sought out a spiritual home in this amazing community. He serves as a Lector, Intercessor, and Lay Eucharistic Minister, and is active in the Outreach ministry and is part of Emmanuel's cohort in the College for Congregational Development. He is a full-time student at Bellevue College, with a social science focus.