Amy Whitford is one of those rare (and fortunate!) members who has attended St. Thomas’ from birth. Amy’s mother started coming to St. Thomas’ in November of 1964. Six years later, soon after the Great Fire of 1970, she met Amy’s future father while organizing a single’s gathering. Amy and her twin brother were baptized at St. Thomas’ when they were just one-month-old (other long-time members may remember Amy’s baptismal teddy bear).

Amy’s history with St. Thomas’ is a blessing as well as a testament to our welcoming and evolving congregation. Her parents bought land, built a house and moved to Union Bridge, MD in 1999. She began making the hour-and-a-half drive (each way) to attend services at St. Thomas’ soon after Rev. Gene Robinson was elected and consecrated as IX Bishop of New Hampshire. His selection caused quite a disturbance in her parents’ new parish, so Amy decided to return “home.”

“To me, this is what church is,” she explains. “I grew up here and have never been quite satisfied anywhere else.” Living in Silver Spring now, Amy’s commute isn’t as bad as it used to be. She graduated from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland four years ago with a degree in Medieval History. St. Andrews is Scotland's first university and the third oldest in the United Kingdom.

Amy is currently temping and job searching, and is also a skilled potter. She has been practicing pottery since high school and has sold quite a few pieces of her work at St. Thomas’ Arts in the Park auctions. In fact, one of her last benefactors was Peter Bocock. “He loved them,” Amy says. “I’m happy that he got to enjoy them.”

Thank you for the dedication and rich history you bring to St. Thomas’, Amy!