Warm Greetings from the Ministerial Search Committee at First Unitarian Church!

Front Row (from left): Greg Belisle, Chris Tanner, Vic Vore Middle Row: Linda Fitzgerald, Ameena Amdahl-Mason, Bill Cunninghame Back Row: John Thompson, Carolyn Gillen, Paul Pitkin

We’re delighted that you’re interested in learning more about our church community.  First Unitarian is a truly wonderful place, as you will see here on the Search Committee's site.  We have a collective spirit that is very special, and we look forward to sharing that spirit with a new senior minister.  We also anticipate and welcome the goals, viewpoints and energy that a new minister will bring to our congregation.  We hope that this call results in a holy, mutually fulfilling connection for both our new minister and our church family.

If you have any questions concerning the content of our site or need clarification, do not hesitate to contact the chair of our committee, Paul Pitkin, at either This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or at 503-319-3407.   We look forward to getting to know you better!

Please explore our site and learn more about First Unitarian! 

Search Committee Biographies

Paul Pitkin (Chair) has been a member of First Unitarian Church for almost 15 years.  In an earlier life he was a professional musician, so he’s very involved in the church’s wonderful music program as a singer and an oboist.  Outside of church, Paul is a financial advisor for a money management firm specializing in socially responsible investing and environmental sustainability issues.  A bit of an organic gardening fanatic, he grows and preserves much of his own food, and he raises turkeys and chickens on property he shares with his partner, two dogs, a cat and several neighboring families. 

Ameena Amdahl-Mason began attending First Unitarian Church in elementary school during the 1980's and continued attending through her graduation from high school.  In 2001, she returned to the church and became active in the Religious Education program as a Learning Community teacher, where she has remained involved and currently serves as a YRUU advisor.  She also rings with the Parker Handbell Choir and serves on the Nominating Committee.  She has previously worked on the Christmas Pageant and served on the Covenant Committee.  When she's not at the church, she is a high school math teacher and the owner of two pet chinchillas. 

Greg Belisle has been attending First Church since 1999.  His family has participated in music, religious education programs and numerous activities.  Greg bikes to work for a local social service agency and manages their school-based programs.  Originally from the Upper Midwest, his home in the world is the Puget Sound region and he loves the performing arts, camping, backpacking, and bicycling. 

Bill Cunninghame moved to Portland in April 2000 to live near his family.  Soon after moving he began a search for a new spiritual home.  He visited several welcoming congregations but knew his search was over once he found First Unitarian.  He was raised a Mormon and recognized soon after he started attending First Unitarian that he had a lot to learn about Unitarian-Univeralism.  He also wanted to get involved and started with the Grounds Committee and the Men's Spirituality Group, followed by the Chalice Choir.  After the choir came the Partnership Church Committee and two years with the Lay Ministry program.  That service continues to be one of his most rewarding church-related experiences.  His partner Steve Nelson and he taught Sunday School for one year.  He is on leave from the RE Committee while he serves on the Ministerial Search Committee.  He enjoys reading the Oregonian newspaper, particularly on Sunday afternoons, putzing around the yard and spending time with his partner, family and friends. 

Linda Fitzgerald has been a member of First Unitarian Church since 1995.  She served on the new congregational covenant committee, has been a member of two ministerial support committees, and she chaired the racial justice action group.  She sings in the Chalice Choir.  Linda is married and has four grown children, five grown stepchildren, and many grandchildren.  Her professional career involved early childhood and family services director positions in Europe.  After many years attending UU Fellowship groups, Linda finds First Unitarian Church an ever  more fulfilling part of her daily spiritual and temporal life. 

Carolyn Gillen has been a member of First Unitarian since 2005 and now serves as one of the co-chairs of the Peace Action Committee and as a Lay Minister.  She retired to Portland with her husband Thimmaiah in 2000 after a somewhat peripatetic life, during which she worked among the chattering classes in the worlds of art and publishing and eventually ran her own business designing and manufacturing costume jewelry.  Growing from childhood to early youth in India during the heady Gandhian days soon after Independence helped to shape the start of her spiritual journey as an unrealized UU – one who has found her first home in organized religion within this congregation. 

 Chris Tanner has been a member of First Church since 1991.  She’s one of those Unitarians that Garrison Keillor defines as an ‘atheist with children.’  Chris and her partner Lisa have been gay rights activists, and members of the PTA.  They have two children who have been involved in the Learning Community since birth, with the eldest attending Earlham College as a freshman this year.  Chris taught kindergarten in our Learning Community for over ten years, which she found to be a wonderful antidote to her other life as a professor of nursing at the local health sciences university, and where she learned a lot about the spiritual life of children.  She and her partner co-chaired the Annual Fund Drive a few years ago, and she has served as one of the fund-raising advocates for both the annual fund drive and the building campaign.  Chris also serves as a steward on the First Unitarian Church Foundation. 

 John Thompson was raised as a Unitarian in the Cedar Lane Church in Washington, D.C.  He and his wife Catherine joined First Unitarian Church in Portland in 1990.  Since that time he has taught in the RE program, participated in numerous operating and capital campaigns, served as chair of the senior minister’s support committee, been a member of the group that developed the church covenant, and sung in the Chalice Choir.  He retired this May after 27 years as the medical director of the laboratories for Kaiser Permanente in Portland.  Along with his wife Catherine and three children (Scott, age 23, Elizabeth, age 21, and Leah, age 15), he enjoys hiking, gardening, biking, music and cooking.  First Unitarian Church has been a spiritual home for his whole family as well as a community that generates meaning in their lives. 

Vic Vore (age 75) and his wife Jeanne, have three grown children, six grandchildren, and one dog.  He retired from his career as a family physician in 1994, having received his MD degree in 1959.  Despite a coronary occlusion in January of 2008 which required a coronary stent, he enjoys good health and enjoys reading, Dixieland jazz, church work, travel, tennis and skiing.  He is currently reading Malcomb Gladwell [Blink] and also likes mysteries.