Dear Search Committee,

Thank you for the opportunity to provide a reference for Janet Parsons. I met Janet
in 1997 when our boys became friends. Andy and John paired off and then Neil and
Eric. Janet and I navigated elementary school, middle school and high school
together. We volunteered together in the school system, with our most successful
undertaking being ScienceMania where we yearly brought in dozens of scientist
and engineers (even an astronaut) to teach and inspire the students. We worshipped
and volunteered together at the Winchester Unitarian Society. We watched each
others kids. We endured the band practices of our boys rock band Slydell,
happily supporting them and, lucky for me, Janets son Eric was the drummer
(which meant practice was held at the Parsons basement. Exhibiting patience was
certainly a strong trait!) Janet was loving, caring and also analytical and pragmatic.
Through that time I watched Janet grow and embrace Unitarian Universalism. I
was raised a UU (Westminster Unitarian in RI.) Janet came to it as an adult. Each
year I saw her faith deepen. After Hurricane Katrina hit NOLA, I saw her embrace
service work. You could tell her passion and commitment were genuine and real. At
this point, you could also tell that perhaps ministry was calling to her. It ended up
being a few challenging years for Janet but with upheaval came great personal
growth.
Flash forward to this summer. Janet was our summer minister at the Winchester
Unitarian Society. I help lead our Pastoral Care Associates, started by the Rev.
Mary Harrington during her tenure at WUS. Our group consists of ten lay ministers
along with a Caring Network (the more traditional meal/rides group), Memorial
Team and Grief Support Program.
Janet ranks as one of our favorite summer ministers in the eight years the PCA
group has been partnering during the summer while the settled ministers are on
break. She has wonderful judgment and knows just the right amount of attention
needed in situations. She is caring and responsive. At a recent meeting, I asked my
fellow Pastoral Care Associates for their feedback on how Janet performed in the
summer ministry role (I knew I was going to write this reference and thought I
would gather their feedback.)
I was amazed at Janets intuition in holding up the concerns and desires of the
congregation, especially immediately after John and Sarahs (Millspaugh)
departure. Her sermon was a balm and so in tune with what the congregation was
experiencing. She has risen to have great ministerial presence.
Our visit to Ellie (97 years old) went beautifully. It was as though she was
synchronized, picking up on clues, not being overwhelming. She has a natural gift
for communication. She is compassionate. When Ellie brought us a very serious
desire to right a wrong she felt had caused pain to her adult daughter, Janet gave
her great counseling. As a PCA, I learned from her and her gentle style.

One of our older PCAs (a five-decade long UU) remarked that when she saw Janet
participating at a summer service, that she could see it clearly. She told Janet
what she knew, you are a minister now.
We couldnt have said what we feel any better. Janet is a minister to us. We are so
excited that she is going through the Fellowship Process. We cannot wait to see how
her ministry continues to develop.
Sincerely,
Karen Erikson
Winchester Unitarian Society member