The Reverend Richard Tumilty, Associate Priest
Our Associate Rector is the Reverend Richard Tumilty, a retired Episcopal Priest. Father Tumilty holds a Master of Sacred Music degree from Boston University and a Master of Divinity degree from General Theological Seminary in New York. He was ordained a priest in our Diocese in 1959 and served churches in Vallejo, Eureka, Garberville, and Willits.  For six years, he was chaplain at the Annie Wright School, an Episcopal boarding and day school for girls in Tacoma, Washington. He returned to this Diocese and served as Rector of Grace Church, St. Helena, CA for 23 years before retiring and moving to Grass Valley . 

Music is important in the Tumilty family.  Father Tumilty’s wife, Joan, has a degree in music and she teaches advanced piano students.  She and Father Richard recently released their first CD of organ and piano classics.  The Tumiltys have three adult children and all the family enjoys music.

The Reverend Anne Nielsen, Deacon
“In a great many ways, deacons seek to empower, equip, and support all the baptized people of God in the ministry of Jesus Christ and the mission of the church in the world.” (Church Canon 8) Deacons carry out the Bishop’s will as they serve all people and especially the poor, sick, weak, and oppressed.  The Deacon’s ministry is thus linked with the Bishop’s own duty to show mercy and compassion and to defend those who have no helper.

Anne moved to Penn Valley in 2003 from Pacifica, California, where she lived for 32 years. Anne was born in Denmark and went to Argentina with her family when she was six years old. She grew up, married, and had three daughters while living in Argentina. She moved to the United States in 1972. Anne worked for the state of California Employment Development Department for twenty seven years.  In 1999, after going to the School for Deacons for three years, she was ordained as a permanent Deacon at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco by Bishop Swing. Anne joined Emmanuel Church and became our Deacon in January 2004.  

Irina Katya Kolesnikova, Organist
Our organist, Irina  Katya  Kolesnikova, trained at the Musical College of Togliatti, Russia, the Russian Federal Ministry of Culture M.I. Glinka Conservatory in Nizhnij Novgorod, Russia, and the Ecumenical Institute of Church Music of the University of the Arts in Berlin, Germany. She has been organist at Congregational, Lutheran, and Roman Catholic churches in the Chicago area before moving to California in 2005. Katya  is a member of both the Sacramento and North Valley Chapters of the American Guild of Organists.

Keir MacMillan, Choir Director
Keir joined the Emmanuel staff in November 2006. The son of an Episcopal priest (father) and a church organist (mother), he has several decades of liturgical music experience, both as a singer/musician and a director. He also was the director of vocal ensembles at Colorado Christian University in Denver. He is married to a beautiful wife, Susan, and is the proud father of four children.  

Tom Warren, Associate Organist
Tom got his musical training at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco as assistant organist and choir director when he was a teenager . He went on to be organist at Sts. Peter & Paul and Holy Innocents churches in San Francisco, then went on to be musically active in several churches on the Peninsula. Years later he became music director at St. Stephen's, Sebastopol for 10 years and retired in 2000. He and his wife Nikki moved to Grass Valley to be close to their families. They are delighted to be involved in the musical life at Emmanuel.

Debbie Thaten, Church Secretary
Debbie is the pleasant voice answering the church phone. She'll help with information and connect you to someone else if need be.

last updated 30 December 2007