115 Years - 51 Ministers

In our 115 year history, 51 pastors have been appointed to senior and associate minister positions at First Palo Alto.

Meet the Ministers who have served here.

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Rev. Dr. L.T. Archer Summers, Senior Pastor

The Rev. Dr. Archer Summers 650-323-6167 x101

Archer Summers is a native of the Mountain State. He has pastored churches in Maine, Connecticut and California. He holds three degrees from Harvard, and two from Georgetown. In addition to being a minister, he is an active member of the D.C. Bar and the Washington State Bar Association, and he has been admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States.

Archer is married to The Rev. Dr. Boyung Lee, Pacific School of Religion's Associate Professor of Educational Ministries. He has two children, Clara and Landon Jack.

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Rev. Katie Goetz, Associate Pastor

Katie Goetz 650-323-6167 x102

Rev. Katie Goetz came to First United Methodist Palo Alto in July 2005 from Twentynine Palms United Methodist Church and Community UMC in Joshua Tree.

Katie grew up as the oldest of three children in Pleasant Hill, CA, and as a child and teenager she attended Walnut Creek United Methodist Church with her family, a congregation where her parents and grandparents remain active members.

Katie went to college at Willamette University in Salem, OR, graduating in December 1998 with a BA in Economics. After college she became a US-2 (one of the General Board of Global Ministries young adult missionary programs). During her two years with the GBGM she served as an employment counselor for homeless people at the Samaritan House Employment Readiness Program in Atlanta, GA. In the fall of 2001 she returned to CA to pursue a Master of Divinity degree at Claremont School of Theology.

While at Claremont Katie worked as a student assistant in the library, assisted in the editing of three volumes of collected papers for publication, and was active on the student council.

Her internship was spent at Anaheim UMC where she was able to actively participate in designing worship services, adult education, and work with a fledging young adult program.

Most recently Katie has served as the student local pastor of the UMC of Twentynine Palms and Community UMC in Joshua Tree, both in California's high desert. Katie is excited to be able to return to the Bay Area and have the opportunity to serve God and the community of First Palo Alto.

Click here to read and listen to the sermons Katie has preached at First Palo Alto.

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Rev. Marylee Sheffer, Associate Pastor

Marylee Sheffer 650-323-6167 x105

Rev. Marylee Sheffer came to First United Methodist Church of Palo Alto in July 2007 from the Calvary United Methodist Church in San Jose.

Marylee is a native Californian, growing up in Novato. She traces her call to ministry back to the junior high youth group at the United Methodist church there... “I had never known a woman pastor so I didn't consider it a "call" but rather an invitation to follow Jesus & to be in a loving relationship with Him.”

Her greatest joys in life are “loving & being loved by God; being married to Ralph & family life; our friends; my seminary study group; "Holy Conferencing" as John Wesley referred to Christians sharing with each other how & where we are aware of God's presence in our lives; dogs (I wanted to be a Guide Dog trainer, growing up, but women were not allowed); preaching; worship; cooking; beading; reading; learning to knit; being outdoors; flowers; the sound of water... I guess this list could go on & on!”

Marylee graduated from San Francisco Theological Seminary in 2003. In 2001 she was an intern here at First Church. She’s a Court-Appointed Child Advocate and before seminary Marylee was the youth & program director at First UMC Fremont for 7 years.

In 2007 Marylee was named as Camp co-director, with Doug Norris of the United Methodist Family Camp.

Click here to read and listen to the sermons Marylee has preached at First Palo Alto.

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Rev. Robert Olmstead, Senior Pastor Emeritus

The Rev. Bob Olmstead was the Senior Pastor for the First United Methodist Church of Palo Alto from 1993 until he retired in 2003.

Prior to coming to Palo Alto he held pastorates in Reno, Nevada and in Oakland, Windsor and Santa Rosa, California. Rev. Olmstead graduated in 1961 from the University of Rochester with an honors degree in English Literature. He continued his graduate study at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley from which he graduated in 1965. Books remain a major joy for him, especially American fiction and historical biographies

During his extensive career, Rev. Olmstead marched with Martin Luther King, Jr., chaired the first Board of Directors of Home Hospice in Sonoma County and helped develop a homeless shelter in Reno.

Rev. Olmstead's wife, Carol, is recently retired from a career teaching college mathematics. They have four grown children and four grandchildren.

In honor of his long, dedicated service to the First United Methodist Church of Palo Alto, the Church Conference voted in January 2006 to name him Senior Pastor Emeritus.

Click here to read and listen to some of the sermons Bob has preached at First Palo Alto.

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Rev. Douglas Norris, Senior Pastor Emeritus

Rev. Doug Norris has served two pastorates at First Church. From 1969 to 1974, he was appointed here as the Associate Pastor, and from 1983 until 1993, he was appointed as our Senior Minister. The Rev. Norris is Senior Pastor Emeritus at First Church and currently serves as Wesley Church’s (San Jose) Interim Senior Minister.

In addition to his appointments in California, Rev. Norris has served in Minnesota, Texas, Illinois, Japan and Australia. He graduated from Hamline University in St. Paul, where he studied philosophy and religion. Rev. Norris received his Master of Divinity degree from Garrett Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois.

Rev. Doug Norris and his wife, Eleanor, have three sons and eight grandchildren. He enjoys travel, spending time with his grandchildren and music. The Rev. Norris is an acclaimed vocalist and occasionally weaves music into his sermons.

You can read Rev. Norris's recent sermons at www.dougnorris.com.

Click here to read and listen to some of the sermons Doug has preached at First Palo Alto.

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Rev. Glenn Straith Fuller, Pastor Emeritus

The Rev. Fuller is a Pastor Emeritus.

He is married to Kay Fuller, and now lives in retirement in Contra Costa County. The Rev. Fuller was appointed as our Associate Pastor from 1983 to 1988. Then he and Kay were appointed by the General Board of Global Ministries to the English-Speaking United Methodist Church of Vienna in Austria.

The Rev. Fuller was ordained by the California-Nevada Annual Conference as a Deacon in 1947, and as an Elder in 1949. Glenn and Kay also served as missionaries in India and South Korea.

Sermon Archive:
June 24, 2001
July 30, 2006 (Audio)

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Insights Columns

Click here to read the columns written by our pastors for the Insights newsletter.

Insights is the monthly newsletter of the First United Methodist Church of Palo Alto. You can subscribe to the electronic of Insights by clicking here and signing up. Insights will be emailed to you free of charge.

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