Occupation: I’m the minister of children and youth education at Trinity Episcopal Church. I do all of the Christian education activities and lesson, the outreach programs, and outside programs like the Youth Work Camp and the Pilgrimage group. We’re a very busy small church. I taught kindergarten and first grade at Sandy Hook School for ten years before this.

Family: Tim is my husband, and we’ve been married going on 20 years. We have two sons. Tim is 14 years old and Christopher is 8 years old.

Pets: We only have two hermit crabs right now, Crash and Eddie.

How long have you lived in Newtown? I have lived here my whole life. My family moved here when I was 1. My husband is from Buffalo, and we have lived here as a family for 14 years.

What do you like to do in your free time? I play the piano for events that need an accompanist. We all love to ice skate. I grew up skating on the ponds here. I like to do anything outside — fishing, hiking, gardening. And I love to read.

Do you have a favorite book? My favorite is a childhood book, The Secret Garden. I just read A Year in Provence and that was cute. I’m about to start a James Michener book and I’ve read many John Grisham novels, too. I’ll pretty much read anything.

 Do you have a favorite travel destination? We went to Puerto Rico a long while back and I thought it was just beautiful. We do go to Canada a lot, and the Great Lakes, especially Lakes Ontario, Michigan, and Erie. We love boating on them, fishing on them, just looking at them. It’s fabulous.

What is the best thing about Newtown? I like the history of it. I grew up going to old houses and battlefields — we were Colonial reenactors. So I love the older sections of town.

What is the greatest change you have seen in Newtown? The loss of open space. It’s a startling contrast to what I remember as a kid. And the traffic drives me crazy. I can’t believe we have a rush hour! But the good changes are things like the Reed School and the Newtown Youth Academy, and having more stores for shopping. There have been some nice developments, too.

Do you have a hero? I tend to think of people, especially children, who have been through a great stress as inspiring. I really admire those people — and there are many in Newtown — who survive traumatic experiences and go on to inspire others. Those are my heroes.

Do you have a personal philosophy? Be nice. If everyone treated everyone else the way we want to be treated, the world would be a nicer place. You only have one life, so make the most of it.

Do you have a guilty pleasure? One hundred percent chocolate, the darker the better. If it’s not dark, it’s not chocolate. And old movies with Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Katharine Hepburn — all the big ones. Chocolate and an old movie are the ideal things for me.