More About Pastor Carol

The Rev. Carol Hilll was called to the Park Ridge Community Church as our new Senior Pastor on September 9,2018. She was elected by the congregation during our meeting held that day. To find out more about Reverend Hill's background, education and experience please refer to the Senior Minister pamphlet.

Mollie Foster has been called to the Park Ridge Community Church as our new Associate Pastor. She was elected by the congregation during our special meeting held after the service on August 4, 2019. To find out more about Pastot Mollie's background, education and experience please refer to the first 6 pages of our August 2019 newsletter.

Liz Swanson joined our staff as Director of Pastoral Services in May of 2011. Liz primarily assists with the general care of the congregation. Her specific areas of focus include the Stephen Ministry program, Medical Lending Closet, and care for our senior members through Kindred Spirits Cafe and Senior Contact Committee efforts. She hopes to continue developing relationships with the members of our congregation and connect people with meaningful ways to enrich their spiritual lives. Liz and her family joined PRCC in 1994. When her daughters were young, they were involved with Vacation Bible School, Sunday School and women’s circle events, such as Pasta Divine and the Holiday Bazaar. As the girls grew, different activities included the mission trips, choir trips, Pumpkin Patch, Winter’s Farmers Market, and Beatles Night., As a former Chair of the congregation, Liz has knowledge of the workings and history of PRCC. She has found serving the congregation to be richly rewarding and a great blessing in her life. Liz graduated from the University of Montana in Missoula and received her MBA from Loyola University in Chicago. Liz enjoys knitting, reading, Bible Study, bike riding with her husband, Dave, and relaxing in Wisconsin. Although the nest is now empty, Liz and Dave love to spend as much time as possible with their adult girls, Karryn and Leena. Please feel free to contact Liz with any questions or suggestions you might have about Park Ridge Community Church’s commitment to pastoral care.

Sasha is the Music Minister at Park Ridge Community Church, where she conducts five choirs and oversees the Music Ministry. She is a full-time professor at Northeastern Illinois University in the Music Department, teaching Opera, Music Theory and Sight-Singing. Sasha served as the Executive Director of a not-for-profit children’s group called The Happiness Club which uses the mediums of music, dance and drama to teach kids positive values and give them a safe haven with constructive activities. She also worked for ten years as the Department Chair and Director of the Vocal Program for the MERIT School of Music. In 1998, while attending DePaul University, Sasha was recruited to be assistant to Maestro Daniel Barenboim at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and at the Staatsoper in Berlin. She held this position for two years. She holds degrees in Opera Performance, French and Vocal Pedagogy from Northeastern Illinois University (BA, MA) and DePaul University (PC), and has studied choral conducting at Westminster College in New Jersey. In addition to her teaching career, Sasha enjoys an extensive solo performing career (both as a Soprano and Choral Conductor) not only in Chicago, but also in Mexico, England, Scotland, Germany and many parts of South America. She has sung the National Anthem at the Chicago Cubs games many times and has performed leading roles with many of the area’s opera companies. In Summer 2005 she was a featured soloist at the Ravinia Festival in world premier music by Ron Combs in association with the Ruth Page Dance Foundation. In 2006, Sasha sang the role of Flora in La Traviata at the Athenaeum Theatre in Chicago. Sasha appeared with the legendary Mr. William Warfield in excerpts from Porgy and Bess with the Lake Shore Symphony. She has sung under the baton of Sr. Ruben Gonzalez (former concertmaster of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra) in the United States premier of his opera Cartas Marcadas. She has also sung leading roles in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Don Giovanni, Le Nozze di Figaro, La Bohème, La Traviata, Falstaff, Die Fledermaus and many more. Sasha is the recipient of many awards including the Harold Berlinger award and the Joan Sachs Memorial Award and Talent Scholarship. She has been featured on Channel 2 television as “Someone You Should Know” and was honored in 2005 as the Distinguished Alumna of the Year of DePaul University.

Shelley is been a life long member of PRCC, both of her parents were members and she raised both of her children here. Shelley and her husband Dave, have two children in college. She is so talented and truly gifted in Children's Ministries.

Morgan Tone is joining the Park Ridge Community Church as Co-Director of the Children's Ministry. Morgan graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago, specializing in Elementary Education. While teaching, she pursued her Masters in Educational Leadership from Concordia University. Morgan enjoys traveling and going to concerts in her free time. She and her husband, Ethan, have three children, Emmit, Harper and Jack along with their dog, Kinnick.

I was born in South Korea and spent most part of my young and youth life there prior to my adventure in America. I am married and we have two daughters. I studied at UIC majoring Health Information Management and am currently employed at NorthShore University Health System as a manager in Health Information Management. Ever since my kids were young (now, they are 22 and 25), I have been involved in church such as Sunday school and youth group activities. Seeing how pastors and church were working slowly made me interested in church ministry and eventually led me to the Garrett seminary. Because my passion has always been for children and youth, I chose Christian Education as my major at Garrett. Children are just fun to hang around with and I love their purity and divinity in their action, mind and heart. I believe each child is gifted with a great potential and it is such a joy to find it and help them see and grow with their vision and dream. With my full-time job, I have been a part time student since 2013, and, in honesty, never imagined I could graduate. My dream is about to come true next year. I will be graduating in May 2022. As for the church ministry, I have volunteered as both a Sunday school teacher and youth group leader for over 10 years. After I got into the seminary, I served at a Sunday School at a Mongolian church for 2 years from 2013 and then became a pastor over Children’s Ministry at Salem Korean United Methodist Church in 2018 and served for one year. Lastly, I served an English-speaking congregation and youth group at Salem for two months during the summer of 2021. I don’t know exactly where I will be drawn to after completing my Christian Education degree. I have a lot of things that I want to do in my mind but will see. As my last journey at Garrett, God gave me this wonderful opportunity to work at Park Ridge Community Church. I am completely overjoyed, thankful and excited to meet PRCC friends and work with them. I am ready to learn from PRCC and looking forward to a graceful time at PRCC. Thank you, God! Train children in the right way, and when old, they will not stray. Proverbs 22:6

Jaclyn Weir is responsible for the administration of the PRCC office during the week. She graduated from Troy University with a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology. She and her husband have a daughter, Margaret Jo, and two dogs, Strat and Gibson.