Members
Brief info
Linda and Angelo Mendillo both hail from New England and have lived in Kingston since 1975. Linda, a retired science teacher, spends her time now caring for grandchildren, gardening, working cross-word puzzles and doing water aerobics. In her spare time she works at keeping ground hogs from eating the fruits of her labors, and as the tax collector for the Kingston Fire District.
Angelo is retired after working as a federal grants administrator for URI and the RI Department of Health. Angelo is also long-serving officer of the Tavern Hall Preservation Society and has served as moderator for the Kingston Fire and Water Districts for 22 years.
Linda and Angelo have been married for over four decades and have two grown children, Amy and Kate.
Q: Describe your faith journey and how you found KCC.
A: We began our experience with KCC in 1975 and became members soon thereafter.
We had been looking for a church community advocating freedom of belief and real commitment to social justice—along with great preaching, great music, and developed fellowship. In KCC we found all of this and more.
Q: How do you experience God’s presence in your life and here at KCC?
A. The people at KCC care more about what binds them together than about their differences. We both see God’s presence at KCC in the experience of congregational worship and in the depth of friendships we’ve been blessed to have in the KCC community. We experience God in the beauty of the world, in the kindness of people, in the quest for justice for all, and in the love of family and friends. We both believe in the transcendent power of worship, of art, of music—we think that God can be experienced in these things.
Q. What are people like here?
A. Linda and I think the people at KCC are---above all---kind, generous, and loving. KCC is a diverse group and we don’t all hold the same positions, but we respect one another and we’re always eager to listen to everyone’s views. The people at KCC care more about what binds them together than about their differences.
Q. What don't we know about you?
We are both interested in classical music, theatre, art, and literature, and we are longtime subscribers at Trinity Rep, at the Gamm Theater and at the Boston Symphony. We find chamber-music concerts to attend—there are quite a few of these in Rhode Island and in Massachusetts, if you look for them. We have visited some of the world’s greatest museums and look forward to visiting more of them. We are on a quest to see all 35 of the known paintings of Vermeer and are well along on that goal.
Q: What do you appreciate about being part of this faith community?
A: We believe that the loving inclusion of everyone is KCC’s greatest asset.
Q: In what church activities have you been involved or are you currently involved?
A. Linda has served on the Board of South Providence Neighborhood Ministries, as well as co-leader of a Brownies troop there. At KCC she has served on the Board of Deacons and on the Flower Committee, has taught in Sunday school, and was Clerk of the Church.
Angelo has served the Rhode Island Conference, United Church of Christ as chair of the Church and Ministry Committee and as president of the Conference.
At KCC he has served as moderator and as president, and as a member of the Music Committee, the Stewardship Committee, and the Board of Christian Education.