LUUF Board

I was drawn to LUUF because it offered me, a seeker of spiritual truths, a community of like-minded individuals also open to exploring different paths to expand knowledge, learn from wise speakers and share in delightful dialogue.    

My background is in the arts.  I was a professional circus clown and still relish a good gag or a good joke.  The LUUF family never disappoints in feeding my love of laughter.   I also appreciate the lay-led services that our congregates get the opportunity to share.  This approach offers us a chance to participate in a more empowering way with each other.  

As Co-President I have helped LUUF grow as an intentional community that reaches out to the larger community in our mission to serve.  It is my mission to have our historic building serve as a welcoming center for seekers of all stripes.  

I was born and raised in Wayne by a high school guidance counselor and an opera singer who moved here from the Midwest just before I was born.  Both of them had liberal religious views and came from families with  diverse religious histories. As a result, I was exposed to many belief systems and cultures growing up.

Throughout my life, I had never joined any religious or social organization. I did not feel my views matched any group.  However, approximately 15 years ago, I felt my young son needed to experience an open minded,  inclusive, and accepting spiritual community who would not try to force their religious beliefs on him. I ended up finding that and  much more at LUUF. 

 I found out that Unitarian Universalism and I fit together, and I found out that the LUUF community was supportive in a way I had never experienced before.  I have been here ever since.

I was born in NYC to a Sicilian Catholic father and a Jewish mother.  My siblings and I were raised “non sectarian”.  This background set the foundation of my beliefs, attitudes and philosophy as I grew up.

I graduated from William Paterson College, (now William Paterson University) with a BA in education, and later completed my M.Ed.  All of this provided me with the credentials to hold 5 positions in the Paterson School system, retiring after 31 years.

 I married Stephen J. Palmino. We have a lovely daughter. After our retirement from our careers in education, we became activists.  We attended antiwar demonstrations, wrote letters to editors etc.  Sometime in the early 2000’s we joined a group called IMPEACH THEM.COM. The objective, to impeach, as we called them, “The Bush Gang”. That group met at Lakeland Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Wayne NJ.  As a result, we became members and I learned that I wasn’t brought up “non sectarian” like my parents said, I was raised Unitarian Universalist.  I just didn’t know it.