Leadership/Staff
The Rev. Dr. April Stace
Priest-in-Charge
On January 1, 2023, Epiphany called The Rev. Dr. April Stace to be our new priest-in-charge. In addition to being our priest, April is full-time on the faculty at The General Theological Seminary in New York City. She is so happy to have found such a loving community in Epiphany Trumansburg, and looks forward to many years here.
April has a background in music and was a professional harpist for most of her adult life, releasing 4 albums with her harp/bass/drums band, Harp 46, along with one solo Christmas album. She is also an author, having recently published a memoir about her years as a queer, recently-divorced and nearly-broke hospital chaplain entitled White Knuckle Love: A Memoir of Holding (Wipf and Stock, 2020.) Her previous works include Secular Music, Sacred Space (Lexington Press, 2017) and Crossing Boundaries, Redefining Faith (Wipf and Stock, 2016.)
April lives in Trumansburg with her son, who is in high school. She’s also an aspiring banjo player and finds a lot of joy in long weekend bike rides.
Email: priesttburg@gmail.com
Eric Machan Howd
Organist
Our organist, Eric Machan Howd, joined Church of the Epiphany in 2023. Eric has been a church musician for over forty years. He grew up in Wall, NJ, which is a township near Asbury Park/Ocean Grove on the Jersey shore.
Eric began his work in music ministry in middle school when he became a soprano in the St. Uriel Episcopal Church choir. While with St. Uriel's, Eric twice attended the Royal Academy of Church Music, where he learned from choir masters from Great Britain on the Princeton University campus; this two-week program culminated in a concert at St. Thomas church in New York City, NY. Eric was classically trained as a pianist since the first grade and he picked up playing the pipe organ in high school.
Since his time with St. Uriel's Eric has worked with many other churches and denominations as a church music director; these include the Freeville United Methodist Church, Cornell University Religious Works, the King Ferry Presbyterian Church, the Newark Valley United Church of Christ, and the Jacksonville Community United Methodist Church. Eric is also a published poet; his sixth collection of poetry, "The Last Cardinal," was recently published by sometimes y publications.
He works full-time for Ithaca College as the Director of the Office of Extended Studies and also teaches professional/technical writing part-time for JER Online, a national technical/professional writing certification organization, as well as a few graduate courses in Education for Binghamton University.
One of his favorite quotes about music is from author Hans Christian Andersen, who once wrote ... "Where words fail, music speaks."
The Vestry
Joan Plant
Eric Machan Howd
Mark Bickford
Jean Schurman
Sue DeCotiis
Carl Judd - Treasurer
Amber Massa
Deacon-in-training
My name is Amber Massa and I am discerning a possible call to the vocational diaconate. Vocational deacons, in contrast with transitional deacons, are not ordained as priests, but have a distinct role in the Episcopal Church to "bring the needs of the world to the church and the gifts of the church to the world." (among other things!)
I grew up in Iowa City, Iowa but I have lived in Tompkins County since 2001. I have been working for the Ithaca City School District for around 15 years, the last 10 of it as an Earth Science teacher at DeWitt Middle School.
My wife and I have been married for 13 years. We have two older cats and one very rambunctious 3-year-old dog. My free time involves an eclectic mix of dog-walking/hiking, kayaking, watching hockey, knitting, and learning to play the bass guitar.
Email: epiphanytburg@gmail.com
Kim Pollack
Admin. Assistant
Kim writes Epiphany's newsletter, answers emails, tends the website, and manages our social media.
She grew up in church (literally at one point), as her dad is a pastor and her family has always been in ministry of some kind.
Kim is mom to Judah and Ella and stepmom to Ben and Clay (all who have grown up and flown the nest). She lives with her husband Alan and six feral cats in Interlaken.
Kim teaches yoga and runs her own wellness business, Delicata House. She loves reading, writing, gardening, songwriting, and other introvert activities.
Email: epiphanytburg@gmail.com