The St. Luke staff is committed to serving members, guests and the greater community.
How can we serve you?
Staff Directory
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Kathleen Bartkowski
Parish Administrator & Organist/Accompanist
As the Organist/Accompanist, Kathleen plays the organ and/or
piano for all of the worship services, leading the congregation’s
singing of hymns and liturgy. She accompanies the choir and
soloists during those services. She selects hymns for services
reflective of the liturgical season and designated Scripture texts.
She provides special music as needed and attends staff and
worship planning meetings.
In the church office as Parish Administrator, Kathleen greets
members, visitors, and callers to St. Luke, responding with grace
and welcome to all. Some of her duties include: providing
administrative support to staff, team leaders, and Grins & Giggles
Preschool; preparing the worship materials for Sunday and
special services; preparing the monthly newsletter, The Scroll;
coordinating the use of church facilities and maintaining the
church calendar; maintaining member records, including
baptisms, confirmations, marriages, and deaths, and preparing
applicable certificates in an on-line database, Parish book, and
member file cabinet; compiling the annual report for St. Luke and
preparing the annual report to the Synod; providing tech support
to staff and acting as liaison with external tech support; and a
myriad of other tasks.
Since 2006, Kathleen has served as the Organist/Accompanist at
St. Luke. In 2016, she expanded her role by also becoming the
Parish Administrator. Kathleen lives with her husband, Doug, their two cats, Ben & Jerry, and two goldfish, Maggie & Martha.
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Gina Williams
Director of Music and Worship Technology
Gina Marie Williams is the Director of St. Luke's extensive music program. She also oversees the Technology Team.
With Gina's music program, she leads the choir at St. Luke. She also leads multiple adult handbell choirs and children handbell choirs. She puts together concerts and musical performances for regular and special services. She also works with musicians and choirs throughout the community to collaborate for musical celebrations.
The Technology Team of St. Luke is in charge of live stream, projection, and audio for regular and special services. Gina creates the projection and live stream slides and leads the tech team in running these programs for worship.
Gina lives in Ledyard and has four grown children.
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Diane Hansen
Bookkeeper
As the bookkeeper, Diane is responsible for the bookkeeping and accounting functions of the church. A few of her responsibilities are as follows: Process vendor payments, post revenue as recorded by Cash Receipts Clerk, post expense of automatic bank withdrawals, prepare church payroll, process monthly tax deposits, process and monitor credit card activity on a monthly basis, compile church records for annual financial audit, participate in preparation of proposed annual budget, and other financial duties as required by Financial Support Team Chairperson. And the list goes on of all that Diane can do!
Diane joined St. Luke Lutheran Church in 1983. She raised her three sons, Kristian, Karl and Kurt Balinski in this congregation. Granddaughters Emilee Balinski and Hailey Salen are baptized members of St. Luke.
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Jacque Loftus
Communications Coordinator
As the Communications Coordinator, Jacque manages the St. Luke website, social media accounts, midweek updates, and more! If you need to be added to the St. Luke email list or have any events through the church that you need promoted on social media or in the surrounding community, updates for the website, or pictures to share, please email Jacque and she can assist you!
Jacque joined St. Luke Lutheran Church in the spring of 2022. She transferred from Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Groton, CT. Her family felt at home from Day One at St. Luke Lutheran Church and are incredibly thankful for the St. Luke Family to have welcomed them in. Jacque also volunteers with the Evangelism Team.
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Nancy Rupert
Grins & Giggles Preschool Director
After retiring from Waterford High School, Nancy opened ‘Grins & Giggles Playschool’ at the Tower Street Community Center in Westerly, Rhode Island where she operated that program for four years.
When Nancy served on the Transition Team gathering information to write the profile for the new perspective minister, many members of the congregation expressed their wish to have more young families join our church. She saw this desire as an opportunity to offer her preschool to the St. Luke community. After a year of going through the licensing paperwork, St. Luke Grins & Giggles Preschool opened its doors in September 2014.
She is very excited to have been a part of this mission within St. Luke Lutheran Church!
