Each May at UU Wellesley Hills is Membership Month, and this program year we are profiling the newest members of our congregation. This week, we feature Jennifer Collins Shor, who became a member of UU Wellesley Hills in April 2021.
Jennifer lives with her husband Peter and their two young-adult daughters in Wellesley. Their older daughter recently graduated from college and their younger one is taking a gap year in Vermont, then going to UMASS Amherst next year.
Recently, Jennifer connected with Board of Trustees Chair Kathy Coolidge to answer a few questions about herself.
Q. Where did you grow up and go to school?
A. I grew up in New Jersey and then went to Smith College. I majored in American History and graduated in 1983.
Q. What is your religious background? What brought you to UU Wellesley Hills?
A. I grew up as a Presbyterian. We had a wonderful minister, Mr. Kindt; we nicknamed him Mr. Kind because he was so gentle and wonderful. It was a liberal congregation that emphasized the importance of spiritual qualities — it was a really good experience. My husband grew up UU. Some of his family are Jewish, including a female rabbi, but his grandfather turned away from Judaism and only some of his grandchildren later went back. His mother grew up in a very strict Presbyterian church and became an atheist. She initially assumed that I must be a hypocrite because I was a Presbyterian, and it took some time to get past that with her.
I became familiar with the UU church when I was church shopping on behalf of my kids, trying to find something that I felt comfortable with. Over the past couple of years I would sometimes drop in and thought, “This makes sense to me.” As my kids got older I realized that I could stop thinking about what would work for them and pick something that worked for me.
I decided to join the UU church partly because of the social justice commitments, such as the Black Lives Matter vigils. One day during Fellowship Hour, I heard about the awesome choir director. I said that I was interested in singing and I was immediately introduced to Suzie and invited to attend a rehearsal! I always wanted to sing but didn’t know how to read music.
For several years I have been working with a singing teacher to develop my music skills and I feel so happy to be able to sing with the choir. I am really impressed with Suzie as a choir director — the way she can keep all the parts in her mind and also conduct with the back of her head! She is very caring toward all the choir members and I’m impressed that her focus is not just on producing good music but also on the experience of members.
Around this time I also met Joan DeArtemis and really appreciated her as a very warm and caring person. I absolutely love it when different church members give brief presentations such as a Touchstone reflection. This is a church that is not top down — people are able to share their thoughts and it reminds me of the church I grew up in.
Q. What kind of work do you do?
A. When I got out of college I did retail management but I really didn’t care at all about the sales numbers! I cared about safety and personnel issues. After a year of working really hard I realized it didn’t fit my values so I quit. I moved to Boston to live with my sister who was working on a Ph.D at MIT and got various temp jobs as a secretary. I worked for Tufts, and did telemarketing at night. My sister’s good friend Peter (my future husband) was also in the math program at MIT. I couldn’t believe my luck when my sister started dating another Ph.D student (now my brother-in-law), and Peter and I started dating! After his studies at MIT and a postdoc, Peter worked for AT & T Bell Labs in New Jersey, but eventually decided to work for a university so his kids didn’t have to move around a lot (his father was in the Navy). He’s now a professor at MIT and enjoying teaching.
Q. What parts of congregational life are most meaningful to you?
A. I loved that in the Protestant church people are supposed to think for themselves. This is true in spades in the UU church. We all have to have our own personal relationship with spirituality and no one can tell us what to think.
Q. How are you managing quarantining?
A. I think I’ve been lucky. My husband is able to work from home so I’m able to see a lot more of him. We have a traditional division of responsibilities, so it’s good that he see how much work goes into what I do — and I can see how much work goes into what he does. Eventually he’s going back to in-person work at the university. My older daughter was at college and my younger daughter was zooming in to high school. We had become first-time dog owners before the pandemic started. Our beautiful Ellie (Elliora Cassiopeia Buttercream) is a Standard Poodle and her sweetness has enriched our lives every day.
Q. What’s most important to you at this point in your life?
A. It’s very important to be a good example for my children. I want to continue working on political issues and working on behalf of candidates. I feel like it’s really important to me to promote those issues that encourage democracy and justice.
I feel like as flawed as I personally am, this is my time to stand up and do these things. I didn’t have time before, but now I do! I have my pink pussy hat from the Women’s March. I have been involved with the Wellesley Democrats and some other groups.
A few times this past year, I have gone to UUSWH members’ homes to drop something off or pick something up. I tended to wonder if I would be able to find the right house, but I find it slightly hilarious that member homes often are easy to pick out because there are signs in the front yard! I have a new sign in my yard….United against Hate. Guess I fit right in here!